Metal Box

I hate this.

Almost so bad it becomes good. But any album that starts with 10 minutes of awful will never go beyond a 1

If you listened to all of the non-famous Joy Division songs and thought “I want more of the same but for the lyrics to be more unintelligible and the instruments starker and the songs longer and more drone-y” then this is the album for you. Otherwise, feh.

Made it half way through. I will not add any of these songs to my Spotify playlists. It sounded like the singer was yelling across the room into a microphone. Not my favorite album.

Unfortunately 0 isn't an option. I guess I just don't "GET" post punk...

noise. bad noise

Didn’t enjoy it much

Someone needs to stop them from performing again.

Self-indulgent guff

I listened to like 3 songs before deciding that I just did not want to listen to it anymore. sorry for being a hater but that's my truth

Light torture. Socialist and Radio 4 are okay.

Okay, I'm prepared for the incoming pretentious, fart-sniffing, pontificating allegations. And I ain't beating them. I'm also not going to go to war with everyone. I'm just going to put my best case forward for this album. Talking Heads released their first feature-length album in '77, which was wildly ahead of its time in predicting the sounds that would define the 80s, but also in its sampling, editing, and production techniques. This only grew on future albums. Similarly, even earlier, White Light / White Heat by the Velvet Underground came out in '68 and captured the textures, fuzz, and punk that would explode in the early 70s with Branca, Sonic Youth, the Swans, and all the other subsequent alt-rock and punk projects of the late 70s and early 80s. What does *Metal Box* have to do with any of that? It released in '79, riding that end-of-decade wave of innovation. No one was making sounds like this, except for Eno and maybe, before him, Halim El-Dabh with his piece Wire Recorder Piece or even John Cage’s experiments, though to a much lesser degree. There are probably others, but those are the ones I know of. I was disappointed by No Birds because it felt like it was going somewhere but didn’t. I felt as though not only is the album deeply experimental, but it has nothing to show for it at times. Thankfully, I didn’t feel that way throughout. In fact, everything up to and including Albatross didn’t amount to much more than an early use of dub techniques in this manner. However, Poptones blew me away. This track came out nearly 45 years ago, and it sounds like an experimental track that could come out today. It’s so unique and chilling, capturing that post-punk rawness while being strangely beautiful. Careering pushed me. The hollow echo and the jarring rhythms really got under my skin. And that was the point. By experimenting with dub, post-punk, and heavy distortion, PiL created soundscapes that were previously unthought. Music doesn’t have to be catchy and danceable—it can be abrasive and off-kilter. This track filled me with a sense of unease. Very cool. Graveyard, minus the vocals, if used for the soundtrack of a contemporary horror film, would receive praise for its building of tension. The imagery associated with it is haunting. Some people are amazed that Aphex Twin developed some of his early works in the mid-80s. Radio 4 came out in ’79, come on, you gotta admit, that’s pretty cool. I feel the same way about The Suit as I do about Graveyard. It could fit into a modern horror soundtrack and no one would bat an eye. It may even receive praise. The walls of sound on Metal Box are a premonition of the looping soundscapes of no-wave and influence that would dominate the early 80s and have a lasting impact on alt-rock and industrial music going forward. This album reminds me of Eno’s Another Green World. And while he might have beat them to the punch, this album is certainly remarkable and influential for its time and certainly deserving of a spot on the list of post-punk classics. What people need to understand is that this album, while not to most people’s taste, isn’t a flaming garbage heap. It’s not just banging noises together. I’ve been to awful live noise shows; anyone can bang some stuff together and call it music. That’s a 1/5. This isn’t that. This is well-composed, influential, ahead of its time. It had structure and nuance. 10/10 Fav tracks – Poptones, Careering, Graveyard, Radio 4, Albatross, The Suit, Memories Least fav – No Birds -- Just kidding, this album was fucked.

Funny that they are called public image because I would probably have to go into total exile if someone heard this blaring from my headphones

Trepanation is a process in which a hole is drilled into the skull. Derived from the Greek word, τρύπανον, meaning “to bore” or “to auger”.

This album coming out the same year as Thatcher coming into power is pretty telling.What a way to bring in the 80s, fuck me. This HAD to be the sign that lead paint causes brain damage right?

The fact that we live in the timeline where this album got rave reviews on release and the Brighton Hotel bombing was not successful shows how awful this world really is. Albatross has a line that sums up my thoughts on this album and Public Image Ltd in general: 'You are unbearable'. Following the intense dickriding of punk music, John Lydon decides to form a new band and lead the wave of post-punk which would be met with more intense dickriding from music critics whose minds have become so drained of whatever brain chemical allows you to actually enjoy music that they decide THIS dogshit is good music. Once you place this album in the context of late 70s England a lot of things begin to make sense, life was fucking dogshit and this clearly seeps into some of the music of the time. They could have fixed their economy however by manufacturing and selling hatchets to the general public with which they could hack music critics and journalists into tiny pieces which could be processed into biofuels and fertiliser, thereby making the UK a leader in the field of alternative fuels and agriculture. Therefore Thatcher would not have been elected and Neoliberalism wouldn't have taken off. In short, if this album was not released it would have definitely prevented the Falkands War, and maybe at least one of the Iraq Wars.

I found this as "Second Edition" on Spotify, no album called "Metal Box". I know the band as Johnny Rotten's spinoff from the Sex Pistols but only remember a few super annoying songs from the late 80's or early 90's. This album does nothing to suggest PIL is a good, or even average, band. I now solidly remember why they never went mainstream and why no one I knew actively listened to them. The opening track is 10 mins long, super dreary and highlights his weak singing voice over a repetitive drone of guitars, and that was one of the more listened to tracks. Pure garbage. It went downhill from there... No one can call this crap a masterpiece! "No Birds" and "Chant" are unlistenable. The songs on this album were not hits, not influential to anyone that came after them, his vocals are intolerable, clumsy drumming, the music sounds like an intoxicated 8th grade garage band from Boise. Zero reasons for this to be on any Top 1001 list!! One star just for showing up.

It sure what I just listened to here but it was terrible

Not horrible, but not worth the listen, kinda grungy sound

I thought I like PiL but albatross is a terrible start to any album

I couldn't even finish it, that was boring as hell

Red hot garbage

Metal Box is bad, almost no redeeming qualities, noise trying to pass itself off as music for the most part, atrocious vocals, lots of really bad new wave tropes, it's a painful 1.

Am I done with John Lydon yet? Am I done with whatever the fuck a Jah Wobble is yet? I was very down on both Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart (JFC, what a band name) and the first PIL record, and unfortunately we're back for more. For the record: I like post-punk. I like post-punk where the artist sounds like they actually give a shit, instead of half-assing one take and calling it a day. Lydon moans over this record with lyrics that sound like they've been sketched on a napkin. The drummers are faceless. Wobble's bass is occasionally interesting, but more often than not sticks to a formula and doesn't break. The guitars? Man. The guitars are the worst of all. Whoever it was must've walked into the studio blind, tried their best at improv, and called it lunch. I genuinely believe they thought more about the album packaging (which was apparently a large, metal box, hence the name) than absolutely any note of music on this thing. Please. Please. No more.

I didn't enjoy anything about this one. A bit too weird for me.

Couldn't make it through the first song (which is very long, and I don't mind long songs when they are good). Has the vocal style I don't particularly care for, and the guitars I found to be grating. Just a bunch of noise, which I get is probably the point, but it's not for me.

I acknowledge that they were the first of their kind, but everyone that came after did it way better

Every song is the first few seconds repeated. But I guess this album is very special because it came in a "metal box".

Raw, disconnected, basic. Sounds as if each of the 4 focused on their own instrument ignoring what the rest are doing. 2/10

Interesting instrumental sound that was totally unique. But some of these songs suck and I never want to hear them again.

Fuck this

Yikes I really don’t see how this is influential. You can’t even consider the guy making noise a singer because it was more just cries (for help I assume?). Dog poop album.

Knowing how much I hate their debut, I can't WAIT to hear this one... First song: Albatross. This sounds remarkably similar to something I recorded in high school as a joke on my pocket cassette recorder. And because I was a stupid 16 yr old with the accompanying sense of humour and used that in the "lyrics" it was infinitely better than this zero effort pile of dogshit. I like my fair share of post punk emo mopey Brit c1980 fare but this is hilarious how utterly and distinctly terrible it all is. I don't chafe a bit at the length of the songs. I do mind however that there's no evidence whatsoever that whomever recorded the parts on this album had ever actually played an instrument before. Comical that this album even was released let alone in this book. Run Away. 0/10 1 joke of a star

Couldn't finish it, an album I'd rather hear after death

Broke my balls after 5 minutes.

I don’t know how many times I have to say this about a post punk album on this list, sarcasm 👏 doesn’t 👏 make 👏 music 👏 inherently 👏 good. It’s whiny, it thinks it’s better than you, and they have nothing to back it up with. Absolute fuckers.

I’m all for experimenting in music but this tuneless mess of an album isn’t anything more than up his own arse Lydon furiously masturbating at how edgy he thinks he is. The only thing holding this together is the bass playing on every track which might be the only redeeming feature.

The lowest energy "punk" record I have ever heard. Did not like, won't come back to it. Just kinda boring meandering garbage.

bloody hell no

I turned it off when it started affecting my ability to focus. Not for me.

This is John Lydon's monstrous prank - defying the world to call out the emperor's got no clothes. It's deliberately anti-music and it's just terrible.

I am blankly staring at the wall

absolutely brutal listen 1/5

What sounds like an experimental jam session that I appreciate more in creativity than in actual practice.

not good. only made it half-way through. Will not listen again.

I didnt think I could find Johnny Rotten anymore annoying than I already did but here we are! The music is pretty good, Jah Wobble's bass is fantastic but those vocals are worth a minus star

Awful

Absolutely God awful. There is nothing to take from this except "how not to make a record" - I liked nothing in this record. The singer sounded like a shitty Jim Morrison. Not in vocal ability but in singing nonsensical lyrics that I'm sure pretentious people think are poetry. Piece of shit.

Meh

Thoughts before listening: Johnny Rotten's post-Sex Pistols band. I don't know much about them, but I believe it can get a little out there. Weirdo 80s new wave style music with sneering punk vocals maybe? I've always assumed I probably wouldn't like this and it's not worth my time. Review: Man, this first song confirms all of the reasons I never listened to these guys. Its over 10 minutes of atonal post-punk jamming with John Lydon slurring weird ass lyrics over top. Pretty bad. While the sound is carried on through the rest of the album, PiL does at least add some melodic sense to a few of these songs. I was about to give them some credit for this, but the overall sound finally wore me down. I don't like this. 1-star

To no one's surprise, John Lydon's vocals are the worst thing on this album. And then I made the mistake of going on his Wikipedia page. Never again. I wish I could give this zero stars, but the musicians do hold up.

Radio 4 was the best song by far and it gets the benefit of being the end of this charade of an album. This was pretty awful. Shoegaze???

A mix of genres brought together in a very jarring way. Sometimes it's almost deliberately unlistenable. Which is an interesting approach.

Absolutely terrible

Sometimes the background was pretty cool, but hated the singing. I originally wrote that sentence about the first song Albatross, but then realized it also applied to the whole album. This one is a nope for me.

Wut

Back at it again with the strange vocals. The instrumentals were just a little too strange for my liking. Overall, it’s a no from me, dawg.

not for me

I did not enjoy this ... what is this post punk randomness? I need the person who enjoyed this album to explain why!

This album sux. I hate it. I find no redeemable qualities anywhere around it. No need to listen. 1/5

Ixi, nem percebi que o cantor era o vocalista do Sex Pistols. Achei bem chato a substituição da energia punk pelas camadas pós-punk.

I'm not gonna pretend - I don't like this

The sound of a Hastings street in the early hours on a Sunday. Favourite track: Radio 4.

We’re off to a bad start with the first track - the singer sounds bored and it seems to drag on forever. The rest of the songs that I got through were droning and tinny to the point that it actually kind of hurt my ears. Dnf

ok ich bin sehr vorigboh well de johnny rotten isch en erzkonservative wichser worde sit de sex pistols. albatross isch chli kryptisch? de bass isch recht cool aber d gitarre macht nöd so sinnvolli sache. und was de text will sege checki au nöd. mann de shit goht e stuuuund. oh mein gott und albatros goht über 10 minute. wiso. oke langsam wirds unagnehm. zum glück bald fertig de song. memories isch miiiindestens so schlecht wie albatros. ich mues immerno 45 minute vo mim tag mit dem album verbringe. fuck. ich hass au swan lake. ich check s ostinato bass ding immerno und drums sind au nice aber da labget afoch nöd zum en guete song haa. aso wemmer denn no 5 minute s glich drüberschreit bringts au nöd. au am tchaikowski sini melodie rettets nöd. poptones isch chliieh mellow aber ich verstoh halt au meistens nöd waner will sege. aso die meiste wörter verstohni aber waser mit ihne will sege nöd. careering isch en guete titel, ha etz e pause gmacht chan drum vlt chli neutraler anegoh. wieeeder coole bass coli drums und drüber chli atonale stuff dasmol mit synths. ich checks aber s holt mi nuuuull ab. no birds, ah kein vogul ok. ich schmöck s 1 scho jetz. bi glaub nonig mol ide hälfti. graveyard isch wieder coole bis sogar seehr coole bass aber s wird nüüüüt demit gmacht. hass the suit soucial secouriteeeey heb fresse. aso jo s isch kritik ade elite aber s isch trotzdem ass. bad baby so schlecht fuck was gseht d kritik i dem??? "futuristic" "like nothing in the past or future" ah geil jo d zuelunft tönt afoch noch umegehüüle? super. dass en trump wähler 1979 es lied socialist nennt isch au es super zeiche. wiw socialist isch under 3 minute!!! wow! chant isch 5 minute und foht ah mit "chant chant chant chant" und atonale gitarre und isch mega unorganisiert ah geil!! es goht au glich wiiter yay!! figg dich johnny rotten. ich weiss scho dases SÖLL unagnehm und avant garde sii aber au das machts nume imme ton wi irgendwie überheblich isch. ich freu mich so fest dases bald verbi isch. radio 4 isch chli synth strings bis etz ABER JO GEIL ES HET TONALITÄT UND BITZ E MELODIE IDE STRINGS. und de bass isch immerno ume

bruh 1h oke s isch recht weird und de gsang hetmi nanig so überzügt hahahaha de bass findi no cool aber ehm giti macht eifach irgendöppis?? diggi wie ass isch das wow jz passiert echli meh aber jz d stimm eifach ass?? d bassline isch iwie immerno glich BRO DAS FILL CHAN DE LARS ULRICH BESSER WAS graveyard AASSSSSSSSSSSS WIE NERVIG ISCH DAS s schlimme isch, es isch nödmal ahsatzwiss spannend und kreativ sondern eifach nur nervig. die huere musical lüt und d band mitem fucking aug hend wenugstens funny stuff gmacht (wenn au ass) bruder am liebste 0 stern

I get nothing from this absolute noise

That was unpleasant nonsense for me. 1.5/5

Meh

More British garbage taking up space that rightfully belongs to Bob Seger.

Here’s another one of these albums… the vocals suck, the instruments are fine but repetitive, and maybe I can mildly groove to the bass line for a bit. But if that’s all I get, and then the vocals or dissonance brings me out of the groove, what’s the point? Especially when there’s at least 20+ of these albums on this list.

This is quite possibly the worst album I've ever listened to. The music is bad and droning, the lyrics are completely unintelligible and every song sounds so similar I often miss the transitions between them.

Meh

i kind of understand the whole post-punk movement, but it really isn't a sound that i'm a super big fan of - it feels like it meanders and oftentimes is just so disjointed that i can't get into it. I didn't realize that John Lydon (Sex Pistols vocalist) founded this band though

Practically unlistenable

"Guys, I am running out of cash let's make an album. Call the producer." "What do I tell him?" "Like, say, we need a mansion with some recording equipment and a genius Sound Technician guy." "K" "Yes, and some K" "He says, have you rehearsed?" "Fuck it. Just say we have."

Incoherent self-indulgent tosh. Yeah, I didn't like it.

Pain. Sounds like they just put a single mic on the ground 10 feet away and went with it.

I really did not think this album was good in terms of music or vocals. Absolutely none of the songs appealed to me. I didn't think I would ever give an album a 1, but there it is.

Blind album, know the artist from another album on the project. Why is this even considered good.

So I’m assuming John Lydon’s idea with PiL (at least initially) was to be a sort of antithesis of punk. So fair play, mission accomplished. Does it make it a great piece of music, not in the slightest. Really repetitive grating guitar or keyboard lines over some pretty basic rhythms and very little development in each song. Only ‘Socialist’ had me vaguely interested and that’s probably as it was borrowed from the Krautrock formula. Obvs a complete low score from me, but then that’s probably what Mr Lydon wanted anyway.

I'm really not feeling this one. It definitely has what might be considered a strong emo/goth sound. That can be okay sometimes, but it's not my everyday kind of listen. In fact, the more I listen to it, the less I care for it.

Throwing on Never Mind the Bollocks as a palate cleanser following this total mess

Truly one of the worst records I’ve ever heard.

I hope I never hear this band ever ever again

I listened to this whole dumb thing for some reason, but I had my review within ten seconds of the first song. This is terrible. Just a hodge-podge of noise and words without any meaning. I don't know why anyone would want to listen to this.

This is my first 1/5 stars (a little over 100 albums in). There is nothing redeemable or functionable about this record. I tried SO hard to justify a 2/5. But I can’t. The instruments are often atonal, the composition is so forgettable, the recordings/mixing is ?????. https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/260817778/Guy-taking-off-headphones

Punky. Too chaotic

Was told this is a band and an album people really love and one that others really hate. I'm the latter.

I see avant garde, I become suspicious. The singing in the first track is already rough, I can't imagine it gets any better. The singing makes this album unbearable. Another why the fuck is this here?

Im not having a good day so i will allow myself to skip this one. First one of 600 ish albums that i dont even turn on. Already know its a 1 anyway (0 if that was an option).

Absolutely exhausting listen I'm surprised I managed to finish it. Some cool riffs I guess but mostly no redeeming qualities - repetitive, boring, and the vocal performance was just awful.

One of the worst things I've ever listened to. Sounds like they gave a toddler a synthesizer and pressed record.

Pitkästä aikaa paskaa. Kuuntelin ehkä yhden biisin kokonaan ja sekin vahingossa ku keskityin liikenteeseen

There is “songwriting” without scope or revision, there is “singing” without tunefulness, there is “a band” without much discernible musuc being played in concert between its members. It sounds like they’re watching each other play through glass and guessing what would work. I can draw lines to Velvet Underground, Joy Division, even modern bands like Women and Preoccupations, but this is completely meaningless to me. Maybe there is some depth to be gleaned from this for someone else, but to my ears it sounds almost antithetical to the entire point of listening to music.

Cross between Midnight Oil and 80’s synth-noise. Way out of my interest zone.

Second Public Image album on this list, so I kind of knew what will happen. Still, I wasn't prepared for this. One riff for 10 minutes, terrible singing, and general grinding of the gears. It's 2024 and I'm a survivor of Metal Box.

I tried to like this and understand it. I even gave it a second, more-dedicated, listen. But it just sounds like noise and unpleasant chaos to me. Didn't enjoy any of it.

Couldn't make it through the whole album

Chato!

Þetta er ofsalega tormelt ... og leiðinlegt

abrasive guitar is right. this stinks

crap album

Reviews were right

It is not the worst album on this list. But it has almost no redeeming qualities. It is just noise. The vocals are bad. It is entirely too long. No need for it to be 60 minutes. Rounding down.

I hate it. Somehow made it through the whole album... It's pure garbage.

Some days the app kicks out an album that makes me ask if this is a joke. This is one of those.

Not for me

This is garbage. Zero stars is not available, so I must give it one star.

PIL was much better in the 80’s/90’s. I think that I could pick up an electric, strum a few chords and sound as good as the guitar on this album. 70’s London post-punk is just not that great.

It sounds like giving a baby a microphone while having a tantrum. I like long songs but these were not good because it was the whole album

Ok there is a reason nobody likes experimental type music except for the "enlightened" music critics. It's because it sucks and is painful on the ears. Music shouldn't be a slog to have to get through or something you must force yourself to endure. That is exactly what this album (I feel like even calling it that is hurtful to other albums out there) was, a painful, slow, agonizing experience. John Lydon's voice is worse than Bob Dylan's (wow I know I can't believe it either). The songwriting was terrible as well. If you could understand the lyrics (which is a big if) they made zero sense for many of the songs. The guitar is screechy and shrill the whole time and entirely too bright and tinny. The drums are completely forgettable. The bass is the only non agonizing piece to this album but it's also quite boring (but at least not bad). This was the musical equivalent of Birdemic (if you know you know).

all I hear are disjointed sounds and instruments. nope, nope, nope

Shit box

Boxed my ears

Skipped half of the first track, gave up quickly on the second. Too weird for me today.

Listened to about half. But I do love Rise from another album

Horrific

Utter dross. Would have got more pleasure bangging my head against a wall for a hour. I probably would have lost less brain cells that way as well. If you are reading this before listening please dont. Save your self a hour and do something constructive Also who starts a album with a 10 minute song!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dull dull dull dull dull. Nothing for me here of any interest.

The bass work on this album is the only positive I got out of it but that really doesn’t save it when everything else is so fucking terrible. Might be good background music at the most sleazy biker bar ever but that’s it.

Some PiL albums are good. This is not one of them.

So. FUCKING. Bad.

Fuck me. The first song on this album 'Albatros' is 10.54 minutes, which is 10.54 minutes too long. From now on, I'll never be able to see an albatros without projectile vomiting.

I’m done listening to PIL. I can’t take anymore of Johnny Rotten.

Never listened to them, he's not a good front man or singer - or songwriter it seems. And it seems I was right, this is proper shite

Avant garde postpunk, for irreterende vokal, og få svingende i kvalitetet

Music, quite by definition, decorates time (much how art decorates space). This album is the music equivalent of sprawling mass of mud and rocks heaving slowly down a long mountainside. Even though it technically decorates the landscape, most people could only watch it with boredom or discomfort, and it would be a stretch to call it art. The instruments, individually, are played well, but when put together as a band, they feel incongruent and without passion. The vocal is consistently, uncomfortably out of tune, which might be a staple of the genre but isn't working for this album. Albatross is a slog to get through, with even the bass (which seems to be touted as the crowning sonic achievement of the album) hardly deviating from repeated tonics in an eighth-note rhythm. There's very little material to hook the listener's interest after around three minutes. The unhinged falsetto at the end is probably the best part of the song. The tracks following Albatross are slightly better on account of simply being shorter (and having some good interplay between drums, guitar, and bass, e.g. in Poptones). The songs Poptones and Socialist are highlights because of the guitar/basswork, but the former is much too long. The Suit is very strange, almost like a Syd Barrett or Chats track with a dark bass undertone. Bad Baby is as bad as the baby. Chant is also bad, because it takes repetition to the extreme in an album already overloaded with it. The final track, Radio 4, is far and away the best track on the album, and yet it's merely a semi-good synthy instrumental. Another reviewer stated it best: "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."

The metal box has more value as scrap.

Sounds like they started curating random albums here

drone

"Metal Box" by Public Image Ltd. is lauded as being a hallmark classic of the post-punk genre. Formed with lead vocalist John Lydon (previously known as the lead vocalist of Sex Pistols) and guitarist Keith Levene (of The Clash), Public Image Ltd pushed their sound into the avant-garde. This is not a good sound.

I thought I could give this a 2, but I just can’t. It felt like ages before this finished.

So tedious I gave up after skipping through a handful of tracks.

I'm disappointed at how awful this is. I like PIL, but not this album.

Drugs are a heck of a thing. I'm not sure what went in to this "creative" process, but what a miserable pile of garbage. Literally the only redeeming thing was the bass player. He was killing it. Fav tracks: N/A

His later experiments are listenable, but not this one - i'd prefer to listen to Bollocks 17 times in a row, than ever hear this again

How many more 70's era proto/post-punk band recommendations must we suffer through?

This is a no from me dog

No wonder I've never heard of these lads. Truly awful stuff

It was like Joy Division, but replace everything good about Joy Division with something much, much worse.

Hurts my ears

The type of lame shoegaze I can’t get into, because it never goes anywhere

Suuuuucked

That was awful. Jonny Rotten should get beaten by the cops and see if that rejuvenates his musical spirit.

Not for me

I thought I was a post punk fan, I suppose I still am, but I'm not a fan of this record. Some of the bass lines are interesting, but get monotonous very quickly. I could not get into this record and it goes on for a really long time.

I actually have some of the songs on this album liked on spotify but was simply not in the mood that day. DNF

I just don't like this

This was definitely not my thing.

What a terrible album. Didn’t have high expectations, and it still didn’t manage to live up to those. I have no interest in ever revisiting this artist, especially if this is supposed to be their most revolutionary album. So many songs are too long, and many of them are just not fun to listen to. Some were less terrible but they didn’t make up for the rest of it. 1/10 Top 1: 1. Memories

A classic punk album. Droning and talentless. Made me feel like I was way too harsh to Paul Simon

Terrible 1* Vocals and music are all terrible, I don’t get why they do punk songs that are genuinely just whack

I genuinely believe I could write this. Moaning voice, repetitive music, pretty minimal creativity. Didn't enjoy the album

I just cannot get behind this drivel from John Lydon. What a blowhard. I know this stuff is supposed to be ground breaking or whatever, but it just seems so trite and overly self-indulgent.

The Super Deluxe edition was almost four hours... maybe I could have dealt with it for 20 minutes...

I feel this is specifically trying to be challenging, however that doesn't make a good listen. Actually bored me rather than challenged me, first song is 10 mins of dirge. Each song starts out ok but then the same dreary vocals come in. by the third time this exact pattern with the exact same vocals came in had to ditch it so can only give it a 1

I think I finally understand how to listen to post punk. its going to be grating and atonal, don't expect it to come out and entrance you. You have to let it go on its own way and sometimes its nice and other times its not. I still think thats a pretty pretentious way to approach music but whatever. The Suit is where I sort of hit a wall. God the lyrics and the singing are just so bad. Fuck this sucks.

Awful

Songs are too long. Very creepy vibes

I’m sorry but I’m not listening to a full hour of this shit

Too Avant Garde for me

Fuck me that was not fun

Awful, could not listen to this

Horrible

Brani Preferiti: - Nessuna preferenza Note: Genericamente parlando potrei sopportare questo album se fosse solo strumentale... ma ogni volta che il cantante apre bocca e inizio a sentire quella voce ovattata, mi inizia ad infastidire.

Had my fill by track 8 (The Suit). Bass lines were fun to listen to, but I had to turn up the volume to hear them which unfortunately made the vocals much less bearable. Credit to the album for being an influential step in post-punk, but the songs are not to my taste. Will not be revisiting this album.

Not sure how this is labelled as "ground breaking post punk". Sounds like Johnny Rotten to do a Yoko Ono cover band.

If anxiety was an album this would be it. I found this album stressful and under threat. Nope for me!

WTF? Why is this on the list... ? I don't mind the music but the vocals are asinine. This is what happens when you're so bloated and full of yourself. You think you're some kind of brilliant artist due to some previous success. The original reviewers of this album should have their pens taken away. On the whole, this is completely devoid of anything real or personal and I found it completely uninspired.

They leaned into the sound from the wrong parts of the debut album. Not an upward trajectory.

'Not a lovesong' vind ik nog wel een goed te pruimen hitje, maar met deze bagger weet ik me geen raad!

Dit trok ik welgeteld twee halve nummers

Dit is horror.

+1 for that humpin’ bass riff on The Suit.

Wow, what a wretched album.

Not good lol

Sorrýmemmig en þetta er alveg drepleiðinlegt.

The only reason I continued to listen to this album is because I needed to know if it was a 1 or a 2. This is just weird music for the sake of being weird, and that doesn’t make it good. I would love to hear out why others think this is groundbreaking, or revolutionary. I’d rather listen to them than this crap.

Really don’t think this many punk albums are worth listening to. This one included. Not too sure the major appeal to this one other than it led the post-punk genre. Whoopee. This was some tough stuff to listen to. The only good thing about it was the instrumentals on a few tracks. Other than that it was pretty boring to me. 2.7/10

Not bad but not for me.

Jotain avant garde rockia. Oli muutama miellyttävä hetki mutta muuten aika kuraa

songs go nowhere. upside, the bass is great.

This is up there (down there?) with the worst things I've ever heard. The only redeeming features are the bass, and the useful tin that the original release was packaged in. It would make a useful place to store any flat and circular objects that might be lying around (i.e. discs for an angle grinder or a set of lace table mats). Rating: 1/5 Playlist track: Suit Date listened: 24/08/23

I genuinely couldn't do this one. I'm even a huge post rock guy and I couldn't even listen to this. It was just mind numbing

Vocals make you wish you were Helen Keller. Quite horrid, and the repetitive, yet decent instrumentals don't help here either

Straight up fuck this album. Public Image was my first 1 star and this was worse.

Really disturbing. Yoko Ono on steroids.

Un naufrage d'une heure qui aura commencé par ce qui restera sans doute considéré comme le pire morceau d'introduction du générateur.

Si vous connaissez quelqu'un qui connait quelqu'un qui apprecierait écouter cet album, à savoir que cet album lui procurerait du plaisir, qu'il le trouverait agréable ou lui trouve tout autre adjectif mélioratif, transmettez moi ses coordonées car mon camarade d'écoute robpissotière et moi même souhaiterions le rencontrer (pour le passer à tabac).

Yeah, that was a tough listen.

I don’t see who would find this good regardless of the decade it released in, oof.

these guys are so fucking weird. Actually liked "Memories" wth otherwise; really fucking bad 2 1

Yup, Sean hit it on the nose. Not a big fan, don't really see the point.

Well, it's unique... I guess that can make it influential. I made it through half of the first song before I just skipped around through the rest, looking for anything redeeming about the album. Biggest standouts for what make this album bad: vocals and bass lines that are way too simple and way too repetitive. Impressive to think you're ready for the studio when your first song repeats ba da da da ba da doo doo for 10 minutes

Well that was torture. He really did fancy himself as a true creative hey. Fuck he was wrong lol. I guess lucky for him he's such a sociopath he'd never listen to criticism anyway. 1/5.

Missed "Bad Baby" and "Chant" because they weren't available on Spotify, but I think I'm better human being without them.

D Albatross - 1 Memories - 2 Swan Lake - 1 Poptones - 2 Careering - 2 Socialist - 1 Graveyard - 2 The Suit - 2 Bad Baby - 1 No Birds - 1 Chant - 1 Radio 4 - 3 I'm constantly stumped by the albums included on this list, and this one is no exception. The singing is potentially the worst in the entire generator. The music sounds intentionally bad. There is nothing positive about this album, except for the last track which features no singing. It is surprisingly good. All in all though, this is one of my least favorite in the entire generator.

Note: Not available in Apple Music... had to YouTube... Just like the record after this, not in the mood. It's obviously one of PIL's first records because of the production. It's not a very good record. It does not stand the test of time, in my mind. Next!