Reception
The album was poorly received upon its first release, however, in later years, it garnered generally positive reviews. Moby had earlier made his reputation with electronic music, but Animal Rights found him embracing punk rock and ambient music.
While most praised his attempt at diversifying, Salon.com writer Douglas Wolk, for instance, opines that the album "finds Moby falling on his nose" and concludes that "maybe somebody should try to convince Moby that guitars are actually made out of dead animals", while Rolling Stone decides that "this time around, he has decided to push an agenda instead of boundaries". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic suggests that Animal Rights "ranks as one of the classic failed albums, right alongside Sinéad O'Connor's big-band Am I Not Your Girl." Seeming to expect its critical reception, Moby added the following entreaty to the bottom of the credits page: "please listen to animal rights in its entirety at least once."
According to manager Eric Härle, the album almost killed Moby's career because not only did the new direction leave audiences cold – with music media uninterested and his existing fan base largely alienated by it – but it led to people being confused as to what kind of artist Moby really was. Having wiped out all his early good work in establishing himself, Moby was left struggling for any kind of recognition and quickly became seen as a "has-been" in the eyes of many people in the industry.
On the Billboard Heatseekers chart, Animal Rights peaked at number 31.
Read more about this topic: Animal Rights (album)
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