TIL Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' was hated by critics at the time

I always thought Sinatra was untouchable, but I dug into some old 1969 reviews last week and the press tore that song apart. They called it egotistical and said his voice was shot. The funny thing is the public loved it anyway, it hit the top 10 and became his signature tune. That made me wonder how many songs we treat as classics now were total flops with the people who heard them first. It also makes me question if we're just brainwashed by nostalgia when we rank these dead legends so high. Has anyone else found a famous artist's work that the original critics completely missed on?

2 comments

2 Comments

wells.christopher1mo agoMost Upvoted

Man, I used to swear critics were always right, but this totally flips that for me.

nelson.wren1mo ago

Reminds me of when I tried karaoke once and someone told me I was braver than Sinatra for attempting that song, which is probably the nicest and meanest thing anyone's ever said to me back to back.