negative reviews changing your opinion?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

have you ever found it that you enjoy a record alot, then you read a lot of pieces which rip into it. when you go back to listen to it again, its flaws and weaknesses suddenly seem really obvious and in-your-face and your enjoyment of it has been ruined?

or does criticism of something merely serve to strengthen your love?

how much influence does the music writing you read have on your opinions on the music you listen to?

― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Thursday, 10 March 2005 12:40 (twenty years ago)

I think sometimes reading positive reviews of a record I initially disliked has made me listen again and can change my mind, but can't think of it happening the other way round. Usually if I like something I can easily disregard other's criticisms of it.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 10 March 2005 12:46 (twenty years ago)

The only answer I can give is "sometimes", for both positive and negative reviews. I'm sure if I think about it I can come up with examples of each case.

― sleep (sleep), Thursday, 10 March 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

I have a permeable ego, a negative review almost always affects my view of a record.

― Coafds, Thursday, 10 March 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

after reading Scott Seward's review of Kasabian on VV, i love them!

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Thursday, 10 March 2005 13:10 (twenty years ago)

Every time I listened to Bandwagonesque I would think about how it got 1 star in Rolling Stone.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Thursday, 10 March 2005 13:30 (twenty years ago)

i only read negative reviews of massive attack's 100th window. it was still one of the best releases of 2003. i had heard the album before it came out so this is exactly the setting of the question. bad reviews can't change my appreciation.

often though i read the negative reviews before having heard the music. obviously this DOES influence my cd buying. i wonder how many cds have been slagged off in the press and are utterly phantastic. i suppose quite a lot.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 10 March 2005 13:47 (twenty years ago)

Julian Cope tells the story in his autobiography that bandmate Donald Ross Skinner's withering assessment of Scott Walker got Cope to seriously rethink his previous love for Mr. W.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 10 March 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

this has definitely happened to me, but i cant remember exactly when/what.

― AaronK (AaronK), Thursday, 10 March 2005 14:05 (twenty years ago)

negative reviews make me want buy the records reviewed. If someone has an agenda to dis an album rather than talk about what they "like" then I assume there is something interesting in the album. I am usually right.

― sonic1, Thursday, 10 March 2005 16:08 (twenty years ago)

a bad review does not always = "an agenda"

but if someone takes the trouble to write 2000+ words slagging a record off, yeah my interest is piqued

to answer the question: yes, sometimes - but much more often with movies than records

― zebedee (zebedee), Thursday, 10 March 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

i'm more interested in flawed records — or flawed whatever — than perfection, which is boring and no use to anyone

hostile reviews dig into flaws obv (or invent em, sometimes)

but i like everything anyway so it's all good

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 March 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

Nearly all the music i get into gets slated here, and it never puts me off. In fact if you guys hate it, it makes me want to love it even more.

― dmun, Thursday, 10 March 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

it doesnt necessarily change my opinion, but it definitely bums me out, and on occasion has caused me to listen to an album less -- mostly because the joy is gone. it's actually one of my least favorite things about the internet, actually, the ease with which my buzz about a record can be ruined.

though, ok, fine, probably like 75 - 80% of that is my problem, not the internet's.

― PeopleFunnyBoy (PeopleFunnyBoy), Thursday, 10 March 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

so you like all music cause all music has flaws, mark? that's an interesting approach. is it because the flaws render music human?

often flaws turn out to be genius (intended or not). just thinking of loveless with the supposedly broken cd sound. i kinda like flaws too but i wouldn't love a piece of music only because of them. i think they can have a value added but they are not a purpose in themselves.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 10 March 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

So far it has never happened to me in music. However (a little off topic) I remember I used to love "Lost In Translation" until I read Momus' negative "review" of it. Thanks Momus.

― daavid (daavid), Thursday, 10 March 2005 19:02 (twenty years ago)

the soundtrack to lost in translation was better than the movie itself. which i still liked. where is momus review? not that i am so keen on being persuaded that it was crap. but still, that would be an interesting test if i maybe have to affirm the thread question.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 10 March 2005 19:24 (twenty years ago)

what i like really alex is where the current runs strongly in contradictory directions: ie stress points rather than flaws maybe

since everything ever made has these it is easy enough just to "like" everything: what i am interested in mainly—since i am after all a writer—is what am i interested in WRITIN about

it isn't always my "favourite" things necessarily

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 March 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

where is momus review?

It's not really a formal review. More like a few comments about it. It's on his essay Lutheran Letter

http://www.imomus.com/lutheranletter.html

― daavid (daavid), Thursday, 10 March 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Lutheran Letter

― daavid (daavid), Thursday, 10 March 2005 19:55 (twenty years ago)

The new Radio 4 album has received very ambivalent reviews but I've liked what I've heard so far. Hmm.

― Ian Riese-Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 10 March 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

Radio 4 have some fun tracks! It's like the Rapture with Ted Leo on vocals, which is better than whoever the Rapture has.

I've had reviews point out qualities I haven't noticed, and I'm always grateful.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

I can't think of anything recently where a negative review gave me a cold shower on an album, though. Sometimes my favorite review of an album I enjoy is negative just because it captured the nature of the album more accurately than raves did.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

There's "what it is" and then there's "what its worth." I can agree on one and not necessarily the other.

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Ted Leo is more annoying a singer than the guy in the Rapture He's more annoying than most There I've said it.

― dan. (dan.), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:20 (twenty years ago)

how long you been holding that one in?

― miccio (miccio), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

Until I was sure NYU couldn't hear me.

― dan. (dan.), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

Cause if anyone isn't disuaded by negative criticism, it's fanatical Ted Leo fans

― dan. (dan.), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:25 (twenty years ago)

Also, my posts read better if you shrink your browser's font size down to an illegible size. Thanks!

― dan. (dan.), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:27 (twenty years ago)

I'd like to say my opinions are critic-proof, but I sadly must admit I put my copy of American Idiot away after Christgau lambasted it a few weeks back. I still love it, but that took it off heavy rotation for the time being.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)

if i haven't heard the record, then it probably won't affect me all that much. (read: i'll forget about the negativity of the review.) if i have heard the record, it kinda depends. many times i feel extremely insecure about my taste so i start thinking the person's right.

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:34 (twenty years ago)

I often use a negative review by someone I respect as an excuse not to buy the record. It's more like a rationalization for saving money that I would normally blow without giving it a second thought.

― dan. (dan.), Thursday, 10 March 2005 21:37 (twenty years ago)

Until I was sure NYU couldn't hear me.

Nowhere is safe.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Friday, 11 March 2005 00:10 (twenty years ago)

All the ILM hate on Interpol soured me off 'Antics.' I realized 'hey these lyrics *are* retarded!' Though 'Evil' is still ridiculously good and I really like the first album.

― righteousmaelstrom, Friday, 11 March 2005 00:19 (twenty years ago)

Also, I'm EXTREMELY susceptible to negative reviews of albums. This might sound like sociological/psychological bullshit, but I've found that people that are the younger of two siblings (like myself), especially when the sibling is only a few years older and the same gender, are more prone to the opinions of authority. They grew up forming their character by emulating (in part, at least) their older siblings. Now, as adults or whatever, they're still somewhat insecure about their ability to decide on the quality of music or literature or fashion, and still want someone to guide them.

Anyway, I'll admit that I'm pretty much a Pitchfork drone. I don't go out and buy every album in the Best New Music category, but if something gets an 8.7 or whatever, I'll respect it. And if an album is getting solid reviews from everyone on Metacritic, but Pitchfork gives it a 5.5, I'm like, "Tsk. Sorry." And vice-versa. I know it's unhealthy to subscribe to shit this zealously, but I've been a daily reader for since I started "seriously" listening to music and have cultivated my musical tastes by mining my editors' top 100 albums of whatever lists and reading past reviews and all that and e-mailing the editors to ask them questions (PF editors might even recognize my e-mail address haha). And no matter what Chris Ott says, Pitchfork is as on point as ever and I trust them (Plastic Constellations notwithstanding), as unpopular/embarassing as it is to admit that on ILM.

That's right, I am the voice of...The Pitchfork Generation.

(hahaha, and I'm copywrighting that term)

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Friday, 11 March 2005 00:27 (twenty years ago)

One bad review almost never changes my mind. But consistent pans on metacritic usually will.

ha ha, poortheatre, go ahead and copyright that term, I don't think anyone else wants it.

― TayBridgeCatastrophe (TayBridge), Friday, 11 March 2005 01:34 (twenty years ago)

For a goodly portion of the 80s/90s, I used Xgau's negative reviews as a foolproof guide to things I might like.

― ian in brooklyn, Friday, 11 March 2005 01:42 (twenty years ago)

Every time I listened to Bandwagonesque I would think about how it got 1 star in Rolling Stone.

!!!!!!!!!!!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 11 March 2005 03:38 (twenty years ago)

I could have sworn that Rolling Stone gave Bandwagonesque Album of the Year over Nevermind. I'll do some detective work.

― poortheatre (poortheatre), Friday, 11 March 2005 03:40 (twenty years ago)

That was Spin magazine.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 11 March 2005 03:43 (twenty years ago)

I wanna read this one star bandwagonesque review, is it online?

― Don't Ever Antagonize The Horny (AaronHz), Friday, 11 March 2005 03:48 (twenty years ago)

Here's a two-star review. Is it the same one?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 11 March 2005 03:52 (twenty years ago)

...to the halfhearted stabs at irony ("The Concept")

Huh?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 11 March 2005 03:54 (twenty years ago)

Not too often, but I've noticed reading many positive reviews (or glowing ILM posts) about a certain album will make me give it more of a chance then it deserves. Two recent examples would be Junior Boys and Annie.

― kickitcricket (kickitcricket), Friday, 11 March 2005 04:21 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

happened to me sometimes. i need to be stronger!

― nostormo, Monday, 14 November 2011 00:26 (thirteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.