Wednesday 24th September 2014 by Alexandra Pollard

Terrible early reviews of 9 now classic albums

From Weezer, Muse + Daft Punk to Led Zeppelin - sometimes the critics get it wrong

Weezer - Pinkerton: "A collection of get-down party anthems for agoraphobics." (Entertainment Weekly)

Muse - Showbiz: "Showbiz is not as clever as they think it is ... 'Unintended' and the title track are overwrought, prone to excruciatingly bad pseudo poetry." (NME)

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath: "Inane lyrics that sound like Vanilla Fudge paying doggerel tribute to Aleister Crowley." (Rolling Stone)

Daft Punk - Discovery: "These guys are so French I want to force-feed them and cut out their livers. The way our butts plug in, there are better beats on the damn Jadakiss CD." (Robert Christgau)

The National - Alligator: "In the absence of a band with personality, all that's really left to focus on is the singing - the awful, awful singing." (PopMatters)

Radiohead - OK Computer: "Radiohead wouldn't know a tragic hero if they were cramming for their A levels, and their idea of soul is Bono, who they imitate further at the risk of looking even more ridiculous than they already do." (Robert Christgau)

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin: "In their willingness to waste their considerable talent on unworthy material the Zeppelin has produced an album which is sadly reminiscent of [the Jeff Beck Group's] Truth." (Rolling Stone)

Belle & Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap: "These are songs so sticky they should be hanging from Ben Stiller's ear, and I don't mean that in a good way. In fact, I mean that in the worst possible way." (Pitchfork)

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses: : "They're surprisingly 'eclectic.' Not all that good at it, but eclectic ... Though they have their moments as songwriters - 'I Want to Be Adored' sums them up - their music is about sound, fingers lingering over the strings and so forth." (Robert Christgau)

Tags: Weezer

If Weezer's Pinkerton was a human being, today it would be legally allowed to drink (in the UK anyway). It would also have had one of the most turbulent childhoods of all time.

Pinkerton is now considered an undisputed cult classic, is ranked in many publications' greatest albums of all time, and is cited as an influence by many, many bands. When it was first released though, the album was panned.

Panned not only by critics, who described it as "aimless," "juvenile" and "for agoraphobics", but also by Rivers Cuomo himself, who in 2001 told Entertainment Weekly that Pinkerton was "a hideous record... such a hugely painful mistake." Poor Pinkerton.

It's not alone though in being something of a sleeper hit. Here's some of the greatest albums of all time... with some of the worst reviews of all time.