I’ve been reading Rolling Stone Magazine since i was a kid. I would devour the latest issue the day it hit the mailbox. After going through a lot of changes, i noticed they changed the way it ranked albums. Rather than the usually 1-5 Star ranking, they changed it to “Hear This” for good albums, and “Instant Classic” for instant classics. For fans, it’s rather vague. Is that album really an Instant Classic? Will it hold up after a decade? After a few years of confusing fans, the magazine decided to go back to the gold old five stars. Sure being ranked kind of sucks, but it now makes it clear where critics stand. They’ll going back to:

Five: A classic. This album is perfect in every way and is destined to exert a massive influence on the course of music for years and years to come.

Four and a half: Incredible, but we need more time to tell if it’s a classic. Look for it at the very top of our Albums of the Year list.

Four: Excellent. It’s important and impactful and nearly every song on the album is great. Even listeners who don’t always like this artist or genre will immediately recognize how good it is.

Three and a half: Great. If you like this genre, you will like this record. If you like the artist in question, you’ll love it.

Three: Good. The artist did what they do, and it turned out fine.

Two and a half: Eh. Either the artist tried something different and didn’t quite pull it off, or they just weren’t on their game this time out.

Two: Fair. Even if you’re a pretty big fan, you’re gonna have to engage in some pretty high-level magical thinking to make this one seem good.

One and a half: Skip it.

One: Poor. You’re definitely going to want to check this one out, if only to bask in the breadth and scope of its manifest horribleness.