How to respond nicely to someone who says Pet Sounds is the most over-rated album in the world?

I think that’s what some people like about it.

 

Depends on whether I want to borrow money from them.

 

oh I'm sure! A reflection of their own hangups

 

I meant that it went against the grain.

 

most rock was going against the grain in 1966

 

It was whiny, morose and self-centred about 4 years too early.

 

I wouldn't worry about it in the slightest. When an album achieves classic status with devoted fans gushing over it continually, it's natural that there will dissenting views aimed at taking it down a notch. As great as Pet Sounds is, the Beach Boys aren't to everyone's taste.

This is another one of this threads where the OP is ironically inviting the kind of criticism that he seeks to deflect. . .

 

There's no accounting for people's tastes. Either it moves them or it doesn't.

 

OP should try being a fan of classical music or prog rock. "Overrated" is a luxury word he should be grateful for. Try responding to "Boring, pretentious or snobbish"

 

Isn't that what Mike Love said about "Pet Sounds"?

 

Sure. But it went against that grain. As well as the Beach Boys’ own well-established grain.

Mind you, I’m not a “Pet Sounds is the greatest album of all time” guy. I just can’t see citing its characteristics being atypical of its era as a reason it isn’t.

 

To each his own...

Opinions are like a--holes: everybody's got one.

Excuse me, I've got to wait in the lobby for the limo.

 

That’s all well and good, but I see a distinction between the subjective matter of taste and the objective statement that something is “the most overrated” of its kind of thing.

 

The whole idea of "overrated" and "underrated" is all relative anyway, and it does seem odd to call Pet Sounds the most overrated album of all time in a world where London Calling exists, but this is the internet. Best to just accept that we all have different opinions and move on.

 

Hey, I think "Afternoon Delight" by Starland Vocal Band is a masterpiece. Than again I realize many detest that tune as everyone has their own masterpiece.

People like what people like, it is what it is.

The Pet Sounds is heaven sent, IMHO

 

As I hinted at earlier, you could see this album as prefiguring the whole navel-gazing woe-is-me singer songwriter movement by a few years, and, if Brian had had it entirely his way, it definitely would have prefigured it.

 

Yeah but the music press haven't moved on from the prog dinosaur line in 40 years now. As we discovered in the Rolling Stone thread, no-one is calling Close to the Edge the greatest album of all time and in this one's humble opinion, it's a goodly number of light years more of an interesting record than Pet Sounds.

And literally no conversations with other people about classical music end well.

 

If you respect the way that it's recorded, and you think it's well-recorded, then it can't be the case that you dislike the way that it's recorded. It would be the case that you like the way it's recorded.

If you respect their musicianship, and you think they're excellent musicians, then it can't be the case that you dislike their musicianship, that you dislike the way they play their instruments. It would be the case that you like their musicianship.

Overall, the music might not connect with you. But again, our assessments are not just a simple, single toggle switch. Our assessments are about various aspects (how it's recorded, what the musicianship is like, what the songwriting is like, etc. etc.) that we weight in different ways.

 

It took me a month of serious listening to get it so I understand. Now it's one of my favorite albums ever.

Try folklore. Like Pet Sounds, it's nothing like her previous pop efforts. You should see the reactions I get when I call this a masterpiece.

 

Everyone has their opinions and I suspect this person who commented negatively on 'Pet Sounds' may have been trying mischievously to get your goat! Being the dick that I can be, I've goaded people in the past and I'm not proud of that. You enjoy it as do others and that's all that really matters.

 

If I say that something is (the most) overrated, I'm giving my opinion. (And it should go without saying that it's my opinion, because it can't be anything other than someone's opinion.)

 

Any album that frequently makes Top 10 best album lists is going to be regarded as "overrated".

In other words, I would say that it's a great album, regardless of whether it is overrated or not

 

it does matter because the album essentially flopped because it ditched the hot rods and with that the fans that didn't want to progress from fun in the sun. No. 10 after many no. 1s is nothing to crow about. It went against the grain of many of the eras BB fans. ..and not in a good way as their popularity nosedived after this and Good Vibrations (funny, a no. 1 hit about that good old standby, previous subject matter but thankfully very innovative production

 

I'd say, I'm not all that crazy about it, but overrated and underrated are nonsense terms.

 

I don’t think I either like or dislike musicianship or recording techniques. It’s not a matter of liking. If somebody is good at doing something, I can respect that they are good without liking anything. That applies to people in any vocation, really, entertainment or otherwise.