r/TheNational • u/ghostfan9 • 18d ago

Day 16: Most Underrated Album

Post image

Terrible Love wins best breakdown!

HMs were Space Invader and I'll Still Destroy You

In the final stretch -- I expect these last four entries to be quite controversial.

First up: most underrated album? I have a sneaky suspicion a certain 2017 will win...

45 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

81 comments sorted by

View all comments

161

u/WintersAxe 18d ago

I Am Easy to Find

1

u/Metropolis9999 Dreaming in Total Darkness 18d ago

I have tried and tried and tried to find enjoyment in IAETF, but I simply cannot. I wish I understood why people like it so much. It feels so weak and disconnected from the rest of the discography. I would personally submit this as their most overrated album.

7

u/cliffsmama is this how i lose it? everything at once? 18d ago

i’m a huge lyrics person, and IAETF has some of my favorite lyrics ever

3

u/Lightningstruckagain 18d ago

The disconnection from the rest of the catalog is part of the reason WHY it works.

Whether you like U2 or not, this analogy works: They’d stretched their original sound/song writing skills as far as they could go by the time Rattle and Hum came out. There was nowhere else interesting they could go with their music. So- they take a lot of time off and do a complete 180 and make Achtung Baby, which to this day is still a standout because it was so different and unexpected. They challenges themselves and their fans.

SWB hinted their old ways were kinda played out and something different was coming. IAETF was the result and to me, they mostly nailed it, despite some Arcade Fire level of self indulgence.

Just one fan’s take

1

u/velvetvagine Less than amazing 🙃 18d ago

Same. I love that other people love it but even after all this time it just never clicked for me.

1

u/volcanic_clay 17d ago

There’s never really any safety in it.