Inside

That’s it, I’m putting the albums I recorded during lockdown up on bandcamp.

As a big Bo fan this special really threw me for a loop when it dropped right in the middle of COVID malaise. There's always been a bubbling undercurrent of depression/mental health and the interplay between performer and audience in Burnham's work, but the isolation of the pandemic threw those themes into the very center of the work in an unsettling way. Musically, this is some of Bo's best writing – even the little interludes contain amazing accompaniments and great melodies. Some bits feel a tad unnecessary or scattered, but overall the LP serves as a damning encapsulation of struggles with mortality, isolation, and mindless consumption as artistic death. If this is your first listen sans the video component of the special I can get why you would dislike this, but I'm thankful that this performance was so music-heavy that it translates near-effortlessly to audio only. Worthwhile add for sure, one of the only comedy LPs (save for Weird Al but that feels different) that could justifiably be on the list.

Millennial core

Inside is an album themed around the COVID periode by musical comedian Bo Burnham. It handles subjects like isolation and mental health. The lyrics and humor are not very sharp apart from usage of the f-word. So if that is not a problem, it's is suitable for a large audience. I personally like humor to have some more rough edges and find it quite plain and boring. Even so it is far more entertaining than the other humorous contributions on this user list. The music is certainty not bat, often a bit musical stylish. The over-usage of autotune irritates me on some songs as other songs show it is not necessary as the vocal capacities of Bo are fine without it.

This album is definitely of a specific time (the pandemic of the early 2020s). I’m not sure if being outside of that time changes the way I hear this, or that it was originally part of videos that I have not seen, but I didn’t connect well with this. I really enjoyed writer/director Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade, so I had high hopes for this. It wasn’t completely without merit but for me there are other parody song artists that should be on this list well before this. There were of course clever moments, and for a guy making music alone in his house it isn’t bad. But the reasons to listen to this don’t really match with the reasons to be on a list like this for me.

A bit nothingy really. I'd not heard of this before and it's already dated. It's less an album of music and more a gimmick or platform for another media.

Neither funny nor musically good, threw in the towel (with utmost contempt) after only 10 minutes.

Hell yeah 5

The best thing that came out of the pandemic. What a masterpiece.

Somehow missed this in 2021 and never got around to it. Thanks for making me! It earns its reputation and is now a great time capsule.

What a moment this was in the Covid-era. Bo has always been a real one but this piece of art masterfully touched so much of our terrible beautiful world. And Bezos I just goes so hard

10/10 I absolutely think this album is worth being on the 1001 albums list this album (but more importantly the special itself) perfectly captures so much of the exhausting monotony and the world-ending anxiety that psychologically infected everyone’s mind to an even more contagious degree than the virus itself a beautiful piece of pandemic-art that is (thankfully) outdated in a post-covid world, but still serves as a beautiful reminder of what once was

I've already watched the special and listened to the album separately. My opinion is roughly the same between mediums: it's great. A towering work of genius. Bo Burnham's magnum opus. The point at which he goes from a really good comedian to someone who's gonna be remembered for generations. Obvious 5/5. I do think it loses a lot as an album versus the Netflix special, so if you have Netflix would pretty strongly recommend watching that instead of just listening. The interstitial moments between songs and the visuals DO matter here. I also actively avoid listening to it/watching it end to end like this. Seeing a guy I'd been a fan of for a really long time just cut himself open and bleed (metaphorically of course) puts me in a real sad state. It hurts to see him this depressed. It feels like the Pagliacci the clown joke playing out in front of you with zero irony or insincerity. This is part of WHY it's so damn good, of course. But it does absolutely make this a sometimes food no matter how much I like it.

When Inside came out on Netflix, it was clearly a masterpiece. However, it is as much a visual experience as it is in the words of the story. The songs are still good and funny. The vocals crisp clear (as it should for a comedy album, you have to be able to follow along well). But I feel that by audio only, I'm missing something.

It's interesting to evaluate this album in isolation from the video. Some of the songs feel a little cloying without the visual input that Bo provides. It's still good, but I would certainly go for the video version rather than the album if I had my druthers 4/5

Comedy, synth-pop. Ni fu ni fa.

I love a comedy album probably more than most. But I think I am too old for this to connect with me, not because of the content but because I’ve heard it done before (and perhaps a little better, I’m sorry) But of this was the first comedy album I ‘d ever heard I would probably like it more.

Great social commentary

There’s no doubt that Bo burnham is some kind of genius. His meta knowledge of modern society mixed with his ability to craft word play is unparalleled. Even at such a young age he was able to captivate with his internet songs and standup. Inside is a more complex Bo but still whimsical about all things. Overall this is a funny album that really doesn’t get much replay unless you really enjoy him. As far as music creativity goes this is impressive. 7.0/10

Really funny and clever lyrics with good vocals and music. But unfortunately not listenable with others or for repeats.

I was... disliking this pretty heartily as I was listening to it. The sort of increasingly rapid oscillation between self-loathing and smugness feels like the epitome of post-modernism barreling up its own ass. Certainly he's clever: is he funny though? I'm not sure I think he is. Maybe it all works better in the context of the full show. Beyond the content, I've written before of the pitfall I see in the completely solo musical composition - it's prone to a certain thinness of the single point of view, and this lacks the producer chops to evade that. I'm not giving this the score that review sounds like it merits, I think I'm being overly harsh on it. My head was definitely not in the space for appreciating this when I listened to it. The realest moment in this is when he briefly touches on struggling with panic attacks and it would have benefitted by being more heavily salted with that kind of reality.

I remember the hype this got when it came Out on Netflix. I couldn’t manage to watch the whole show, musical comedy just isn’t my thing. Listening back I got a few laughs to this, and white girls instagram is very funny. But it gets tiresome quick, so don’t think I’d have it on my list.

I had to do a lot of thinking on this one. I love this "album", but it probably doesn't belong on this list. The video version belongs on some kind of list that probably doesn't exist, but not here. Bo is closer to a stand-up comedian than he is to someone like Weird Al. It's a comedy album that happens to feature music. It's like a 3/4 on the comedy scale in current context, but an easy 5 in the context of it's release. But musically, Bo basically produces jingle-quality music, which suits the comedy really well, with the occasional solid banger. If it wasn't for the comedy, this would be a 2, so that's where I'm leaving it. As a "thing" easy 4 maybe a 5, as an "album" solid 2.

I remember watching the thing when it first released. Wouldn't exactly say it aged well. Or, well, the ways in which it's interesting in hindsight don't quite overcome that it's just kinda obnoxious. There's a kernel of Something in there, though. It's an explicit piece of COVID Lockdowns Art, which *sounds* like it should be more interesting than all the media that elides that era... but in hindsight this thing's really more about just being generally insecure on the internet. But then one of the big legacies of quarantine time is more people getting flushed online & mainlining all of this stuff. I dunno! It's probably healthy for Burnham to be working through all this stuff for his own sake, but I'm not all that charmed by the end result.

A little too cutesy-fartsy for me. 2 stars.

self hating white people are pretty dull

Okay, no, sorry this does not qualify as something I should hear before I die, unless I'm deaf of course. Trying too hard, it's just terrible. I drew the line at "Sexting" and moved on with my life.