Metal Box

Sounds like a bad take from a rehearsal room with a guy making up the words as he goes along. Quite painful actually.

If I had to design a universally bothersome experience, I would start by playing this album in a waiting room and embellish from there.

Rise by PiL is an amazing, classic song. Solid music, great lyrics, fascinating instrumentation including early guitar work by Steve Vai, and the trademark Johnny Rotten snarl. Rise is not on this album. Basically every song on this sucks, using the term song loosely. And it's super long. Rounding down for length.

JFC, what a slog.

Not sure what the fuck this was supposed to be. Maybe they accidentally sent their rehearsal tapes to the pressing plant.

Singing quality is poor - mostly talk-singing. The music itself is a bit chaotic.

Previously unknown. Just did not land for me.

sounds like a couple wankers who wish they were the Clash

Shit like the makes me question this journey

Just really bad

its absolute trash, the first track is awful and its like 10 minutes long... with the second song i already have enough...

Obv experimental, but kinda unlistenable. Not quite well constructed enough to apologize for its roughness

No sé loco. No sé.

Quite possibly the worst thing I've ever listened to. And I've listened to Throbbing Gristle. Further proof that John Lydon is a hack.

This music sucks. I tried.

It got to the point of being so trash that it almost tricked me into thinking ts was lowkey fire. Will never take a 2nd listen it was all a bunch of garbage.

Couldn’t do it. Like if the Talking Heads and Television were way worse.

Not my favorite. Very strange.

I’ll start off by saying that I’m all for experimental post punk. But this album was unbearable to listen to…the directionless guitar riffs (if you can really call it that on this record) and nasally throat screaming vocals made this listen a slog to get through. I will admit that the excellent bass and drums were the only redeemable parts of this piece. I’ll return to this record if I want to end up like Van Gogh by cutting off my ears to end the suffering of listening to this garbage.

Another dud. I didn't enjoy this.

Combining a lot of things i dislike here: 1) John Lydon 2) Poor vocals 3) Post punk where melody is abandoned 4) A sneering attitude

I'm really not sure who this album is for. I have always given things that were atonal or avant-garde a shot, and have played and enjoyed things that most people don't like. But this was too far out there for me to enjoy. I told my son that it sounded like all the musicians recorded their parts with earplugs in and then just said, "yep, we're done." I saw that this group has another album on this list and I'm a little nervous, but that's not a problem for today-me.

Eins hressandi og Sex Pistols voru þá sýnir þetta hversu lélegir tónlistarmenn þeir voru. Það var hluti af sjarmanum hjá Sex Pistols en þarna virkar það ekki því þeir eru að reyna að vera alvarleg hljómsveit án þess að geta það.

What is this? Distance and weird lyrics. Groovy bass lines and odd tuned whining guitar. I'm being reminded of the doors, the clash and nails on a chalkboard. Ok this kept getting worse.

it just kinda goes on and on huh settled on a two largely because I like the bass in this. other bands will eventually make better music that kind of sounds like this* so it's not entirely without merit but johnny rotten sucks and I don't think this ends up on the list without the sex pistols connection sorry I listened to it again and it's a one actually * it all sucks until they realize the missing ingredient is goth rock

Gave up after about five “songs”. Nonsense.

Load of shit.

Emetic

Oh good, more obscure 80s britpop! -No One Ever "Sowing the seeds of discontent//I know you very well, you are unbearable" -Albatross

This was very annoying. A bunch of guys just fucking around on various instruments while not really knowing how to structure nor finish a song. Several songs where they just kept playing the same thing over and over, making it longer than it had to be. Then, the two songs that were under 4 mins (Graveyard and Socialist) were actually trending in a positive direction but they abruptly ended. I didn’t even want to mention the drunk British man moaning in half the songs but he probably took it from a 2 to a 1.

Kills me to say this but this is awful. I REALLY liked their first album and I felt that it was being abrasive for a reason and that they had something to tell us. This caught my attention immediately with some incredible riffs but I felt that it eventually turned into noise for the sake of noise. Couldn't finish.

Wtf does avant garde post punk even mean thats a double oxymoron and it sounds horrible

Als hätten John Lennon und Yoko Ono ein gemeinsames Album herausgebracht, das nur aus jedem zweiten Song besteht.

Favorite songs: Memories, Radio 4

1. albatrozz - 2 2. memoriez - 1 3. zuuan - 2 4. pop - 1 5. career - 1 6. birdz - 1 7. grave - 2 8. zuit - 0 9. zocializt - 0 10. radio - 1

⭐ Bas och trummor utmärker sig för att inte vara dåligt, men det som är bra slutar där. Monoton repetitiv sång som är krävande att lyssna på, känns snällt att kalla det för sång från Lydon, inga direkta melodier, spår som känns som en evighet, fast de egentligen inte är så långa. Vill bara att albumet ska ta slut så jag kan räkna med det som en lyssning i projektet men det är otroligt nog 1h långt. Blev trött när jag såg att bandet har ett till album på listan. Det blir en 1a.

Awful

Horrid droning swill.

Actually horrible lmao what the fuck

Easily twice as long as it needed to be. Also, just boring to me overall.

Olyssningsbar dynga

Again I've never been a fan of punk rock. I have heard some later Public Image songs I liked but there are none on this record

Not sure what the hell this is but it sure ain’t music I’ll tell you that for free

I’ve tried to give this a fair shake, but this is terrible. Everything goes on for far too long, and even if this was halved in length it would still be terrible - there is no development in song structure, not even a simple verse-chorus, it’s just the same four bars repeated with slight instrumental variety, whilst John Lydon whines away somewhere in the background. The sound mix is awful, and the discordance / atonal / microtonal stuff is just painful. Absolute cockwash.

Once I adjusted my EQ to cut out all treble it was bangin'

Weird singing over strange music. Hard pass. Best song: Graveyard

Mumble punk

Could not get through the first 2 songs

Mmmmmmm

I'm never opening this metal box again.

Eh, weird at best. I was hopeful at first.

Just not my thing. Not my kind of music. Not what I look for. Not what I listen to. Simply personal preference. Someone could tell how technically brilliant it is but it wouldn't change the fact that this isn't for me. I do like Graveyard, Socialist, and Radio 4 a bit.

No me gustó

sonoridade interessante, mas tudo é muito grande deve ser chato só pela duração vai 1

Shit. Fuck John Lyndon too.

what would you call this? alternative punk? Just awful, devoid of any good melody or joy.

Hey so this was awful!

As a fan of experimental she Avant Garde music, I can safely say this shit fucking sucks what the fuck

This is BORING.

This sucks. Congratulations to the band if the point was to make one of the most annoying albums ever.

Idk what this is but I hate it

The bass groves in some of the songs are the only thing getting me through it. Too spicy for my liking.

Dear God. I don't think I could I could bear the amount of heroin I would have to do to even slightly enjoy this album. Hot garbage.

I couldn't even get 2 songs into this absolute trash fire.

Not sure what I am listening to these days…

I knew it was only a matter of time until I got alien probing music again this week. I’m not sure what I’d even call this. Experimental punk? -2 stars for not being on streaming, -1 star for being boring as shit, and -2 stars for being a depressing drag. Oops I’m out of stars. Idk what else to say, I don’t like it.

It was just all annoying noises; whiney singing, screeching, and feedback. All backed by a baseline. Pretty awful stuff

I hate this album can’t lie - it does nothing for me and it’s way too long

This was my second album after picking this project back up after a month, and upon listening, I regretted starting again haha. Not a song or melody on this album, just sounds and cacophony (derogatory). And I thought the Sex Pistols were bad!!

Sigh, why do I need to spend an hour listening to this? It's not absolutely horrible, but it did start getting actively annoying to listen to toward the end.

i hate this.

garbage

No thank you.

Johnny Rotten sucks.

3/18/26. Figuring out that Post Punk is a controversial genre for me. Perhaps I'll need to revisit in the future, but did not really enjoy this one. Thought it was overly repetitive and simple, and couldn't grasp the lyrics. Most likely I don't "get it."

Meh

Urgh… that’s is all

Nothing of interest to me here. 1 star or F.

Musically grating, awful vocals, annoyingly repetitive, way too long. A pretty miserable experience overall.

If this was instrumental, it might be oddly hypnotic if overlong. But the vocals pushed into actively annoying for me.

Quelle AFFREUSE manière de commencer sa journée, j’en reviens pas que j’ai pogné la grappe d’albums de Johnny le Putride dans le même deux semaines. J’ai essayé vraiment fort j’ai pas réussi à finir la moindre toune, le cringe était trop fort et la qualité avait viré par dessus bord depuis que j’avais lancé la lecture. Seul réconfort: ça ne sera pas mon dernier album généré, dieu merci

no just no, i can't listen to that lmao. that's like a bad version of the Fall

Absolute garbage!!!

There's really not a lot positive that I can say about this one, so I'll just note that I liked the bass playing. When I focused on that, I was able to get through the song without needing to turn it off halfway through. Occasionally another instrument would add something interesting, but that was rare. Pretty much everything else was bad. Yeah... this might be the worst album I've heard on here so far. Overall: .75/5

Not good. At times it sounds like the guitar is playing along to a drum and bass click track, then the singing (if you can call it that) makes it really hard to complete the album. Camparing this to Captain Beefheart is absurd.

If you listen to this album and rate it a 5 star, I’m sorry but you are tone deaf. The vocal performance alone makes it a 1 star album. This is pure garbage. There are no redeeming qualities. I’d rather eat a warm bowl of chunky vomit than listen to this again.

What is it with this guy?

If you put a really good bass player in a studio with monkeys on fentanyl this is probably what you'd get. There's no reason for it to be this long. Listen to the first couple of minutes of each song and you can skip the rest of it. I was tempted to give this a 2 because of the bass playing but I just could not bring myself to do it.

We have scientific evidence of what it sounds like when people who don’t know how to play musical instruments find someone who can’t sing, and no one is brave enough to admit it.

argh, so annoying! at times there's a hint of radiohead glimmering through the noise but in the end i regret not having stopped at the end of the 10m opening track

Ik moet toegeven dat mijn initiële reactie ook echt op track 1 heel erg voelde. Het was een soort dronke vader in de douche vocals en echt ongelofelijk slecht in het algemeen. Er zit iets cools op het album, een sicke bass en danceable punk. Maar man dit was echt de meest waardeloze zang ooit. Noem het stijlistisch of whatever maar ik kon het niet aan. 1.5

Not Available on Spotify.

You should have stayed in the Sex Pistols, Johnny. At least then, we knew you weren't trying to be pretentious with this garbage.

Don’t like the music, hate the singing. Jackie would have loved it.

nope.

Not available

If a cat in heat had a drum machine, you'd get this album.

Very unpleasant to listen to.

1.5/5 Strontvervelend

Post-punk does not suffer without this album in its lineage. Challenging, it is not. Obtuse, it is.

I enjoyed this, but not in a "fun to listen to" sort of way but more a "laugh at how preposterous it is that I am voluntarily going through this torture" sort of way. I was hoping my average rating for this project would be close to 3. It tends to drift up but I can always trust Public Image to get me back on track. Two albums, a total of two stars.

1/5. This is the demo tape your buddy's alcoholic friend gives you at a bar. This band legitimately must have had blackmail material for the people making the list in order for this muddy, droning mess of an album to get a spot. A ten minute opening track?? Get outta here.

375/1089 - Sounds like Joy Division except even shittier and more repetitive. Seriously, the repetition on this gives EDM and Reggaeton a run for their money. Non-list rec: Breakfast in America - Supertramp (1979) Excellent showcase of the Wurlitzer and a very solid Prog Pop record.

This is not my kind of music.

if i never have to listen to John Lydon's nasally, grating wailing, see his smug fucking face, or think about his dumbass, self-serving, performative politics ever again, it'll be too soon. a man whose only ideas have ever amounted to "aren't you soooo mad?" and retrofitted everything else to fit that. this would just be more generic english garbage but he brings it to new lows with his caterwauling. the Ricky Gervais of music (or is Gervais the Lydon of comedy? who fucking cares)

No comment

No!!!!! A second one???? This is ass. This thing is an hour long. Listen, I like the guitar on pop tones. Socialist is kind of fun. That’s all I got.

He had 1 great album in him. It wasn't this

What even is this? Didn't man it far into the album. It sounds like when South Park was making fun of Marilyn Manson

It holds nothing for me. Really bland. Enjoyed "Socialist" tho

really really really nothing for me

Thanks, I hate it

Bad

When the album first started it seemed promising. But I was soooo wrong. This is the worst piece of music that I've come across. This was a terrible album with no memorable moments. Why is this even on this list. So much whining and whining for a grown man. Literally, why is this album an hour long. Would rather spend my time sucking dick.

Nah

nope, must've been a "you had to be there" album

Urgh dull af

Not Good.

Where did they find that singer?

Meh

What a racket..got four tracks in, read about it on Wiki, and get what it means for the scene. But no.

Looks like Santa delivered coal for Christmas. If it was -just- the instruments, I'd be okay with it. It's repetitive and boring, but that's fine. That's okay. But the grating vocals tip this over into the terrible territory.

It may be christmas, but I am declaring war on this type of music. Let's make a checklist of all our favorite post-punk tropes, shall we? - "avant garde" singing techniques, which basically means chucking every semblance of scales and tone out the window for what can best be described as pained screams from stubbing ones toe. - Reinvent this singing style... By sounding like a talking heads knockoff... - Incomprehensible lyrics about some faint zeitgeist feeling I guess... Because the interviewer is asking about it. - Synth sounds outdated years before. - Guitar play just as "avant garde" as the singing, dial the settings to something innately stupid like zero gain or all treble as on this album. Either forget modulation and drive exists or use it as a crutch for one of your songs' endless loops. - Despite wishing to push at all boundaries of taste and style failing to break out of a 4/4 rythm, betraying an innate lack of musical skill or imagination. Do I need to go on? But above all else the runtime is atrocious. I suspect this has to do with the improvised nature of the lyrics. Nobody knows what the singer's going to do or when he bothers to start singing or when he's gonna be done. So you have the bass player and drummer playing endless empty loops with nothing happening over them for entire minutes. Any other sane crew would have cut this shit out of the album. As a final middle finger to the listener, the last song is just a lame sounding lonely synth plodding along meaninglessly for 4 minutes and 26 seconds. And here I am wasting time again, writing this all down.

Borderline unlistenable

I couldn't connect with any of the tracks and some of them were even annoying. Not for me.

Hate the singer. Lyrics are basic and depressing. Music arrangements are sometimes ok but are not really creative or interesting. Songs are too damn long. Listened before? N Saved tracks? N Favorite tracks? The last note of the last track was the best note if the whole damn album. ⭐ Hated it

PiL's Metal Box (aka Second Edition) is Johnny Rotton's new wave band after the Sex Pistols Broke up. this is him in his full arrogance. this PiL album like other groups at the time are putting out these transition type albums where punk is trying to grow into new wave. never was a PiL fan, but they do have better, non-wailing brighter stuff out there. a side note, the guitarist is Keith Levine who was an original founding member of The Clash. they were originally a five-piece band. when he left/kicked out (depending what camp you listen to), they just never brought in another guitarist to replace him.

Somehow I enjoyed the loud Brazilian slurping of Os Mutantes more than this. Will wonders never cease?

A guy finds an original Rembrandt and Stradivarius in his attic. Is all excited but then discovers Stradivarius is an awful painter. Artists do not always make good musicians. This is a testament to that.

Not for me

IDK... The songs somewhat vibes, but they all get repetitive fast. Feels more like a jam or something. The signing is more distracting than serving the songs. So in the end, I didn't quite _like_ any of them.

I'm only 4 minutes into the first song and I want to give up on the rest of the album so bad. This is barely listenable. The only musician that seems to know what they're doing is the drummer. Okay, second song and the bassist is also not bad. But the guitar and the vocals are truly awful, and they're put way too much at the forefront. As the album progresses, I realize the first song was probably the worst. Either that, or I got used to the sound after a while and drowned it out. Either way, physically hurts to listen to. 1/5.

Reichlich avantgardistisch. Nicht mein Geschmack

wanted to turn it off immediately

Atonal, and rather painful to listen to.

Very experimental and pushing boundaries in 1979. Clearly an influence on new age bands that would arrive in just a few years. Just not very enjoyable to listen to. The guitar and Lydon’s vocals are downright irritating.

1/10. As innovative, and original this album is, I just cannot stand it. It deserves its inclusion in the generator, and I like the Sex Pistols. However, this album is just really not for me. Sorry!!!

Sounds like an inspiration for the Smiths. But even the Smiths sounded prepared to be in the studio — ie, had songs, could play their instruments, could hit the vocal notes. The bass player can play/is talented, but the exception proves the rule in this case. Ugh. A 1.

Didn’t like it

I’ve come to loathe Public Image Ltd.

Not my vibe at all. The guitar sounds made me want to turn it of straight away and the singing/talking isn't appealing to me at all.

PIL, what can I say about these? THEY'RE SHIT!!!!!! How they ever came up with Rise I will never know. To be fair I must say the rhythm section weren't bad, but a half decent rhythm section does not a band make. Purely because there is no zero they get a 1. But I do feel that devalues the other 1's I have awarded

I can only find one positive on this album. The bass playing is superb. Unfortunately, John can only hold one note, so the vocal performance is at best monotonous, and at worst blood curdling.

< the Beatles Another album in the category of post punk is as shit as punk is good

Welcome to Watch mojo and hears a list of albums you didn't need to listen to

I tried, but this was virtually unlistenable. Experimental doesn’t equal good.

omfg man shut UP Would I listen again: np Deserves to be on this list: no?? 1.2

Look, I’m not above using snazzy packaging to sell albums. Master P’s Ghetto D had that bright ass orange case, and that shit was Fire, but this ain’t no mother fucking P…just was some artsy, avant garde, new wave, noisy ass bull shit. I bailed after a few tracks.

This project has taught me that I don't really care for post punk. The bass is kinda cool on most of these songs, but not digging much of anything here. Would be fine never hearing this one again.

Awful

Kut muziek

jesus that was awful

Meh

Thought I’d give this a 2 but couldn’t make it to the end of the album.

zu alt

Oh boy, where to start with? The vocals are unbearable, sounding like someone painfully dying in slow motion. The tracks are way too long for how boring and repetitive the music is, and honestly, the music itself isn’t great either. I couldn’t make it through the whole album and I'd rather listen to the sound of nails on a chalkboard!

I probably just don't "get" post-punk, but absolutely nothing on this album sounds anything close to good.

Maybe groundbreaking for the time, but sounds like bad Nirvana

Hating this, giving up 4 songs in

This is so bad I feel bad for even giving them the listens on Deezer - nobody involved deserves to be making money off this. And it's so long too :(

If you don't like Johnny Rotten, you don't like bad music.

ROTTEN, ABSOLUTLEY ROTTEN

A somewhat fun bass line and tone carried me through this one. Maybe punk is not for me? This was a slog.

1 - not good and all the songs are too long

Not for me. Listened to all of this, but definitely wouldn’t listen again.

Это пример, что получится если панки решат сделать авангард. На совершенно монотонный костяк из баса (единственное, что мне здесь понравилось это бас) и прямых партий ударных натянуто дребезжание и истеричный вокал Лайдона. Я люблю прогрессивный рок и психодел, но когда я вижу песню длиной в 10 минут, я хочу слышать развитие мелодии ина все 10 минут. Albatross это песня минуты на две растянутая на десять. Примерно то же и с poptones. Весь "авангард " этого альбома это крики Лайдона и выскребывание из гитары потусторонних звуков

A 1-hour-long recording of an actual metal box filled with tools and nails being kicked down a flight of stairs would only have been slightly less obnoxious. Kudos for making me want to punch someone more than any Punk album ever did.

This album was an absolute chore to listen! (3.66) ★½

Really depressing album. 1.5 stars

Shouldn’t be in a metal box but rather a litter tray and an Olympic pool-sized one at that.

If you want to hear Johnny Rotten caterwaul over the same repetitive beat for 7 minutes, this is the album for you.

Not my kinda noise

I actually find it insane how influential this was. Like there were genuinely loads of other musicians at the time that listened to this garbage and saw the vision, and actually used that to make their music not suck.

HORRIBLE

This one was hard to get through.

Nei, takk.

As usual, Lydon's views, lyrics, vocal performance, and humor are shit, but at least he hires good instrumental performers, so I just tune his vocals out, like they are a sound effect in the background and focus on the groove. Jah Wobble's bass performance is one of the only consistent bright and funky spots on the entire album. This is early in Martin Atkins drumming career before he would show off his genius in Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, and Pigface. I understand the complaints of others about the album being repetitive, but unlike others, I don't mind the repetition. I find the repetition in punk, dub, electronic, and dance to be quite zen meditative, if one is willing to close their eyes and simply let go. Favorites: "Careering", "Socialist", and "Radio 4". Being a fan of many of the genres that embraced instrumental ideas expressed on this album I wanted to like this album more than I actually did. So, yes it is clearly a proto album for punk, electronic, and industrial, but not sure that anyone needs to hear it anymore, since there is very little pleasure in doing so.

The very first song has the singer moaning the line "You are unbearable, run away" ... so I did!

Hated it. Can't even define genre. Post punk? All the songs sound the same.

Am I missing something? This is a joke right? This album is terrible and I want whatever drugs people were on when they made it

While I've never actually enjoyed anything by John Lydon and whatever outfit he's fronting, I sometimes can appreciate the socio/emotional catalyst that fuels the music. This just sounded like wankers wanking.

Didn't like it. Is interesting.

No reason to listen to this one again.

I didn't like it. It was too "experimental" for my taste. The album has some interesting elements but the mix between cryptic lyrics and strange instrumentals are way too bizarre and quite boring. I listen to all the album but half the second track I just want it to stop. The last track "Radio 4" was more enjoyable. Very atmospheric and more in line with my style. It's really the only track i didn't dislike of the entire album.

This sounds like shitty dive bar stuff, not something that was made by the same guy who fronted a quintessential punk album. Why Johnny Rotten chose to channel his inner Yoko Ono is beyond me.

What a load of bollocks

Que des albums que j’aime pas, jusqu’à quand seigneur jusqu’à quand Des sons de 15min on est où là

I’m not listening to this x

I listened to "Second Edition," which is what was available on Apple Music. It appears to be basically the same thing but different song order. I was not familiar with this band at all. I just have no patience for this shit. Awful, unpleasant vocals, out of tune guitars, the inane repetition. It's all too much for me to take. There was one decent track, Socialist, which had no vocals or guitar. Bleck!

Loved Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols. Never understood PIL. Always sounded like they intentionally suck to remain relevant. Terrible.

This has everything I'd normally like in an album from this era. Goofy parts, wild experimentation in an already experimental genre, a good groove, etc. The problem is that it all comes together to make some of the most annoying music New Wave has ever produced. It's only made worse by the fact that these guys have a second album on the list. The only interesting part is the cover, or I guess, case.

Not a great album for me. Music seemed uninspired and the vocals were nothing special. I know the singer is from the sex pistols but I don't really like them either.

Heard some PiL before but I wasn't ready for this album. It gave me a headache. It was just random sounds 1/5

two songs in... i can't

1. Albatross - 1 Vocally it does not sound good and the guitars are pleasant at times, noisy at others. Lyrically it's hard to follow as well, with a lack of meaning or any substance in the lyrics themselves. 2. Memories - 1 It's more of the previous track: lyrics I cannot follow or that have no real purpose. Vocals I do not enjoy. Bass line is solid on this track but the rest of the instruments are not enjoyable. 3. Swan Lake - 3 Rinse and repeat. Guitars and drums are more enjoyable on this track. 4. Poptones - 3 The non-singing parts are better than the singing parts. 5. Careering - 0 Dreadful sound. 6. No Birds - 2 Guitars are nice at times. They are the only highlight for the track. 7. Graveyard - 1 Noise with no structure. 8. The Suit - 0 Horrendous track. The vocals sound insanely dull and lyrically it's not strong at all. The worst track on the album. 9. Bad Baby - 2 Bass is a lot more enjoyable on this track but it is the only redeeming thing about it. Vocals are just as bad as any of the others. 10. Socialist - 2 Purely instrumental track. 11. Chant - -1 I seriously debating giving this a -1 and as I listened to more absolutely was convinced to give it the score. It is the worst track I've listened to so far in the 1001 Albums Challenge (Day 34). Pure noise. 12. Radio 4 - 0 Purely organ-like music. Now I love a good organ (example: Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy VI), but this is just slow and melodic. As if I was in a church but not even the Lord himself can save this album or the rating I will bestow upon it. Average Rating: 1.17 Adjusted to a 5-Point Scale: 0.58 Rounded Up: 1 Star

Is this what depression feels like?

This album objectively sucks. I know the history, it doesn't matter, it still sucks.

Nut my cup of tea, quite experimental and I personally did't like the songs 1/5

Bass was great and the only thing I enjoyed here. Vocals were awful and ruined what might have been enjoyable. Listened to this twice and disliked it more the second time. Not going to revisit this anytime soon

Oh Johnny. What on earth was this? Haven't listened to this for 40 years and now I know why. Awful.

Post-punk is the worst and this is no exception.

It was hard for me to get through this one, but still gave it a full listen. Felt like the singer was just moaning/talking/mumbling over the bass line, not something I would choose to listen to again.

I have heard very few albums worse than this mess of so called songs. An hour of my life I will never get back. Don’t waste your time with this!

Holy shit, Public Image Ltd. A few years back I listened to The Flowers of Romance because I thought the album cover was cool (even if I didn’t understand what the hell it was depicting). In retrospect, that cover feels like one of those incomprehensible, upsetting AI images that people generate just to mess with each other. I haven’t thought about these guys in years and only have vague recollections of their music, so I’m willing to give these guys another chance. “Public Image Ltd” is a great name for a band, after all. If I were more into punk, I could see myself possibly, maybe, hypothetically enjoying this album. Where I currently stand, I feel more than a little underwhelmed by it. I’m all for wackadoo experimental bullshit, but this album kind of potters in place and does absolutely nothing. There are beyond zero things going on in the lyrics and the instrumentals are samey across the board. Albatross is a serviceable opener. It does an alright job at establishing the sound and atmosphere of this album. I don’t mind the guitars, though they become a much bigger problem as the album progresses. The bassy backing instrumental does a good job at holding my attention, which is the most consistent bit of praise that I have for Metal Box. I don’t mind Poptones. The guitar performance is, again, pretty alright. It gives the track a little bit of floatiness, which I enjoy. Graveyard is pretty cool. The guitar doesn’t do much for me as it’s way too shrill, but the heavy bass and more subdued instruments are quite good. I think my experience of this album is learning to tune out the shitty leading instruments and pray to God that John Lydon doesn’t get on the beat. This album has been massively acclaimed by critics, which is surprising. The book describes this album as “a measurement of torture”, which is funny. Do I think this album earns a spot on the list? I’m unsure. On one hand, I appreciate being given weird shit to listen to and on the other I don’t think this album does nearly enough to earn its “weird” status. It’s not like this music even gave me much of an experience, as I’ve already forgotten this band once over. Overall, I’m pretty unimpressed and frustrated by this one.

eins bis zwei

How are there so many "post-punk" albums from the UK around this time on this list? Every song sounds like it was recorded in a cave and they're all like 10 minutes long. I guess the bass playing was good.

1 stern

It's albums like this one that make people question or regret why they've started this list. Why is this garbage worthy of being an album you must listen to before you die? God good man, there are better albums out there. Absolute waste of time listening to these talentless bums. 1/10.

Never heard of this either. The version I’m listening to is called metal box as the other version is not available on YouTube music. Starting off I’m into it. 3 mins in and I am no longer into it. The rhythms sounds like Billie Jean and I can’t unhear that. Oh man this first song is ten minutes?! I also want to run away. This is a collection of cool beats with the worst singing. It feels like trying to listen to Tomahawk or any other Mike Patton project. This was terrible, but the music was ok. It was the singing and lyrics that ruined it for me.

pass

An album full of sounds generated by a first grader arranged in a pretty decent way

Ik kan me voorstellen dat dit in de jaren 70/80 cool was om op te leggen om je te profileren als een edgy, coole kerel die eye liner en zwarte lippenstift gebruikt. Maar voor een 25-jarige in 2025 is dit gewoon een schelle gitaar, een heel repetitieve baslijn en een kerel die wat schreeuwt in een microfoon. Dit had evengoed een auditief kunstwerk kunnen zijn in het S.M.A.K. 0.5

Well at least it has guitar in it🤷‍♂️ I was pretty excited to hear this, knowing that it was some of John lydons post Sex Pistols work. I knew it was different but for me, this is too different. I was determined to sit through it, so now I've done so, I doubt t I'll ever be back for a listen. I understand at the time this was quite a landmark album/band for the post punk genre, but this I can't get in to. I appreciate it for what it is, but it's not for me.

Pretty awful stuff. The first track is the worst, by far, but every song is just a repetitive bass line with plonking guitar and moaning vocals.

Did not have enough drugs with me to enjoy this

Just not good.

How this trash ass group has another album on this list is beyond me. I hit play on track 1, and immediately knew this wasn’t going to the end. By track 3 I hit stop. Then I remembered they have been on the list before, and I pretty much had the same thoughts on that album. This list truly is filled with abominations that folks definitely should never listen to before they die.

Jag blir arg på att jag behöver lyssna på detta

Inte utan bra stycken men mycket oljud alltså

lol this sucked so bad

Looked up PIL’s Popular Tracks on Spotify halfway thru the first track, skipped ahead to sample Metal Box’s Swan Lake, and triumphantly turned this offffff Fool me once, PIL!!!!

Jag är inte sugen på att lyssna på John Lydon nu eller någonsin

Not for me. I wanted to like it because I often like avant-garde-ish stuff but this has no redeeming qualities to me.

Trash. Annoying and droning vocals. How can this be something important? It is trash. Got to No Birds, and am leaving...

Le post-punk fait une entrée remarquée dans le top5 des pires genres de l'histoire de la musique.

Lost two full stars for the song Chant.

Album 775 of 1089 Public Image Ltd. - Metal Box (1979) Rating : 1 / 5 This was really bad. I read they influenced several top bands. I'm guessing they influenced them to not replicate this mess.

Noise

absolute trash

So I hated every song on this. There are worse albums out there, but boy are there better ones. If I never listen to another Public Image song in my life I'll feel OK about it.

I can dig the bass and drums on some of these tracks. But the rest is god-awful.

They have another one on this list?! Good lord. The first one was murder to my ears...this one isn't much better.

Ugh. Awful. Overrated. Rotten.

It’s not good! Atonal repetitive noise offset by short bursts of musicality. Ugly, repetitive and boring! They got better. Why the hell is this album on the list? Pick “Album” instead; this one is a No.

I like challenging music. I have the ability to listen to challenging music. Challenging music is in my wheelhouse. But I could not get into this. Very repetitive.

Not good, felt stressful, alot of tension build up with missing releases. Wikipedia has 'dance' as one of the genres of this album, im struggling to see how this is possible, unless possessed by some demons. 1.5

👎🏻

Only made it through 3 tracks before I shut it off. Albums you must hear that make you want to die.

Pure nonsense

has like one song I liked... maybe I'll revisit it someday, the songs drag on

nicht wirklich auszuhalten und der Gesang ist so "jammernd"

an hour of this, really?

Johnny Rotten sucks ass

This is the first album I've gotten from this generator where I absolutely have no idea what to expect. I've never heard of Public Image Ltd. Without researching, I'm just going to put this on and take it as it comes. To start off, it looks like two songs from the album have been greyed out on Spotify - those songs being "Bad Baby" and "Chant". To make sure I'm taking in the entire album, I'll try and see if I can find those songs independently from the linked Spotify release. From the opening couple songs, it seems like a very interesting brand of early noise rock. A lot of weird and interesting production tricks to make the guitar sound very shrill and off-putting in a positive way? The drums on this album seem to keep a familiar monotonous tempo that scratches my brain nicely. I think the only thing that stands out to me as negative is the vocalist's vibrato-laden vocals and yells. I don't know if it's necessarily for me but it absolutely fits the theme of the album from what I've gathered of the first two songs. "Socialist" is a fun little track that feels like an improvised jam sesh with some futuristic soundscapes thrown in there to make you feel like you're on an alien spaceship. Same thing with the track "Graveyard", however, I feel like it's composition lends better to the theme of the song. "Chant" has to be one of the most insufferable songs I've heard in a very long time, felt like I was getting a headache listening to it. Overall I feel like this album was experimental for experimentalism's sake and I didn't enjoy listening to this one. Will not be coming back to it. Standout tracks are "Careering", "Socialist", and "Graveyard".

This is certainly music.

One of those that leave me questioning the selection criteria for this list.

Neither enjoyable to listen to nor interesting to hear. The punk and post-punk sensibility can be such a liberating creative force. But it is too-often a convenient facade for the lazy and uninspired.

Great rhythm section shame but then it goes into free form punk with some twat on a guitar. And then you have some twat that wants to wail rather than his usual talk/shout singing. Real shame Mr Lyddon but this is awful

I’m not into this type of music

They need to put this shit back in that damn metal box, bury it and never let it resurface again. This album will be playing during the first purge.

Note: on Spotify the album is called Second Edition This is a dreadful album. Although I got through the whole thing, I found it to be largely unlistenable. 0/10

psychedelic

Good alternative/ punk band.

No

Fucking horrible. The only that makes this remotely interesting is getting to hear what Johnny Rotten is up to post-Sex Pistols. After the first listen there's nothing interesting left. Shit is BORING! Repetitive jumbled messy trash. Not to mention, Johnny Rotten still remains a completely unlikeable trash human! So far in my journey through this list, this album has the #1001 spot locked up!

The prophetic lyrics of track 1 say it all: “You are unbearable”, “run away”, “getting rid of the albatross “.

People who are not familiar with PiL will no doubt never pursue more of their catalog after listening to this crap record. Which is really unfortunate since the band has some really good ones down the line and really came into form on Album (1986) and Happy? (1987). But this one only prompted me to say never mind PiL…here’s some bollocks!

I heard the bass and groove on the first song and was thinking “okay, okay…we might have something here.” But then the vocals came in and completely turned me off. And it kept going through every song. I made it 2 maybe 3 songs and couldn’t handle more. And had no interest to go back. So I think that’s grounds for a “get tha fuck outta here!”

I did not like this. The first track really set the mood for complete suck. 1.25/5

I prefer the Sex Pistols. Maybe more innovative/groundbreaking but i think there's better stuff in the genre.

Immediately from track 1 its a genuinely challenging album to listen to. It's just not for me, sorry folks. I was itching to listen different music the whole time. Fav song: Swan Lake?? Socialist ?maybe

Shtøgg musikk med mye reverb og en vokalist som ikke kan synge. Hørte to låter og så orka jeg ikke mer

Post-punk classic? I think this was just bad.

I’ve never listened to this album before, and now I understand why. It’s just not my thing. Feels like pretentious, fake-artistic nonsense.

I never really cared for PIL, so I mostly didn't listen for almost any of it. Rotten's wail is espescially annoying, it feels very pretentious even tho I suspect it's lack of ability instead of self-sufficient complacency. Listens like a nephew's high school art project, whose parents keep telling him how talented he is and he honestly believes it. For the most part I skipped tracks after about a minute or so, just so I can feel honest about trying to listen to all of it, but also not get angry and frustrated while doing so. Utter bollocks.

1 star. I respect the artists for their influence or legacy but I don't fuck with shitty people and their politics

What if i took a bunch of weird sounds that might be cool as an accent and made it the whole album

I like the cover-artwork but the music sucks.

Wow... I mean I'm pretty open to most music but I actually had to turn this off. What a load of out of tune garbage

Not for me. 1/5

in the past couple of weeks, two notable things have happened to me: 1. i had a leak in my apartment that lasted for 10 days 2. i had 2 public image ltd. albums generated for me the public image ltd albums were worse! if there’s another one of these on the list i WILL [redacted].

it's punk rock, so......

Read a comment on YouTube as I was listening saying that Careering had the best bassline ever, and it made me wonder if they had ever listened to any other song. The bass is the saving grace of the album, but he's definitely not a great technical bassist. The guitar is terrible throughout. The drummer is at least mostly on beat? Let's not even get into the vocals. Though, I suppose without Mr. Rotten we've had never heard this album. Perhaps it would be better if I hadn't. What a trash album. I think I would rather put the Nico album back on, then listen to this again. Half-way through the first song I was done with it. It didn't get any better. It definitely didn't need instrumental tracks. I breathed a sigh of relief when this ended.

I didn't finish the album. I didn't want to. It made my work miserable and I want to listen to something else. The greatest part of this album, was when I turned it off. This album feels like an extension of "Live at The Witch Trials". In other words, it's terrible. I think if you wanted to torture someone, you would lock them in a room replaying Metal Box and Live at The Witch Trials over and over again. There's nothing to salvage this album. There's nothing to analyze. There's nothing to like (the bass lines were decent, but repetitive). I can't even imagine how the producer of this record feels listening to these tracks over and over again getting the mix "just right". Although given the quality of the tracks, that probably didn't happen. I can't believe that even Rolling Stone magazine rated this as a top 500 album. Seriously, what is their criteria?! 1

Great bass lines. The rest is a bunch of free-from crap. If you've heard the first ten seconds of each song, then you've heard the entire song. And Lydon is the male equivalent of Yoko Ono's vocal range.

What a depressing attempt at an album. This is everything I hate about post-punk summed up. A 10-minute intro track trying to be avant-garde, while never departing from the same monotone bass line or harsh guitar lick? I'll pass, thanks. Oh but wait, the vocals will certainly impress you. You like to hear grown men whining about albatrosses right? Oh, you don't? Well no worries. The rest of the album is for you, I guarantee it. What's that? Oh, you also don't care for songs that never deviate from the same 2 chords and have incoherent keyboards just noodling in the background? Okay okay. But just you wait...the third track will blow your mind. Sorry? Oh, you don't like that we're 18 minutes into the album and only on the third track out of 12? Hm, weird.

post punk is not for me

Horrible

Dreadful. Dreadful human being.

'Avant-garde' or 'Purposefully-shit'? You decide.

boring

Шиза

Bevrijd van het punk-stramien ontdekt Jantje Bedorven dat liedjes langer mogen duren dan 2 minuten en albums langer dan 25 minuten. En daar maakt 'ie dan ook gebruik van. Alsof je een vis op het droge legt en gaat zitten kijken naar z'n doodsstrijd. Zo'n beest houdt het langer vol dan je denkt. Steeds als je denkt 'dat was het' krijgt zo'n beestje toch weer een kleine opleving, maar veel meer dan een keer spartelen of met z'n ogen bewegen kan het op het land niet doen. Daar komt nog bij dat het spierweefsel van zo'n vis bepaalde bewegingszenuwcellen bevat waardoor zo'n beest zelfs na het intreden van de dood nog kan bewegen. Deze doodstrijd, inclusief het spartelen na het overlijden, gaat een vol uur door in dit geval. Wat een ontzettend saai en een tikkie vervelend album. Liedjes van 4 minuten lijken een kwartier te duren. Liedjes van 10 minuten veroorzaken al helemaal gaten in de ruimtetijd. Vooruit: De basgitaar is enigszins opvallend, maar een basgitaar kan zo'n album geen uur lang dragen. En terwijl de bassist z'n schouders eronder zet wordt ons Johnny eigenlijk hoe langer hoe irritanter, al begon bij mij de irritatie al bij dat gejank over die albatros op track 1. Track 10 'Socialist' is het enige momentje waarop je bij mij een hele kleine opleving zou kunnen waarnemen, maar hoewel ik daardoor nog één keer spartel ben ik op dat punt dus eigenlijk net als zo'n vis al dood. Ik wilde aanvankelijk 2 sterren geven omdat het geen kutherrie is, maar het album sleept zo lang voort en maakt me van binnen zo kapot dat er maar 1 ster overblijft.

I was really excited for this when I heard the bass line of the first song and thought that this might be something. Unfortunately my excitement for this recorded ended there. The rest was of the album is mostly filled with various noises and screeching. I have to say I am a little impressed that some parts of this album sounds quite modern for being made in '79. If the singer wouldn't have opened his mouth for the entire record and they would have used something other than that awful distorted guitar it might have been a completely different story. 'Albatross' and 'Graveyard' are good examples of where it almost works, but is dragged down due to aforementioned issues. In all this unfortunately falls quite flat and is mostly annoying. Strong 1 for me.

I mean there are some good riffs and baselines here like in "Poptones" and "Swan lake" but the vocals are just too jarring for me. I guess that is the point? For me this was just a slog to get through anytime there were any vocals. 1 star.

Utter rubbish

Ööö ok? Kyllä mä erotan tän musiikiksi ja tavallaan ymmärrän poikain vision, mut lähinnä tää kuulostaa toistolta ja surinalta. En vihaa, mutta sain harvinaisen vähän irti, yks puol tähtee.

Awful

terrible

Uggg, hated every single note of each of song. Horrible "music".

Niet leuk. Geen melodie, zeurderig

Living hell

This is not music. I don't care what anyone says, because this is not music. My other note when listening to this album was that it was "experimental indeed." That about sums up my thoughts.

The only songs that didn't make me want to rip out my ear drums were the songs with no vocals. 1/5

Meh

Det var virkelig svært at lytte på. Whiny, kunne ikke fatte hvad Johnny Rotten mumlede, alt for ufokuseret i valget af musik. Var virkelig svært at komme i gennem. Nogle gange var det næsten ok hvis der ikke var sang på

The maker of this list had the responsibility to realize there weren't 1000 good albums and save us all some time. This was horrible, I laughed out loud at the end of the first song when stupid johnny rot started wailing or something. Not even Jah Wobble could save this

THIS. ISN'T. MUSIC. This is the second record of those morons that I've had (the first being the album First Issue). This band was formed by John Lydon of the Sex Pistols..... He must have wanted to moan a bunch on tape and Sid Vicious wouldn't let him so he decided to torture us with his own band. It is truly just shittily played instruments and moaning..... It is awful. Who the fuck considers this music. Absolute garbage of an album. Favourite songs: Radio 4, both because it is the last song on the album, and because the singer shuts the fuck up. Least favourite songs: this entire piece of shit album 1/5

It's awful but that's ok because it's "avant garde" and it's not meant to be listenable or have structure or be bearable and...and you just don't get it, ok?! Impressively boring. Remember, things could always be worse, you could be listening to PIL.

Nope, horrible.