10 Classic Albums That People Originally Hated

There's a certain omnipresence that comes with some of the more celebrated albums in history. As opposed to just being good for its time or having some amazing songs, these records have been mulled over and dissected, as if moving one element out of place would have felt sacrilegious. You're saying that now...it wasn't that way at the time though.

For as much lip service as these artists might get for these albums, most of the records on this list only got that special treatment in hindsight. In fact, most of these initial masterpieces were met with either indifference or outright hatred by the fanbase at first, with people heralding them as some of the worst albums the music industry had to offer. Then again, sometimes genius isn't really appreciated unless it's in the rearview already. Looking back on them today, each of these records marked a new creative departure for these acts, proving that they were a lot more than just your average run of the mill act that you'd throw on in the background.

Not only have they held up well, but most of these would prove to be influential in the long run, giving birth to other acts and even new genres of music later down the line. Though the quality is certainly here, you would have gotten some strange looks if you thought these were good back in the day.

From the start of their career, the Doors never seemed to fit neatly in one genre. Going from one song to the next, these psychedelic giants always toed the line of what constituted rock and roll, from hard rock to showtunes to even down and dirty blues jams. Once the classical musicians were brought in though, people started to get a bit skeptical.

Looking back on it today, The Soft Parade is a terrific album from the group's mid-period, with Jim Morrison balancing his trademark sleaze rocker with a more pop friendly sound. However, the initial reaction to something like Touch Me and Tell All the People was quite a shock coming from the same band that did Light My Fire. I mean, who wants to see the Lizard King go out on stage and perform a song that could have been a demented version of a Frank Sinatra tune?

On the other hand, that exact kind of weirdness held up in their favor, with each jazzy flourish of the album turning into solid gold over the years. It's not like the old Doors had gone anywhere either, with songs like Shaman's Blues and the title track having just as much darkness as you would expect from Morrison's poetry. This is by far the most adventurous album the Doors ever made, but don't let that dissuade you from thinking it's of any lesser quality.