1. “There's cheating, jealously, joy and heartbreak contained within; all stripped into shape by a galactico squad sheet of producers.”

   1. 

      Adele: 21

   2. 

      Ronan Keating: Ronan

   3. 

      Lily Allen: It's Not Me, It's You

   4. 

      Primal Scream: XTRMNTR

2. "Perhaps he just understands better than most of his peers that musical stars are meant to be extraordinary, provocative, divisive, controversial figures. Noisy, gripping, maddening, potent, audibly the product of, as he put it "giving no fucks at all", [this album] is the sound of a man just doing his job properly."

   1. 

      Bruno Mars: Unorthodox Jukebox

   2. 

      Chris Brown: Fortune

   3. 

      Kanye West: Yeezus

   4. 

      Noel Gallagher: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

3. “It's the sound of a band at play in a twenty-first century tinker's caravan. Sometimes, the sense of freedom is infectious, the burbles and squelches welcome, but often, it's just a passing rattle and hum, like watching someone else's round-the-world holiday video.”

   1. 

      Blur: Think Tank

   2. 

      Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend

   3. 

      Radiohead: Kid A

   4. 

      Coldplay: Mylo Xyloto

4. "Taking notions that look entirely daft on paper and rendering them into astonishing music is very much [this singer]'s signature move. There's something utterly inscrutable and unknowable about how she does it that has nothing to do with her famous aversion to publicity."

   1. 

      Bjork: Homogenic

   2. 

      Kate Bush: 50 Words for Snow

   3. 

      Vashti Bunyan: ‎Lookaftering

   4. 

      Madonna: Ray of Light

5. "The album sounds as if [this band] are snottily throwing down a gauntlet to their legions of imitators: you've copied everything else we've done, now try to copy this."

   1. 

      Daft Punk: Random Access Memories

   2. 

      Arcade Fire: Reflektor

   3. 

      Radiohead: Kid A

   4. 

      Hot Chip: One Life Stand

6. "'Ride my pony, my saddle is waiting,' she sings, blankly, as if she finds the prospect of frenetic sexual activity only marginally more attractive than having a verruca frozen off."

   1. 

      Lady Gaga: Artpop

   2. 

      Björk: Biophilia

   3. 

      Rihanna: Unapologetic

   4. 

      Madonna: MDNA

7. "After the umpteenth song in which she either puts her red dress on or takes her red dress off, informs you of her imminent death and kisses her partner hard while telling him she'll love him 'til the end of time, you start longing for a song in which [she] settles down with Keith from HR, moves to Great Yarmouth and takes advantage of the DFS half-price winter sale."

   1. 

      Britney Spears: Circus

   2. 

      Miley Cyrus: Bangerz

   3. 

      Lana Del Rey: Born to Die

   4. 

      Kylie Minogue: Kiss Me Once

8. "The rest is understated and equivocal, pleasant but underwhelming. It begs indulgence, then doesn't do enough to repay it. That's the problem with moping around in your dressing gown: eventually people's sympathy wears out."

   1. 

      Radiohead: Kid A

   2. 

      Black Sabbath: 13

   3. 

      Muse: The 2nd Law

   4. 

      Coldplay: Ghost Stories

9. "It's not snobbery about the source material that makes this depressing, so much as the sense of someone eagerly jumping on ideas that long ago curdled into cliches, like a tragic uncle suddenly leaping from the dinner table with a cry of "watch this everyone!" and launching into the Gangham Style dance."

   1. 

      David Bowie: Heathen

   2. 

      Paul McCartney: New

   3. 

      Oasis: Dig Out Your Soul

   4. 

      Motörhead: Aftershock

10. "He doesn't make for a hugely convincing rapping agent of ungovernable self-destruction on The Man, which offers the suggestion that author's fondness for "cider and a spliff" might be evidence that he's on the path to rock'n'roll damnation". "I'll die from a thrill … just another wasted talent" he says, prompting the response: mate, it's a bottle of Bulmers and a bit of weed, I wouldn't call The Priory just yet."

    1. 

       Ed Sheeran: X

    2. 

       Keane: Under the Iron Sea

    3. 

       Justin Timblerlake: FutureSex/LoveSounds

    4. 

       Justin Bieber: Believe

Solutions

1:A, 2:C, 3:A, 4:B, 5:A, 6:C, 7:C, 8:D, 9:B, 10:A

Scores

1. 3 and above.

   This quiz score is like a tired man sitting in bed wondering if he's left the gas on.

2. 5 and above.

   If your quiz score was a review, it would be by turns patronisingly encouraging and damned with faint praise.

3. 8 and above.

   Very good indeed, but falling short of greatness.

4. 10 and above.

   Excellent work! You clearly spent your free time memorising the words of Alexis Petridis and Kitty Empire: time well spent in our book.