In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Iconic! Some absolutely gorgeous lyricism in this one. Faves include Holland 1945, Two-Headed Boy pts 1 and 2, and of course the eponymous In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

I really enjoy listening to this album!

I know this is a critical darling, but it just doesn't do it for me. I think it's mainly that I don't like Mangum's voice

Has to be the most overrated Indie album ever. While I don't hate it, it comes no where near the levels of other contemporaries like Modest Mouse, Built to Spill, etc. 3.5/5

one of the most overrated albums ever

Top 20 album.

It's simply peak.

I didn't get this album fully when I first listened to it a couple years ago. I do now.

Even before forming an opinion on this album, you have to admit that its absence from the original Dimmery list is a massive oversight. Whether you enjoy it or not, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has had an enormous impact on music and on music fans. It’s the record that made half the indie men in the world pick up a guitar (for some reason it was always the men) and it shaped how a generation thought emotional honesty should sound.

It’s lo-fi, cracked, and often out of tune, but that’s exactly why it hit so hard for many. It came out at the moment when irony was collapsing, when sincerity was starting to feel radical again. Suddenly it was fine to sing too loudly, to be weirdly intense, to write about ghosts and grief and Anne Frank. That shift opened the door for everything from Funeral-era Arcade Fire to Bright Eyes and Beirut.

Even if you can’t stand Jeff Mangum’s voice, it’s impossible to deny the influence. This album made imperfection fashionable again.
Whether you think it’s a masterpiece or a myth, it changed the conversation and that alone earns its place in the canon.

I think about the title track a lot, stemming back from when I learned the trombone solo to play in a band that never made it to its first gig. It's been quite a while since I've actually listened to this in full, recognizing it mostly as the butt of online jokes about online music communities now.
Maybe it just has to do with the passage of time, but the production doesn't faze me considering how often I grumble about lo-fi techniques (e.g. The Mountain Goats). It definitely abets the surreal atmosphere created by the lyrics, the artwork and unconventional instrument choices, e.g. the musical saw in the title track.

HL: title track, "Two-Headed Boy", "Holland 1945", "Ghost"

*potentially heretical opinions follow*

possibly the biggest disappointment on the list - i had heard it was good, maybe even great, but it is absolutely rubbish.
the guy can't sing and, to make it even worse, keeps putting on these stupid voices and weird accents.
the lyrics are terrible, the melodies boring and uninspired, and the instrumentation choices make no sense.
for such an "influential" album, i was definitely expecting better. not just bad, actively offensive - i didn't even make it through a second listen, possibly because i knew what rubbish was still to come.

this probably deserves a place in the list, and maybe even in the book, on reputation alone, but not on quality.
the only positive of it being included would be that more people would see through the online praise - and see that the emperor's clothes are invisible.

From this day forth, I will announce loudly and repeatedly, whenever this album (or this band) is discussed, that this is one of the worst few albums i have ever had the misfortune to endure.

0 stars

*heresy complete*

This album is outrageous for 1998. What a tastemaker this album became. As a dyed in the wool not indie kinda guy, i appreciate the crap out of this album. I don't know that I love it, but the impact alone is huge.

Bugs me that it's basically a coin toss whether I'll like one of the audience favorites. Gave it a couple listens, and there's definitely stuff I liked in it, but I can't access whatever gets people enthusiastic about it

The most beloved darling of hipsters everywhere, this album is a musical document I came to without knowing any of the cultural baggage surrounding it. It wasn't until after I'd heard and loved this album that I found out it was the darling of other music nerds, thus making me more hipster than them. Oh, and just for the record, I love Jesus Christ, too.

Even after completing the 1089 album, I never clicked this wasn’t in the book, it should have been absolute masterpiece.

Had an ex girlfriend who got me into this way back when. It was a big part of our romance in those days. Even though that relationship soured horribly, those memories don't tarnish the power of this music. It's such a beautiful contradiction: lo-fi but ornate with arrangements, cryptic but heartfelt. A cult classic that undoubtedly deserves its place on the list.