10 Masterpiece Albums From Supposedly "Terrible" Bands

9. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT

James Hetfield Metallica
Wikipedia.org

The Album

Distracted by the advent of smartphones and Twitter culture spreading across the globe at a fair old click, music fans had their attentions caught momentarily in 2006 by a little-known Brooklyn outfit. They arrived with a bagful of psychedelic tunes, replete with swirling hooks that had ability to make you feel like you were dripping in acid, without even licking a tab. Yeah, for a time MGMT were the real revolution of a the decade, a band that made you feel lost in a fantastic daze for 40 hazy minutes.

But the real beauty of this album is the danger it hinted at in its songs, where tracks like 'Weekend Wars' and 'Kids' hit you with a beat while at the same time having something to say.

But the comedown for MGMT was a brutal one, with three experimental follow-up albums displaying none of the hooks and trippy beats of their debut. It seems that Oracular Spectacular was the one time they got the formula right, but there's no sign of that happening again.

Best Song

'Electric Feel' and 'Time To Pretend' are trippy treats, for sure, but the essence of this album is in 'The Youth', a haunting trip into the unknown.

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Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing. He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.