In the Aeroplane over the Sea

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About

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the second studio album by indie band Neutral Milk Hotel. In addition to being a critically beloved album, its presence on internet music forums such as /mu/ has made it a common source of a meme. The cover is parodied with allusions to the music on the album, along with references to other albums and memes favored by /mu/, such as Death Grips, and Dubs Guy among others.

Origin

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea is the second studio album by indie band Neutral Milk Hotel, released on February 10th, 1998.^[1] The album was written by songwriter Jeff Mangum, who also is the singer of the group. Notably, the album contains several references to Anne Frank, a noted author of The Diary of Anne Frank, which details her time hiding from Nazis during the Holocaust. Mangum was deeply affected by the diary, and stated he had "cried for three days" after reading it.

Spread

Reception

The album sold exceptionally well as its legacy spread. Ten years after its release, Slate reported the album was selling 25,000 copies a year. It was one of the most critically acclaimed and influential albums of the late 90s. The album received high praise from many critics, and in 2008 the album was reissued for its tenth anniversary and received a perfect 10/10 score by music review website Pitchfork Media, an achievement that has only been reached 13 times.^[2] Critics lauded the uniqueness of the album's sonic makeup as well as Mangum's lyrics. Several music publications awarded the album as one of the best indie rock albums of the 1990s. Amazon rated it the #2 best indie-rock album of all time.

Online Presence

The album became particularly popular on music forums such as /mu/. On July 11th, 2014, an anonymous Mod on the forum posted a parody of the album's cover and pinned the post for new users to the forum (shown below).^[3]

The album's critical legacy online led Clickhole to post a satirical article on June 22nd, 2015, titled "Disgusting: ISIS Just Released A 2-Star Review Of ‘In The Aeroplane Over The Sea’."^[4] In April of 2016, The Daily Dot^[5] wrote an article which stated "There will never be a more hipster meme than Neutral Milk Hotel’s ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’."On December 30th, 2011, Anthony Fantano posted a video in which he discussed whether the album was "music or meme."

On May 31st, 2012, mashup artist psycosis uploaded an album under the name Neutral Bling Hotel which mashed up the album with hip hop songs.^[6]

Album Cover Parodies

The album's cover became an iconic image online. The cover is a postcard (shown below) edited by artist Chris Belheimer. The edited cover features a round, plain image over the girl's face. The album's cover became the subject of hundreds of parodies online.