Christgau has been quite the fan for a while. Though it was a bit after Kill Yr Idols. I really do respect the guy. Obviously a band's goal should not be to impress people like him, but he's a very honest and opinionated man and I admire that about him, even if I disagree with some (or a lot) of his reviews. Can't blame him for not liking the first few CDs - he really didn't like them. At the time they were a revolution, not a talent. Very hard to judge that objectively. What can you do?
All of his stuff is at his website, including his
ratings and summaries for every single SY album. I believe they were all written at the time they were released, too. Also, somewhere on his site there's a personal
interview with Thurston and Kim, at their house, with Coco. It's crazy thinking about their history together and how they ended up there.