This Year's Model
- The Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll — #1 Album of the Year (1978)
Classic
Punk
Rock
Dark
Intense
PrestigeThe review
This Year's Model is the album where Elvis Costello's venom found its ideal vehicle. Escaping the pub-rock polish of his debut, Costello and the newly formed Attractions — keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas, and drummer Pete Thomas — tear through a dozen songs in just over half an hour with an amphetamine-charged intensity that retrospective critics consistently call the peak of his fury. The songs are uniformly catchy, from the nervy opener through the one-take stomp of "Pump It Up," and reviewers repeatedly single out the band's reckless, careening sound as the record's real breakthrough: Costello never rocked this hard, or this vengefully, again. Many writers consider it the finest song set of his five-decade career, with no filler consensus-wise.
The record's defining voice is the angry young man at full throttle — caustic, paranoid, witty, and lashing out at lovers, the media, and his own self-image with equal venom. That stance is also the main point of contention. Some listeners find the sneering persona and its vicious, possessive attitudes toward women and romance off-putting or exhausting, and a few tracks toward the back half are generally held as lesser than the rest, though critics rarely agree on exactly which ones. The overwhelming majority verdict, however, is that the craft is beyond dispute: the one-liners draw comparisons to Dylan, the hooks are indelible, and the whole record is a tightly wound masterclass in new wave rock.
Most disputes among reviewers are about whether the relentless anger is exhilarating or wearing, not about whether the music delivers. Nearly every retrospective canon list of the 1970s or of all time includes it, and critics' polls voted it the best album of its release year. Even dissenting voices tend to concede the musicianship, with the rare negative take complaining more about Costello's vocals and thematic sameness than about the band's playing. It stands as the essential document of new wave's most literate and furious frontman.
Who it's for
Fans of late-70s new wave, punk, and power pop; listeners who love ferocious, tightly wound rock bands; anyone who prizes acerbic, literate, word-drunk lyricism in the Dylan tradition; Costello completists and newcomers alike will find this the clearest statement of his early genius.
Who it's not for
Listeners who are put off by sneering or venomous attitudes in music; those who find possessive, bitter romantic lyrics (with a streak of misogyny) uncomfortable; anyone seeking warmth, comfort, or polished, mellow production; casual listeners who prefer hooks without an edge underneath them. — misogynistic attitudes toward women · bleak, cynical romantic themes · angry, aggressive tone
Birds of a feather...
- MusicLondon Calling (1979)
Both are late-1970s punk/new wave touchstones that channel raw anger and disillusionment into urgent, confrontational rock. The Clash's political fury and Costello's personal venom operate at a similar frequency, with a shared refusal to soften edges or offer easy consolation. A listener craving biting social commentary and cathartic, adrenaline-soaked energy will appreciate the connection, even as London Calling's musical sprawl contrasts with This Year's Model's taut focus.
80% - MusicCannonball (2026)
This debut matches the source's raw emotional intensity and structural unpredictability. Both albums refuse to resolve tension, layering jagged, cluttered arrangements and spitting anger at a world that feels rigged. Where Costello zeroes in on romantic deception, Cannonball broadens the target to early-adult incoherence and systemic predation, but the cathartic, unfiltered rage is nearly identical. Listeners who prize messiness as honesty will find a direct line between the two.
72% - Music1989 (2014)
Both records use sonic clutter and vocal distortion to create an anxious, adrenaline-fueled atmosphere that mirrors alienation and resentment. Reality Awaits channels paranoia about media manipulation, technology, and cultural numbness, while This Year's Model attacks romantic and media deceit through dense wordplay and manic performances. The aggressive, deliberately uneasy production and a frontman's willingness to risk audience goodwill connect them strongly, even though Reality Awaits trades Costello's 70s garage-band attack for a more maximalist, Auto-Tuned palette.
70% - Musicyou seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (2026)
Both albums are scorching, hyper-literate rock records built on a spurned, vengeful narrator's rage at romantic and social betrayal. Highway 61 shares the same furious vocal attack, dense wordplay, and claustrophobic, adrenaline-fueled arrangements, even if its targets are more sweeping and surreal. Fans of Costello's unvarnished aggression and paranoid worldview will find a kindred spirit in Dylan's invective.
65% - MusicMagazine (2026)
For a fan of This Year's Model's relentless aggression and refusal to soften, Magazine offers an even more radical commitment to noise and confrontation. Both records treat musical structure as a weapon: tight, jagged interplay and controlled chaos that never lets the listener settle. The lyrical focus is more abstract here, but the underlying fury and the deliberate rejection of conventional songcraft create a genuine tonal kinship.
62% - MusicExile in Guyville (1993)
Furious, paranoid, and lyrically dense about romantic deception and power; its aggression is compelling but lacks Guyville's vulnerability.
60% - MusicSticky Fingers (1971)
There is a shared obsession with desire, excess, and the knives people carry in relationships, plus a raw, blues-based rock foundation. But Sticky Fingers wears its weariness and swagger more than Costello's paranoid fury; the Stones' narrator is often complicit or seductive, while Costello's is an accusatory wreck. Still, the unvarnished, reckless energy and a willingness to court discomfort in the lyrics make it a reasonable next stop for someone drawn to the source's darker relationship themes.
55%