History CriticalDissonance / Music

** Weirdly, before ''Elephunk'', their situation was actually ''reversed''. For their first two albums, they were known as a critically acclaimed AlternativeHipHop trio that sold very few albums. Then came Fergie ... bringing UnfortunateImplications.

** Poor, poor Fefe Dobson. All of her albums have been critically acclaimed, but still tanked. One critic from ''NOW'' magazine blamed this on the fact that the industry didn't know how to market a black rocker chick from [[CanadaEh Scarborough, Ontario]].

* Music/{{Rush|Band}} have rarely or never gotten good reviews, particularly in the '70s, but their album sales have almost always been strong, and they have a hardcore, devoted following (and plenty of respect from musicians' publications for their virtuoso playing), and a status as national heroes in [[CanadaEh their homeland]] ... and, finally, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! After years of being ignored (something [[AwardSnub fans didn't take lightly]]).

** The inverse effect of bro-country tends to be the case with more traditionally-minded "Americana" country artists, who get acclaim from publications, but who are significantly less popular with the American public. This is at least partially because musicians, critics, and audiences of Americana are a lot older than the audiences for other types of country music. Since older folks are more likely to buy their music as opposed to streaming it on Spotify or YouTube, there's less of a connection to the internet music scene, and since most hits are made through [=YouTube=] , [=TikTok=] or general online word of mouth, more "traditional" forms of music tend to get lost in the shuffle. There are notable exceptions, however, such as the massive commercial success of Music/ZachBryan in the early 2020s.

** The inverse effect of bro-country tends to be the case with more traditionally-minded "Americana" country artists, who get acclaim from publications, but who are significantly less popular with the American public. This is at least partially because musicians, critics, and audiences of Americana are a lot older than the audiences for other types of country music. Since older folks are more likely to buy their music as opposed to streaming it on Spotify or YouTube, there's less of a connection to the internet music scene, and since most hits are made through YouTube, TikTok or general online word of mouth, more "traditional" forms of music tend to get lost in the shuffle. There are notable exceptions, however, such as the massive commercial success of Music/ZachBryan in the early 2020s.

** "Classical crossover" music gets the opposite reaction: massively successful and popular among the general public, but hated by most classical critics for being watered-down, commercial, and focused on a few [StandardSnippet standard snippets] as opposed to full symphonies or operas. The overwhelming focus on costumes and pageantry also tends to draw accusations of pretentiousness from critics of pop music, who think that it makes all of classical music look elitist.

** The inverse effect of bro-country tends to be the case with more traditionally-minded "Americana" country artists, who get acclaim from (generally older) publications, but who are significantly less popular with the American public. There are notable exceptions, however, such as the massive commercial success of Music/ZachBryan in the early 2020s.

* CountryMusic is a weird example of this, with the dissonance being within the general public. Outside of the American South, country music isn't very popular. In fact, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, the largest radio market in the US, has only one country music radio station (WNSH-FM 94.7, which only came on the air in 2013[[note]]Between 2002 and 2013, there were ''zero'' country stations anywhere in the New York market.[[/note]]), and it struggles in the local ratings and serves more as the flagship for Cumulus Media's Nash FM radio network than anything. Oftentimes liking country music (other than alternative groups, crossover pop artists, or legends) is seen as akin to liking UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}, and will get you called a hillbilly or redneck (or racist). It doesn’t help that the majority of people who listen to country music ''only'' listen to country music, thus [[PopCultureIsolation limiting interaction with fans of other genres]] (other than maybe classic rock). However, simply based on numbers, country music could be considered the most popular genre of music in America. And within the genre itself...

* Music/TheResidents are praised for making a NewSoundAlbum every year, but if an ordinary music fan would listen to their records he wants to clear the room in about two minutes.

* Music/SonicYouth have been praised by rock critics and fans of AlternativeRock for being innovative. Many expected them to break to the mainstream when Music/{{Nirvana}} became huge in 1991, but to this day they never left the underground or struck a chord with the general public.

* Music/FrankZappa is widely praised by critics for being one of the most important composers of all time, having an original, authentic sound that changes [[GenreRoulette many styles]] and being far more complex and experimental than most rock songs. His political activism and satirical songwriting have also been praised. Yet he has never been popular with the general audience and still is nothing more than a cult artist.

* Music/{{Blur}} saw both ends of this with their first two albums: ''Leisure'', which recieved mixed-to-negative reviews for inane lyrics, copious amounts of AlbumFiller, and generally playing FollowTheLeader among the baggy and {{Shoegazing}} scenes at the time, but sold quite well and produced a number of successful singles. Meanwhile, NewSoundAlbum ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' recieved far better reviews and is the TropeMaker for {{Britpop}}, but failed to produce any hit singles and underperformed commercially. Thankfully, with their third album, ''Music/{{Parklife}}'', was a smash hit with both critics and the general public, and for the rest of the 90's Blur would be one of the biggest and most acclaimed bands in Britain.

* Music/ChanceTheRapper's ''The Big Day'' recieved solid reviews upon release, with the Website/AVClub in particular giving it an A rating, but was ''completely'' trashed by most fans and casual listeners for its overly long length (22 tracks that clock in at 77 minutes), generally poor lyricism, the sappy tone, and aimless structure. The backlash got to the extent that one of the few critics who outright trashed the album, the notoriously contentious [[WebVideo/TheNeedleDrop Anthony Fantano]], gave the album a zero out of ten [[note]]With ''Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven'' by Music/KidCudi being the only other album at the time to receive that score[[/note]] and had it be ''one of his most popular reviews''.

->''The rock music critics gave them a caning, but English producers Music/StockAitkenWaterman took [[Music/KylieMinogue Kylie]] and her ''Series/{{Neighbours}}'' beau [[Music/JasonDonovan Jason]] to the top of the charts, with a sound as light as bubbles.''

->''The rock music critics gave them a caning, but English producers Music/StockAitkenWaterman took [[Music/KylieMinogue Kylie]] and her ''Series/{{Neighbours}} beau [[Music/JasonDonovan Jason]] to the top of the charts, with a sound as light as bubbles.''

->''The rock music critics gave them a caning, but English producers Music/StockAitkenWaterman took Music/Kylie|Minogue and her ''Series/{{Neighbours}} beau Music/Jason|Donovan to the top of the charts, with a sound as light as bubbles.''

->''The rock music critics gave them a caning, but English producers music/StockAitkenWaterman took music/Kylie|Minogue and her ''series/{{Neighbours}} beau music/Jason|Donovan to the top of the charts, with a sound as light as bubbles.''

* Music/{{Rush}} have rarely or never gotten good reviews, particularly in the ’70s, but their album sales have almost always been strong, and they have a hardcore, devoted following (and plenty of respect from musicians’ publications for their virtuoso playing), and a status as national heroes in [[CanadaEh their homeland]] … and, finally, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! After years of being ignored (something [[AwardSnub fans didn’t take lightly]]).

** Most of MTV’s ''Buzz'' artists didn’t pan out. With a few notable exceptions (Music/{{Garbage}}, Music/FooFighters, Music/{{Beck}}), the bands featured became [[CultClassic cult favorites]] at best and OneHitWonder flameouts at worst (anyone remember Jimmie’s Chicken Shack?).

* Music/{{Rush}} have rarely or never gotten good reviews, particularly in the ’70s, but their album sales have almost always been strong, and they have a hardcore, devoted following (and plenty of respect from musicians’ publications for their virtuoso playing), and a status as national heroes in [[CanadaEh their homeland]] … and, finally, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! After years of being ignored (something [[AwardSnub fans didn’t take lightly]]).

* Music/{{Nickelback}} are the kings of this trope in modern rock music, and a strange example of it going both ways. On one hand, admitting that you are a Nickelback fan on the Internet will get you told that you have no taste in music and are a part of what’s killing rock and roll. [[http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/readers-poll-the-ten-worst-bands-of-the-nineties-20130509/2-nickelback-0196964 A poll]] by ''Rolling Stone'' named them the second worst band of the ’90s, behind only Music/{{Creed}}, and to this day, comparing a band to Nickelback is still a tried-and-true method of calling them soulless, commercial product made with MoneyDearBoy in mind. On the other, every single album they made between ''Silver Side Up'' in 2001 and ''Dark Horse'' in 2008 went multi-platinum, so ''somebody'' out there is buying their music. You’d expect this polarizing reaction to extend to the critics … but they generally call Nickelback SoOkayItsAverage, formulaic but inoffensive. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgFsrnyp2dQ This review]] by ''WebVideo/SpectrumPulse'' of their album ''No Fixed Address'' argues that much of Nickelback’s source of hatred came not from their music (which was hardly [[Music/ThreeDaysGrace the worst]] [[Music/{{Seether}} to come]] [[Music/TheoryOfADeadman out of]] the PostGrunge wave), but from [[ItsPopularNowItSucks their omnipresence on terrestrial radio]] during that time making their mediocrity that much more unbearable. Inversely, while their ninth album ''Feed the Machine'' got the same mediocre reviews as always, the listeners' reaction was more forgiving.

* Music/{{Space}} emerged during the Main/{{Britpop}} era and were often grouped within the scene despite their more irreverent humor and eclecticism (including influences not usually associated with Britpop such as Music/CypressHill, Music/FrankSinatra, and Creator/QuentinTarantino). They usually received middling reviews from professional critics, who viewed them as a mere novelty act at best and a Music/SuperFurryAnimals ripoff at worst, but their first two albums were smash hits in the UK and had three top 10 singles.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIFomfwGrJw This video]] by Mark Grondin of ''WebVideo/SpectrumPulse'' discusses this. Among other things, he blames this trope on the critics' end for the prevalence of LowestCommonDenominator junk within the genre, arguing that the dismissive attitudes towards country held by many highbrow critics and listeners have caused them to withdraw their voices from the cultural conversation within the genre, allowing the worst sort of PanderingToTheBase to flourish and essentially [[SelfFulfillingProphecy reinforce all of their prejudices]].

* Music/{{AJR}} is considered a laughingstock in most music communities, who see them as a manufactured, radio-pandering band who's indie in name only, much like the below-mentioned Music/ImagineDragons. Despite this, they're one of the biggest names in alternative music.

* During the same time frame of Amel and Res (see above), there was Rhian Benson. Another critical darling that was ignored by the public and mainstream radio.

* “Achy Breaky Heart” by Music/BillyRayCyrus was one of the most hated songs of all time in ''any'' genre, but the album was one of the top-selling of all time. It was also one of the only country songs to break through to mainstream pop in the early 1990s before the below-mentioned Music/ShaniaTwain. Adding insult to injury was the fact that the song was a CoverVersion, and a BlackSheepHit that didn’t well represent Cyrus’ style or body of work. And much of his success was in the country charts; “ABH” was his only true pop crossover hit.

* Dirty Vegas’ sophomore album, ''One'', was outright slammed by critics. It became however greatly popular amongst the fans, and spawned some of their better-known hits barring “Days Go By” (that comes from their self-titled debut album), such as “Human Love” and “Walk into the Sun.” Hell, one song from this album, “A Million Ways,” appears in ''VideoGame/ProjectGothamRacing 3''. Their first post-breakup album, ''Electric Love'', received an overall enthusiastic reception in the other hand.

* Music/GrandFunkRailroad could effectively be described as the Nickelback (see below) of TheSeventies. The gulf between critics and listeners was so vast, it’s even mentioned in the opening paragraph of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Funk_Railroad their Wikipedia page]]. As explained in [[http://starling.rinet.ru/music/gfr.htm this article]], much of both the critics’ unbridled hate for GFR and the public’s love of them had to do with how they were playing [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth simple, energetic, populist roots-rock with straightforward lyrics]] in an era where rock bands with elaborate instrumentation and multilayered lyrical themes -- i.e. the sort of music that [[GoodOlBoy ‘down home’ rock fans]] tend to view as [[TrueArtIsBoring pretentious, nerdy, and hard to 'rock out' to]] -- were critical darlings. Ironically, however, their very last album before their breakup, ''Good Singin', Good Playin[='=]'' in 1976[[note]]After their reunion, they recorded two more albums, ''Grand Funk Lives'' in 1981 and ''What's Funk?'' in 1983, before breaking up again. Both albums, however, were made under a new lineup that was missing half of the original members, and this first reunion is generally considered to be an AudienceAlienatingEra by fans.[[/note]], was done in collaboration with none other than Frank Zappa (see below). [[note]]Though Zappa's tangible influence was minimal, and the track to which he contributed the most, "Rubberneck", got cut from the album and wasn't released to the public until 2001.[[/note]]

* The Levellers’ album ''Hello Pig'' was regarded by many critics to be the band’s breakthrough that was going to catapult them to the mainstream, deviating from their formula. Of course, the fans hated it.

* Music/JohnZorn: Similarly to Zappa Zorn is a critic’s darling for his GenreRoulette style, but literally obscure to the general public.

* Music/MichaelJackson’s first post-''Music/{{Thriller}}'' album, ''Music/{{Bad}}'', was acclaimed by critics and sold extremely well, but by the time ''Magazine/RollingStone''’s Readers’ Poll for 1988 was taken, there was enough of an audience backlash against Jackson that he swept the ‘Worst’ categories. Its reputation with ''both'' camps has improved with time. By comparison 1991’s ''Music/{{Dangerous}}'' was generally liked by both critics and general audiences.

** More divisive still is avant-garde classical music and jazz. While critics praise people like Music/IgorStravinsky, Music/BelaBartok, Arnold Schoenberg, Music/EdgardVarese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Music/OlivierMessiaen, Music/PhilipGlass, Music/CharlesMingus, Music/EricDolphy, Music/JohnColtrane, Music/TheloniousMonk, Sunray, and Music/OrnetteColeman, most average music fans see this music as loud, obnoxious, and impenetrable, preferring gentler classical and jazz if they listen to them at all. There have been [[GenreThrowback movements toward traditionalism]] in both classical and jazz in reaction to the dominance of modernism in the 20th century.

** More divisive still is avant-garde classical music and jazz. While critics praise people like Music/IgorStravinsky, Music/BelaBartok, Arnold Schoenberg, Music/EdgardVarese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Music/Olivier Messiaen, Music/PhilipGlass, Music/CharlesMingus, Music/EricDolphy, Music/JohnColtrane, Music/TheloniousMonk, Sunray, and Music/OrnetteColeman, most average music fans see this music as loud, obnoxious, and impenetrable, preferring gentler classical and jazz if they listen to them at all. There have been [[GenreThrowback movements toward traditionalism]] in both classical and jazz in reaction to the dominance of modernism in the 20th century.

** More divisive still is avant-garde classical music and jazz. While critics praise people like Music/IgorStravinsky, Music/BelaBartok, Arnold Schoenberg, Music/EdgardVarese, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Music/Olivier Messiaen, Music/PhilipGlass, Music/CharlesMingus, Music/EricDolphy, Music/JohnColtrane, Music/TheloniousMonk, Sunray, and Music/OrnetteColeman, most average music fans see this music as loud, obnoxious, and impenetrable, preferring gentler classical and jazz if they listen to them at all.