Someone on the Malkmus thread saying "Malkmus hasn't done anything good since 'Wowee Zowee'" made me think of this.
What are some albums that when they came out everybody (both fans, critics, the "somewhere in between" of pitchfork media and the general public) ALL said:
"Ugh! What the hell is this? This is awful. This TOTALLY SUCKS."
But, NOW when you look BACK on those albums everybody says:
"Wow! Classic. Best thing they ever did."
Basically, albums that were mercilessly slated when they came out but now are reappreciated as being excellent and groundbreaking.
As the subject of this post, Weezer's 2nd album is the textbook example of this. It was famously voted "Second Worst Album of 1996" in the Rolling Stone reader's poll. Also, after "Slanted and Enchanted" and "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" NOBODY was saying "Wowee Zowee" was even a tenth as good as its predecessors when it was released.
Any others?
Brian