What If Leaving Is a Loving Thing

Maybe a 4 Mostly 3 But 4 for the length Very shallow, but didn't waste my time 4

I find it to be a bit shocking that this album (after five votes) has such a low rating. I agree there is nothing essential or very original about it. The quality of the songs is quite ok though. And the album is full of energetic, up-tempo and catchy melodic rock songs. An album full of "I Love Rock 'n Roll" (Joan Jett) like bangers can't be a bad thing.

At times this gave me Pretenders vibes, at other times it gave me your aunt’s cover band vibes. Maybe this is because they’re Swedish, but the over pronunciation of everything bothered me. I don’t need to understand every single word on the first listen of any album. It reminds me of musical theater or Donald Fagen, neither of which I’m happy with. But honestly, I might be being a bitch. This album is really alright.

Rating: 9/10 Best songs: Visit to Vienna, Salty lips, Neon lights, Cheek to cheek, Static

A real Go-Gos vibe here to me - some great pop with soft punk undertones. Great!

I quite enjoyed this garage pop of some Swedish ladies kicking ass

This grabbed me from the start and never let go. On first listen, I'd say this is close to pure pop perfection, and I have a feeling it's going to become a regular listen for me. 4 stars.

8/10 pretty good alt rock :) not the best I’ve heard, but I had fun

April 1, 2026 again HL: "Visit to Vienna", "The Loneliest City of All", "No For an Answer", "Getting Away With Murder" Wikipedia, are you saying this band formed as 10 year olds? Madone as if I didn't feel like I'm behind in life enough as it is It took me a minute, but I'm really warming to the Hotnights. My first thought was the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but it actually feels more like pop rock from the early 80's. The Bangles, Cheap Trick, the Cars. Just straightforward, melodic tunes. Caught between a 3 and a 4. tonight I shall round up

Strong female pop-rock. Kinda enjoyed this

It was fine

The lead singer sounded a lot like Lady Gaga. I didn’t mind. It was a nice listen.

Enjoyed the storytelling. Strong, confident vocals and a very solid rocker.

Garage rock, indie rock. Ni fu ni fa.

Rock: Alternative Rock, Pop Rock. No conocía este grupo. Me ha gustado mucho. Y su último disco, de 2026, también.

Girl power rock. Reminds me of the 90s trend. Thing Garbage or Hole. The singer sounds a bit like the Dixie Chicks without the country twang. A surprise to learn they're Swedish! I guess I can sort of hear that. Anyway this is a delight and a throwback

Solid pop tunes

A little country, a little pop/rock, a little 80s, solid listen.

never heard of them, they're good nineties

Sahara Hotnights is a Swedish pop rock band that did fairly well in their home country, but not anywhere else. It's fun! These are fairly light, carefree songs so it's an easy listen all the way through. My mom might like this. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Pretty insubstantial album outside of Sweden, so I'd say probably not.

Enjoyable enough listen.

An ok album, if not particularly memorable. I mean, it's good enough that I can see them have a relatively small but very loyal following. Maybe in their native Sweden, it's actually quite a big following. I get it. They're an solid band and there's really nothing I can criticize. Do you need to hear them before you die? Probably not. But I had fun. "Cheek to Cheek" is a clear highlight for me.

First verse in the first song I swear I thought they sounded like ABBA - <looks at wikipedia page> well look at that: Swedish. ABBA meets the Go-Gos with a dash of country vocal melodies. It's not really super unique or groundbreaking but doesn't have to be. This would have fit right into the early 80s, kind of a simple/easy/nice throwback sound that's not too complicated. Favourite song: "Neon Lights" 7/10 3 stars IMO: Belonged in the book? No.

Pretty rockin’ power pop

Harmless pop-rock

If you want The Go-Go’s but not The Go-Go’s…

just desert

I think this is a fair 3-3.5 rated album. It’s fine and there are some interesting parts to it, however nothing stands out to me as overly exceptional. I’d listen again. Easy to listen to and get into for sure.

Garage rock, indie rock. Ni fu ni fa.

I was really not feeling this but then "no for an answer" came on and I turned into kombucha girl

Annoyingly not on spotify but after listening to it, it's not really anything special. It's perfect fine modern rock but nothing I would actively seek out. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

It’s not that bad, and I would’ve rated it a 3—but after thinking about it more, there’s no replay value, so I’m lowering it to a 2.

What If Leaving Is a Loving Thing is an easy listening bop that probably wants to be edgier than it actually ends up being, and it's basically just radio-friendly pop that neither interests nor offends me. 2, it's so beige but someone loved it enough to get in.

This sounds like something that'd be pre-saved on a Windows computer with the filename rock.mp3

Sounded even worse through the YouTube ads

This was a decent listen, but didn't leave a huge impact. Not sure why this is a must-listen before you die, would've opted for Ex Hex or Bikini Kill (who I still cannot believe aren't on the main 1001) if we're going for notable woman-only bands.

Unable to listen to it as it’s not on Spotify

One remembers when they came on the scene, with some (though not massive) hype and one feels not much more impressed now as one was then. It's reasonably well designed and well made (like very other Swedish export), but not exactly groundbreaking or scintillating (safe like a Volvo, basically, [maybe]). It's a pleasing and surprisingly sweet listen overall – tuneful, poppy and polished, almost bubble-gummy at times. The pretty cool name and provocative-ish cover shot suggests something a litlte ... saucier, maybe, spikier or sneerier?!?! Whatever this may be, edgy it ain't. There's even something vaguely old-fashioned in the sturdiness of the melodies and bounciness of the energy. (Migth be the sax on "Getting Away with It.") Sure, call them the (Skandi) Go-Gos for the 21st centruy or the (soft) indie rock Abba – sure, that'll do. Rounding up because one feels charitable (might have to do with their photogenic qualities).

8/10. Oh nice, something fun to listen to

Not bad. 80s inspired girl pop rock. I probably won't be digging into their discography but didn't hurt to listen to.

Mostly harmless

Fine enough throwback thing. '07 feels maybe a little early to be doing The 80s. Rounding down the 3.5

Best Song: Visit to Vienna. This had a great energy to kick off the album. Almost feels like a track from The Go-Gos. Worst Song: Static. The guitar solo in the background felt very out of theme, and clashed with the rest of the vibe. Overall: A fun, upbeat sort of pop rock. It feels very radio friendly, but there's nothing to hate about it.

The first track got my attention, but much of the rest sounded like teenagers who would grow up to be Metric. Talent, but needing direction and refinement

It was the music equivalent of a flat coke. Sweet but no effervescence.

I feel like I've been writing this a lot lately, but this album just made no impression on me. I don't think it's bad by any means, it just doesn't speak to me, which makes it hard to give much of an evaluation Still, 3/5

Is this thing competently written, convincingly performed and nicely produced? It sure is. The problem is that those songs are totally devoid of the idiosyncratic quirks (or just the necessary salient features) that could make them stand out from the pack. *What If Leaving Is a Loving Thing* is 100% derivative of acts such as Joan Jett, The Bangles, The Go-Go's, Heart, with a bit of Tom Petty thrown in, maybe... And under that light, the replay factor of those track is close to zero for me. Whoever selected this thinking the album could be included in a finite list of 1001 albums you must absolutely listen to is *seriously* deluded in my eyes (even for a *second* list of 1001 albums). I don't even think the presence of most of the (unarguably more striking) reference points I have mentioned up there should be guaranteed to appear in a first list. No way Sahara Hotnights can be added there. In all honesty, I was very close to give a 2.5/5 grading to this record, and since I always round up to the closest higher star, there's a world where *What If Leaving Is a Loving Thing* could get three stars for me on this generator. Because, "objectively" speaking, the music in this record is anything but "bad". The thing is, I already know that I would be bored out of my mind listening to it again so as to fine-tune my assessment of it (there are so many more exciting albums to listen to instead!). So I gotta follow my gut feeling here... What I have just described happening to me in the previous paragraph is also a perfect example of why I would like a "skip" button to be implemented for the second list. I would rather have the few people having strong opinions about this album express their takes first while I directly move on to more interesting matters for me. Will probably bring up that topic on the discord server one day. In the meantime... 2/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums. 7/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and production values + 2 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 118 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 128 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 285 (including this one) ---- Émile, *quatre* nouveaux messages pour toi au dessus, du *Solid State Survivor* de Yellow Magic Orchestra au *Atrocity Exhibition* de Danny Brown

Hmm. It’s alright but I’m not going back to the well. Also, every song is about heartbreak. Not for me.

I feel as though this wasn't anything special if I'm being honest. It just kind of happened. Nothing memorable. Nothing horrible, but like nothing good.

I listened to this album partly, listened to the other part later, but accidentally shuffled the songs the second time. I didn't notice until I was done and looking at the track listing that I listened to some songs twice.

This is a rock band? Yeah right!

No está disponible en spotify

It's ok, pretty run of the mill rock/pop? Not much else to say- I had to go to Youtube. This could have been from 1987 rather than 2007