Terrible albums by brilliant musicians
Even legends like David Bowie, Madonna, Prince, and U2 can put out subpar records. Here are major misfires by some of music's biggest names
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It happens, even to the best of them: Madonna, U2, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Queen. Despite all their good intentions, even great musicians can deliver a dud from time to time. Usually, major acts have the instinct and craft to polish an average song until it’s listenable, so mediocre albums are a dime a dozen. What’s unusual are the records where an artist finds all their old tricks failing them, whether it’s due to personal problems, a poor choice of collaborators, or a misguided concept. Misfires like that are so rare that they wind up being memorable and worth noting—perhaps even celebrating. The albums that follow may not be a comprehensive list of the worst records ever made. Rather, it’s a collection of 40 albums that made an indelible impression by barreling the wrong way down the highway.
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Kanye’s downfall started WELL before Ye. I’d argue that his first truly bad album was 808s and Heartbreak, which contributed more to the downfall of rap as a genre than any other album.
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Jesus, what a terrible opinion. I didn’t even know this was a thing anyone thought, ever. While Dark Fantasy is almost unquestionably his “best” album, 808s is probably my favorite. It’s the album that converted me into a Kanye fan.
I like 808s. It’s a really interesting album. Kanye for me started to completely implode with Life of Pablo.
I think it started after Ye. Ye was pretty good, even if I wanted to dislike it at the time because it was the first album that came out after he became a Trump supporter. Donda is where it started to drop off imo.
Respectfully disagree. 808s is introspective and layered. I think it’s more nuanced than the college series. For me it was Yeezus where things started to fall apart.
Most of these are notorious stinkers and/or ill-conceived artistic missteps, sure. Night in the Ruts is a weird selection, though. It’s a decent, though decidedly B-tier, Aerosmith album. It’s quite a bit better than the one that followed it (Rock in a Hard Place) and I would argue a lot more enjoyable than all the slick, song-doctored, ballad-heavy crap they made from the mid-90s on (I’d also take it over Get a Grip, though I realize that album has a few mega-hits that people who aren’t me love). Anyway, you could throw a dart at their discography and odds are 50/50 you’d hit a worse album than …Ruts.I’d also go to bat for The Final Cut. I understand why people don’t like it (I mostly do), but it’s by no means the worst Pink Floyd album. They made some confusing messes in the post-Syd, pre-Meddle period, and The Endless River, for all its good intentions, is dull aural wallpaper with a vaguely Floydian flavor. The Final Cut is at least focused and has a perspective.
I’d put Rock In A Hard Place just ahead of Ruts. It’s more consistent, doesn’t rely on as many covers (though I do like their version of Think About It). It’s certainly a bit different from their others, but you know, there’s a different guy playing guitar and writing most of the songs. Ruts is definitely miles ahead of anything Get A Grip onward.
The Final Cut is OK, but definitely where I lost interest in Floyd, and I don’t think the subsequent removal of Waters improved them at all.
Gilmour Floyd isn’t a huge improvement, but I like those albums more than The Final Cut if only because they actually *do* something.
Night in the Ruts was the beginning of the near-end of the band, though. Rock and a Hard Place and Done with Mirrors followed, neither of which sold and during which time Tyler and Perry earned their moniker The Toxic Twins due to their heavy drug use. They were basically saved by Run DMC covering Walk this Way and then came back strong with Permanent Vacation, a really fun album that bore little resemblance to the three before it. Off that three-album run only Lightning Strikes and Let the Music do the Talking (my favorite Aerosmith song, BTW) had any staying power. I don’t count Remember (Walking in the Sand) because it was such a weird choice. So I’d agree that Ruts is the worst of the three.
I mean, Let The Music Do The Talking was recycled from The Joe Perry Project even. They just had no songs by this point. Nazareth was the same, like 6 originals and 2 covers coming in under 40 minutes.
Different strokes and all that, I suppose! Rock in a Hard Place is the least of those three to me, and the only one of them I don’t own. The other two are passable hard rock albums, listenable enough if you tune out the known backstory that was going on at the time they were made. And of course, the absence of Perry on one of them.But my real beef is rating any of their early albums lower than anything after Get a Grip. They have made so much worse music in the last couple decades than they ever did in their first decade-plus. It wasn’t the drugs or the lineup shuffling that hurt them most, it was achieving a massive commercial breakthrough on the backs of prom ballads and song doctors.
Yeah once they recognized that power ballads and joke songs like Love in an Elevator and Dude Looks Like a Lady were far bigger sellers than sleazy blues rock, the template was set and it was pretty much over as far as anything I’m interested in.
I agree on The Final Cut. There are some moments of real beauty and fury on that thing. I’m also puzzled by the inclusion of One Hot Minute. Isn’t that one of the RHCP’s biggest records?
it is not but it is still a great record! And it’s at least 10x better than the most recent ones.
you are correct about one hot minute. i don’t know why it gets crapped so much, it’s decent. but they’re not allowed to play it live, so it remains crapped on, i guess.
I don’t think it’s terrible, but it’s not regarded as one of their better albums
I think Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Californication had a much bigger impact. Give it Away and Under the Bridge were inescapable in their time.
Agreed on the Final Cut. In fact, it’s quite a great album. It is mainly a Roger Waters solo album with other fine musicians (and a killer solo on Not Now John).
“. They made some confusing messes in the post-Syd, pre-Meddle period, and The Endless River, for all its good intentions, is dull aural wallpaper with a vaguely Floydian flavor.”Atom Heart Mother and the More soundtrack are ‘meh’ … but Ummagumma is interesting from a pure experimental perspective… and it has my favourite version of Careful With That Axe Eugene on it. But yeah, the Pink Floyd I grew up with and love the most started with the album Meddle.
I personally think they did their best work in that span on live albums. The live half of Ummagumma and the Pompeii concert manage to focus on a coherent group of space rock songs, making the band sound cool and cosmic. But a lot of the studio stuff from the same period is very revealing of a band still struggling to figure out who they are and what they want to do. They were just very scattered, and not always in a good way.
Atom Heart Mother is orders of magnitude better than Ummagumma. The latter was basically a collection of noodlings from each band member with a pretty great live section.More is a bit of a mixed bag but the standout cuts are fantastic: “Green is the Colour”, “Cymbaline”, “The Nile Song”, and the latter’s companion piece, “Ibiza Bar”. “Cirrus Minor” and “Crying Song” are also decent pieces.
Final Cut is super underrated. It’s one I’ve come back to a few times over the years and as I’ve got older I have appreciated it much more.
I wouldn’t call The Final Cut their worst album when Ummagumma exists (Sysyphus Pts 1-4 are absolute dogshit). Is it their best album? Not at all. But I actually listen to some songs from it on a regular basis. The Post War Dream and the Gunner’s Dream are very good! This isn’t the Floyd album I would’ve included on this list.
Garth Brooks in…the Life of Chris Gaines was the one album I thought for sure would make this list.
They said brilliant musicians
I still think the whole Chris Gaines thing could have worked, but only if Garth kept it a secret. Kind of like Andy Kaufman/Tony Clifton.
He did manage to extricate himself from the whole deal quite brilliantly when he did the SNL episode.Doing the sketch where he revealed that he invented Chris Gaines as an elaborate ploy to win over Mango on the episode where Chris Gaines was the musical guest was quite clever
Doing the sketch where he revealed that he invented Chris Gaines as an elaborate ploy to win over Mango on the episode where Chris Gaines was the musical guest was quite cleverStill one of my favorite things SNL has ever done.
But . . . The Life of Chris Gaines is a Chris Gaines album, silly.
Anyone who has seen a Garth Brooks concert knows that Garth Brooks rocks harder than Chris Gaines any day. There was no reason for an alter-ego.
I did not know Billy Idol was a great musician.
I made a similar comment above about Jewel, but many of these are artists who were really good at one thing and then decided to do something else in efforts to be relevant to current trends. Failing miserably, in most cases. The late 80s and early 90s seemed to really take their tolls.
Given that Motley Crue is on here, I’d take Billy Idol’s career over theirs any day of the week.
His music rocks (especially with Steve Stevens on guitar) and he is a great entertainer. I’m actually sad to see Cyberpunk on this list. It was a concept album totally fitting for the time. Even though it was a huge departure stylistically for Billy, I thought he executed it well. Because it was such a bomb, he never really incorporated electronic music in his songs again, which is a shame.
Gotta know your audience, though, and Idol’s was not one that was looking for electronica or concept.
I thought it was wildly accepted that Jewels album was a scathing take on the music industry at the time, where by someone of her stature (meaning, an absolutely incredible voice, without the forced-fake sex appeal of Spears and Aguilera) could only be famous if she did amp up the sex. The album itself, its really good.
“forced-fake sex appeal of Spears and Aguiler”While their music is far from my thing, as someone who was a 16 year old boy when the “Baby One More Time” video was popular, I can tell you the sex appeal was not fake.
It was all manufactured. To lure the boys like you in, who wanted her and the girls who wanted to be her.So yes, it was forced-fake. There was nothing normal about watching a teenaged Britney dancing around in a barely there Catholic schoolgirl uniform.
What exactly did they accomplish by luring me in? I didn’t go out and buy her music or concert tickets.
Sure, because you are the only person this applies to. I forgot.Give your head a shake.If you are not able to understand that the pop music starlets and boy bands of the late 90s / early 00s were just manufactured to sell CDs via sex appeal, I don’t know what to tell you.Just because you didn’t necessarily fall into the trap, the amount of records sold by Spears, Jessica Simpson, X-Tina, NSync, and on and on, should tell you otherwise.
This is one of the most condescending posts I’ve ever read, and it also implies that this same thing hasn’t been done throughout the entire history of the music industry. I mean, basically every pop act since at least Elvis has been “manufactured” by record labels to some degree—and he certainly sold a ton of records based on his sex appeal as well. Would you be inclined to make this same post about him, or the Monkees, or the Sex Pistols, or any of the countless other examples that weren’t just popular acts you hated when you were growing up?
I dont hate on Spears et al. I rather quite enjoy some of the songs, for what they were. That’s not the argument here.This is about Jewels album and how wrong they are in saying its terrible.It was an album, made to be thrown in the face of current pop music at the time.She was an artist who was hands down a better musician than anyone of those others at the time, but didnt get the recognition because she didnt need to be sold as a sex symbol. Where as the others did because they had next to no actual musical talent.They all could dance well with choreography, thats about it. None of them could play an instrument, or hold a lyric.
I also remember that being a thing which is why she went right back to what she was known for not so much that it was a “failure”
Generally quite a fair list, but Mighty Like A Rose is Elvis Costello’s last good album IMO.
I will not sit idly by while you besmirtch The Fatboys
My middle school friends and I spent more than a couple of nights calling up the local dj to play Wipeout on the radio.
FOR REAL
But aren’t you besmirching them by calling them “Fat”????
It’s only besmirching them if you’re fat-phobic. (or something)I also loved that song… but I was in peak Op shirt / surf obsession, well, as much as a landlocked midwestern kid could be.I was also a fan of gimmick rap. Had a tape with that, some Digital Underground, Square Dance Rap, and a Gremlins~esque song called Munchies* that I played pretty regularly.*I didn’t understand the connotations of the song back then… it had monster voices and ad-libs and everything. Side note: It took like 30 years to figure out the actual title and artist of that song.
I wish there was more commentary on the Bruce Springsteen album, it basically just says “should be good, but producer bad!” Like why. What happened.
Agreed, the description doesn’t really make the argument for the album’s inclusion. Also, the album came out last year, so might it be a bit soon to add it to a list like this?
All the reviews I can find of it are reasonably positive. Even the “bad” reviews don’t say it’s anywhere near terrible. Even Pitchfork gave it 7/10 and they hate everything.Best I can muster is that Ron Aniello plays basically all the instruments, and maybe that’s bad?
I feel like they were just going through Springsteen’s discography and picked out one that didn’t review quite as well as the others. From what I’ve heard of Only the Strong Survive, it’s fine. It’s not a career embarrassment or anything. It’s really more of a side project, anyway, and not really a Springsteen album proper.
The Corabi album was fantastic. Had it been a new bands debut it probably been a hit but at the time it just wasn’t Motley
I concur.
I remember reading years ago that Chris Claremont’s inspiration for Fenris* came when he watched a Pink Floyd video that featured two actors with bleach blonde hair. Seeing that screen grab for “The Fletcher Memorial Home”, I’m guessing that, if the story is true, that was the video.This list is so bad that I’m left with dropping in apocryphal origin bullshit about minor comic book characters.*For anyone who isn’t a Marvel comics obsessive, Fenris is the code name for the von Strucker twins Andrea and Andreas, who are the children of Nazi/HYDRA leader (and Captain America antagonist) Baron von Strucker. They were principally X-Men antagonists, hence Claremont’s involvement (alongside John Romita, Jr.) in their creation.
Some of these albums are truly terrible, some I’m unfamiliar with because the artists aren’t my thing, and others aren’t terrible at all. One Hot Minute is not a terrible album. Sure, it’s far from RCHP’s best, but there are some decent tunes there. Also, I chuckled at referring to Motley Crue and Billy Idol as brilliant musicians.
As a young teen, I bought One Hot Minute because I liked RHCP but did not own any of their albums. I saw it on a slight discount ($12.99 or something) soon after release and decided to jump in blind. I feel awful wasting my parents money; I am not sure I have listened to anything other than Aeroplane more than once, if that. Maybe I should give it another shot.
Aeroplane is one of my favorite RHCP songs. I like Warped a lot, it rocks in a Navarro way that that they never have with any of their other guitarists but still feels like RHCP. The rest of the album- I wouldn’t call it terrible by any stretch, but it’s not what I want when I want to listen to RHCP, and it’s not music I want to listen to when I don’t want RHCP. But I can imagine other people being into it. If Navarro had stuck around and they had made a better follow-up, it would probably be seen as a flawed warming up album rather than a punching bag.
Your description of the album, from what I remember, is fitting so well done. And I agree – maybe if Navarro had stuck around they would have gelled. I was excited because I liked Jane’s Addiction and thought adding Navarro would be a slam dunk – turned out the whole was not greater than the sum of its parts.Aeroplane is a good song though.
I was also young when it came out and purchased it. It was one of the two albums I purchased on cassette before I got a CD player. The other was Dookie if you’re curious. I actually like Aeroplane. I also like My Friends, Tearjerker, and Walkabout.
Interestingly, Dookie was one of the first CDs I got.
My Friends, Coffee Shop, and Pea are standouts. Warped is a cool leadoff track.
My friends all thought Pea was hilarious. TBH, I am listening to the album now.
What I don’t get is why they didn’t save themselves a slot and combine Metallica and Lou Reed:
Yeah. I’m a huge Metallica fan and have actually avoided listening to that ever since it was released.
I’m not a Metallica fan, nor of Lou Reed and I was desperate to hear this album when it was released. It didn’t disappoint (by being often hilarious).
It’s so incredibly…teenaged…in its concept. That insufferable art kid in high school found some generic metal riffs and laid his godawful poetry over it and declared it haute art.This was Lou Reed’s final recording before dying, possibly of embarrassment.
I was that insufferable kid in high school, except I tried to set The Raven to metal music lol.
I hadn’t spotted Lou Reed the first time around , I mean mistrial and lulu must be bad when Metal Machine Music* exists,(*Which is either genius ahead of its time or an absolute scam , but the last time I tried listening to it drunk all I remember is it sounding like modem dial up noises being played over a metalworking class)
Metal Machine Music makes a little bit of sense in the context of 1970s experimental and minimalist music. Whether it’s a “good” version of that form is open to debate, but it has some historical context completely separate from pop music. Mistrial, on the other hand, is a pop record that doesn’t work. The bigger question is whether Mistrial is worse than New Sensation or Street Hassle. Good albums were kind of an anomaly. At least you can say that Metal Machine Music is consistent.
That was my first reaction as well. One Hot Minute is not a terrible album. It’s fine and there are some standout tunes, which makes it like about half the albums released in general, across all artists.
It’s weird to me that I felt the need to defend One Hot Minute reading this list. since I am not in any way a RHCP fan. Maybe because it came out on my 14th birthday? Maybe because “Warped” gets stuck in my head more often than it should? For a certain age group I think it just fits the appeal of the MTV Buzz Bin era/starting to discover music.
Billy Idol I can buy, but Motley Crue, even in their prime, were mediocre at best.
The first two Crue albums are pretty unfuckwithable. Every band that imitated it fell short up until Appetite For Destruction came out. And that album is more a curtain call for glam metal than a reinvigoration.
I honestly don’t get SATD or TFFL. They just sound like watered down NWOBHM with a sexual twist and far less hooks.I’ll take your word for it, though.
Yeah I mean it’s not really anything to get that worried over.
…..The Struts, Marvelous 3 & Lemon Twigs, would DISPUTE that LAST contention…..
Appetite is an anti-glam metal album. Nirvana reinvigorated rock music, but GnR are the ones who actually killed hair metal.
The nicest thing I have to say is that Crue were the best of the hair metal bands.
They ..er had a good Sega Megadrive/Genesis Pinball video game I guess..
Yea RHCP has never made a good album, but One Hot Minute is much better than Blood Sugar Sex Magik. And that’s mainly because it doesn’t have Sir Psycho Sexy, which is maybe the worst song in human history. And to prove it, here’s the chorus:Sir Psycho, Sir Psycho, yeah (he’s the man that I met one time)Sir Psycho, Sir Psycho, yeah (he’s the man that left me blind)Sir Psycho, Sir Psycho, yeah (he’s the man he’s the man he’s the man)Sir Psycho, Sir Psycho, yeah (yeah)
…..I’m of the view that By The Way is their MOST fully-realized, stylistically-diverse effort (a BIT more so than Blood Sugar…; OHM was serviceable and I liked PARTS – but, just a little RHCPs can go a LONG way…..)
I like One Hot Minute a fair amount. But I have never been into the band’s more funk-influenced songs and think everything they’ve made since Californication has been utter shit, so I guess I’m not much of a fan.
Thanks for putting Aerosmith first so I don’t have to plow thru the other 39.
To be fair, Cheap Trick didn’t exactly have any ‘good’ albums. I tried to get through the A-side of Dream Police the other night.
I like their debut album. A bit heavier, more raw sound that they moved away from. At Budokhan is probably their best collection start to finish, but yeah, it’s live.
Budokhan is bar none, probably one of the best live albums out there. You really get the energy from it and man, its infectious. Those girls loved that band and the band were having a blast (I dare you to watch their videos of that performance and not get a smile on your face – its real kismet of the boys in their prime absolutely owning an audience). And judging by the number of times modern bands have heralded as one of those ‘made me want to play in a band’, it is no surprise. Hell, any kid worth his cheap ass guitar could hear those cries and literally go ‘man I want women wanting me on a stage like that.’ It’s right up there with Kiss Alive in harnessing what it is to play and play big.I’ve read a few things on the impact of Cheap Trick in Japan and its really the Far East version of Beatlemania. A real live version of an underdog tale of an ok band at the time striking gold in a far off country….and its fun as hell.
i’m barely a casual fan, but i went to see them in concert about ten years ago, and i was flummoxed by the grown women who were screaming like teenagers after robin zander. these two women next to me wouldn’t stop verbally salivating over him. i had no idea!
“Ain’t That A Shame” – especially that opening bit – is probably my favorite live performance on record. I can’t say I’ve bothered to listen to the entire album.
Budokhan is like Frampton Comes Alive – really the only album by them you really need to own.
I like Cheap Trick plenty, so I wouldn’t go that far. All their albums are flawed, but I’d miss a lot of my favorite songs if I limited myself to At Budokhan or even a greatest hits.
Possible hot take, but I feel the same way about Ozzy’s “Tribute” vs. his solo studio albums.
Great pull, that’s a kickass album but IIRC it mostly pulls from Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Ozz so you’re not really cutting down that much material.
I really love the title track on Heaven Tonight. Too bad that album also includes “Surrender”, which is a song that sends me into an (admittedly irrational) blind rage.
Live at Budokhan!
Madonna’s “American Life” is terrible? The album that has “Hollywood”, “Love Profusion”, “Nothing Fails”, “Intervention”, “X-Static Process”, “Die Another Day” and “Easy Ride”? I have a bad news: it’s not the album, it’s your taste that’s terrible,
Queen + Paul Rodgers never made sense to me.
I think Paul Rodgers would have been a fine fit with those musicians back in the early 70s, but by the 90s, Freddie had taken them all in a direction from where they could never return.
I can see both sides of this argument. I don’t doubt that Adam Lambert more suits the type of frontman that people expect from Queen (although the day he’s had enough I’d love Sam Ryder to step in), but because Freddie had such a lunatic range, there’s a lot of their stuff that actually suits someone with a voice as good as Rodgers. For example, he absolutely nails this…
Fair point – there are definitely a few songs in the Queen back catalogue that Rodgers is perfect for (mostly their early stuff, but the occasional 80s track as well). And Sam Ryder is a good call as well – but that depends on who gives up first – Lambert, or Taylor and May.
I’d love to hear Rodger’s version of Tenement Funster.
Based on what I’ve seen of him lately, I suspect Taylor’s body might give out on him before anything else. I wouldn’t be hard to convince that there’s another drummer behind a curtain somewhere doing a lot of it.
Same. The Ready for Love guy singing in front of the most bombastic act of the era?
To be fair, Ready for Love was originally a Mott the Hoople song.
LOVE madonn’a american life album back in 2003. I think american life shouldn’t have been the lead single. The production by Mirwais was top class. Ray of Light” marked a significant departure from Madonna’s earlier work by embracing electronic and experimental sounds. “Music” continued in this vein, incorporating electronic beats and dance-pop elements. “American Life” continued to build on this foundation, featuring more folk-tronic, as invented on “Don’t Tell Me” on “Music”, and dance-pop influences throughout the album. Also, “Ray of Light” and “Music” explored themes of self-discovery, spirituality, and the fast-paced nature of modern life. “American Life” continued this introspective approach with songs that delved into topics such as materialism, fame, and societal pressures, often critiquing American culture. This thematic continuity allowed Madonna to explore her evolving personal and societal concerns across these albums.The media loves to build someone up then tear them down, and this is what happened with Madonna at the time.
American Life is also one of my favorite albums by Madonna. The singles (including Die Another Day) don’t accurately represent it and are a bit more sensationalistic. But the rest of the album, wow. It pains me to see them dismissed here as murky beats- this is gorgeous dark introspective music that is not meant to be a continuation of the brighter Music sounds. It was very interesting to hear her go there. Standouts include “Love Profusion”, “Nobody Knows Me”, “Nothing Fails”, and “Mother and Father”
Agree about the review “American Life was a cloistered, confused record filled with murky beats”. there is zero murky beats on this album. there are electronic and techno-influenced beats (Nobody knows me, American Life) and experimental beats (mother and father), but zero “”murky beats”. such a stupid observation.Love ‘Easy Ride’ with it’s combination of electro bleeps, acoustic guitars, and orchestra.my only gripe is i would have had Die another day earlier in the tracklisting.my madonna era is ray of light to Confessions, but i have started listening to Hard Candy whilst on holiday, as at the time, i just thought Madonna was chasing the crowd instead of doing her own thing. Now that time has passed, i’m enjoying it.
Experimental? Nah. Maybe in 1975 those sounds would’ve been.
in the context of pop music, i think they are. i wasn’t hearing those type of sounds from anyone else.each to their own 🙂
The question is, when you drink your soy latte, do you get a double shoté?
haha, lol. i was 19yrs at the time, so impressionable. but i must say, i love her rap because it is subversion of expectations. Madonna is primarily known as a pop icon, and her foray into rap in “American Life” was unexpected. This element of surprise adds to the appeal of her rap because it challenges traditional genre boundaries and showcases her versatility as an artist. It defies expectations and offers listeners something unexpected.Her rap is a social commentary. It contains lyrics that touch on social and political issues. She criticizes consumerism, materialism, and the pursuit of superficial happiness, which are common themes in hip-hop and rap music.Madonna’s rap is well-structured with a consistent rhyme scheme and a smooth flow. While she may not have the same level of technical skill as dedicated hip-hop artists, her delivery is clear, and she maintains a good sense of rhythm.The rap is an evolution of pop music. Madonna has always been an artist who evolves with the times, and her incorporation of rap in “American Life” can be seen as an example of pop music’s continual evolution. It shows how pop artists often draw from various genres, including rap, to remain relevant and innovative.But i can also see how it is cringe too, lol 🙂
It’s hard to argue that Madonna including a rapped bridge on a pop song was innovative when Debbie Harry did it 22 years prior. Cringey is definitely how I would describe, but as long as you enjoy it, that’s what’s important. The rest of us can just avoid it.
‘Rapture’ was innovative for new wave/rock. Madonna’s rap was innovative for pop music.each to their own.
Rapture may technically be new wave, but it’s absolutely a pop song. And even among the strictly pop genre, rapped bridges were not at all a new thing at all. The fact that it was a middle-aged white lady doing it was new I guess, but not in a good way.
Wait, we’re calling Jewel “brilliant”? Did I miss a renaissance or a reassessment? Honest question.
Yup, Jewel seems like a great person, but I was wondering about that description too…especially since her most (only) famous song seems like a retread of that dippy Chevy Van track from the 70’s.
Jewel’s not untalented, but I wouldn’t call her brilliant. I think I can only name three of her songs, but I really like what Molly Tuttle did with “Million Miles”, a song she apparently wrote.
Who Will Save Your Soul?!
She was (and is again) well-respected as a singer-songwriter, so I think the bigger issue is one that a bunch of albums on this list fall prey to – trying to update the artist’s sound for a new decade or trendy style and falling flat. I’d never heard that Jewel song before and having her voice run through autotune just feels really off.
Yea she’s no Motley Crue
no she’s not, especially in an era that included some fantastic women singer-songwriters like sarah mclachlan, shawn colvin, even sheryl crow.
i never understood her appeal… maybe her songs were easy to play, so it encouraged girls to pick up guitars?
She sold out with such casualty…
Deep cut.
She is terrible. I absolutely hate Jewel. (As a musician and especially as a “poet”. I don’t know her as a human being.)
Her early singer/songwriter stuff had a lot more cachet
And KISS.KISS!!!
I thought there was a bit of a reassessment when Jewel won the Masked Singer a couple of years ago that she was fairly underrated. Maybe that was just in my household.
I know Tonight was a bit of a disappointment given what Bowie had produced in the preceding decade, but I’d give it credit not only for Blue Jean, but Loving the Alien which is a favourite of mine.
I rather like Tonight, flaws and all. Let Me Down is the real nadir, to me.
When I finally got around to Tonight, I was surprised how not bad it was. Not classic, for sure, but there was some okay stuff on there. I liked his duet with Tina Turner on the title track. Never Let Me Down definitely lived up to its reputation.
Black Tie, White Noise has entered the chat.
Tin Machine 2.
One can make that case – although you have other band members to blame that one on as well. But at least it has some “interesting” guitar rather boring, staid production.
When the intro to the article mentioned Bowie, I was absolutely certain the album discussed was going to be Never Let Me Down. Bowie himself called it “awful,” and said “I really shouldn’t have even bothered going into the studio to record it.” And he’s 100% right about that.
Oh yeah agreed. Never Let Me Down is really bad.
Bowie seems to have a lot of “worst” albums according to his fans, but most of them have at least two or three tracks that I keep going back to. I even enjoy listening to some of the clunkers and trying to imagine what he was thinking at the time. On the other hand, Pin-Ups is rather inoffensive as a whole but if it disappeared from the timeline nothing of value would be lost, and that to me makes it the worst.
Give My Regards to Broad Street was the first non-compilation album I owned (a requested birthday present off the back of loving No More Lonely Nights). I enjoyed it a lot at the time but don’t look back on it with any great love.
Even MADONNA can put out a shitty album? No way.
she has some pretty great albums so i don’t understand what the implication here
Pretty great if you like mindless top 40 dance music? I could happily live my life without hearing another Madonna song. I didn’t even like her when I was a teenager in the 80’s. She’s a far cry from brilliant.
lol what a dumb take
She’s also in the top 10 for certified unit sales (ever). I think the fact she tried to stay relevant late in her career and began to be seen as kind of a “has-been” made people forget that she was the Taylor Swift of the 80’s-90’s. Arguably the female counterpart to Michael Jackson in terms of musical fame.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Freaky Styley, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Mother’s Milk, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, One Hot Minute, Californication, By The Way, Stadium Arcadia, I’m With You, The Getaway, Unlimited Love, Return Of The Dream Canteen
it’s Stadium Arcadium…..
I like a decent chunk of Stadium Arcadium, but that might have to do with being a Mars Volta fan and hearing their guitarist show up on “Especially In Michigan”.
Oooh, a hot take.
I’d argue that The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Mother’s Milk, Blood Sugar Sex Magik are actually good , but from One hot minute onwards they settled into their groove of basically releasing the same song over and over for 20+ years.
I would argue Freaky Styley and parts of the first album are too.
“I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”
— Nick Cave
So you’re saying “What Hits?” gets your approval.
I dabbled a bit in Red Hot Chili Peppers music in High School… I enjoyed Blood Sugar Sex Magik and the songs on What Hits? (Limited CD Budget) but kind of fell off at One Hot Minute and never really could get into them after that.I think I tried to listen to BSSM as an adult and wasn’t really feeling it. I had the same reaction to Pearl Jam and In Utero as well.At least RHCP isn’t as regrettable as the three album ICP fandom of college / early 20s.
Not a knock against Mariah Carey, obviously one of the top singers of all time, but she’s not a musician.Also, Chris Gaines is missing from this list.
How is a singer not a musician?
You could argue it is if you like, but it’s generally used for people who play musical instruments
I’ve played musical instruments for the last 30 years of my life and have always considered singers to be musicians. The voice is an instrument, singing is music.
Okay.
Same, with regards to my background and experiences. The singers I’ve worked with who went to school to train their voices were still educated in the Music department, not Communications. What a weird take.
Like…the vocal chords?
No its generally used to describe people who make music.
In what contexts? Maybe anecdotal ones that you’ve been part of, but certainly not any actual musical ones.
Jesus fuck, you live in Nashville.
You could argue it is if you like, but it’s generally used for people who play musical instruments**Sad Bobby McFerrin sounds**
Musicians are sad and play guitar and appeal to a male-oriented audience. Non-musicians are everyone else.
WTF are you talking about
do you even speak 90s, bro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
You were in diapers in the 90s
I’m talking U2, Nickelback, Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses = real musiciansBeyonce, Taylor Swift, Aretha Franklin = not real musicians
Guns N’ Roses first two albums was real musicAll the rest is crapGhost is scary Nickelback
If they play guitar, they’re musicians. If they don’t, they’re not. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.
Ouch. Nice.
How is a raven like a writing desk?
Mariah Carey destroyed Christmas at retail storesChris Gaines showed us the reason for missing humans
Its early , but keep this video handy to get All I want , out of your head :probably NSFW but yeah
Oh man, I loved that
I tend to be more appreciative of artists who play instruments and write their own material personally, but the idea that someone who creates and records music professionally is not a musician is pretty silly.
I think it’s silly to think more of artists who play instruments and write their own material, so we can be silly together.
Mariah Carey writes or cowrites all of her material, and I think she produces a lot of it too.
Fair enough. I wasn’t really talking about Carey specifically. Just the idea that professional singers are not musicians.
This is a profoundly inane take.
I already said okay to the guy who brought this up the first time. I’m clearly not arguing the point. I don’t know what the fuck else you want to hear, but thanks for not breaking Internet Law No. 17 that says you can’t let someone say something on the internet you disagree with without noting your objection even when a dozen other people have already said the same thing. A prize is headed your way.
Maybe consider not sharing fooling takes online if you are sensitive to people pointing out that your takes are foolish?It’s not everyone else’s responsibility to calculate whether there is a sufficient quorum to render their opinions moot. Either just don’t or deal with the results.
I didn’t say it was your responsibility. I congratulated you on making your feelings known. I also didn’t say I was sensitive. If I was sensitive to it I would have responded to all of them. I responded to you to make sure you felt heard, since you really thought your commentary was important here, and definitely not something a bunch of other people already said, and that it would mean so much more coming from you, which I assure you it ABSOLUTELY does. Thanks again. Keep an eye on your mailbox for that prize.Also, I encourage you to take your own advice. “Either just don’t or deal with the results” when you give redundant commentary and someone calls it redundant.
I get that you’re embarrassed for saying something this dumb all chest out, but I didn’t make you do that.
I’m sorry someone calling your redundant commentary redundant offended you. 🙁 And I’m sorry that you are apparently just looking for a fight because no one else will talk to you in real life. 🙁 But not sorry enough to continue indulging you. You have a good day now, or at least the best you can manage with a personality like that.
Sleep in the bed you made. No one else bears blame.
lol and what does that look like?
Genuinely surprised at the U2 pick. I was bracing for POP, or maybe Songs of Experience. Look, they deserved all the shit in the world for the Songs of Innocence rollout, but the big tragedy of that whole incident is that it overshadows a pretty great album. Every Breaking Wave, Song For Someone, Iris, Volcano, Raised by Wolves, The Troubles. And I’d say that absolutely landed where they wanted to: an album looking back on their beginnings filled with music that sounds like outtakes from their War and Unforgettable Fire era. It’s an album with a clear throughline, their most consistent in decades at that point, with deep cuts and moments to breathe, unlike their works around it where it sounds like they want every song to be a #1 hit. It’s probably never going to get the re-evaluation it deserves and it’s their own doing why. If you’re going to criticize them for desperately stabbing for relevance, then go with Songs of Experience, which they pulled, re-recorded, and re-re-re-recorded and finally released a good three years later than they were supposed to. Or No Line on the Horizon which has some of the worst songs of their catalogue.
Just the title The Miracle of Joey Ramone sounded like a grab for authenticity that U2 really didn’t need.
The opening lyrics to that song are so lame it kind of kills the rest of it for me.
While I wouldn’t call Innocence a “great” U2 Album I do think it is pretty solid. Especially for a band that far into their career. I think Pop is the better fit for this list. I think it is droning, bad, overlong, and a complete misfire. Although Experience is pretty bad too. No Line on the Horizon is just dull, but not a complete misfire.
Pop is a weird one in that it is, I would argue, one third an excellent album, and the rest of it is not great. Sadly, the four or five great songs on it were all unfinished at the time of the album having to be sent off (Discotheque, Staring at the Sun, Last Night on Earth, Gone and God Will Send his Angels).The re-recordings for the singles releases, plus the live versions show how good those parts it were.
DON’T agree – NLOTH was a FAR more fully-realized effort, than ANYthing since Achtung! Baby…..
I think I might be one of the only weirdos out there who likes POP. I don’t even know that I think it’s “good”, but it’s odd and different.
I am not alone.
I agree. Songs of Innocence is a genuinely good album and one which is worth re-listening to. There are so many great tracks, including all-timer U2 track Every Breaking Wave.No Line on the Horizon is absolutely their worst album. It’s flat, the band sounds bored as fuck, it’s got their worst selection of songs and not a single memorable one on there.Even U2 agree given they stopped playing any of its tracks live halfway through the tour to promote the fucking thing.It was one of only two U2 albums not to have a single track re-recorded for the most recent record (the other being the generally excellent October).
Pop is an underrated album. Not all of it works, but it is trying something new and when it does work it is great. When it doesn’t it falls flat. Songs of Innocence is similar. It has some really really bad moments, but it had a couple of great songs (Raised by Wolves is a banger) and some truly interesting songs (especially in the latter half of the album), but are hampered by some REALLY bad. Forced saccharine and crap.
But as someone else said, at least they were trying something new. I can’t think of a single memorable moment from No Line on the Horizon, which sounded like someone asked an AI to make a U2 album.
Wow…did not expect to see “A” on here. I bought it on release, and even saw the tour for that album. I was fascinated by the hi-tech visuals they did for that performance as well…like they were leaving the Renaissance period and headed to Outer Space. The show was amazing. But, I never was totally into Tull, just liked a few tunes. I rather enjoyed “A” though.
A and Under Wraps are the only Tull records I do not own.I suppose that’s how it goes sometimes — the two Pain of Salvation albums I enjoy the most are Road Salt One and Road Salt Two (which are, stylistically, the biggest departure from their signature sound).
Under Wraps is far, far worse than A
…..just COULD not DISagree MORE – though Under Wraps is VERY different from MOST Tull textures, concept’s effect works to PERFECTION…..
The tour was dire as well. In SF they played the Cow Palace and they closed the “bleachers” and put everyone on the floor IIRC. Maybe 1/3 capacity, maybe.
i’m a big tull/anderson fan & i love “A” & “under wraps.” it’s not their usual but that’s perfectly fine. different isn’t always bad.
Hard to believe the guy who fucking wrote ‘The Final Cut’ now says Ukraine antagonized Russia.
Wonder if he thinks Britain goaded Germany into WWII.
‘The Final Cut 2: Edward VIII Was Right’
….that’s actually ACCURATE (see:’Focus Group’ – to name but ONE such entity) – although in NO way PRAISING the Third Reich (which was CREATED by British-Dutch elites…..)
He does specifically blame the Allied leadership for the death of his father rather than the Nazis who actually did it.
I expect that’s a pretty common reaction to anyone who’s lost a family member in combat – that the leadership only sees numbers, not people.
He didn’t, stay in school.
I don’t know that much about Roger Waters, but like, maybe he also thinks fighting WW2 was a mistake and that the Allies should have just tried appeasing harder, and then his dad might not have died.
I’ll also say I really like the title track of American Dream. It was on the juke box in our college bar in my student days. But an American student who’d come over to study there refused to believe it was a CSNY song.
My brother’s prog heavy record collection thankfully did not include Love Beach. That cover photo is what I imagine Spinal Tap would look like as yacht rockers. And that song is really, really bad.
Funny aside about Stevie Nicks during the recording of Other Side of the Mirror. I recently read Nothing but a Good Time, a breezy oral history of 80s hair metal, and one band (can’t remember which, which is kind of the genre’s problem) was trying to find studio time. The studio they wanted was blocked by Nicks, who had reserved it for an entire month but was constantly so fucked up she had yet to show. It agreed to let this band record for a week with the understanding that if she did they’d have to bug out. She didn’t.
I’m not sure how an album that contains one of the great rock power ballads of all time, “Rooms on Fire”, can be considered a terrible album—-are the rest of the tracks THAT bad?
Honestly, I’ve always found it pretty listenable. I’ll take it over Street Angel any day.
Maybe Love and Kick It have some really stupid lyrics, but they’re catchy as hell.
If you think “Rooms on fire” is “one of the greatest rock power ballards of all time” You have problems.
it was Poison recording Look What the Cat Dragged In.
(i also just finished reading that book, lol)
I can’t say I learned a whole lot of new information about the era, except that a LOT of those guys were every bit as dim and unoriginal as they came across. Loved the section where one act described most of the scene as trying to one-up what someone else had already done. Big hair? Go bigger! Pyrotechnics? More fire! Fast guitar player? Find someone faster! Didn’t matter if there was any musicality to it, could he shred?? Definitely a fun read all around though. The fact that so many of those acts are now making good money playing old hits on tours and cruises for middle-aged people who now have money is honestly pretty great, considering the whole genre imploded around them within about 18 months.
Ehhhh. Motley Crue’s first album came out in 1982 and the scene didn’t implode until 1991. So longer than 18 months. The average quality and level of authenticity definitely went down over that period, especially after 1985. Even at the end, there were unquestionably talented bands like Skid Row making music, but would suffer due to the mountain of imitators and posers.
To clarify, I meant how long it took hair metal to go from everywhere (even if getting long in the tooth) to deader than Julius Caesar. I.e. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and AIC quickly laying bare how ridiculous and phony the whole thing was.
i enjoyed reading about the actual music parts of it, like who auditioned for which bands, etc. and little tidbits like the stevie nicks one you mentioned.although, poison’s album was released in ‘86, and stevie’s album didn’t come out untill ‘89. she must have been real drugged out; glad she’s still around.
Great bool. Live through that era and loved that music (along with NWOBHM, Thrash, Power, etc.)
i’ve been enjoying these oral history-style books about music scenes. i read ‘everyone loves our town’ about the seattle bands, and i’m now finishing ‘louder than hell,’ which is a broader take on metal.
I read Louder than Hell a few years ago. I liked it. Music-wise, I have also read I Want My MTV, Please Kill Me, and England’s Dreaming (the latter is more hybrid, but has lots of people in their own words)
When CC Deville is more responsible than you it is time to get some help.
“After Let’s Dance, the album that made him a superstar”Yes, nobody had heard of David Bowie prior to that. Glad he finally had that big breakthrough… *checks notes*… 11 years after Ziggy Stardust.
I also enjoyed this list when Rolling Stone did it back in February.https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/horrible-albums-by-brilliant-artists-1234672895/
Yeah but nobody else saw it.
There’s are several missing from this list:Witness – Katy PerryCrown Royal – Run DMCZingalamaduni – Arrested DevelopmentLost and Found – Will SmithMission Earth – Edgar Winter & L. Ron Hubbard (not a joke)Be Here Now – OasisVan Halen III – Van HalenTime – Fleetwood MacPassage – The Carpenters Paula – Robin ThickeKilroy Was Here – StyxCrash – The Human LeagueTwo the Hard Way – Cher and Gregg AllmanThe Funky Headhunter – MC HammerFairweather Johnson – Hootie & The BlowfishMTV Unplugged 2.0 – Lauryn HillFunstyle – Liz PhairTurn It Upside Down – Spin DoctorsMan of the Woods – Justin Timberlake
Woah – that list suggests there’s a good Spin Doctors album.
I was thinking the same thing, only switch out Spin Doctors for Katy Perry.
Pocket is a good album. It’s not a great album and there’s nothing like, timeless about it or anything. But it has a bunch of good songs supporting a couple bona fide hits, solid production, and excellent musicianship.
Did you also watch Todd in the Shadows Trainwreckords? Because he basically covered all those and yes they are bad bad.
I have. The only one that Todd hasn’t covered (yet) is Man of the Woods. I hope he covers that one soon. I also should’ve thrown in Christina Aguilera’s Bionic, Michael Jackson’s Invincible, and Guns N Roses’ Chinese Democracy.
My issue with a list like this is that, if you are a fan, you will likely find redeeming qualities of any “terrible” album.My case in point would be McCartney’s Give My Regards to Broad Street. The movie, which I actually saw when it was released, was a trifle. It was nice to see the gang all together. It was rather like a film of music video with a thin narrative. But it did have Tracy Ullman in it!Now, the album was different. I actually prefer the versions of McCartney’s then-recent work on this album versus the early 1980s albums he released. Of course, No More Lonely Nights and David Gilmour saved this album.I’d characterize this album as “weak” rather than terrible. But this was not the McCartney album I was expecting to be listed.
Press to play is Macca’s real stinker, I tried to listen to it recently and couldn’t make it more than halfway through.
So Michael (2010) wasn’t on my radar when it first came out.
I went and checked out the tracks in question on YouTube.
Just…wow. From the first line, I could tell it wasn’t Michael.
I dunno how they expected to get away with that.
“after finally achieving superstardom with Let’s Dance”I’m fairly certain every single person on the planet knew who David Bowie was long before ‘Let’s Dance.’
“Let’s Dance” brought him a level of commercial success he hadn’t had before though
Yes – but he was being outsold by the likes of the Steve Miller Band. I agree “Superstardom” is probably not the right phrase though.
There’s a difference between fame and selling records. Let’s Dance was a deliberate decision to make a commercial album.
I was on the planet then and didn’t know him before “Let’s Dance”, but I was a pre-teen who was forced to listen to AM radio at the time.
I’m sorry, but KISS was never a good band.
i beg to differ
KISS is the musical browser history that I want no one to ever see. To my 10 year-old ears and musical ‘tastes’ they were awesome. They were the first concert I went to without adult supervision (Btw, Cheap Trick was the opening band and despite not knowing who the the eff they were by name, we were shocked at how much we liked them). My buddy and I were absolutely blown away by their stage show and theatrics. It was amazing, for the time. But ‘good’? Yeah, they were good at what they did, if you get my meaning. They were damn successful and sort of a perfect encapsulation of the flash without substance of that era. I also ate cold Spaghetti-Os straight from the can without blinking back then. And apologies to anyone who still has a soft nostalgic spot for cold Spaghetti-Os or KISS (you do you), but they are both something that makes me feel like dry heaving now. KISS IS that can of cold, processed shit that I happily shoveled into my pre-teen gaping maw without blinking. But just like a lot of 10 year-olds, I did a LOT of stupid shit back that I still question to this day…
Fair enough. They were good at what they did (market garage band music with makeup and flashpots) but they were never “brilliant musicians.”
I 100% agree! And yes, by ‘good at what they did’, they were effective at making a shit ton of money, but like you said, they had some damn good marketing behind them. They certainly hooked in my dumb, pre-teen butt. I also remember seeing a lot of Spaghetti-O commercials back then. I bought into that marketing, too. KISS are ‘brilliant musicians’ as much as Spaghetti-Os were ‘high-end Italian cuisine’. And just like those cold cans of that slop, it didn’t take long to become deeply revolted by the thought of consuming either. Both still make my stomach churn to this day.
They had a lot of great songs.
It’s always annoyed me that every music writer who grew up in the ‘70s raves about KISS. Total nostalgia goggles. Their stage show may be fun, but the music is uniformly insipid and uninspired.
“[A]fter finally acheiving super stardom with Let’s Dance…” I don’t know where you were from the late 60’s to the mid 80’s but Bowie was a superstar waaaaaaaaaaaay before Let’s Dance. Respect the dead.
Mighty Like a Rose is far from Costello’s worst album. It’s not his finest work, but there isn’t a genuinely bad song on the album (with the possible exception of “Playboy to a Man”) and some of them are up there with his best (“Georgie and Her Rival”, “Couldn’t Call It Unexpected No. 4″)
Pink Floyd’s “The Final Cut” was supposed to be, according to those who were stoned at the time, the sequel to “The Wall.” It’s a meandering album with some amazing songs on it. “When the Tigers Broke Free” would bring a tear to the eye to anyone paying attention, and “Your Possible Pasts” is one of those earworms I have to listen to on repeat for an hour.
Madonna isn’t a good musician and can’t sing for shit.
And yet somehow she was able to produce some great songs. Go figure?
Agreed on St. Anger. Though there are a couple of good tracks (“Sweet Amber” is great), the other ones are so bad in both construction and lyrics that it ends up being a painful listen all the way through.
Me and my friends are huge Pink Floyd Fans. We adore ‘The Final Cut.’
You’ve got Love Beach, A, Calling All Stations — all classic prog rock stinkers (that I’m thrilled to see discussed anyway). But what, no Tales From Topographic Oceans by Yes? Not even Tormato? XD XD XDI suppose big chunks of Topographic Oceans have recently been reassessed in any case — I was lucky enough to watch Yes (the Steve Howe iteration) play the first and last of its four tracks in their entirety (following a full play-through of the Drama album, the first two tracks of which I had to watch from behind the stage because I was stuck waiting for a quesadilla…)
If you’re going to do Yes, Big Generator is worse (IMO) than any of those.
I 100% agree, and this is coming from someone who STILL hasn’t gotten thru Tales in a sitting, and I bought it new. All those 80s records are trash.
The best Yes and ELP album of the 80s was done by Asia.
I’m one of those people that can, and has, listened to “Tales” straight through-Not stoned. It’s just behind the 1st side of Close to the Edge, ‘cause I can’t stand Siberian Khatru. For me, Yes begins with The Yes Album and ends with Tales from Topographic Oceans.
Hmm, kind of like how I think Godbluff by Van der Graaf Generator is a fantastic album, but the last track just completely puts me off.
I love Relayer and tolerate Drama and Going For The One. I’m done after that tho.
I can’t stand Siberian KhatruMan, I love that song.
Yeah, almost with you there. I got Tales on vinyl, but a few years after it was released, and was immediately bored by it. Over the next 10 – 20 years I did my best, but it just seemed utterly pretentious (even by their standards) flat and dull. It was only when, for various reasons, I was taking long coach rides and had time to listen to it repeatedly in its entirety that I got a chance to reappraise and come to think that…well, it’s bad, just not as bad as I’d thought (“This is why punk happened!”). There are some lovely moments, it just gets lost. I’d rate Tormato as worse, Big Generator and…well, to be honest I just lost track after Drama, and even that’s not as bad as I remember.
Oh, and Motley Crue have not, nor ever been close to “brilliant” musicians in any sense of those words, so they shouldn’t be on this list.
Never seen/heard it before, but I really like that Meatloaf song.I mean, what’s not to like about it? He sounds like Meatloaf.
BTW, Happy 76th birthday Meatloaf, wherever you are.
He’s dead…
Hence the “wherever you are”.
Sorry if this has already been brought up, but a lot of these albums were covered by Todd in the Shadows. If you haven’t checked out his stuff, it’s very entertaining.
I was thinking that when I saw Ringo the 4th here ..Todd in the shadows videos are really really good.
That is one hell of an album cover. What was going through the designer’s mind?
Cocaine.
Came here to say the same 🙂
I was starting to wonder if they just created the list from his TrainWreckords playlist
Witness very much belongs on the list here as it does with Todd.
One Hot Minute is the only RHCP album that isn’t just a retread of Blood Sugar Sex Magick
If you dare, check out the “Future” art of Frank Sinatra’s Trilogy. You’ll learn some interesting facts about Uranus.
Sinatra… Sinatra… SINATRA….!!!!
I have a place in my heard for Music From The Elder, it’s not at all what anyone wanted from a KISS record and it’s dorky as hell but that’s kind of what makes it fun. “Odyssey” is the best example, it’s incredibly goofy but damn if that melody doesn’t get to me. I can’t help but imagine the movie it would have scored (the sort of thing that would flop in theaters but find a second life on home video.)
Kanye West, Ye (2018)There is not alot of modern music on this list…but nah sorry, I don’t like modern Kanye at all, but this album is better than anything he released post 2011 and the only one I purchased a physical copy of. ‘I Thought About Killing You’ is one of the most honest songs that man has ever written and its beautiful.
I disagree with basically everything you said here on like a complete polar opposite level but Ye is in fact not his worst album because Donda 2 exists. I used to be a massive Kanye fan–like, saw Jesus Is King in IMAX level of fan–and I couldn’t be bothered to listen to D2 more than once. Once was waaaay more than enough. I was already in the process of purging himself from my life and D2 was the proverbial back-breaking straw–that and the Nazi apologia, of course.
Also the Unfinished Music 1/2 and the Wedding Album John Lennon and Yoko Ono put out all deserve to be on the listhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfinished_Music_No._1:_Two_Virginshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfinished_Music_No._2:_Life_with_the_Lions
Just to drive home the point that self-titled albums are usually the worst see: Beyonce:Beyonce
I think it all depends on where the self-titled album appears in the artist’s catalogue. If it is the first album (Van Halen, The Cars, Led Zeppelin, etc.) more than likely if we’ve heard of it it’s because it was good. It’s when you get into the Beyonce situation, where the self-titled album comes later that you run into trouble.
Let this day be marked in history, for it is the first (and last) time that anyone has referred to Motley Crue as “Brilliant Musicians”
See also KISS.
As a Stevie Nicks fan, The Other Side of the Mirror has always been a sore subject. Its only saving grace is that at least it’s not Street Angel. But over the years I’ve come to appreciate it more. It’s not among her best, but it’s not exactly bad, either.
Hard disagree on Glitter. Loverboy, Didn’t Mean to Turn You On, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life? All so fun. Lead the Way and Never Too Far? Great ballads. If We, Twister… not great, but perfectly fine. It’s a solid album. It just got trashed along with the movie and because it was different than what we expected from Mariah. I’m so glad people look back on it positively now, and was surprised to see it here. Loved the #JusticeforGlitter campaign that happened a few years ago and got the album to chart. Could tell how surprised and grateful Mariah was to have people appreciating it now.
American Life is nowhere near as bad as its reputation and it’s actually probably in my upper tier of her albums
This is basically the AV Clubs version of Todd in the Shadows Trainwreckords series, it even includes some of the same picks like American Life, Saint Anger and Mardi Gras.https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLznZMqdhi_RVHtZYrMeoi3Fjg9VNhPAX&si=hYaQ1tmviJ8uRMeV
Well, at least we don’t have to watch a video.
I’m not going to click on the link, but I’m gonna guess:* It’s eight minutes worth of content * In a 34-minute long video* Made by an autistic guy cosplaying as someone with ADHD
Gotta disagree with One Hot Minute by the Peppers. There are some bangers on that album: Aeroplane, My Friends, Falling Into Grace, Wallabout, One Big Mob…It’s not my favorite album but there are some really great songs.
I have to believe there were worse albums after Hot Streets
???? Bowie’s Never Let Me Down is *much, much* worse than Tonight
Dead Ringer has some good songs including Dead Ringer For Love – one of a couple Steinman tracks on that album. He had worse albums after that until his reunion with Steinman
Wow.What a shitty list by someone without a clue.Fuck you.
I’m so, so glad Liberty is on this list. I didn’t expect it to be, but it deserves it mightily. It was the first album that came to mind when I saw the topic. Never before had I sat through an entire Duran Duran record without liking any part of it. It deserves to be referenced in the dictionary under the definition of “trite.”
I wish AV Club would make one of these compendiums of “Albums since 2010 That Are Actually Good”.
Granted, St Anger isn’t a great album; while IMO it’s listenable, it doesn’t have a memorable song on the whole album. The REAL stinker here is Lulu, a weird collab between Metallica and Lou Reed. Lou Reed’s a classic; Metallica is classic. Put together, it’s horrifying.
Night in the Ruts and Mighty Like a Rose do not belong on this list.
Songs of Innocence was such an utter piece of trash. I was a long-time U2 superfan, but that album completely killed them for me. For an album written about their youth and their influences, it sounds like someone who read half of Bono’s autobiography in between naps on a flight, and wrote what they took away from it. The one song where he talks about a bombing he narrowly missed being caught in is so impersonal and so poorly written that it makes one wonder if it was penned by the same guy who wrote The Joshua Tree. Hot take, I know, but No Line On The Horizon is one of my favorite U2 albums, and he managed to write compelling narratives about characters he made up, and a scant few years later comes off like a guy who once heard that there was some nonsense happening Ireland in the 70s or something.
Add to that the entire album sounds like a new band thinking they’re young and original by poorly ripping off groups who poorly ripped off U2.
Think about U2 for a minute: if you ever hear them on the radio or the in-store music at the grocery store, which albums are they from? Certainly not this dreck, which got infinitely more airplay as a goddamn iPod commercial than it ever did on radio.
The follow-up, Songs of Experience, at least had one halfway decent (if similarly forgettable) tracks in Red Flag Day. Other than that, it was the same crap as the Songs of Innocence.
It’s weird, but it can be easier to write compelling narratives for made-up characters. When it’s your own life experience, sometimes it’s difficult to discern a telling detail from trivia.
While this is generally true, we are talking about a lyricist who used his own experience to write more than a DOZEN powerful albums. Songs like Running To Stand Still and Bad and Sunday Blood Sunday and I Will Follow and Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own and Kite and (list continues for a while) are all mined from Bono’s lived experience with The Troubles and Ireland’s heroin epidemic and his relationship with his father and his faith and his love for his wife. It was pretty much a signature of U2 songs that they were all generally about at least one of those things. And then they shat out this turd.
Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually came out that the four of them didn’t even record that album, but it was created in a lab or something.
Man, I haven’t seen that “robot Lou Reed tears his face off” video in years.And I know nobody likes Yoko or Sometime in New York City, but I’ve always thought that “We’re All Water” was a total banger, and “Sisters O Sisters” is the most danceable feminist anthem ever.
GUYS, that Meatloaf song is awesome. “Rock n’ Roll and Brew” COME ON I had to look it up to make sure I was hearing right.
Speaking of Elvis Costello: I’ve recently been working my way through his catalogue for pretty much the first time in years (my older brother used to thrash his stuff constantly in his late teens but kind of fell away), and everything I heard about King of America was that it was one of his best, a glorious comeback after the dated, over-produced, tonally confused mess of Goodbye Cruel World. But when I listened to it, I was practically falling asleep throughout most of it. So fucking boring. Granted, I was operating on about three hours sleep the previous night, which may not have helped, but if ever there was an album that failed to grab my attention…Goodbye Cruel World, on the other hand? Loved it. So much fun.I dunno. Maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Maybe I just love ‘80s pop no matter how dated it sounds. Maybe I just prefer Elvis when he has the Attractions backing him up. Maybe I just have awful taste and should go fuck myself. You be the judge.(As for Mighty Like A Rose, even though I listened to it a couple of weeks ago I can’t seem to remember much about it, to be honest, which is probably pretty telling. Though any album which has “So Like Candy” on it can’t be all bad.)
100% agree – Goodbye Cruel World is great fun, and King of America is a bit of a slog.
It’s a weird thing to make a listicle about. An album with any good songs that aren’t singles is the exception, not the rule. Even the top artists usually put out a record with one or two hits and a lot of filler, this is just normal. Those exceptional, rare albums that I can listen to all the way through, I do treasure but let’s not have any illusions that this is commonplace.
I quite like The Final Cut. I know there were three more albums after that, but it always felt like a very personal coda to something grand. Also: I would listen to third-tier Bowie over most modern music any day of the week.
Yeah, The Final Cut is a lovely album. It only sounds underwhelming to some because it followed probably the best back-to-back album run in rock history.But by no stretch of the imagination is it a terrible album.
Agreed – The Final Cut is excellent.
it’s very clearly a Roger Waters album – Hipgnosis wasn’t used for the
cover art, that’s a Waters original, Nick Mason barely played, Gilmour
was having none of Waters and only did the bare minimum, Richard Wright
was pressured out of the band by waters, and the end result was
something labeled “The Final Cut by Roger Waters, music performed by
Pink Floyd,” on the packaging.
Pink Floyd’s “The Final Cut” may ostensibly be a Waters solo album but it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, “terrible.”Instead, it’s a pretty great, if stripped down, coda to The Wall. In a word, it’s underappreciated.
This is really pretty dumb, but that’s hardly a first. There’s not a single “brilliant musician” (obviously broadly defined, given this list) who hasn’t released a terrible album, unless they died after four albums. I guess MAYBE the Beatles pulled it off, but even they had some early releases that were mainly comprised of filler. And even those aren’t by any means “terrible.”
I can think of plenty of bands who never released a truly “terrible” album: Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Depeche Mode, New Order, The Smiths, etc.Are there some albums that are just “okay” or “disappointing” in their oeuvre? Sure. But “terrible”? Nah.
I was with you all the way until Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut. Despite the rancour behind the scenes, I think this is a fine, passionate album with great tunes (Your Possible Past, The Gunner’s Dream and Not Now John to name just three) and a real anger behind it. While most proggers were happy to live in prog-land, while many of them were disintergrating or finding poppier directions, Waters took Floyd right to the battlefield of current events and sang out against Thatcher, the selling off of the UK economy and the senseless, jingoistic Falklands War. I’ve always bloody loved this album, but IMHO Floyd without Waters lacked passion and Waters without Floyd lacked decent tunes.
Would be much more interested in a list of great albums by terrible musicians.
Chris Cornell did an album with fucking Timbaland? Jeeeeeesus.
I love him, but half of Elton John’s discography could qualify for this list.
IMO, Madonna’s “American Life” is a great album — possibly her best.Why is Michael Jackson on the list when he had no involvement in that album?Mariah Carey’s “Glitter” is only considered terrible because it is the soundtrack to a terrible movie (that I love to hate)? I think this list was written by AI.
Look, Bowie’s Tonight isn’t his best, BUT there’s some good stuff on there.
The inclusion of The Final Cut on this list is mind boggling. Yes, it is effectively a Roger Waters solo album. But it is fantastic. Don’t judge it by the standards of a Pink Floyd album. Judge it for its own unique vision.
A bit heavy handed on the Metallica. I think it’s a far better album than either load or Reload (which would have benefitted from being one album and some pruning).
This just reads like Todd in The Shadows’ “Potential Candidates for Trainwreckords Videos” list. Heck, a handful of them are ones he’s already done!
“a time when Fleetwood Mac was imploding and her personal life was spiraling out of control.”You’ll have to be more specific.
It is the year of our Lord, 2023. Maybe We can admit now St. Anger is a pretty good album. Different than expected but still pretty good. It just got a bad rep being the first album in the post-Newsted era and coming out after all the drama.
I think the more interesting article is which usually shitty artists accidentally dropped some real bangers.
Two points: 1. The Final Cut is faaaar from a terrible album. It’s not even that far of a departure from The Wall before it, and terrible albums don’t often go platinum.2. it’s very clearly a Roger Waters album – Hipgnosis wasn’t used for the cover art, that’s a Waters original, Nick Mason barely played, Gilmour was having none of Waters and only did the bare minimum, Richard Wright was pressured out of the band by waters, and the end result was something labeled “The Final Cut by Roger Waters, music performed by Pink Floyd,” on the packaging
real talk: i thought that jewel ‘intuition’ song was recorded exclusively to sell women’s razors. had no idea she cut a whole album of that crap LOL
One Hot Minute is the Chili Peppers best record.
Aerosmith Night in the ruts? Awesome album, by the way, the title is really “Right in the Nuts”
I should have expected Cyberpunk to be on this list. I am in the minority that actually likes that album. From my point of view, the slightly disorganized, uneven feel of the disc just evokes the dystopia of the Cyberpunk genre. I also play it as a whole album, so maybe the whole is more than the sum o f its parts (at least for me.)
Yes, glitter