The A.V. Club's Scores

For 4,544 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 64% higher than the average critic
  • 2% same as the average critic
  • 34% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 The Life Of Pablo
Lowest review score: 0 Graffiti
Score distribution:
4544 music reviews
    • 57 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    It vacillates between insignificant fluff and confessional songs that have nothing new to confess.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    This is more a marketing plan than an album.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    St. Anger suffers mightily for its thin, washed-out sound.... A messy, unsatisfying misfire.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Even lineup changes and inter-group squabbling couldn't stop the trio's commercial winning streak, but a massive shot of independence just might. Brilliantly crafted songs from some of pop music's top songwriting ringers have played a key role in Destiny's Child's success, but Survivor finds frontwoman Beyoncé Knowles taking over the reins, co-writing and co-producing nearly every track.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The musical equivalent of Willie Mays stumbling around in the outfield years after his skills were gone, Crown Royal fails in the most arbitrary, impersonal way possible, piling on so many ringers that Run DMC often seems like a guest at its own party.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Ghetto Postage illustrates P's unwillingness to learn from past mistakes. The names may change, with No Limit newcomers like Krazy, Afficial, and Slay Sean filling in for the AWOL Mystikal and the inexplicably absent Mia X, but P's formula of endlessly repeated choruses, feeble thug-life lyrics, and generic, low-end-heavy beats remains as tiresome and unrewarding as ever.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    With Lions, the band has dropped its biggest dud, a moribund disaster with no more than a tiny handful of salvageable songs.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    The group's vaunted eclecticism starts to feel random and jittery, the mark of short attention spans and an inability to maintain a cohesive tone. Furthermore, the Peas' lyrics--already their Achilles heel--have somehow managed to devolve even further.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 20 Critic Score
    Even modest expectations can't salvage the clunky, ponderous American Life, which fares only slightly better than "Hanky Panky" and Swept Away on her list of offenses.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 16 Critic Score
    Pretentious yet lunkheaded, the disc's only charm is its slick, fist-pumping arrogance.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 16 Critic Score
    The Rebirth Of Venus, his seventh full-length, offers a more direct kind of terrible.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 16 Critic Score
    While undeniably catchy, the hyper-produced songs have a familiar radio-ready quality that becomes infuriatingly mind-numbing over time, and Perry's vocals sound like a less-soulful Kelly Clarkson at best, a drunken, spurned sorority girl at worst.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 16 Critic Score
    Frustratingly, there are whiffs of worthwhile beats buried among the blandness.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    An unmitigated drag.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    The Beginning's shameless hit-mongering and MOR club stance gives this set about as much oomph as Cher's Believe.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    Musically, Graffiti is a fairly ingratiating affair: The production is clean and often lively, and Brown sings well enough. The problem is what he’s singing.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    To Korn's credit, The Path Of Totality is its most radical reinvention to date. It's also the worst slab of sludge it ever shat.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 0 Critic Score
    Great Escape is a bold, erratic, pathetic attempt to recontextualize Jane's for the 21st century.