All this is touching on the topic of whether critics and rankings matter, and I firmly think they do, as we’ve discussed, because critics listen to 1000x the music we do, so they’re very good filters. Now that doesn’t mean everything critics like one “should” by any means, but they can be very useful guides in finding shortcuts in a veritable jungle of music to choose from. As such, if they’re going to rate JB the greatest drummer, I may 1) disagree with the ranking as an objective matter or 2) disagree because I don’t like his style or the tunes associated with as a matter of subjectivity, but he’s clearly done something right compared to other drummers to be so high on the list by those who have heard multiple thousands more records than I. I do think sometimes it’s hard when objective criticism meets subjective criticism.
So when does a reviewer become a critic? I'm sure most of read the trio of NME,MM and Sounds as weeklies. All sadly gone now but there was much more criticism in those than any of the monthlies I read now. Mojo and Uncut very rarely have criticism in reviews. The odd 6 or 3 stars are as low as it goes. When I read a review of something new I haven't heard I'm looking for reference points in the sound or influence before making an informed choice to spend my money. There is more "criticism" in the album thread than music mags
Would buy all 3 at once and work my way through them throughout the week. There was always some journos with an axe to grind because most were frustrated or failed musicians themselves. My opinion was they could make or break and artist with a good or bad review. I always wondered if Suede hadn't been put on the cover of MM proclaiming them the best band in the country before any single release whether they would have had the same career.Ah those were the days. I read all those weeklies at one point and two of them either side of that period. NME was the constant but Sounds my favourite. They were superior to what came after but they coincided from my point of view with a golden period for music.