Personal Ratings Vs. RateYourMusic.com Ratings

[ewok20t3]

Out of boredom I thought I'd compare my highest rated albums vs. the average ranking of those albums on http://rateyourmusic.com/. I was just curious to see how my favorite albums stack up to what other people like. If anyone wants to post some of your favorite albums compared to RateYourMusic.com's, please do.  

Here's my 5 star albums. RateYourMusic average score and all-time score (if applicable) are in parenthesis:

All The Day Holiday - The Things We've Grown To Love (3.81 from 10 ratings)
Anberlin - Cities (3.61 from 387 ratings)
Dead Poetic - New Medicines (3.23 from 170 ratings)
Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place (3.85 from 4,132 ratings) (Ranked #1,291 album overall)
Further Seems Forever - The Moon Is Down (3.52 from 178 ratings)
Jimmy Eat World - Futures (3.47 from 993 ratings)
Life In Your Way - Waking Giants (3.59 from 68 ratings)
Mae - The Everglow (3.61 from 285 ratings)
Mae - (m)orning EP (3.87 from 47 ratings) (Ranked #748 overall in EP category)


Some of my favorite 4.5 rated albums:

Anberlin - Never Take Friendship Personal (3.51 from 385 ratings)
Arcade Fire - Funeral (4.12 from 10,912 ratings) (Ranked #53 album overall)
As Cities Burn - Come Now Sleep (3.64 from 157 ratings)
The Beatles - Revolver (4.40 from 13,042) (Ranked #2 overall)
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (4.30 from 13,220 ratings) (Ranked #9 album overall)
The Beatles - Abbey Road (4.42 from 12,801 ratings) (Ranked #1 album overall)
Beloved - Failure On (3.63 from 106 ratings)
Blindside - Silence (3.51 from 245 ratings)
Burlap To Cashmere - Anybody Out There? (3.59 from 33 ratings)
Converge - Jane Doe (3.91 from 2,520 ratings) (Ranked #813 album overall)
Copeland - You Are My Sunshine (3.51 from 122 ratings)
The Cure - Disintegration (4.15 from 6,740 ratings) (Ranked #76 album overall)
Deas Vail - All The Houses Look The Same (3.44 from 48 ratings)
Death Cab For Cuties - Plans (3.52 from 2,704 ratings)
Five O'clock People - The Nothing Venture (3.44 from 7 ratings)
Hopesfall - No Wings To Speak Of EP (3.97 from 154 ratings) (Ranked #153 overall in EP category)
It Prevails - Capture and Embrace (3.53 from 40 ratings)
Jars of Clay - Much Afraid (3.47 from 151 ratings)
Lifehouse - No Name Face (3.22 from 458 ratings)
Life In Your Way - The Sun Rises and The Sun Sets And Still Our Time Is Endless (3.66 from 17 ratings)
Life In Your Way - Ignite and Rebuild (3.53 from 28 ratings)
Lucerin Blue - Tales of The Knife (3.71 from 13 ratings)
Luna Halo - Shimmer (2.99 from 20 ratings)
Mae - Destination: Beautiful (3.31 from 195 ratings)
Mute Math - Mute Math (3.53 from 359 ratings)
Pedro The Lion - It's Hard To Find A Friend (3.76 from 330 ratings)
Project 86 - Songs To Burn Your Bridges By (3.61 from 51 ratings)
Radiohead - OK Computer (4.32 from 17,903 ratings) (Ranked #3 album overall)
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (4.26 from 8,338 ratings) (Ranked #27 album overall)
Spoken - A Moment of Imperfect Clarity (3.44 from 27 ratings)
Stavesacre - Speakeasy (3.82 from 35 ratings)
Sufjan Stevens - Seven Swans (3.80 from 2,102 ratings) (Ranked #2,756 album overall)
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (3.98 from 5,870 ratings) (Ranked #308 album overall)
Thrice - The Artist In The Ambulance (3.72 from 963 ratings)
Thrice - Vheissu (3.75 from 959 ratings) (Ranked #4,775 album overall)
Tool - Aenima (4.04 from 7,010 ratings) (#160 album overall)
Zao - Where Blood and Fire Bring Rest (3.77 from 194 ratings)


So, apparently the least liked of my favorite albums is Shimmer by Luna Halo. I'm not really surprised by that, but I thought it would've had a slightly higher rating than 2.99.

[bloop]

I haven't really kept up with my RYM, since I started it well after I started listening to music more seriously, and going back to rate everything seemed such an enormous chore.

I would consider many of your 4.5 star rated albums > your 5 star rated ones, though, and the RYM consensus seems to be with me, I guess.

[ewok20t3]

I haven't really kept up with my RYM, since I started it well after I started listening to music more seriously, and going back to rate everything seemed such an enormous chore.

I would consider many of your 4.5 star rated albums > your 5 star rated ones, though, and the RYM consensus seems to be with me, I guess.

Yeah, I'm not surprised by that. Obviously, many of my 4.5 albums are more important albums than any of my 5 star albums. For an album to get a 5 star from me it usually takes good amount of nostalgia and/or personal meaning to come into play. I would never say that Futures is a better album than Revolver, but Futures has been more important to me, personally,  than Revolver has thus far in life. So, I guess I don't rate my albums strictly by how technically good the album is.


P.S. You can still look up the albums you know you would give a 5 star rating and compare with the RYM average, if you're up to it. I've just started to try to keep up with RYM again, after a three year absence.

[NinjaRob17]

I started another RYM account at the beginning of the year and have been going through and rating my entire collection. All the ones not rated are on my "Wishlist" category for easy reference. Anywayyyy....out of my 686 ratings, I have 32 5-star albums/EPS (2 of them being stand-up comedy albums). Let's see how they rank.

The 77's - Eighty Eight (4.28 from 11 ratings)
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam (3.76 from 4064 ratings) (Ranked #2209 overall)
Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind (3.72 from 1390 ratings) (Ranked #225 overall in EP category)
Battles - Mirrored (3.50 from 3014 ratings)
The Beatles - Abbey Road (4.42 from 12803 ratings) (Ranked #1 overall)
Burlap To Cashmere - Anybody Out There? (3.59 from 33 ratings)
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison (4.21 from 3125 ratings) (Ranked #94 overall)
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife (3.74 from 2761 ratings) (Ranked #3462 overall)
Five Iron Frenzy - Our Newest Album Ever! (3.52 from 85 ratings)
Five Iron Frenzy - The End Is Here (3.77 from 39 ratings)
fun. - Aim and Ignite (3.52 from 270 ratings)
Jim Gaffigan - Beyond the Pale (3.85 from 127 ratings)
Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together (4.00 from 641 ratings) (Ranked #963 overall)
He Is Legend - I Am Hollywood (3.68 from 248 ratings)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced (4.33 from 7435 ratings) (Ranked #18 overall)
Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights (4.01 from 7270 ratings) (Ranked #221 overall)
Iron Maiden - Powerslave (4.08 from 4558 ratings) (Ranked #207 overall)
Joy Electric - The White Songbook (3.93 from 39 ratings)
Living Sacrifice - The Hammering Process (3.76 from 87 ratings)
Mae - The Everglow (3.60 from 285 ratings)
mewithoutYou - Catch For Us the Foxes (3.80 from 569 ratings) (Ranked #3581 overall)
mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister (3.83 from 790 ratings) (Ranked #2636 overall)
Pink Floyd - Animals (4.14 from 9210 ratings) (Ranked #60 overall)
Pixies - Doolittle (4.29 from 9060 ratings) (Ranked #21 overall)
The Reign of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord & Melody (3.85 from 75 ratings)
Showbread - No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical (3.55 from 90 ratings)
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (4.26 from 8340 ratings) (Ranked #27 overall)
Starflyer 59 - Leave Here A Stranger (3.68 from 121 ratings)
Starflyer 59 - Old (3.65 from 96 ratings)
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (3.98 from 5871 ratings) (Ranked #308 overall)
Streetlight Manifesto - Somewhere In the Between (3.76 from 331 ratings)
The White Stripes - Elephant (3.80 from 6818 ratings) (Ranked #1560 overall)

[murlough23]

What's their #1 and what's it rated, on average?

[NinjaRob17]

The Beatles - Abbey Road (4.42 from 12803 ratings) (Ranked #1 overall)

[ewok20t3]

He Is Legend - I Am Hollywood (3.68 from 248 ratings)
Living Sacrifice - The Hammering Process (3.76 from 87 ratings)
mewithoutYou - Catch For Us the Foxes (3.80 from 569 ratings) (Ranked #3581 overall)
mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister (3.83 from 790 ratings) (Ranked #2636 overall)

I almost listed those four. I have all of them as 4.5 stars.

What's their #1 and what's it rated, on average?

The Beatles - Abbey Road (4.42 from 12803 ratings) (Ranked #1 overall)

Revolver by The Beatles used to be number 1, but Abbey Road just passed it this year. They use some algorithm based on the ratings and number of people who have rated it to get their rankings. I assume it's probably to keep albums that only have 10 reviews, with all 4.5 and 5 stars, from being the number one album. Here's the chart http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/all-time .

[bloop]

Yeah, I'd say anything around a 4 is really a 5 by any other scale. RYM is tough by its very nature.

[NinjaRob17]

True. Plus, you'll also notice that the average scores of the past few years are much lower than they probably should be. The highest-rated album of new music since 2007 is a 3.93, while every year from the 60s-90s have many albums in the top 50 that are higher than that, so scores from the past 5 years or so aren't really that accurate.

[ewok20t3]

True. Plus, you'll also notice that the average scores of the past few years are much lower than they probably should be. The highest-rated album of new music since 2007 is a 3.93, while every year from the 60s-90s have many albums in the top 50 that are higher than that, so scores from the past 5 years or so aren't really that accurate.

There's been some albums get higher ratings than 3.93 since 2007, they just haven't been rated enough times to put them in the top 50. The Year of The Voyager by Nevermore from 2008 has a 3.95, but that score at only 107 ratings won't get it in the top 50. Radiohead is about the only band popular enough to accumulate a large enough amount of ratings in only a few years to put their album in the top 50.

[murlough23]

Yeah, I'd say anything around a 4 is really a 5 by any other scale. RYM is tough by its very nature.

All it takes is a few people to think a classic album is merely good and rate it a 4, and that perfect 5 is lost forever. And it's perfectly natural that, for any classic album out there, some will consider it overrated.

Allowing people to rate using half-stars or half-points helps mitigate this somewhat.

[bloop]

This is the internet. People who think the album is a little overrated will go with a half a star or 1 star just to move the average downward. The perfect 5 will never happen for anything that masses of people digest.

[ewok20t3]

This is the internet. People who think the album is a little overrated will go with a half a star or 1 star just to move the average downward.

Someone gave Mae's (e)vening EP one star before the whole thing had even been recorded.

[bloop]

That EP still isn't out, is it?

[ewok20t3]

That EP still isn't out, is it?

No, they're supposed to have it ready to sell when they start their tour on Oct. 1.

[murlough23]

I give one star to the asshole who stole Mae's gear and delayed the making of the EP.

[bloop]

I give one star to the asshole who stole Mae's gear and delayed the making of the EP.

I think you can go down to half a star in RYM's system, so that's what I'll go with.

[ewok20t3]

I give one star to the asshole who stole Mae's gear and delayed the making of the EP.

I think you can go down to half a star in RYM's system, so that's what I'll go with.

Agreed.

I wonder why they don't make it so you can give 0 stars?

[murlough23]

I wonder why they don't make it so you can give 0 stars?

You really wanna give the trolls that much power?

[ewok20t3]

You really wanna give the trolls that much power?

Good point. There's only one album that I've heard that I would truly consider giving zero stars ((The) New Release by Primer 55).

[murlough23]

Good point. There's only one album that I've heard that I would truly consider giving zero stars ((The) New Release by Primer 55).

I've heard several. FFH, Kutless, and Scott Stapp are among my worst reviewed albums. Skillet's new one last year was pretty horrendous (though maybe that's more like 1.5 stars; I sort of liked a song or two).

[ewok20t3]

I've heard several. FFH, Kutless, and Scott Stapp are among my worst reviewed albums. Skillet's new one last year was pretty horrendous (though maybe that's more like 1.5 stars; I sort of liked a song or two).

Skillet's newest one is pretty bad, but I wouldn't give it zero stars, either. Same with the Kutless and FFH albums I've heard. If I ever hear an entire Black Eyed Pea's album I might want to rate it at zero stars.

[murlough23]

It is truly difficult to find an album with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. For me FFH came the closest.

[bloop]

Well, someone hasn't listened to Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog-Flavored Water.

[murlough23]

Well, someone hasn't listened to Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog-Flavored Water.

Someone will take someone else's word for it.

[ewok20t3]

Well, someone hasn't listened to Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog-Flavored Water.

Is it worse than Results May Vary? I tried to listen to that one, but I stopped before I could get to the end.

Even when I was into this kind of music I didn't care much for Limp Bizkit.

[murlough23]

Is it worse than Results May Vary? I tried to listen to that one, but I stopped before I could get to the end.

It's longer, so... yeah.

[bloop]

Someone will take someone else's word for it.

Haha - a wise choice. You can't unlisten to the shitstorm that is Chocolate Starfish.

I haven't listened to Results May Vary, but I understand that, ironically, opinions on the album are pretty unanimous that it's awful.

[murlough23]

Haha - a wise choice. You can't unlisten to the shitstorm that is Chocolate Starfish.

I've heard scattered tracks from it. That's more than enough.

I haven't listened to Results May Vary, but I understand that, ironically, opinions on the album are pretty unanimous that it's awful.

Ah, but there are so many varying ways to describe how much it sucks.

Speaking of shit, here's a fun fact: "Durst" is an anagram of "Turds".