Based on 12 reviews from outlets we track. Scores run 60 to 88.
By the numbers: The fourth best-reviewed Rock album of 2009 we've tracked.
| The gist | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entertainment Weekly via Wikipedia | B+ | 88 | ||
| Chicago Tribune via Wikipediaby Chris Jones | 3.5/4 | 88 | Oct 28, 2026 | |
| The A.V. Club via Wikipediaby Steven Hyden | B+ | 88 | 2009 | “Them Crooked Vultures: Them Crooked Vultures” |
| The Independent via Wikipediaby Andy Gill | 4/5 | 80 | 2009 | “At a time when it's widely assumed that Jack White and a handful of unknown indie chums merits the accolade, Them Crooked Vultures is a supergroup worthy of the term,…” |
| PopMatters | 8/10 | 80 | 2009 | “The fruition of a long anticipated gathering between Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters and Nirvana), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and John Paul Jones (Led” |
| AllMusic via Wikipedia | 4/5 | 80 | ||
| Slant | 4/5 | 80 | “What sets Them Crooked Vultures apart from the stockpile of self-indulgent hogwash is the sense of merriment flowing through it.” | |
| Rolling Stone via Wikipedia | 3.5/5 | 70 | ||
| Pitchfork via Wikipediaby Joe Colly | 6.2/10 | 62 | 2009 | “Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Nirvana/Foo Fighters drummer Dave Grohl, and Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme resurrect the hard rock supergroup.” |
| The Guardian via Wikipediaby Alexis Petridis | 3/5 | 60 | 2009 | “These giants of rock have had fun in the studio. But Alexis Petridis struggles to see the point of a CD” |
| musicOMH | 3/5 | 60 | “Hype is rarely justified, and the hype surrounding supergroup vanity project Them Crooked Vultures was unlikely to ever be a convincing corroboration.�” | |
| Spectrum Culture | 3.0/5 | 60 | “Them Crooked Vultures Them Crooked Vultures Rating: 3.0/5.0 Label: Interscope Much of what made Queens of the Stone Age’s first three records hard rock classics were guitarist/singer/mastermind Josh Homme’s insistence…” |
More Rock from around 2009
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How the Breakdown works
Every outlet’s score is converted to 0–100 (2/5 is 40, 5.9/10 is 59, a B+ is 88) and averaged. Grades follow the B-Side scale: A is 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60. Approval is the share of critics who scored it 75 or higher; the Breakdown shows green at 75 and up, red below. Divisiveness asks a different question: not how many critics liked it, but how close their scores are to each other. Five critics who all give it 50 are Unanimous, even though none of them liked it. The labels run Unanimous, Broad agreement, Some debate, Divided, and Contentious. Replay rate comes from listeners, not critics: yes counts fully, a few tracks counts half, no counts zero. The gist quotes each outlet’s own summary of its review. Published is the date on the review itself, read from the outlet’s page, so you can see whether an album’s reputation came at release or years later. Scores marked est. come from reviews that publish no number. Scores marked via Wikipedia are archive ratings, mostly for older albums, taken from the “Professional ratings” box on the album’s Wikipedia page (published openly through Wikidata); each links to the original review when we can find it online, and to that Wikipedia entry when we can’t. When an outlet reviewed an album twice, years apart (often for a reissue), both scores count, each labeled with its year.
A-Side marks the critics’ top tier. An album earns it automatically, from its numbers alone: a Breakdown of 90 or higher, from at least 5 reviews, with at least 75% approval. Nobody hands it out and nobody can buy it; if new reviews pull an album below the line, it loses the badge.
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