YMMV / The National

• Awesome Music: Basically everything. All of their albums have been critically acclaimed except for their first two and their ninth, but even the second and ninth ones were pretty close to universal acclaim on Metacritic.
  • "The Rains of Castamere" certainly count for Game of Thrones fans.
  • The instrumental arrangements are always incredible, especially on the later albums.
  • Their covers of two songs from Bob's Burgers have the band singing light-hearted lyrics about gravy boats and turkeys with the signature beauty of their normal output. It's as good as it sounds.
• Broken Base: The studio version of "Graceless" has divided the fan base between those who view it as a boring rendition of an excellent live tune, and those who view it as being just as effective on the album.
  • More infamously, the studio version of "Terrible Love", which had distorted drums. Fans complained to the point where the band released an alternate version at the end of the year.
  • In regards to their discography, there exists a divide between fans regarding whether or not the band's decision to change to a slower, quiet, and denser sound was a good thing or not.
  • "Turtleneck"; a welcome change of pace, or an embarrassing, cringe-worthy attempt at a 'hard rock song'? Who knows?
  • I Am Easy To Find has definitively broken the base - some people think that adding female voices was a smart move eight albums in, while others missed Matt Berninger's voice. Others still think that the gimmicks disguise what's basically just another National album.
    • More specifically on I Am Easy To Find: whether the studio version of "Rylan" is better or much, much weaker than the live version performed from around 2011. Does it remove the weakest lyrics and does the female vocalists give it a new spin, or does it bring the song to a grinding halt and remove the excellent outro?
• Covered Up: Birdy's cover of Terrible Love gained significantly more traction than the original or alternate versions.
• Epic Riff: Basically every instrument in "Fake Empire." From the piano to the horns.
  • The drummer even gets one in "Squalor Victoria" and "Brainy."
  • Also, the beginning of "Mistaken For Strangers".
  • "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness" is probably their best traditional guitar riff.
  • The airy horns in "Sleep Well Beast".
• Growing the Beard: While their first two albums have their fans, Alligator is typically regarded as the point where the band found their groove.
• Mainstream Obscurity: Contender with Arcade Fire for the most triumphant example of the last decade.
• Signature Song: Either "Fake Empire" or "Bloodbuzz Ohio". However, fans could also make a strong for "Mr November" as being their defining song as well.
  • Portal 2 gives another song to the general masses, "Exile (Vilify)".
  • "I Need My Girl" and "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness", which have become the two most popular songs in the band's catalog since their release, with the latter track being their first chart-topping single.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The fate of the mysterious song teased on Instagram.
  • Subverted, as that clip essentially became "Quiet Light."
  • The question as to whether or not the unreleased fan favorite "Rylan" will ever be on an album is still sort of up in the air; though it's been previously hinted by the band that it may not ever see a commercial release, it's frequent inclusion in setlists for the Sleep Well Beast tour might suggest otherwise. It would ultimately appear as the 14th track in I Am Easy to Find