I'm fairly new to the website, and I did some searching but it's tough to search for "1 star", so I apologize if this has been addressed.
I did see the 'ratings abuse' thread, however.

1 = Worst Ever
2 = Pure Shit

What does it take for you to give an album a 1 or a 2?

For me, it takes a few things to get a 2 (other than me just thinking the album is garbage)

1) It has to be a shit album from a band that has put out good music - shitty bands put out shitty albums. It's a given. When a good band puts out a shit album, that's a real kick in the teeth
2) It has to be a band that I actually listen to - I'm not going to dig out an album from a band whose style I don't like and just 1-star it to be a dick

For example - I like Celtic Frost and Metallica. I think Cold Lake, St. Anger, and Lulu are pure shit, and worthy of 2-stars. Both bands have put out several 9s and 10s, there's no reason for those albums to be so wretchedly bad. I do not like Guns'n'Roses. However, I have not gone to their page and rated any of their albums (despite hearing them all quite a bit...far more often than I'd prefer) just to be spiteful.

I have not rated an album a "1" though, because, in checking some of the album ratings for some of the "AotY" contenders this year, people seem to use the evil 1-star to purposely lower the rating of an album that might be in competition with 'their favorite' and that just seems like another form of rating abuse. Several of the 1-stars in the top 10 (currently) are from people who, surprise surprise, have rated one or more of the "competition" as 10s.

Then others hand out 1-stars like it's candy. How can an album be "the worst ever" if you think there are 50 other "worst evers"? Are they all really the 'worst ever'?

Anyway, I should be studying, and this served to take my mind off of that for a bit, so I'll stop talking now. I am interested in what it takes for someone to label an album a 1 or a 2 though, or is it just generally accepted that people use these rankings to 'lower the competition'

Chris Barnes' vocals in the past two decades

Written by RaduP on 12.10.2020 at 15:21

Chris Barnes' vocals in the past two decades

this is a valid use-case for rating an album a 1 or a 2

Very few albums deserve the 1 rating; about just as many as the ones that deserve the 10 rating. People hand out both 1s and 10s like candy but it is not necessarily a bad thing because this way the final score is kind of balanced, more overrated most of the time but still not extremely far from the truth.

Your way of rating albums is the sensible one.

Written by nikarg on 13.10.2020 at 00:53

Very few albums deserve the 1 rating; about just as many as the ones that deserve the 10 rating. People hand out both 1s and 10s like candy but it is not necessarily a bad thing because this way the final score is kind of balanced, more overrated most of the time but still not extremely far from the truth.

Your way of rating albums is the sensible one.

10s are a bit easier to understand in many ways though. I'm far more likely to rate an album I've listened to many times, and I'm also far more likely to rate an album that I've purchased. Usually I don't purchase one unless I already know I like it quite a bit. Plus, I'm sure we can all name a ton of albums that we absolutely love that are classics. With all the various genres out there, it's easy to list a few dozen albums across 4-5 decades within black, death, thrash, classic, nwobhm, power, folk, etc

Written by sgtrobo on 13.10.2020 at 01:07

10s are a bit easier to understand in many ways though. I'm far more likely to rate an album I've listened to many times, and I'm also far more likely to rate an album that I've purchased. Usually I don't purchase one unless I already know I like it quite a bit. Plus, I'm sure we can all name a ton of albums that we absolutely love that are classics. With all the various genres out there, it's easy to list a few dozen albums across 4-5 decades within black, death, thrash, classic, nwobhm, power, folk, etc

Again, I am in agreement but you present an ideal case based on how you see things yourself, which is not the norm I believe (as far as rating goes). I don't think that the majority actually purchase albums nowadays; they stream and they stream for free most of the time. For me, having someone rate an album based on listening to it on YouTube is a fucking joke. To further elaborate, I believe that people voicing opinions on music based on their YouTube listening experience should be arrested. I find it truly offensive to pass any kind of judgement on something an artist gave a lot of thought, time and effort to create, when all you did was just check out a few minutes of a few songs via a super-compressed medium and using your laptop speakers.

10 is supposed to be given to masterpieces, albums that almost change the way we perceive music, groundbreaking albums, filler-free albums. If you look at how many 10s Obsidian has, it's absolutely ridiculous. I am the biggest Paradise Lost fanboy but for fuck's sake, 10? What should we rate Gothic or Shades Of God or Draconian Times or Icon then? 50 each?

Written by nikarg on 13.10.2020 at 01:31

For me, having someone rate an album based on listening to it on YouTube is a fucking joke. To further elaborate, I believe that people voicing opinions on music based on their YouTube listening experience should be arrested. I find it truly offensive to pass any kind of judgement on something an artist gave a lot of thought, time and effort to create, when all you did was just check out a few minutes of a few songs via a super-compressed medium and using your laptop speakers.

exactly my point. The majority of 1s and 2s are just "grudge/spite" rankings and are silly/childish.

Written by nikarg on 13.10.2020 at 01:31

10 is supposed to be given to masterpieces, albums that almost change the way we perceive music, groundbreaking albums, filler-free albums. If you look at how many 10s Obsidian has, it's absolutely ridiculous. I am the biggest Paradise Lost fanboy but for fuck's sake, 10? What should we rate Gothic or Shades Of God or Draconian Times or Icon then? 50 each?

I hear you on this one, but In the "defense of a 10", I have rated many albums a 10 that are truly "only" a 9.5, 9.6(ish) simply because of rounding.
A simple example (for me) is Immolation, my favorite death metal band.

Now, for me specifically, Close to a World Below is their best album (10), and if I were to post a review where I could specify, down to the tenth of a point, what rating it should get, it would still get a 10.
However, I also have Unholy Cult, Atonement, and Majesty & Decay as 10s, because for me, they are all > 9.5. None are as good as (10) Close to a World Below, but requiring an integer rating between 1 and 10 simply skews things somewhat. Not a complaint so much as an observation (it would be ludicrous to even consider trying to change the rating system now)

Out of the 10s I've posted, probably only 20% of them, at best are actual 10.0's. The rest are 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9

^ Yeah, I get the point. Immolation and the albums you mention are good examples. And I agree, if there is one album by the band that deserves a 10, it is most certainly Close To A World Below. I can see why you have given the same rating to the other three, they are indeed great albums and, at the end of the day, when we rate it is our subjective opinion and nothing more. However, you would agree that any of these three do not deserve to have the same rating as Close To A World Below, but as you say we do not have a rating system that allows for 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9.

Well I dont rate but somehow I dont think any album can be rated whit 10, but to 1, well , to me lowest can be 3-4 , but if we talk about pop music well sure 1 goes, but not in ms database bands. Even suxer bands there dont go so low.

I've never rated anything so low, I mean a 3 already means "very bad". I can't imagine what an album needs to sound like for me to say it's "pure shit". Even Queensryche's Dedicated to Chaos which is one of the worst albums I've ever heard, well "worst thing ever", does it mean I need to give it a "1"? It kind of does

Nightwish's last album is one of the worst things I listened to this year and I gave the albums so many chances, too many to understand the fuss others made and yet I rated it a 5 (not good).

t's not a perfect rating system, aren't "very good" and "excellent" synonyms? I rate a 9 (excellent) an album that got me totally enthusiastic, an album that is giving me immense enjoyment.

Written by JoHn Doe on 13.10.2020 at 12:15

I've never rated anything so low, I mean a 3 already means "very bad". I can't imagine what an album needs to sound like for me to say it's "pure shit". Even Queensryche's Dedicated to Chaos which is one of the worst albums I've ever heard, well "worst thing ever", does it mean I need to give it a "1"? It kind of does

Nightwish's last album is one of the worst things I listened to this year and I gave the albums so many chances, too many to understand the fuss others made and yet I rated it a 5 (not good).

t's not a perfect rating system, aren't "very good" and "excellent" synonyms? I rate a 9 (excellent) an album that got me totally enthusiastic, an album that is giving me immense enjoyment.

Well maybe if guy buys blank CD, puts on CD player and listens it but there no sound... he rates whit 1

Written by Bad English on 13.10.2020 at 12:39

Written by JoHn Doe on 13.10.2020 at 12:15

I've never rated anything so low, I mean a 3 already means "very bad". I can't imagine what an album needs to sound like for me to say it's "pure shit". Even Queensryche's Dedicated to Chaos which is one of the worst albums I've ever heard, well "worst thing ever", does it mean I need to give it a "1"? It kind of does

Nightwish's last album is one of the worst things I listened to this year and I gave the albums so many chances, too many to understand the fuss others made and yet I rated it a 5 (not good).

t's not a perfect rating system, aren't "very good" and "excellent" synonyms? I rate a 9 (excellent) an album that got me totally enthusiastic, an album that is giving me immense enjoyment.

Well maybe if guy buys blank CD, puts on CD player and listens it but there no sound... he rates whit 1

what?!
why are you quoting me? what does what i say have to do with what you say?

I try to take the descriptions literally. 1 is on the level of the worst ever of music. And 2 is an album that sounds like pure shit.

As Bad English said... Giving 2 or 1 is real hard for me because for an album being the worst ever, it would have to at least match the worst of the worst of music (and not only metal), this is... Something as bad as Brazilian funk or something. Because if it isn't like that then it wouldn't be the 'worst ever' .That's why I never gave any 1 in this site, since metal mostly likely is at least not as bad as that.

This is probably the thing that I've heard that feels most objectively terrible - abysmal production and vocals, and nothing really going on in the music to compensate for it. I would definitely give this a 2 if it was on the website; maybe if the instrumentals were sloppier and more out of time (although the production is so bad it's hard to tell really), I might give it a 1.

Otherwise, I think something that's a 1 or 2 is going to go beyond the music being atrocious to something that's a gut reaction to really hating something about it, as the stuff that truly counts as worst ever is going to be so underground that no one here will hear it - Lulu (my only 2 on the website) is by most accounts a complete trainwreck of an album, but at least it's mostly in time and bears hallmarks of music that make passages enjoyable. Nevertheless, the ludicrous lyrics and vocal approaches combined with the sheer tedium of the instrumentals and colossal length will make people react more strongly negatively towards it, and I think that's fair to an extent; if something does something so opposed to your enjoyment of music that it seriously makes the time you spend listening to it truly miserable, it's at a level of negative quality that goes beyond a purely objective assessment. By itself, there was a song on Sumac's latest that I hated to that degree, even if I didn't think it was the worst ever from an objective standpoint, it really went against everything that makes music enjoyable to me, so if it was just that song, I'd start looking at those numbers. Still, I think it's something that should only be done in truly exceptional circumstances such as Lulu for music that is at least slightly competently made (i.e. not performed by primary school children or animals without opposable thumbs).

Written by Karlabos on 13.10.2020 at 13:57

I try to take the descriptions literally. 1 is on the level of the worst ever of music. And 2 is an album that is pure shit.

As Bad English said... Giving 2 or 1 is real hard for me. For an album being the worst ever, it would have to at least match the worst of the worst of music (and not only metal), this is... Something as bad as Brazilian funk or something. Because if it isn't like that then it wouldn't be the 'worst ever' .That's why I never gave any 1 in this site, since metal mostly likely is at least not as bad as that.

Deutche schlager or Balkan turbo folk albums can get such rating. Old babuska in old clouts singing speed in worst music ever. In germany you can drink few bocks or dunkel weizen and schlager can get 2. Hmmmmm radu review Balkan turbo folk plz

Written by Bad English on 13.10.2020 at 15:20

Written by Karlabos on 13.10.2020 at 13:57

I try to take the descriptions literally. 1 is on the level of the worst ever of music. And 2 is an album that is pure shit.

As Bad English said... Giving 2 or 1 is real hard for me. For an album being the worst ever, it would have to at least match the worst of the worst of music (and not only metal), this is... Something as bad as Brazilian funk or something. Because if it isn't like that then it wouldn't be the 'worst ever' .That's why I never gave any 1 in this site, since metal mostly likely is at least not as bad as that.

Deutche schlager or Balkan turbo folk albums can get such rating. Old babuska in old clouts singing speed in worst music ever. In germany you can drink few bocks or dunkel weizen and schlager can get 2. Hmmmmm radu review Balkan turbo folk plz

But have you heard Brazilian funk?

Written by Bad English on 13.10.2020 at 15:20

Hmmmmm radu review Balkan turbo folk plz

SSUS did

I have a personal benchmark of Lulu for my 1 end of the rating spectrum, and everything scales up from there. It's the only 1 I'll likely ever give on this site, but that's only because we don't feature mumble rap.

All the links in this thread are amazing

I think my ratings really go down when there's some objective problem with the music, like bad poduction, failed effect, stupid lyrics. Even the cover art or clips can give me a negative impression.
Or it has to be music that upsets me and stays in my head for too long, or things I'm being forced to listened to, like in a car with people or in supermarkets. It may not be the song in itself but just how badly I'm suffering through it

Written by Karlabos on 13.10.2020 at 15:24

But have you heard Brazilian funk?

Ok, this is really awful. And YouTube led me to this which has 1.5 BILLION views!! Wtf?
Some cute girls tho.

And since we're at it, for metal my 1 would go to more or less all Striborg releases and for non-metal it would go to something like this for the reasons Ansercanagicus mentioned (impossible to avoid it, this kind of shit is played everywhere) plus the fact that he is wearing a Motorhead t-shirt and deserves to be shot for that.

Written by nikarg on 13.10.2020 at 23:12

Written by Karlabos on 13.10.2020 at 15:24

But have you heard Brazilian funk?

Ok, this is really awful. And YouTube led me to this which has 1.5 BILLION views!! Wtf?
Some cute girls tho.

And since we're at it, for metal my 1 would go to more or less all Striborg releases and for non-metal it would go to something like this for the reasons Ansercanagicus mentioned (impossible to avoid it, this kind of shit is played everywhere) plus the fact that he is wearing a Motorhead t-shirt and deserves to be shot for that.

Thats horrible, i vote music whit minus 10..
But Girls well, i asume thay can shake that ass on Sepultura boobs horny boobs song...

Written by Troy Killjoy on 13.10.2020 at 18:11

I have a personal benchmark of Lulu for my 1 end of the rating spectrum, and everything scales up from there. It's the only 1 I'll likely ever give on this site, but that's only because we don't feature mumble rap.

This, St. Anger, and Cold Lake are my benchmarks for a 2.
I am not really sure what would elicit a 1 from me.

Written by sgtrobo on 14.10.2020 at 06:32

Written by Troy Killjoy on 13.10.2020 at 18:11

I have a personal benchmark of Lulu for my 1 end of the rating spectrum, and everything scales up from there. It's the only 1 I'll likely ever give on this site, but that's only because we don't feature mumble rap.

This, St. Anger, and Cold Lake are my benchmarks for a 2.
I am not really sure what would elicit a 1 from me.

Cold lake is best what cf ever did,

Written by Bad English on 14.10.2020 at 07:21

Cold lake is best what cf ever did,

wait, you were kidding, right?

Written by sgtrobo on 14.10.2020 at 07:27

Written by Bad English on 14.10.2020 at 07:21

Cold lake is best what cf ever did,

wait, you were kidding, right?

NO, but they are best of first vave of bm. Same i hate first 2 Bathory albums, their viking era, epic era are best.

Nice post. I agree with what you've written there and I vote pretty much the same. As far as worst ever goes, I have 2 of these, but to make only 1 worst ever, I'd need to go back and change the first one to a 2. And I don't think I'll be doing that. So I have 2 worst ever's, and if another comes along I'll have 3.

Written by Bad English on 14.10.2020 at 09:33

Written by sgtrobo on 14.10.2020 at 07:27

Written by Bad English on 14.10.2020 at 07:21

Cold lake is best what cf ever did,

wait, you were kidding, right?

NO, but they are best of first vave of bm. Same i hate first 2 Bathory albums, their viking era, epic era are best.

dude, Cold Lake isn't black metal. It's glam/hair metal, and it's a downright abomination. You sure you don't have the album mixed up with Into the Pandemonium?

Besides, Blood Fire Death and Sign of Black Mark are far superior to anything Celtic Frost has put out

No thats why I say cold lake is their best.

To be frank I don't understand how this bling bling lots of money, firearms, drugs and naked chicks gets promoted on TV and radio. It's seriously concerning. What's funny (for France at least) is that these kind of producers want to show off big cars, but obviously don't own a lot of them, so we see the same big cars in every clip from different artists.

Here's a "metal" song that was a real disappointment

I don't think anything that deserves a 1 would be released commercially. That's more like a self recorded demo sold from the boot of a car.