Here is the important thing to keep in mind about consensus opinion: sometimes the consensus is wrong.
After learning that Metacritic figured the Lou Reed/Metallica album received a ridiculous 39% approval rating from critics and an astounding 1.9% approval rating from fans, I had no choice but to listen to it myself.
And is, in its own way, a great album.
Sometimes beauty and ugliness are one and the same thing: Lou Reeds hellish vision (but how much more hellish than, say "Rock Minuet"?) and loud, ugly aggressive rock (but not as impenetratable as Metal Machine Music) has a beauty to it. It's a sonic smack.
It is much better than, say Coldplay's newbie.
But the reviews have been brutal. Pitchfork gave it a 1 out of 10. And Rolling Stone gave it three stars but that's one star if they weren't angling for the next Metallica front cover exclusive interview.
I despise consensus opinion, it seems to be an affront to freedom (freedom is always the freedom to dissent). Nothing is that black and white.
I might well be a contrary bastard, but Lulu is a pretty good album. I'll get round to a review at a later date.