dull -- which, in Gainsbourg's world, would be the ultimate (and quite possibly the only) sin." Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club wrote "It’s a true album—its tale of innocence lost and unearned last chances wouldn’t work as well in any other medium." Tom Ewing of Pitchfork stated, "The bookend tracks of Melody Nelson are a trip through far more hostile territories, the black spaces of a man's interior." He also praised the "originality" of the record, describing its sound as similar to "nothing else in rock." D.M. Edwards of PopMatters commented "This is genre-defying music, but anyone with an interest in hearing a blueprint for trip hop or a master class in the depiction of desire in pop music, should be sure to listen to this mysterious, timeless, contradictory album." Accolades {|class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Publication ! Country ! Accolade ! Year ! Rank |- | Pitchfork | align="center"| US | Top 100 Albums of the 1970s | align="center"| 2004 | align="center"| 21 |- | Rolling Stone France | align="center"| France | The 100 Greatest French Rock Albums | align="center"| 2010 | align="center"| 4 |- |} Legacy Histoire de Melody Nelson is regarded by many critics and fans to be Gainsbourg's magnum opus and his most influential release. While it became a pivotal album of the 1970s and was instrumental in the development of French rock music and trip hop genre, it has also influenced many musical artists outside France, including Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, Beck, Tricky, Broadcast, Barry Adamson of Magazine, David Holmes, Cibo Matto, Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy, Stereolab, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Portishead, The Last Shadow Puppets and Arctic Monkeys. Portishead based its musical style on the album's mixture of orchestrations with dusty drums, while Beck utilized the album's main theme heavily on his song "Paper Tiger", on his 2002 album, Sea Change. French electronic music act Air was also influenced by the album. Faith No More and Mr. Bungle vocalist Mike Patton also expressed his appreciation for the album and Gainsbourg's music, stating that "he was immediately awe-struck by the elegance, variety and detail of Serge's 'pop' forms". "It made me think that I had a lot to learn". The songs on Histoire de Melody Nelson were covered and sampled by various artists of different genres. British rock band Placebo recorded a cover version of "The Ballad of Melody Nelson", which was released