Worst Albums by Great Bands

[dlbpharmd]

Call me protective of my U2. In all honesty, I think they lost it after "War", though there were a couple of bright spots on "The Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree".

I never understood the appeal of U2.

[Relayer]

Call me protective of my U2. In all honesty, I think they lost it after "War", though there were a couple of bright spots on "The Unforgettable Fire" and "The Joshua Tree".

Its funny I never thought I'd hear someone else have the same opinion of U2. I've always thought that the band seemed to evolve from something I loved to something I could do without after UF. I did like some of the tracks from JT but the band moved away from what I liked about them in the first place. Oh well. Nothing ever stays the same.

I loved them from the first time I heard Boy. After War they evolved (Brian Eno was no small contributor to that), but I love that style too. It wasn't till the euro phase that I tuned out. The 2 newest albums have some great stuff - but there are also some songs that are just boring to me.

[Cail]

It was one of those prescient moments for me. The first time I heard U2 (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when), I knew they were gonna be huge.

But then Bono Vox lost his last name and they stopped being cool.

[Relayer]

It was one of those prescient moments for me. The first time I heard U2 (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when), I knew they were gonna be huge.

No way! The exact same thing happened to me. The music was incredible and I remember thinking "the guitarist is called The Edge - how cool is that!"

Maybe there are some concerts we can go to

[dlbpharmd]

Spinner.com published their list of biggest album flops (not necessarily "Great Band" flops):

1. Self Portrait, Bob Dylan, 1970
2. Garth Brooks in the life of Chris Gaines, Garth Brooks, 1999
3. Glitter, Mariah Carey, 2001
4. Paris, Paris Hilton, 2007
5. Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, Prince, 1999
6. HIStory, Michael Jackson, 1995
7. Return of dragon, Sisqo, 2001
8. Mind Blowin', Vanilla Ice, 1994
9. The ego has landed, Robbie Williams, 1999
10. Human Touch'/ 'Lucky Town, Bruce Springsteen, 1992
11. Forever, Puff Daddy, 1999
12. Fairweather Johnson, Hootie and the Blowfish, 1996
13. Paul's Boutique, Beastie Boys, 1989
14. ... But the Little Girls Understand, The Knack, 1980
15. Schizophrenic, JC Chasez, 2004
16. I'm in you, Peter Frampton, 1977
17. Altered Beast, Matthew Sweet, 1993
18. Journey through the secret life of plants, Stevie Wonder, 1978
19. Playing with fire, Kevin Federline, 2006
20. Dead Ringer, Meat Loaf, 1981
21. Crown Royal, Run DMC, 2001
22. Warning, Green Day, 2000
23. Forever, Spice Girls, 2000
24. Powerballin', Chingy, 2004
25. Pop, U2, 1997

[Farm Ur-Ted]

The Replacements: Don't Tell a Soul. I try to like this album, but it pretty much blows. Some good songs, but a lot of really weak ones

Pavement: Terror Twilight. Good gawd, that album was terrible. Love the first four albums by the band, but TT was so bad I had to sell it.

[dANdeLION]

It was one of those prescient moments for me. The first time I heard U2 (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when), I knew they were gonna be huge.

No way! The exact same thing happened to me. The music was incredible and I remember thinking "the guitarist is called The Edge - how cool is that!"

Yeah, I remember flipping out when I heard "Out Of Control" for the first time, and telling all my friends that band was going to be huge. Of course, I never thought they'd be THAT huge....

[Relayer]

I think for me it was "Electric Co." And then "Red Light."

The next time all 3 of us have this reaction to a band, we should invest in them

[Cail]

Man, you're not kidding!

[Farm Ur-Ted]

Spinner.com published their list of biggest album flops (not necessarily "Great Band" flops):

12. Fairweather Johnson, Hootie and the Blowfish, 1996
13. Paul's Boutique, Beastie Boys, 1989

I'm glad you qualified that; Hootie and the Blowfish are satan-spawned if you ask me.

I'm kind of surprise Paul's Boutique is on the list. I'm not much of a BB fan, but I thought that PB was supposed to be their best album. If I were ever going to get one of their album's, that's the one I'd pick.

[Cail]

Paul's Boutique is the best BB album but it didn't sell well in comparison to License to Ill.

[Nav]

Last Exit by Blondie. The sort of record that devours all that which went before it and spits the desecrated remains into the bargain bin.

[Mortice Root]

The first one that comes to mind for me is Rush's Test For Echo. I'm a big time Rush fan, and very rarely have been disappointed with them. But this disc....Words like "uninspired", "lackluster", and "anemic" are about as kind as I can be to this disc. Sure, there are two great songs (Driven and Time And Motion) and one good one (Resist). Unfortunately there are eight other tracks..... and most of them are boooorrrrriiing! Even the intrumental (where Rush usually excels) has no punch, no drive, nothing. And the title track - ugh - just awful. I was incredibly disappointed with this one when it came out. And to make matters worse, there was a period where it seemed very likely that this would be the band's last studio disc. Thankfully it wasn't, and they recovered nicely, but Test For Echo is by far, the disc of their's that I listen to the least.

[Lord Mhoram]

Iggy Pop's Blah Blah Blah; anything by Weezer after Pinkerton.

[Cagliostro]

Dead Milkmen - Soul Rotation
They had had some blah albums before that, but several of the songs grew on me and I came to like. I never took to that album. Then again, they let Joe Jack Talcum take lead through most of the album, and Rodney do a song or two. I always loved the Joe songs on the other albums, but these were all uninspired, and the one or two Rodney songs were the best on the album.

Pogues - Waiting for Herb
The first album without Shane MacGowan. Aside from one kickass Andrew Rankin song ("My Baby's Gone"), the rest of the album was quite a letdown. Then again, I think they made a big mistake with sticking Spider Stacey as frontman. Never liked his voice. He sounded too much like Dee Dee Ramone, and all of the other songs were very lackluster, which is a damn shame as some of my favorite Pogues songs are not written by Shane MacGowan. It just felt like they had cold feet. At least until I bought the album after it, and it all sucked.

I have quite a few of these actually, but mostly it is bands succumbing to the law of twos. So many bands I could name have two especially fantastic albums, all solid goodness always released back to back, and a few good songs sprinkled among the rest. But I really hate it when I get so excited about a new band, and then find out they only have two good albums.

[aTOMiC]

The first one that comes to mind for me is Rush's Test For Echo. I'm a big time Rush fan, and very rarely have been disappointed with them. But this disc....Words like "uninspired", "lackluster", and "anemic" are about as kind as I can be to this disc. Sure, there are two great songs (Driven and Time And Motion) and one good one (Resist). Unfortunately there are eight other tracks..... and most of them are boooorrrrriiing! Even the intrumental (where Rush usually excels) has no punch, no drive, nothing. And the title track - ugh - just awful. I was incredibly disappointed with this one when it came out. And to make matters worse, there was a period where it seemed very likely that this would be the band's last studio disc. Thankfully it wasn't, and they recovered nicely, but Test For Echo is by far, the disc of their's that I listen to the least.

Substitute "Grace Under Pressure" for "Test for Echo" and you might make some sense. To each his own.

[Mortice Root]

aTOMiC wrote

Substitute "Grace Under Pressure" for "Test for Echo" and you might make some sense. To each his own.

Huh? "Grace" rocks!! But yeah, it's always interesting to catch different opinions on this stuff.... It'd be pretty boring if everyone agreed all the time.

[Usivius]

"Islands" by King Crimson. Only one good track on that puppy.

"Big Generator" by Yes. What a stinker that was. Rabin showed he was a one-trick pony in his Yes-stint.

[dANdeLION]

My least favorite Rush cd is Feedback, because the best thing about Rush is their originality, and there's nothing original on Feedback. I hate ZZ Top's Eliminator and everything after it, because they sold out. I dislike Door To Door by the Cars; and Heartbeat City wasn't much better. Cheap Trick went downhill fast after Tom Petersson left; One On One, Next Position Please, Standing On The Edge, and The Doctor are all albums I like to pretend never existed. I used to love Aerosmith, but the love turned to hate beginning with Rock In A Hard Place. I loved the 1st Boston album, liked the 2nd one, tolerated the 3rd one, and won't listen to any other one. Styx's Mr. Roboto disgusts me. Journey lost me at Frontiers. Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA makes me sick to my stomache. I think that's enough for one day.....

[danlo]

Hard to pick a bad Neil Young album, but I'd say "Ragged Glory": didn't sit with me very well-had many of the same themes of his work, but lacked the enthusiasm. I agree with "Big Generator".