YMMV / Spiderland

• Awesome Music: Why else would Spiderland be so influential?:
  • "Breadcrumb Trail", which serves as a preview of things to come: the second verse is capped off by a lone, clean guitar melody before bursting into distorted chaos. Towards the end of the song, the distorted instruments build up before immediately refraining into the intro riff.
  • "Nosferatu Man", when the chorus rears in.
  • "Don, Aman", raging electric guitars burst into the mix.
  • "Washer" builds up to a distorted segment before ending the song with the main riff.
  • "For Dinner..." is slow, gradual buildup, and instills a sense of anticipation.
  • "Good Morning, Captain", the song that the entire album builds up to, and especially its ending with Brian McMahan screaming "I MISS YOU" as David Pajo goes nuts with harmonics.
• Cult Classic: Enough for the band to reunite and rumors of them making music solely because of how much of a cult fandom they have.
• Epic Riff: The opening riff of "Breadcrumb Trail", the main riff in "Washer", and the bass line in "Good Morning Captain".
  • Also the Thrash Metal riff that closes off "Good Morning, Captain". It's only used for about twenty seconds, but any self-respecting fan of Post-Rock should be able to pick it out almost instantly, and the ending wouldn't be the same without it.
• Harsher in Hindsight: 'Washer' is even worse to listen to after David Pajo's suicide attempt in February 2015.
• Nightmare Fuel: Listening to Spiderland late at night in the dark might not be the brightest of ideas.
  • The final lyrics of "Nosferatu Man". Jesus.
    Now my queen is fine
    In her early grave
    After that girl I'll keep her warm
    There's nothing more to save
  • "Don, Aman", what with it being entirely in spoken word (except for the "someone without a key" line, which is also just as freaky), the low-key guitars, and the lack of percussion entirely. There's also what sounds like Britt Walford sobbing once the clean guitar fades out and the distorted guitar fades in. There's also the abrupt opening: "Don steps outside".
  • "Good Morning, Captain". The second verse ends with the captain hearing a sound at the window, with Brian saying "Slowly, he turned". What follows is a creepy, disturbing, ominous guitar segment rather than any revelation. Then there's Brian's famous scream, which he repeats for god knows how many times.
    • I MISS YOU
  • The album cover itself.
• Tear Jerker: "Washer" is over 8 minutes of depressing guitar melodies and suicide-themed lyrics. It's easily the saddest song on the album, which is no small feat.
• Vindicated by History: Spiderland received little to no notice when it first came out, not helped by Slint's break up before the album's release. In the later years however, it became a classic among underground music nerds and is often considered the essential Post-Rock album alongside Talk Talk's Laughing Stock.

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