YMMV / Lostprophets

• Harsher in Hindsight: Several moments with the band haven't aged well after Ian Watkins was charged with sexually abusing children and his lack of remorse about it:
  • "For He's a Jolly Good Felon", a song about how useless the police are, is harder to listen to after Watkins' arrest for child pornography and molestation.
  • The song "Still Laughing" from Fakesoundofprogress, as it seems to be about Ian's sociopathy. One fan even speculated that it was a sign of who he'd later become.
  • The entire video for "A Town Called Hypocrisy"—where Ian is a kids' show host who engages in debauchery behind the scenes—is especially disturbing to watch now following his arrest for pedophilia (more specifically, child pornography and molestation).
  • The second verse of "It's Not The End Of the World (But I Can See It From Here)" is particularly disturbing with the knowledge of Watkins' crimes:
    Oh baby, don't cry tonight, 'coz your tears, they will bleed
    Underneath this blood-red moon and deafened by your screams
    Watch what you say, I will betray
    My promises, they will decay
    I'll make amends, but not today
  • This Popworld segment with Ian dressed as Santa Claus with children on his lap is absolutely chilling in hindsight due to his child pornography and predation charges. He even holds a baby at one point.
  • When MTV Rocks in their native UK premiered the video for "Bring 'Em Down", the Sky EPG information displayed "2012 is look[ing] promising for these guys!". However, their year ended terribly due to Watkins' arrest for criminal charges, and Stuart Richardson later revealed in 2019 that the band's relationship with Watkins was already deteriorating because of his drug habit to the point where the band almost considered breaking up as a result.
• Misattributed Song: In December 2015, Taylor Swift's song "I Knew You Were Trouble", originally released in 2012, was delivered to Spotify (at the time, Swift had pulled her discography from the site due to royalty disputes)...credited to Lostprophets, and the copyright was given to Ian Watkins. Who was in jail by then. Even more confusing is the "single's" cover, which was a screenshot from Scaredy Squirrel.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • "Raaaaa...swing it!" before the breakdown in "The Fake Sound Of Progress".
  • The guitar intro to "We Still Kill The Old Way," the first song on "Start Something."
  • The calm and cool intro to "Sway".
    • And the outro... just the whole song. "I'm not lying // I'm telling you the truth..."
  • The first verse of Bring 'Em Down features a "ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR! FIVE! SIX! SEVEEEEENNNN! EIGHT!! NINE!!! TEN!!!!".
  • We Bring an Arsenal. The intro. "Weh-oh-eh-oh-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!!!! Weh-oh-eh-oh-la-la-la-la-la-LAAAAAA!!!". BEST. CHOIR. EVER.
  • The scratch solo from "We Are Godzilla, You Are Japan".
• Overshadowed by Controversy: If you're not a devoted fan, most likely the only thing you know about the band is that Ian Watkins was convicted of child pornography and molestation. The band's legacy has been irreparably damaged by Watkins' appalling crimes, so much that the remaining band members relaunched themselves as No Devotion. The band's former members themselves weren't affected so much by controversy. The member who was most notably unaffected was Ilan Rubin, who by the time of Watkins' arrest was doing session work for Nine Inch Nails and Paramore and his Lostprophets days had long been forgotten about.
• Signature Song: "Last Train Home", with "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)" as a close second.
• Sophomore Slump: Averted, Start Something was actually their most succesful album.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • They had to deal with this already by the time of their first album. After its initial release and subsequent line-up change (Jamie replacing DJ Stepzak), they went back to studio to rework it. Title Track was re-recorded entirely, while other songs had their samples and vocals replaced (and even added ones, that originally weren't featured there) and were overally re-mixed. Subsequently, they also merged all interludes with their respective previous songs. Not all fans liked this change.
  • Later on, Liberation Transmission was received with reticence due to the style of the music being changed.
  • Some fans had this attitude towards No Devotion as well. The new musical direction that had more in common with bands like The Cure, Joy Division and New Order wasn't well-received by those who liked the heavier aspects of Lostprophets the most.

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