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Other reviewers have done a wonderful job of describing this music and its enormous influence on indy rock. However, some have repeated the rather pernicious myth about the commercial failure of the listener-friendly #1 RECORD: that radio programmers didn’t like it, that the record’s sound was somehow wrong for its time.

There are folks at BILLBOARD and CASHBOX magazines who were paid well to listen to new releases and report on their commercial potential. Here’s what BILLBOARD said on 9/9/72: ‘Each and every cut on this album has the inherent potential to become a blockbuster single. The ramifications are positively awesome.’ Boy, hedging their bet, huh? Here’s CASHBOX a week later: ‘An important album that should go to the top with proper handling.’