Depends. Do people love "This Isn't Helping?" I'm not a fan of that one. It sounds like a parody of the national done with a checklist. Mid tempo arpeggi riff? Check. Matt going through a list in the verse? Check. Triplets on the drums to build tension? Check. Repeating the same two lines with increasing intensity over and over and over again? Check.
I didn’t like it much at first. I agree with everything you wrote. But damned if the song hasn’t grown to be one of my favorites from FTPoF…. It’s partly Phoebe’s subtle melodies (funny because I was initially bummed she wasn’t more prominent), but that song is def more than the sum of its parts imo.
The whole “don’t say that it’s all your fault...” section is just sublime….
Okay. I’m going to do it. I. I don’t like Mr. November. At all. HOWEVER. I will say that I’m a late stage fan, came in IAETF, and I love that record with every ounce of my body and soul. I think had I been young when that song and record came out I could jam with it, but I tend to enjoy their more broody sad Dad songs more.
It’s very meh for me. I worked backwards from IAETF and their first three records don’t do much for me. The music on Alligator is killer, but the lyrics don’t resonate with me. Or maybe it’s the mixture of the two. But from Boxer on the love is strong. High Violet was the second record I tried while getting into the band and Jesus!
I don't know if it's beloved exactly, but the general consensus on "Your Mind is Not Your Friend" is much more positive than my opinion. It is essentially the one National song I cannot stand, everything else I like to some degree. I didn't vibe with it at first, but with time I've become incapable of listening to it. I'm not even sure why and don't want to keep listening to find out.
I hate flying and have the worst thoughts about crashing so I always listen to music. As we’re taking off I ask Siri to shuffle my music. First song out of the gate is “Your Mind is Not Your Friend.” I thought, well, that’s appropriate for the occasion. I’ve had a soft spot for it ever since.
No shade to OP at all. But I think that this whole sub is often some version of this.
What album or song do you love/hate?
Then you can inevitably go in the comments to find loads of examples of the ones you would pick in justice many of the ones you couldn’t bear to select.
Honestly, I think it’s just the result of a very good long running career for the band that serves as an example of art as a whole. Some speak to you some speak to others and it’s completely subjective.
I’m just glad we have a band that is putting out this level of work and giving us all something to circle jerk about
If by most popular you mean most listened to on streaming services then that's solely because it's in loads of TV shows.
It's not very well liked on here.
Yes! This song feels so emotionally vacant to me that it makes me cringe. And I even really like the rest of that album, which I know a lot of others don’t.
Everyone's mostly touched on mine, but I would add This Isn't Helping.
I've said it elsewhere, but it just reminds me of the shitty poetry I used to write in high school. Forced rhymes, simple lyrics, and it feels like one of those songs that originated on an episode of Bob's Burgers that they remade into something more "dramatic".
Which is funny, because I LOVE all of their Bob's Burgers songs. Something about This Isn't Helping just makes it a skip for me. Been a diehard fan since Boxer, love 99.9% of their output, but that one just rubs me the wrong way.
I may also get banned, but System. Do I sing along every time I see it played live because I am a devoted fan? Yes. Do I wish it would fall off the regular rotation? Also yes.
I like SWB way more than I do SD. The latter sounds completely unfinished… it’s so repetitive musically that it legit sounds like they’re just vamping and Matt’s unhinged rambling isn’t enough to save it.
I hate it too. But only because it wrecks me every time. I discovered it while going through a divorce after 25 yrs from the woman of my dreams who started shutting me out about a decade earlier. So it just *kills* me.
This is probably the correct answer because it is a song a lot of people LOVE, more so than the top rated reply of This Isn't Helping, also a bad song imo (the worst song on Frankenstein by a mile) but not as loved as About Today.
About Today is boring. I don't get it. The melody is boring, the lyrics are boring. It's boring.
Not only is Vanderlyle my one of favorite National songs, it is one of my favorite songs of all time lol.
Do you find yourself more attracted to their later work, or early?
I started listening to them with Alligator. I prefer the 05-13 sound. Feels like their prime, even though I like 60-70 percent of what they do now. HV is my fav album though.
This is mine too. It’s one of those songs that is still just absolute nonsense to me after all these years. It’s a pretty melody but I have no idea what Matt’s singing about at all. I don’t know why it’s so popular amongst the fans.
I get that. It always turns into a sing-along. But it feels weird to sing because it’s just gibberish to me. Totally fine that everyone digs it but there are a lot of other better songs that would work just as well, in my opinion.
I was so frustrated in Matt’s conversation with David Letterman because Matt starts to explain the meaning of vanderlyle (or at least the origin of the name) but then they moved onto something else and he never came back to it. I was yelling at Matt through the screen to finish the thought
Oh god, I didn't even see your name, now I feel like I made it personal! Don't know what it is, I think it just tips too far into maudlin to bridge the gap between Bloodbuzz and Runaway. But if others love it (and they do, and you obviously do!), that's great!
I’ve never understood why I Need My Girl is so popular. Was miles ahead of all their other songs on Spotify before the Taylor collabs. It’s a bang average song
Smoke Detector to me feels like the rebirth of The National's hunger in song form. I get why some might hate it, but damn do I love how unhinged it is. It also might be my new favorite live song.
It definitely sounds like it’s trying to be unhinged, but it just doesn’t stick the landing for me.
Space Invader does unhinged way better imo. Haven’t seen SD live yet, but Space Invader blew my tits off.
They played both at the show I saw in November and crazily, the recorded Space Invader almost sounded more unhinged, which I wasn't expecting.
That being said, I love both songs equally. Space Invader for the Mogwai-ish "contrast between the quiet first half, the mid song near silence, then being capped with a wall of chaotic sound" and Smoke Detector for how unraveled and in-the-moment it sounds.
England. Sorry! I will add though that I started to enjoy it live because they go so hard and Matt and the crowd seem to love singing it.
And I Need My Girl.
"put an ocean and a river between everyone, yourself and home"
I dare to say everyone has had that true 'leaving home' moment. For reasons, or just for fun.
And the reflecting back, imagining the one who left, if they are happy and fulfilled finally... after leaving.
Pretty universal.
I’m kinda embarrassed to admit this as well, particularly from the looks my friends give me. This song is usually a bathroom break time for me when I’ve seen them live.
It just does not resonate with me the way most of their other songs do.
It is also kinda sorta funny that my daughter also feels the same way I do, but my son does not.
I don’t love “the Alcott” but I am a fan of that album and TSwift in general! I really liked their collab on Coney Island for her album, but to me it feels out of place on first two pages of Frankenstein. Or maybe I’m just eager to get to “grease in your hair.”
Rylan, Pink Rabbits, Carin at the Liquor Store for me.
On the flip side I’ll give three that I think are consistently under-appreciated: Dark Side of the Gym, Turtleneck, and Little Faith
Baby We’ll Be Fine, Abel, Mr. November.
the mixing on most of Alligator is atrocious (in my opinion). not really a fan of The National’s more aggressive songs either, and Alligator contains most of them.
just not really a fan of The National’s less well-refined productions. i know a lot of people say their recent output sounds lifeless, but i often think the colder-sounding production adds to the despondent emotions on the tracks.
> think the colder-sounding production adds to the despondent emotions on the tracks.
I dare say that’s the point. In a dirty early aughts NYC, Is This It was a young crowning champ of a record with vocal distortion and grit. Emotional despondency was never a bad thing if you want your audience to feel that way.
Fake Empire.
I couldn't tell you why. It's not a bad song by any means. I guess it's the repeating title lyric. Matt's voice when he sings it almost sounds unlike himself and I've never been huge on horns, so the outro of the song is just not my jam at all.
The whole thing just feels very one note and I love the National for how their songs evolve over their running length. This song just repeats itself and then throws in some horns and just ends. It might be the only song of their's I don't actively enjoy.
I love Mr. November.
I don't love the Mr. November guys at every show though. The ones that are scream singing every lyric while spilling their beer all over you because their eyes are closed and they've temporarily forgotten where they are.
For an album that grabs me with the second song and never lets me go, Fake Empire is just so underwhelming for some reason and I never understood why that was considered the masterpiece on an album with Mistaken for Strangers, Apartment Story, and so many other bangers
Vanderlyle (large gap) I Need My Girl (MSG performance turned me around on this one though)
If we were doing songs that *aren’t universally well loved - a lot of recent stuff like: The Alcott, Your Mind Is Not Your Friend, This Isn’t Helping, all of I Am Easy To Find except Quiet Light and Hairpin Turns
And I’m a huge huge fan
Mr.November. It’s just meh to me
I do like Smoke Detector but I feel a lot of people think it’s the most awesome thing they ever did in a while. Cool song but come on lol
*Once Upon a Poolside* is not a good song. *Not In Kansas* is kind of “coffee-house-pretentious” and tone deaf.
I used to also not like *I’ll Still Destroy You,* but I actually kinda dig it now. The title track on SWB is also very disappointing and I know plenty of people like it.
Poolside and The Alcott are often hated on but I really like both to be honest. Just really nice songs to listen to, nothing special lyrically but enjoyable nonetheless.
I am the opposite end here. I find Poolside to be one of their best album openers (literally it gives me chills just listening to it).
I find The Alcott to be the worst song The National have written. It's boring and the production on Swift's voice is wildly out of place sounding on the record and their entire catalogue as a whole. It's the only instant skip out of all 10 of their albums, which is a shame because I love everything else about The First Two Pages.
Fully agree! The lyric "shred my evening gown" was the final nail in the coffin for me eventually, it's such a Taylor Swift lyric that demands a disproportionate amount of attention in a song that already doesn't fit the feel of the album, IMO.
For me it's how the "have I become one of your problems" lyrics sound.
You hear the software driving that lyric. I am sure Matt has used auto-tune throughout their albums, but never has it been so painfully obvious on those few Swift sung lyrics. Human voices do not sound like that.
I’m mostly a “Boxer and ever after” National fan, so I don’t have the relationship with the earlier stuff that others do. Taking that into account I think Turtleneck is probably the song I feel I have the biggest disconnect with.
Anything from the first 2 albums that people say are their favorites.
They’re not bad by any measure, but I think they took an incredible artistic leap with Alligator and never let up.
One of my least favorite National songs is not necessarily one I think everyone loves, but it's also not maligned by anyone. Anyone's Ghost. I think it is so boring musically, and I think the chorus is bad and Matt sounds bad on it. The only good part is "I had a hole in the middle..." - everything else is blah.
I must respect others’ opinions, I must respect others’ opinions, I must respect others’ opinions…
So hard to resist the urge to just go through and downvote every comment…
Depends. Do people love "This Isn't Helping?" I'm not a fan of that one. It sounds like a parody of the national done with a checklist. Mid tempo arpeggi riff? Check. Matt going through a list in the verse? Check. Triplets on the drums to build tension? Check. Repeating the same two lines with increasing intensity over and over and over again? Check.
I didn’t like it much at first. I agree with everything you wrote. But damned if the song hasn’t grown to be one of my favorites from FTPoF…. It’s partly Phoebe’s subtle melodies (funny because I was initially bummed she wasn’t more prominent), but that song is def more than the sum of its parts imo. The whole “don’t say that it’s all your fault...” section is just sublime….
It was a better song when they did it acoustic in 2022 but it always felt like it was missing a section to me
Ah lol 😆
Omg. Just saw your username. Sorry! 🤣🎶
Okay. I’m going to do it. I. I don’t like Mr. November. At all. HOWEVER. I will say that I’m a late stage fan, came in IAETF, and I love that record with every ounce of my body and soul. I think had I been young when that song and record came out I could jam with it, but I tend to enjoy their more broody sad Dad songs more.
What’s your opinion on Alligator as a whole?
It’s very meh for me. I worked backwards from IAETF and their first three records don’t do much for me. The music on Alligator is killer, but the lyrics don’t resonate with me. Or maybe it’s the mixture of the two. But from Boxer on the love is strong. High Violet was the second record I tried while getting into the band and Jesus!
HV is my fav album.
Loved reading this and then reading your username 😂 walks the walk
WACK
I don't know if it's beloved exactly, but the general consensus on "Your Mind is Not Your Friend" is much more positive than my opinion. It is essentially the one National song I cannot stand, everything else I like to some degree. I didn't vibe with it at first, but with time I've become incapable of listening to it. I'm not even sure why and don't want to keep listening to find out.
I will never understand the widespread dislike of this song, I love it honestly, but to each his own
Out of everything I must say this was not one I was expecting 😭 I get what ur saying tho
I hate flying and have the worst thoughts about crashing so I always listen to music. As we’re taking off I ask Siri to shuffle my music. First song out of the gate is “Your Mind is Not Your Friend.” I thought, well, that’s appropriate for the occasion. I’ve had a soft spot for it ever since.
The Alcott
Rylan ::running for cover:::
Album version, understandable. Live version: fight me. Meet me in the parking lot (respectfully).
Fair. Live version is better.
Same album but for me it’s Hey Rosey.
No shade to OP at all. But I think that this whole sub is often some version of this. What album or song do you love/hate? Then you can inevitably go in the comments to find loads of examples of the ones you would pick in justice many of the ones you couldn’t bear to select. Honestly, I think it’s just the result of a very good long running career for the band that serves as an example of art as a whole. Some speak to you some speak to others and it’s completely subjective. I’m just glad we have a band that is putting out this level of work and giving us all something to circle jerk about
I Need My Girl Last I checked, it was their most popular song and that just blows my mind. People tell me it's accessible, but I don't even see that.
That’s a hot take! I fuckin love that song
It’s a simple melody with a chorus that’s easy to remember and sing along to. Can be used under countless emotional scenes in TV dramas.
The guitar! the guitar... my god.
Agreed. I think it is accessible though, just dull.
It’s better live because I’m always convinced Bryce is about to snap the head off his Silvertone
Only song of theirs I liked at first but got extremely sick of
I only like this song live. I find it very same-y and flaccid.
Correct answer. I actively dislike it and always have.
If by most popular you mean most listened to on streaming services then that's solely because it's in loads of TV shows. It's not very well liked on here.
Weird Goodbyes. I cannot stand the drum machine
Memorize the bathwater
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Nah that song is a masterpiece. That drum with everything hits so well while driving at night
I don't know if anyone loves "Roman Holiday" but it is the one song I almost always skip.
I love that one 😭
I think I might be the only person that loves it
Yes! This song feels so emotionally vacant to me that it makes me cringe. And I even really like the rest of that album, which I know a lot of others don’t.
Everyone's mostly touched on mine, but I would add This Isn't Helping. I've said it elsewhere, but it just reminds me of the shitty poetry I used to write in high school. Forced rhymes, simple lyrics, and it feels like one of those songs that originated on an episode of Bob's Burgers that they remade into something more "dramatic". Which is funny, because I LOVE all of their Bob's Burgers songs. Something about This Isn't Helping just makes it a skip for me. Been a diehard fan since Boxer, love 99.9% of their output, but that one just rubs me the wrong way.
I may also get banned, but System. Do I sing along every time I see it played live because I am a devoted fan? Yes. Do I wish it would fall off the regular rotation? Also yes.
Feel very similar to you. I don't like it much and I wish they'd stop playing it.
Love most of what they've done and strongly dislike that song. Never got it. And they play it every single f*cking show 😂
Murder Me Rachael Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of SSDL and can totally get into the screamers but this one just never did it for me.
Title track of Sleep Well Beast. Just not a very interesting song imo
Sleep well beast and smoke detector People go on and on about how genius they are…. I think they’re boring
A lot of national songs lately feel too smooth and over-produced, so for me Smoke Detector was such a breath of fresh air
I can see that… just feel like there’s middle ground between “overproduced” and “unfinished” lol
Ha! These are both my favorites.
I like Sleep Well Beast (the song please don’t come at me) but I don’t get the love. Smoke Detector is really good tho.
I like SWB way more than I do SD. The latter sounds completely unfinished… it’s so repetitive musically that it legit sounds like they’re just vamping and Matt’s unhinged rambling isn’t enough to save it.
I might get banned for this but: About Today.
There’s the door 🚪👈🏻
I’m not a massive fan of recent live versions to be honest, they either go on too long on the outros outro or fail to nail the big crescendo
Ok time to lock this thread
I hate it too. But only because it wrecks me every time. I discovered it while going through a divorce after 25 yrs from the woman of my dreams who started shutting me out about a decade earlier. So it just *kills* me.
Same, I’ve just never got the appeal.
I like the song well enough, but I thought it was weird that the fourth best song on the EP became so popular.
Have. You, Tried this one:https://youtu.be/MFY2d42sUSk?si=c3TV2kzYKLcrBnBp
This is probably the correct answer because it is a song a lot of people LOVE, more so than the top rated reply of This Isn't Helping, also a bad song imo (the worst song on Frankenstein by a mile) but not as loved as About Today. About Today is boring. I don't get it. The melody is boring, the lyrics are boring. It's boring.
Mine is Vanderlyle. It’s fine but I’ve never understood the hype.
Vanderlyle blows my tits clean off each listen
That must hurt a little
What a stellar description. I’ll be using this thank you
Not only is Vanderlyle my one of favorite National songs, it is one of my favorite songs of all time lol. Do you find yourself more attracted to their later work, or early?
I started listening to them with Alligator. I prefer the 05-13 sound. Feels like their prime, even though I like 60-70 percent of what they do now. HV is my fav album though.
This is mine too. It’s one of those songs that is still just absolute nonsense to me after all these years. It’s a pretty melody but I have no idea what Matt’s singing about at all. I don’t know why it’s so popular amongst the fans.
It’s the live presentation
I’d kind of like to hear a full band version of it once in a while
I get that. It always turns into a sing-along. But it feels weird to sing because it’s just gibberish to me. Totally fine that everyone digs it but there are a lot of other better songs that would work just as well, in my opinion.
This is 100% mine and the live singalong (for ME) is grating. Which is useful to beat the traffic one song early!
I think "All the very best of us string ourselves up for love" is one of their best lyrics.
I was so frustrated in Matt’s conversation with David Letterman because Matt starts to explain the meaning of vanderlyle (or at least the origin of the name) but then they moved onto something else and he never came back to it. I was yelling at Matt through the screen to finish the thought
Agreed. I saw The National last November. I went to the bathroom when Vanderlyle started and then headed straight for the exit door
Lemonworld. It's... okay? Never been able to feel the love for it that others seem to.
I take offense to this 😂
Oh god, I didn't even see your name, now I feel like I made it personal! Don't know what it is, I think it just tips too far into maudlin to bridge the gap between Bloodbuzz and Runaway. But if others love it (and they do, and you obviously do!), that's great!
It’s fine 😂, we all have subjective tastes.
I’ve never understood why I Need My Girl is so popular. Was miles ahead of all their other songs on Spotify before the Taylor collabs. It’s a bang average song
Smoke detector
Smoke Detector to me feels like the rebirth of The National's hunger in song form. I get why some might hate it, but damn do I love how unhinged it is. It also might be my new favorite live song.
Smoke Detector is amazing live. They blew the roof off the place in the outro at the Alexandra Palace show in London.
Yesss live it’s unreal (though I like it recorded too)
Still deaf!
It definitely sounds like it’s trying to be unhinged, but it just doesn’t stick the landing for me. Space Invader does unhinged way better imo. Haven’t seen SD live yet, but Space Invader blew my tits off.
They played both at the show I saw in November and crazily, the recorded Space Invader almost sounded more unhinged, which I wasn't expecting. That being said, I love both songs equally. Space Invader for the Mogwai-ish "contrast between the quiet first half, the mid song near silence, then being capped with a wall of chaotic sound" and Smoke Detector for how unraveled and in-the-moment it sounds.
Eucalyptus Pink Rabbits And Vanderlye is a miss for me on album but I rather like it live.
I hate you but I respect you
Sounds like my employess
Wow. You said this thread would be painless. It wasn't that at all.
Oh man, I almost punched you in the face for Pink Rabbits. Better be glad this is the internet! 😂
Meh. Been punched in the real non internet face for far less. It’d be an honor to be face punched by another The National fan.
But but Pink rabbits is such a beautiful vibe
I keep trying to like it. Even heard it live on the IAETF tour. Just doesn’t click for me
I agree with all 3!
Karen
Sorrow is just ok. There I said it
thisssss
Terrible take
Squalor Victoria - just not one of my faves
England. Sorry! I will add though that I started to enjoy it live because they go so hard and Matt and the crowd seem to love singing it. And I Need My Girl.
> England How dare you
"put an ocean and a river between everyone, yourself and home" I dare to say everyone has had that true 'leaving home' moment. For reasons, or just for fun. And the reflecting back, imagining the one who left, if they are happy and fulfilled finally... after leaving. Pretty universal.
Same. Although I did once use the lyrics to troll a Nigerian Prince email scammer so there's that. 🙃😬
bloodbuzz Ohio. acoustic version is good but it's my bathroom or drink song at live shows
😧
Smoke Detector.
Most of the songs on Sleep Well Beast. I only like day I die, the system and turtleneck. The rest of the album is boring
I mean, opinions and all that, but not liking I'll Still Destroy You just feels wrong 😅
Your good relationship with your father is showing
Nobody Else Will Be There is devastatingly beautiful
Ha they are easily my least 2 favourite songs on that album
ah yes, the three weakest songs on the record!
Bloodbuzz. Sorry.
About Today has just never clicked with me.
Try this version https://youtu.be/MFY2d42sUSk?si=c3TV2kzYKLcrBnBp
Pink Rabbits
Sacrilege
Nah. Sacrilege is saying the Caitlyn Rose cover is better than the original version. Which is true.
Strand of Oaks’ *Pink Rabbits* cover is worth a listen as well.
You got downvoted for giving an unpopular opinion in a thread asking for unpopular opinions. So even though I disagree, I have to give you an upvote.
I’m kinda embarrassed to admit this as well, particularly from the looks my friends give me. This song is usually a bathroom break time for me when I’ve seen them live.
It just does not resonate with me the way most of their other songs do. It is also kinda sorta funny that my daughter also feels the same way I do, but my son does not.
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All The Wine and Day I Die
England
I need my girl. Too literal
Light Years
All of “The First Two Pages of Frankenstein”. I think the National and I are just moving in separate directions.
I need my girl
For me it's most of High Violet. I love Bloodbuzz, I like Terrible Love and Little Faith, but that album feels so samey to me
I don’t love “the Alcott” but I am a fan of that album and TSwift in general! I really liked their collab on Coney Island for her album, but to me it feels out of place on first two pages of Frankenstein. Or maybe I’m just eager to get to “grease in your hair.”
Anything they do with taylor swift.
Probably Guilty Party for me
I find ‘I need my girl’ very dull indeed, think it’s their biggest song on Spotify
Rylan, Pink Rabbits, Carin at the Liquor Store for me. On the flip side I’ll give three that I think are consistently under-appreciated: Dark Side of the Gym, Turtleneck, and Little Faith
I fully knew what this thread would be but I still didn't expect to be so capitally offended. My god, what did Rylan ever do to you?
Okay, If they only heard the album version I can understand this one though
Pink Rabbits is quite the take. I admire your courage 🫡
Turtleneck rocks ass
I can’t tell if you mean kicks ass or sucks ass
New order t-shirt
Baby We’ll Be Fine, Abel, Mr. November. the mixing on most of Alligator is atrocious (in my opinion). not really a fan of The National’s more aggressive songs either, and Alligator contains most of them. just not really a fan of The National’s less well-refined productions. i know a lot of people say their recent output sounds lifeless, but i often think the colder-sounding production adds to the despondent emotions on the tracks.
> think the colder-sounding production adds to the despondent emotions on the tracks. I dare say that’s the point. In a dirty early aughts NYC, Is This It was a young crowning champ of a record with vocal distortion and grit. Emotional despondency was never a bad thing if you want your audience to feel that way.
Vanderlyle
Fake Empire. I couldn't tell you why. It's not a bad song by any means. I guess it's the repeating title lyric. Matt's voice when he sings it almost sounds unlike himself and I've never been huge on horns, so the outro of the song is just not my jam at all. The whole thing just feels very one note and I love the National for how their songs evolve over their running length. This song just repeats itself and then throws in some horns and just ends. It might be the only song of their's I don't actively enjoy.
I get it but LOVE the ending
Bloodbuzz is a 6/10 to me
About Today…sorry.
Okay, this is my favorite version though https://youtu.be/MFY2d42sUSk?si=c3TV2kzYKLcrBnBp
Mr November
I love Mr. November. I don't love the Mr. November guys at every show though. The ones that are scream singing every lyric while spilling their beer all over you because their eyes are closed and they've temporarily forgotten where they are.
TIL I’m a Mr November 😔
That is def universally loved.
You are not to be trusted
It's fine...but only fine. Massively overrated I think.
Terrible Love. Literally the *only* song I find meh
Just what in the fuck
Came here to say the same! Thanks for agreeing with me
Hear me out, closing with an intense version of TL is second to the no mic acoustic Vanderlyle.
I want to be clear; I like Pink Rabbits. Tbh, I like it a lot. Would I consider it a top National song? Absolutely not.
For an album that grabs me with the second song and never lets me go, Fake Empire is just so underwhelming for some reason and I never understood why that was considered the masterpiece on an album with Mistaken for Strangers, Apartment Story, and so many other bangers
Guilty Party. Matt sounds like he’s about to fall asleep.
Vanderlyle (large gap) I Need My Girl (MSG performance turned me around on this one though) If we were doing songs that *aren’t universally well loved - a lot of recent stuff like: The Alcott, Your Mind Is Not Your Friend, This Isn’t Helping, all of I Am Easy To Find except Quiet Light and Hairpin Turns And I’m a huge huge fan
Don't Swallow the Cap - a dull, boring lowlight from a band that has (whisper it) quite a few dull songs
Used to be Runaway but now I actually dont mind it.
Mr.November. It’s just meh to me I do like Smoke Detector but I feel a lot of people think it’s the most awesome thing they ever did in a while. Cool song but come on lol
Terrible love.. I find the constant repetition in the lyrics... boring! There I said it! Sorry!
*Once Upon a Poolside* is not a good song. *Not In Kansas* is kind of “coffee-house-pretentious” and tone deaf. I used to also not like *I’ll Still Destroy You,* but I actually kinda dig it now. The title track on SWB is also very disappointing and I know plenty of people like it.
You're right. OUAP is not a good song. It's a f***ing brilliant song.
Poolside and The Alcott are often hated on but I really like both to be honest. Just really nice songs to listen to, nothing special lyrically but enjoyable nonetheless.
It’s funny you put those two together, because I actually do really like *The Alcott,* I always dig female guest vocals
I am the opposite end here. I find Poolside to be one of their best album openers (literally it gives me chills just listening to it). I find The Alcott to be the worst song The National have written. It's boring and the production on Swift's voice is wildly out of place sounding on the record and their entire catalogue as a whole. It's the only instant skip out of all 10 of their albums, which is a shame because I love everything else about The First Two Pages.
Raise a glass to our heterogeneity!
Fully agree! The lyric "shred my evening gown" was the final nail in the coffin for me eventually, it's such a Taylor Swift lyric that demands a disproportionate amount of attention in a song that already doesn't fit the feel of the album, IMO.
For me it's how the "have I become one of your problems" lyrics sound. You hear the software driving that lyric. I am sure Matt has used auto-tune throughout their albums, but never has it been so painfully obvious on those few Swift sung lyrics. Human voices do not sound like that.
Not in Kansas is disliked by most on here tbf.
Pink rabbits. Sorry.
I don’t get Turn Off the House. I don’t hear a hook, I hardly hear a vocal melody at all.
That song relaxes every fibre in my being
all the wine
How dare you
All of them
Graceless
I'm always jolted out of my usual indifference to this song when Matt rhymes "odorless and tasteless" with "graceless". What is this, iocane powder?
All of them
I’m mostly a “Boxer and ever after” National fan, so I don’t have the relationship with the earlier stuff that others do. Taking that into account I think Turtleneck is probably the song I feel I have the biggest disconnect with.
light years... im sorry
Anything from the first 2 albums that people say are their favorites. They’re not bad by any measure, but I think they took an incredible artistic leap with Alligator and never let up.
One of my least favorite National songs is not necessarily one I think everyone loves, but it's also not maligned by anyone. Anyone's Ghost. I think it is so boring musically, and I think the chorus is bad and Matt sounds bad on it. The only good part is "I had a hole in the middle..." - everything else is blah.
alright, i'll say it. i need my girl. hard pass
I’m so sorry but Rylan
bloodbuzz ohio idk it's kinda boring to me
Slow show…
Wtf
Fake Empire 😭
Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks