Ugh. No wonder people got so upset, thanks.

Does anyone have a copy of the original article? After the Big Jay Oakerson/Marah fiasco, there was a copy in Google Docs for about a day or so after the article had been removed from this site.

I grew up watching the version of Vacation that we'd taped off network TV, so it wasn't until I rented it sometime during university that I finally got to see Beverly D'Angelo's tits and hear Clark's profane tirades. Plus, the whole "You don't even know how to inhale" thing and Audrey getting Aunt Edna to hold her bag…

Clearly we have very different eardrums and/or very different definitions of "compressed", "generic", "bland" and "fuzzed-out".

I agree, it is one of their best songs. Which makes the middle-of-the-road stuff which comprises roughly half of the remaining album so much more disappointing in comparison.

A Ghost Is Born doesn't seem that far removed from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to me, as it's still fairly eclectic and experimental. Personally, I found the turn they made back to the anodyne with Sky Blue Sky and even more so with Wilco (The Album) to be a lot more disappointing.

It's all subjective, but if Billy Corgan whining lyrics like "Love is suicide" and "No bodies ever knew" make me wrong, then I don't wanna be right.

Now that I think about it, same here!

I mentioned it downthread, but if I had been a few years younger and/or had had less exposure to rock music when that album was first released, chances are I'd rate it a lot more highly.

I gave it another listen and it is a good song, but I would love to hear "Ruby" and "Porcelina" with Siamese Dream-style guitars and production. Again it comes down to a personal preference, but the overcompressed, generic sound on that album just lowers both songs a few notches in my opinion.

"Muzzle": Generic guitar riff over and over again. Great drumming though. But even as a high schooler that opening line ("I fear that I am ordinary just like everyone") made me roll my eyes.

I tried that a couple times. I ended up with a great single instead: "1979" backed with whatever.

Yet another unpopular opinion: "Drown" is their masterpiece.

I used to quote 1991: The Year Punk Broke all the time. "I'm hungry! I'm so hungry I could eat a pig's head!" is one I still use fairly regularly.

Mellon Collie. The compressed, crunchy guitar sound, the laughably bad lyrics, the groan worthy title, the length of the goddamn thing.

"Sickly" and "sappy" are two words I do not associate with Automatic For The People. To be fair I can see how long-time R.E.M. fans might have been put off by the hits, but I think they work well in the context of the album.

Sadly it seems Martin became a heavy drinker after his son died in 1987.

Getting Robb Wells, who plays Ricky on Trailer Park Boys, to voice the character may have helped (the actors who play Julian and Bubbles also made cameo appearances).

That XcQ at the end is a dead giveaway, son.

At this point there's no need to even click on it - the URL itself is recognizable.