Greta Van Fleet is no stranger to aggressive critics. However, the most infamous rant against them came from Pitchfork in the form of a review of their 2018 debut LP Anthem of the Peaceful Army.
The outlet rated the album a 1.6 out of 10 and had a number of brutal critiques against it. Among them were, “No one in this band offers anything in the way of personality that doesn’t sound like your average YouTube tutorial for a Jimmy Page-type pentatonic solo or a John Bonham-type shuffle.”
Plenty of rock fans gave a lot of heat to Pitchfork, but even years later, the outlet isn’t the least bit sorry about the review. The topic is broached on the Pitchfork Review podcast and can be heard in the clip below. Pitchfork Editor-in-Chief Puja Patel and Reviews Editor Jeremy D. Larson discuss the outlet’s history of delivering 0.0 ratings on albums, including Liz Phair’s self-titled 2003 album, which has since been “rescored” with a 6.0 rating.
Eventually, Patel says to Larson, “That said, our lowest score during my tenure was an album you also reviewed, which was Greta Van Fleet’s album, which clocked in at a 1.6 and then I think more recently Jack Harlow’s album, ‘Come Home the Kids Miss You’ got a 2.9 and I think both of those scores are exactly right.” Larson added, “No notes on those.” Larson went on to say, “Instagram just showed me a picture of two people front row at a Greta Van Fleet concert holding up a sign that said, ‘We teepeed Jeremy Larson’s house.’ Those are the low ones but I don’t think we lowballed any of them.”
