10 Biggest Love/Hate Albums In Rock Music History

Rolling Stone infamously described Lou Reed's fifth studio album, 1975's Metal Machine Music, as “the tubular groaning of a galactic refrigerator,” liking the experience of listening to “a night in a bus terminal.” Critic Greg Kot, writing in MusicHound Rock, opined, “The spin cycle of a washing machine has more melodic variation.” The influential New York publication, Punk, however, celebrated the album by featuring the record on the cover of its very first issue.

This is one case where opinions have not converged over the years. In 2010, Q Magazine featured Metal Machine Music in its list of Top Ten Career Suicides. The Wire Magazine, by contrast, ranked the album among its 100 Records That Set the World on Fire.

Whichever way you lean with this one, Metal Machine Music has stood the test of time, in terms of acquiring a cult status, and remains much-talked about as a significant sign-post in popular music history. Harsh, abrasive and wholly challenging, this is a record which continues to perplex and provoke.