I think the biggest swings, at least in the context of an entire album, have happened with the S/T record. I loved that album in its initial listens, but after some time it swung pretty significantly in the opposite direction. I've since come back around, though maybe not to the same degree; I now think it's a solid album with some weak spots. With albums like Backspacer and LB, I'm not really a fan, but I feel like I wasn't thrilled with those records from the outset. With all their other records, they may change in terms of which is my favorite, but I think I liked all of them from the start.

"My Father's Son" is the one PJ song that I was really enthusiastic about initially but that now I don't really enjoy hearing. In most cases, my experience is similar to yours; there haven't been a lot of songs that I immediately loved but now don't care for. For as lukewarm as I've been on PJ at various points over the last decade or so, they still have a pretty strong batting average IMO, and comparatively few songs that I just flat-out don't like at all.

Likewise, the only PJ song that I really, really didn't like at first but now like quite a bit is "Sirens." There have been a lot of songs along the way that I was slow to warm to, but very few where I had a gag reflex type reaction like I did with "Sirens." It's very possibly my favorite song on LB now (not that that's a high bar to clear).

Go watch again.

Yield and S/T are the two albums that have dropped the most in my esteem I think. I like them still, but I was much higher on both of them (beyond the recency period) for an extended period of time.

Interestingly enough, I liked everything on Lightning Bolt from jump BUT My Father's Son. i still like the music (though Lightning Bolt's production does it no favors), but it is one of Eddie's worst lyrics where he clearly was trying for something, and not a particularly compelling vocal.

You should give MYM a listen. See if you come around. It could be your Around the Bend of that record.

I'll take it back to the beginning for me and the two that really took my love/appreciation for the band to a whole new level, Mike in particular, where the first times I'd ever heard Yellow Ledbetter off the Jeremy single and Breath off the Singles soundtrack. Those two blew me away upon first listen.

Oh yeah, the Singles songs both floored me on first listen. Good call.

I liked the Ten singles, but didn't get on board until the week Vs. came out. While it was love at first sight, it was more a general response to the energy and Ed's voice than any particular song; Ioved them all because they were so different than anything else I was listening to at the time...

Probably the first song that floored me once I had a frame of reference for what the band was all about was Not For You on SNL. I immediately loved the whole thing, but the moody improv'd outro is what really sold me. I was a little bummed when it wasn't on the album, but it also just compelled me to watch the SNL recording more often.

I don't remember my reaction to the Singles songs. I assume loved them. At least State of Love and Trust.

Vs. took a few listens since it wasn't Ten, which was what I was expecting.

I honestly think i loved every song immediately up through Yield. I am strat.

Picturing Strat nodding along to Pry, To in a ‘92 Honda Prelude driving down a Minnesota road on the way to hockey practice