Metal Box

Okay, halfway through the first track, I'm already tired of this album. Not looking good. Into the second song... this album had to have been chosen out of a hat of random albums. This has no redeeming qualities as of yet. 4th song... what even is this mess? ... Just make it end. Dudes, I promise you can make a song shorter than 5 minutes. Seriously, you can even make a song under 3 minutes. Your songs would benefit from being cut down. A lot. Like by over half. Maybe just cut half of the songs on this album too. By half, I mean all of them. Just delete the album entirely. I made it to No Birds and have to throw in the towel. There is nothing good or redeeming about this album. If these recordings were destroyed, nothing of worth would be lost.

After listening to parts of the first 6 tracks I have concluded that the atrocious vocals make the record completely unlistenable. The instrumental parts aren't great either - partially OK but too repetitive to sustain interest throughout an entire track. I also gave the previous PIL album 1 star, and hope this was the last one.

"Metal Box" is the second studio album by English post-punk band Public Imaged Ltd. The music is considered experimental rock, dub, avant-garde and a landmark of post-punk. The album was a departure from their first album being more avant-garde with vocalist John Lydon's cryptic, free-form lyrics, bassist Jah Wobble's dub-inspired rhythms and guitarist Keith Levine's abrasive guitar sound. It was recordered at various locations throughout the UK with multiple drummers. The album title was from the initial packaging which was a metallic canister containing three 12" 45-rpm records. Commercially, it reached #18 on the UK charts. A drum beat begins "Albatross." Here's your abrasive guitar- very high pitched, prancing along and at times off-key sounding. The song was recorded live with Lydon admitting he just free-formed the lyrics. Somehow, this works. A slow bass, an echoing guitar and a hypnotic dance beat introduce us to "Swan Lake (Death Disco)." Lydon screaming/singing as he tells about the death of his Mother from cancer. Levine said he was trying to play the Tchaikovsky ballet score "Swan Lake" and created an extremely unique melody. It's chaotic. A fantastic song and for me, the first song I think of when I hear post-punk. "Poptones" has an odd drum beat. The abrasive metallic guitar and prodding bass in the background. Lydon talking the real story of a girl kidnapped, put in a van and led the police to the van after describing the music which the van still had the cassette of in it. Levine's guitar melody was created as he was inadvertently playing Yes' "Starship Trooper." The band goes totally electronic in "Careering." A propet synth was used and we get laser sounds, sounds from outer space and other sounds. The song is about a Nothern Irish gunman "careering" as a professional business man in London. Lydon wrote this specifically about a person he did not like. That's probably quite a lot of people. This is a great album. The guitar gives a haunting, eerie, angular and abrasive vibe. The drums, beats and bass are odd and unique. Lydon seems to be improvising throughtout and he admitted as such. I like the one comment I saw describing it as subterranean. There's a lot of experimental songs and parts of songs especially with the synths. I honestly don't know if I heard anything before or after it quite like it. I'm sure there's something. Definitely not for everyone but if you like experimental, this is probably for you.

Absolute classic. Get the highest quality headphones you can lay your hands on & listen to some of the best bass playing you'll ever hear.

Did I hate this? Oh yeah, you bet. But was I also fascinated by it? Indeed. And isn't that was avant-garde post-punk is all about?

I want to like this more than I do. It’s heavily indebted to music I love, like Can and others in the Krautrock scene. As I listen, though, I’m reminded of conversation I once had with a co-worker regarding my ambivalence towards Radiohead, despite their appreciation of Can. My coworker said to me, “It’s surprising that you’re not a big Radiohead fan, because they’re really influenced by Can”. My response, exaggerated in order to make a humorous point, was, “I appreciate the influence Can had on them, and I don’t think Radiohead is bad, but saying that I should love Radiohead because they’re influenced by Can is a bit like saying I should love Whitesnake because they’re influenced by Led Zeppelin”. We both laughed. That’s more or less how i feel about Public Image Limited, I appreciate where they’re coming from, but it doesn’t really hit the mark for me.

I guess the people who hate this are just away to listen to their pop tones. Yes, the songs are long. Long songs are cool. I ask you, how else can you get swept up into the intense groove of it all if the song's finished after 3 minutes??! I also don't understand people complaining about the vocals, like you wouldn't expect that dry sheet going in? However, any humour present in the Rotten-era persona has been extracted, made colder, like the cold metal exterior. 1979 was so mental. Punk luminaries such as The Damned and The Clash made great albums this year, but they were still recognisably punk, together with other influences. This, this is...what? Utterly unrecognisable from the sound they were making a year earlier, and utterly unlike pretty much anything else. Speaking of Poptones, that's just incredible. The bass, the rhythm. The insistent dread. Intentionally unsettling, and genius.

When he sang "You are unbearable" on the first song, I felt that. 1/5

***On Spotify the album is called Second Edition*** There's something very off-putting about this album, and I couldn't wait for it to end. The songs are too long and the vocals are really terrible new wave style. On the other hand the Bass and Drums really stand out and I feel like they greatly inspired Modest Mouse in their rhythm section. If that rhythm group had a better frontman I think I would have really liked this, but sadly it really dragged things down. Almost gave a 2 for the positives I could find, but drops back to a 1 because this album is looooooooong and it's just brutal to sit through.

John Lydon had abandoned punk when he left The Sex Pistols and had already pioneered post-punk with PiL's debut album 'First Issue'. Here, the band fully embraces the avant-garde. This is particualarly evident in Lydon's bizarre (and slightly off-putting) vocal style. The original packaging, while being novel, actually created (intentionally?) a frustrating experience where listeners struggled to get the records out of the tin case. German band Can is a major influence here though not 'Metal Box' isn't as good as Can's best work. The hero of this album is bassist Jah Wobble. Bassists don't usually get that much praise, but his dub rhythms come out in full force on this album. If anything keeps the listener engaged, it's Wobble. This album also introduces PiL's fantastic drummer, Martin Atkins, though only on one track as he joined in the middle of recording. Overall, this record will annoy a lot of people. It's not something you'd play at a party or a relaxing Sunday afternoon. But it's an interesting one and there is some brilliance among the weirdness of it. A landmark post-punk album.

Absolute rubbish! John Lydon’s vocals are excruciatingly bad. The backing music might actually be good for all I know, but John’s incessant caterwauling drowns it all out. Never heard a worse album in my life, and I’ve listened to Duck Stab.

Obviously great, and a fun companion piece to all the whinging people do about basically any remotely challenging album in the reviews.

Fair play for abandoning the Sex Pistols' sound and exploring new and interesting sonic textures, but this seems like a case of PiL crawling in a slow, ungainly manner so other post-punks could run. There's music that’s discordant in an edgy, strangely hypnotic way (which this is some of the time), and then there are downright tuneless, repetitive dirges (which this album veers into a bit too often).

The packaging of this album is a metaphor for the record itself; Metal Box is a metal box. It's a clever and unique and attention-grabbing idea that hadn't really been done before, but it's really fucking hard to get into and difficult to play all the way through. I used to work in a second-hand record store, and physically handling a copy of Metal Box was a pain in the arse. The vinyl platters were only barely smaller than the lip of the container, separated by tissue paper, and at 10 minutes a side, you were constantly having to flip or change a disc. And to be perfectly frank, the music is equally hard to listen to. This is a document of an interesting band (Levene and Wobble in particular) jamming out improvised grooves with Lydon sneering over the top. Many of the tracks are first takes, made up on the spot. Lydon admits that they spent most of their advance on the packaging, so couldn't afford to produce and mix the album properly. So, this is a record monitor mixes of unedited improvisations, roughly thrown into some pretty attention seeking packaging. Wobble's dub bass playing, Levene's spiky metallic guitar and the krautrock inspired drumming (by whoever happened to be around) were really influential on post-punk, for which I am grateful, but let's be honest; this record sounds like rubbish. Does anyone listen to this for fun? It could have been so much better; compare to the contemporaneous album by the Pop Group 'Y', which plows the same field to much better effect, or Jah Wobble's 2021 re-recording of Metal Box, which is the same material, but well recorded. I feel slightly condescended to by John Lydon; he has served up an undercooked, poorly recorded set of rough demos, and expected me to lap it up. And if I don't that is _my_ fault for not being smart enough or hip enough to get it. I _like_ this sort of thing, I really do, but this album leaves me cold and uncomfortable. It's deliberately and uncaringly bad, and I lay most of the blame for that at the feet of John Lydon, who is not nearly as clever as he thinks he is.

I think this is rubbish. Weak out of tune vocals over boring, repetitive instrumentation. I am genuinely baffled by how highly regarded this album seems to be.

I hadn't heard this album before. I only knew a couple songs from PiL's more commercial 80s days. Holy crap was I missing out. As soon as "Albatross" started playing, my immediate reaction was, "Oh, so that's where Siouxsie and the Banshees got their guitar sound from. And also where Ian Curtis of Joy Division got his singing style from, and where Joy Division/New Order got their electronic sound from." The Sex Pistols changed music in a huge way with their 1976 Manchester show. Without that show, we might not have had the Banshees, Joy Division, the Smiths, The Cure, and so many other giants of post punk (and goth), let alone all the bands those groups inspired themselves. Likewise for The Clash's (PiL guitarist Keith Levene's former band) influence on music. After SP disbanded, Johnny Lydon went on to form PiL. This is very different from the Sex Pistols or The Clash. In a great way. It's much more experimental, less one note than the punk that SP put out—don't get me wrong, I like SP, but if you've heard one of their songs you've pretty much heard them all. The guitar on this album is crazy. The bass lines are nuts. The lyrics and the dark pre-goth, pre-industrial atmosphere on songs like "Careering" and "Bad Baby" sound way ahead of their head time (I realize both the Banshees and Joy Division had already released albums when this came out, but it's difficult to disentangle who inspired who at this point). The digital-sounding effects on "Socialist" are mind blowing. This album is basically everything I love about post punk. So so good. 5/5

Well this was truly a difficult one to review. An incredibly eclectic mix of sometimes impenetrable music with a distinctive bass guitar running over every track. Some people hate Lydon's vocal style, but that wasn't a problem for me, partly because I knew what to expect. He drones where he needs to and is off-key in the "right way" throughout, so fine so far. My main problem here is that I knew I had dipped into PIL before many times and always come away bitten. I love their hits, with "This is Not a Love Song" being one of the first songs I ever heard that made me realise music didn't just have to be people singing in harmony about elves and shit. This was similar, with the opener, "Albatross", being almost an endurance test. However, I also found a lot to enjoy here, difficult to listen to at times, but also fascinating to see where so many bands got their ideas from. Did later bands do it better? Probably, but then this is some of the rawest, most experimental, and ground-breaking music from the late 1970s. I think I would naturally give this a 2-3 star rating, but it's definitely on my list to listen to again and I'm going to give it a tactical 4 stars, just to nudge the average up a tiny bit from all the 1s given by people who can't appreciate anything out of their comfort zone.

Shout out to bassist Jah Wobble, the only need the radar star of this album. I like the album quite a bit, especially the aforementioned bass as well as the drums. I feel the proto punk sound in my bones. The most unfortunate part is that I’ll likely not listen to this album again because I could only find it on YouTube.

Day 100 Once again I had to pause the challenge as this is really a difficult record. Strangely enough, it is the kind of album that could blow my mind, the sort of thing that sounds as damaged that it would be easy for me to relate to it, but apparently I am not at that stage of my life anymore. I get the experimental approach and everything, but I also feel that I have heard it all, probably in later and less influential albums that in turn might have been influenced by this band. Having said that, there is a lot of musicianship, ideas, and variety here to keep the open-minded listener engaged. Rating: All the points have distortion and feedback. 

I simultaneously did not know what to expect and knew exactly what to expect. And I was simultaneously right. And I was disappointed by both.

I have always liked PIL but only knew a few songs. Listening to this album was great. Johnny's voice is marmite, but musically this album surprised me. Yes there is punk but not quite the Sex Pistols, there is Prog Rock but not quite Can, and there is hard edge funk bass but not quite TC Matic. Interesting rather than enjoyable, but worth a place on the list.

Metal Box is the second studio album by Public Image Ltd, originally released in 1979. I'm an American so I feel as though post punk music would truly hit different for me if I was British. A lot of these bands' lyrical content revolve around British life and the tongue-in-cheek stuff doesn't land for me most of the time. Anyways, I just learned that this band was Johnny "Rotten" Lydon's post Sex Pistols project. Had no idea. I previously got PiL's first record on this list, so getting Metal Box today made me decide to revisit it. Metal Box is pretty damn different than First Issue. It's a lot more ambient, you could tell the influence of New Wave was on the horizon. It's also more "deconstructed" in a way. The guitar on Metal Box acts as more of a background texture instrument, whereas on First Issue the guitar is more upfront, distorted, and driving. The songs are bass and drums heavy. And oh man the bass on here. Really reminds me of dub greats like Lee Perry. I did have some problems with this record, though. Lydon's vocals can get annoying at times. They're also way back in the mix so I can't really make out some of the lyrics. Some of the songs meander as well and devolve into jamming for half the track. Maybe all of that is the point, though. Am I not genius enough to "get it" completely?

Here’s one that I’m happy to leave far behind in the rear view mirror. Not my thing. Tedious. It went on far too long.

I should like this, but I don’t. The overly ambitious concept and bloated track lengths make it quite a chore to get through. I appreciate the genre and the band’s contribution to the scene at the time, but I think there are much better albums in this vein that I prefer listening to instead.

You can call it experimental and influential and groundbreaking all you want but for me this was a pretty boring hour of my Saturday. 3/10

Could this be the worst vocal performance of all time? Shit vocals are part of the punk aesthetic... but this is not punk, so what's the excuse? Saved by the last few instrumentals.... and the bass all the way through.

I try to approach every post-punk album on this list (today marks number 75!!!) with a fresh mind. I consciously try to drop off all my baggage from the last 74 albums at the door and start a new relationship with a new album. For the first, like, 45 seconds I was really into this! Good bass lines and interesting synth compositions. And then the singing starts and it is a FUCKING NIGHTMARE... I enjoyed the last track or two because they were entirely instrumental. Shut up this man.

I wanted to like it. I didn't.

No Johnny, No. The last song made this escape a 1 star.

Best Song: Socialist. At least it grooves. Worst Song: Bad Baby. Just an absolutely fucking dreadful vocal performance. Overall: Mostly junk. Marginally more listenable than the other Public Image Ltd. album on this list, but only because of a few nice (but not extraordinary) riffs. It is a mess of barely conceived ideas haphazardly slapped together. The musicians seem uninterested in playing well or together, and everything just kind of dithers about until it ends. I hate the hubris of these dorks who dispassionately fuck around on their instruments for an hour and call it a day. Aimless. I just don't get it. Which drugs are necessary to enjoy this junk?

"Good art makes you feel something" Well I feel personally attacked by the lack of intent to entertain. This should be under the throbbing idontknow

John Lydon should be put in solitary confinement for the rest of his life for this.

had the unique privilege of being able to break out my literally Metal Box with this lp and listen through. the way the album is structured makes each side of the 3 discs only 1 or 2 tracks long, which made me appreciate this so much more than streaming it start to finish. I get why this would not be enjoyable to a listener, but this has the sauce thats makes we want to hit play as soon as it ends. musically, it’s so akin to the dub they’re clearly super influenced by - hypnotic, atmospheric, kind of menacing - but lyrically it’s agonised and devastated. I never put two and two together, but john lydon had spent the end of his teen years going through a hellish gauntlet on an international stage. my thoughts on the sex pistols are a whole other thing, and I’ll leave it at they were mostly fabrication but energetically spectacular. their youthful fury and contrarianism gives way to pil’s jaded nihilism and purgatory. it’s hilarious how much ppl on here hate this album lmaooooo

This one will forever be one of my absolute favourites. It may not be for anyone, but I could wallow in this if it was 5 times longer.

Can be a difficult listen at times, but always loved the way the guitar and especially bass sound - very unique - Jah Wobbles dub sound and Lydon's force of personality makes this stand out amongt the post-punk pile for me.

Pleasantly surprised. Truly captured the post-punk vibe and made a blueprint for all the bands that followed. I had to go to YouTube music to find this in streaming format and im not sure why it is not available ( record company dispute?) but it is an important album and a great listen.

There is really nothing like this album. If you want to talk about something you should hear before you die, it’s this wildly unique blast of sounds. Every time I listen to this one I hear something new or I hear a snippet of another band this influenced. Albatross and Poptones are my favorites, both are so stark futuristic and nihilistic, but almost all the song are great (the exception being the somewhat annoying The Suit). The close out Radio 4 was my new favorite this time around, reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti’s work on Twin Peaks. One of the more astonishing things about this album is that John Lydon basically tore down everything you knew about him from the Sex Pistols, he is almost unrecognizable from his punk guise. The guitar work is also fascinating, it drives the dystopian soundscape that permeates through the whole album. This one is important.

Liked this more than I expected. Has a cool post-punk sound. Some songs are super weird without a doubt, but personally I enjoyed the strange labyrinth this album took you through. On the best cuts, it was reminiscent of Joy Division or similar bands. I’d recommend if you like post-punk or just generally enjoy weird music.

iconic basslines

Avant guarde!

I've always been more of a dead Kennedy's side of punk listener. Public Image Ltd. is certainly its own thing and I wish I'd heard this earlier? It isn't a revelation of an album but I would have spun it up all the time when I was younger and I'll definitely listen to it again.

I mentioned when reviewing their first album that I bought their "Greatest Hits (So Far)" in uni, and it being pre-internet, pretty much had no choice but to play it enough that it clicked for me. Can't help but wonder what my music taste would be like if I'd grown up post-internet. Would I have got into every conceivable genre almost straight away, as it's all right there for the listening? Or would I just deep dive into the first thing I found comfortable and never branched out, because there was no pressure to do so? 🤔 Anyway, this sounds more like my idea of what Public Image Ltd. are. I guess I can sympathize with people finding this terrible because it is deliberately challenging. If you don't get swept up by the bass lines you're gonna struggle. Fave tracks - the three track run of "Swan Lake" -> "Poptones" -> "Careering" is totally cherry!

Really strange sound but not bad.

Public Image Ltd. (or PiL with this release) have been a major figure in Post-Punk although their commercial success wasn't as strong as Joy Division or Television. Like the Velvet Underground & Nico and Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones, the design of the packaging was something really special. Unlike the ones I've mentioned this wasn't designed by Andy Warhol and not even released as a standard 33rpm 12' LP. Instead the songs were printed on 3 12' 45rpm LPs. Freaky, I know. Sadly this design was UK only. Other issues in other countries were simply called 'Second Edition'. (Booooring!) The album slickly combines Post-Punk, Punk, Experimental Rock as well as some Noise Rock, Disco and Dub. This combination might sound and feel weird but that is exactly what they were going for as it was pushing the sound of Punk even further. The album starts with the 10 minute monster 'Albatross' with its repetetive riff and the abstract and ominous lyrics and distant vocal style that together make this an atmospheric and anxious listen. A perfect opener for such an experimental and dark album. In the end of that song the vocalist switches the style he used as the lead vocalist in the Sex Pistols, contradicting the dark and echoey vocal style from before. It is, in my opinion, the best song on this album and there is a case to be made that this is pretty close to the greatness of 'Marquee Moon'. That vocal style gets used again for 'Memories'. I have to say that I am not the biggest fan of that vocal style, mainly because it feels so alike to the Sex Pistols and I feel that vocal style works only with Punk Rock and not so much with their Post-Punk style. Still, the song is fantastic instrumentally especially the high pitched guitar. 'Swan Lake' pushes the energy even further. I prefer a lot over 'Memories' because this is much more focused on the rythmn section and the bass sticking out even more. A perfect example of Dance-Punk and Mutant Disco (yes this genre actually exists). The second LP opens with 'Poptones'. A very hypnotic song that even features a tiny little bit of Post-Rock. It is noisy and builds up a suspenful tension with the listener over the 7 minutes of playtime. It's really good especially because the build tension gets really anxious half-way through, a point where you'd expect it to loose the listeners interest but no it keeps it perfectly. I'm just not the biggest fan of all the things "around" of it although the chorus is pretty funny. 'Careering' has a lot of groove and the added synthesizer, the abstract drums and the final build-up make this a great tune. Especially the misanthropic vocals really add a layer of emotional depth to this very suspenful track. 'No Birds' is much less "noisy" than the other songs. The melody is also much more conventional? It's not really but compared to the rest... This feels very emotionally empty but in a good way. I don't mean that there is not emotion in there, more like the that someone's lost all their emotion and that it's empty now... No birds that fly around. And that is undermined by another very dark sounding song. With 'Graveyard' the noise returns already with the guitar that stings you with its first notes. The abrasiveness and the groovy instrumental nature of this really make this stand out to me. The last disc opens with 'The Suit', a much slower song that because of that looses my interest very fast. It's not bad at all and I love the bass but there isn't anything other to catch on for me. But I do have to appreciate the dark lyrics that with a bit more enthusiasm would make this song much more interesting. I also like the "thrown-in" avant-garde piano that plays for just a couple of notes and then disappears. Funny thing. 'Bad Baby' is better by a bit. The weird vocals that sound like they were sung drugged up as well as lots of ominous sounds both do a slighty better job in achieving what the album intends with its chaotic songs although it isn't anything too special compared to the rest of the album. The albums finale is a 12 minute song split into three parts. The streaming releases do split the song into each part but 'Socialist / Chant / Radio 4' was intended as one piece. 'Socialist' starts fast-paced with synthesizers that make the sound you would expect in a sience-fiction spacecraft. The drums are also really interesting as the sometimes feel "edited"? As if someone put them into a synthesizer itself and then sometimes changed the sound a little bit. It kinda freaks me out. 'Chant' is the one with vocals but to be honest, they get annoying very fast. I would've prefered it to be instrumental with that awesome guitar and just the ad-libs sometimes in the background. But the build-up to the repeating "Chant, Chant, Chant" is worth it. 'Radio 4' is a mix between their typical style (mainly bass and noise at the end) but added classical instruments and a kind of ambient sound. It sounds like the outro to a majestic movie and in a way this album is. There is a lot to get out of the album and it obviously was very influential but I think I have to give this album some time until I can really appreciate it but for now: Great but not perfect. favourites: Albatross, Swan Lake, Graveyard, Poptones least favourites: The Suit, Bad Baby, Socialist / Chant / Radio 4 Rating: decent 8 https://rateyourmusic.com/~Emil_ph for more ratings, reviews and takes

Post Punk is cool and all the one voters need to step out of their comfort zone once in a while.

that was fun. very clear why this album is relevant and how much influence it has had - giving a 3.5

God, I wish I could remember more about this. It was...alright? I think?

Not much better than their other album I listened to, I guess it’s more miserable. It’s still just meh.

Dreadful, with good basslines. Fuck music, I guess?

It's not as un-enjoyable as some reviews here make it out to be. But it's certainly not what I expect to hear on a Sunday afternoon playing Rummicub at the old people's home. And it's very certainly of its time.

not my first listen, but i think i understood it a bit more this go around. doesn’t mean that i like it necessarily… but the instrumentals are pretty good. great bass 2.5

I'm all for art and experimentation, but what the hell did I just listen to?

This is noise rock. It's not for me.

It had everything to be a good Post Punk album, but the vocalist gives me the impression that he is eternally falling down a staircase while singing! Although the instrumentals are very good, it was painful to listen to until the end. I'll leave 2 stars.

A tough listen

All you hear are poorly produced drums and everything else is squeezed into like one channel and sounds horrible.

Great instrumentals combined with some of the worst vocals you can imagine. I know post punk isn't know for great vocalists but come on

Meh

Kunst, die weg kann. Beim ersten Lied wird (nicht nur) eine Katze gequält. Das Album hat 12 Lieder und ist stilistisch konsistent mit ein paar Ausreißern nach unten.

Es literalmente escuchar todo el rato el mismo sonido y la misma cancion, lo unico que se diferencia alguna vez es algun sonido estridente o la voz plana, nada entretenido

I get it, punk but more experimental. I actually hated it, each song that went by the more I felt like it was torture to endure it. I usually can understand why albums, I personally don’t enjoy, make the list. This one has me wondering.

I'm good

Horrible, sounds like non talented kids found instruments and a homeless guy picked up a mic

Really bad from the start, couldn't even get through the first track, though it was the only one I skipped. I'm just finding that I dislike anything labelled as post punk, it feels too derivative and intentionally abrasive/dissonant and it annoys me. 1.5 rounded down since it required a track skip.

01) Albatross - 5,5 02) Memories - 5,0 03) Swan Lake - 6,5 04) Poptones - 5,0 05) Careering - 5,5 06) No Birds - 5,0 07) Graveyard - 5,0 08) The Suit - 4,5 09) Bad Baby - 4,5 10) Socialist - 5,0 11) Chant - 2,0 12) Radio 4 - 4,0 TOTAL: 4,79 (48/100) Current ranking: 704/739

I adore long songs, but not this crap - this album could’ve been an email

I didn't care for it, but I'm sure it was influential for other shitty music

Oh goody Johnny Rotten. Being a member of a punk band is the ultimate participation trophy, it doesn't matter if you can't sing, play an instrument or write a song you can still be a succesful punk band. Unfortunately after the punk era finally ended some of these talentless larpers continued to cling on like barnicles to the bottom of a boat and infest the world with this kind of crap. Comparing Johnny Rotten to a barnicle is ofcourse incredibly unfair to the barnicles. At least a barnicle has some redeeming qualities, I don't know what they are but I'm sure if a google I will find some. I am not so sure I will be able to find any redeeming quality in Johnny Rotten.

This was torture to get through. Sounds like a high school band that thinks they're actually good.

I loved the Pistols, this was a dirge.

this doesnt work for me. I tried but its not a fit for me! the british accent, the voice and everything else is not a match for me. An Album with no need to revisit. The biggest song of the album according to spotify was for me not in the slightest way likeable. Careering, chant was good somehow (compared to the album). Bro what is happening on No Birds. It sounds like the vocals dont even fit to the song, like it wasnt even recorded with trying to fit. Graveyard, socialist and Radio 4 was also good (no vocals). The Highs are mid and the lows are low 1.5/5.0

In 2024 it sounds so bad, like some kind of demo or rehearsal of some garage band. Easily 1/5.

Credit to the bass player, but John Lydon's agonizing, out-of-tune vocals and the overall monotonous, cacophonous mess make it an album I certainly would have preferred living without hearing. "But that's the point, don't you get it?!?", a pretentious music snob scoffs at me before disappearing up their own asshole. Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.

Since this is Johnny F'ing Lydon I'm certain that he purposely made these songs as unpleasant and abrasive as possible just to prove a point, and point taken as this was an ice-pick to the ears. Jah Wobble injects his typical infectious dub rhythms but that fails to save this. I guess I could describe this band's sound as Joy Division, but with much less joy and even more gloom.

The epitome of post punk. All of the talent and charm of punk with non of the energy or excitement.

shitty guitar sound

Near

When I first discovered this, it was 1985. I loved it without knowing why. Now it’s 2025 and I love it. Still, I don’t know why!

This is one of the greatest post-punk albums ever released. It is brilliant mainly because of John Lydon’s near-manic and unpredictable performance. He sounds as if he is constantly on the tipping point of sanity, shifting from bellowing to whispering, from stammering to screaming. The band (especially Wobble's hypnotic bass) creates the perfect, repetitive backdrop, sounding like Can performing from inside a metal box (forgive the comparison), with the dissonance turned up to eleven. It is a staggering document of its time: a smudged version of post-punk, fronted by a genius "actor" who tries to tame the chaos just enough for the songs to remain discernible beneath all the misery. A true piece of art. Inimitable, astounding and unique.

Gritty

this fuckin bangs!!!!!!

Wow. What an album. Introduced me to post punk.

Still got mine & treasure it. Love PIL

Brilliant

I bought my copy of this in my teens off a Great Rock and Roll Swindle punk in my class. He hated it and let me have it for 50p. Whichever punk had it before him had thrown away the metal cannister and put it in plain paper inner sleeves in a plastic outer sleeve. Shame. I had no idea it was three 12" singles and listened to the whole thing at 33 and a third a few times thinking hmm this is a bit of a challenge. Best thing all involved ever did.

Highlight Song/s: Albatross and Poptones What a bleak album. I feel dreariness; I imagine heavy fog; I feel like I'm on a conveyor belt in this huge factory and seeing thousands of other conveyor belts whilst being completely stunned and helpless; It is SO repetitive to the point it's hypnotic; Possibly, just maybe, I could dance or march to my death whilst listening to this album. All of that above is what I would imagine if it was a type of weather, or if it was a place, or ultimately my feelings this album evokes. This album has me in its complete grasp.

I've been listening to this every two or three months since 1979. I've largely had to do it on the downlow because past and present partners were not and are probably still not fans. Like other singular records, this soothes my soul. Other albums in this category include Robert Wyatt's _Rock Bottom_, Hüsker Dü's _Zen Arcade_, Captain Beefheart's _Mirror Man_, and Pere Ubu's _The Modern Dance_. There are more. Essential listening.

This album is like being locked inside a fridge that’s somehow also a haunted political manifesto. It’s industrial, strange, slippery—like trying to punch fog. It sounds like punk died and came back as a bitter, avant-garde ghost. And John Lydon is its mouthpiece, spitting cryptic prophecies through a distortion pedal while the bass drills holes in your spine. Rating: 4.6/5 Short Review: This isn’t an album, it’s a metallic hiss from the abyss. Favorite Track: Albatross – a slow descent into dub hell. It’s 10 minutes long and every second feels like you’re being hypnotized by a very angry filing cabinet.

one of the best/hardest albums ever made. i rip off jah’s playing style on this bad boy every chance i get

I call myself a fan of post punk music, but I wasn’t a big fan of PiL’s First Edition, so I wasn’t incredibly excited to see this album pop up for me today. To add to my trepidation, I see that Metal Box clocks in at one hour. I’m going to give this album a fair shot, but I’m not going to get my hopes up! Well touché, PiL, because Metal Box was incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an album with such amazing bass playing like this from start to finish. Every track had an incredible bass line, but each bass line was distinct and unique. On top of that, the guitar playing was fantastic too. I loved the screeching and angular guitar playing on each song, and for such a dark and moody album, the guitar playing was really varied too. Metal Box had an incredibly cohesive sound, but each song was its own dark and moody journey. PiL really shows how versatile post punk can be. When it comes to post punk from the late seventies, I’ve loved Joy Division, Magazine, and Gang of Four, but Metal Box is so different from those albums, and I loved it for entirely different reasons than why I loved those other albums. I’m really in awe at how awesome this was, especially since I didn’t care for First Edition all that much, and I absolutely hated Jah Wobble’s solo album. If I ever become independently wealthy, I’m going to snag an original pressing of this on vinyl. Some notes on the songs themselves: “Albatross” immediately snagged my attention. The bass was fantastic, and so was the screeching guitar. The vocals weren’t my jam, but they fit the overall vibe and sound of the song. “Memories” was excellent. The bass was awesome, and there were some shifts in sound that I can’t quite put my finger on that I really loved. I think it was the tempo that changed a few times? I don’t know for sure, but it ruled. That guitar on “Swan Lake” was fantastic. Probably some of the best rhythms on the album. I loved the jangling of the guitar on “Poptones,” and the cymbal crashes were outstanding too. Easily one of the best songs on the album. “Careering” was awesome. The bass was fantastic, the rhythm was awesome, and I loved the vocals and lyrics. The gun-like sounds were an excellent touch. This is in contention with “Poptones” for best song on the album. The synthesizers on “Socialist” were awesome. It had such an alien feeling, which is probably what being a socialist felt like under Reagan and Thatcher. “Graveyard” is so dark. The guitar has such a haunting sound to it, and the bass accentuates everything perfectly. “Radio 4” was the perfect closing track. The synths were bright, but still managed to fit the dark, deep sound of the album. Truly mesmerizing stuff. This was in contention with “Poptones” and “Careering” for best song on the album. I’m going to be thinking about this album for days. It’s dark and brooding, but there’s so much going on, just with the guitars and bass. What an incredible work of post punk music. I can understand that this isn’t up everyone’s alley, but damn, what an incredible experience.

I try and anticipate the Global Rating for each album while listening. Based off my estimation of the racial and age demographics of this project, I can usually get pretty close. Kinda hilarious how low this one is compared to how much I enjoyed it. Rule of thumb; if it's challenging in the slightest, it's below a 3. 4.5/5

God, what an album. Some of the best bass lines and guitar work I've ever heard. Poptones alone is worth the price of admission. There are some classics I love but never listen to. but I've been returning to this one over and over again for decades. A monster.

Legend.

In junior high, I frequently purged my adolescent frustration and angst by blasting the Sex Pistols from my boom box. At least initially, despite the legacy of Lydon, PiL did not scratch that particular itch. Later, in high school I finally “got it” and this album become among my favorites. A post-punk kid needing post-punk music. My God, this album brings back memories, some of them are actually good. It has too long since giving it a listen. Metal Box (AKA Second Edition) is a masterpiece. Yes, this music is somewhat challenging, but sometimes innovative work sounds weird. It is entirely possible for something to be both weird and amazing, I exist after all. Despite being released in 1979, the album continues to seem innovative today. It is worth noting that Lydon wanted this music to be uncomfortable, the intent was to get rid of the albatross of rock, by sowing seeds of discontent. The guitar and basslines are very experimental, but technically impressive. The varied time signatures the Wobble pounds out on the bass in sounds like “Poptones” feel unsettling, but also draw one into the layered complexity of the guitar and drums underneath. Speaking of guitar, the Levene is a master, mostly creating tones in the background that are wonderfully textured. Lydon’s vocals are equally impressive and innovative, sometimes haunting, sometimes bracing, but always emotionally evoking. An excellent of is the grief one hears, and feels as Lydon wails about his mother dying from cancer. The lyrics on many songs are actually pretty profound and integral to understanding the importance of this outstanding music. This is another album that absolutely deserves a place on this list. It remains unique even today, yet despite nothing being quite like it, its lasting influence is hard to deny. There are many great PiL albums, but this is probably their most important record and my personal favorite. God save the queen and God save Johnny Lydon! In the spirit of what initially brought me to this music: if you don't get it, fuck you, just scurry on back to your comfy corporate shell (while I pretend I don't have one).

Okay, now we are getting into the terrible music that I enjoy and has shaped my interest in music. This Metal Box is mostly put together with songs from Second Edition, which is one of my favorites, but the album, Flowers of Romance (most certainly an acquired taste) introduced me to producer/drummer Martin Atkins. I immediately fell into the PIL trap and became a devoted fan of First Issue and Second Edition. John Lydon's self-proclaimed "anit-music" struck a chord with me. I then woke up from the spell once Album was released and it was the Album tour in 1986 that was the last time I saw them live. Was so excited when Martin joined with the MINISTRY/RevCo team of misfits.

Classic 5/5

Just like the other PIL album I've gotten, the real draw here is Jah Wobble. The bass playing makes this album for me. I also enjoy Johnny's vocal sneering, his anti establishment attitude strikes a chord in me. While this is an hour long it passed by quickly and I listened a few times. Dig it.

10/10 fun and weird! kinda reminds me of Pere Ubu a bit

The bass and drum parts are so tight. I like dub music already but the added dissonance from the guitars/vocals makes everything more tense. I appreciated something that felt like my own anxiety and frustration. I suppose it's here because it's experimental and innovative, but I personally found it to be a gratifying experience. I like Lydon’s voice and lyrics; he’s really expressive. He showed his catchy rock side with the Sex Pistols so I think it should be evident that there’s both an underlying musicianship here and an underlying anguish and alienation that led to this music. I also think it’s a clear step forward from the first PiL album.

This sounds like how I feel all the time - but in a good way! Weird, wry, goofy, with a great groovy bassline throughout. I liked the energy of the other PiL album on this list; I liked both the energy and sound of this one.