Bad Albums/Music From Otherwise Great Artists

[WillieMorgan]

It seems to happen to every musical artist at some point or another. That particular album or song that's distinctly below par or lacking in inspiration. Very few musicians seem immune to this.

I'll firstly nominate Queen's 1982 album 'Hot Space'.

This was the album where Queen, especially a couple of the members of the band, took their audience's willingness to follow the group's experimentation down the years and pushed it a little too far. Queen's music had developed like a metaphorical 'rubber band' up to this point. Queen fans were happy to see the group try out different genres of music as long as they retained an element of 'rock' at their core, hence the rubber band metaphor. On 'Hot Space', a largely synth and disco based exercise, that rubber band was stretched too far and snapped. You've got 'Under Pressure' on there but little else of note. This was Queen's lowest selling album by far at that point.

What other music is there out there by legendary artists that is sub-par for whatever reason? I know that I personally waffle on about Classic Rock and Metal artists but this thread is open to music of all genres.

[WillieMorgan]

Then there's these 'tests of endurance'....

'Load' and 'Reload' by Metallica.

These albums are SO tedious in the main. They were released in the late 1990's by a Metallica that had totally lost focus and seemed to be only interested in attracting the 'Lollapalooza crowd' of the time.

I'm all for artists trying out different ideas and musical paths as long as the music is still great. Many of my favourite artists have experimented with their sound down the years. These two snoozefests are different though. Both albums are close to an agonising hour and a half long of tired songs utterly lacking in any kind of musical 'fire'. Metallica had defined themselves as trailblazers up until this point, not bandwagon hoppers. Rubbish.

[Kirby101]

Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Love Beach. Just WTF were they thinking?

[WillieMorgan]

A final opening point here that I possibly should have made above is that music, like all forms of art, is completely subjective. If you're a fan of any of the albums listed here then more power to you. Perhaps you can explain why.

My final opening gambit is an extremely second rate album by one of my all-time favourites, Bruce Springsteen. Namely his 1992 album 'Human Touch'. This is a record bereft of both the E-Street Band and inspiration. I'm sure The Boss was suffering some kind of creative drought here as, the brilliant title track aside, this is 'bottom of the drawer' material by his standards. He'd conditioned his audience to expect FAR better than this.

[ed2962]

Cut The Crap by The Clash. The band had a major falling out with Mick Jones who was the main songwriter along with Joe Strummer ( with an occasional tune written by Paul Simonon ). He was replaced by a couple of new guys but the creative spark the band had was gone. "This Is England" is actually a really great song, but most of the rest of the album is bland and uninspired.

[ed2962]

Then there's these 'tests of endurance'....

'Load' and 'Reload' by Metallica.

These albums are SO tedious in the main. They were released in the late 1990's by a Metallica that had totally lost focus and seemed to be only interested in attracting the 'Lollapalooza crowd' of the time.

I'm all for artists trying out different ideas and musical paths as long as the music is still great. Many of my favourite artists have experimented with their sound down the years. These two snoozefests are different though. Both albums are close to an agonising hour and a half long of tired songs utterly lacking in any kind of musical 'fire'. Metallica had defined themselves as trailblazers up until this point, not bandwagon hoppers. Rubbish.

Controversial opinion: "Unforgiven II" is an improvement over "Unforgiven".

[Iron Maiden]

It seems to happen to every musical artist at some point or another. That particular album or song that's distinctly below par or lacking in inspiration. Very few musicians seem immune to this.

I'll firstly nominate Queen's 1982 album 'Hot Space'.

This was the album where Queen, especially a couple of the members of the band, took their audience's willingness to follow the group's experimentation down the years and pushed it a little too far. Queen's music had developed like a metaphorical 'rubber band' up to this point. Queen fans were happy to see the group try out different genres of music as long as they retained an element of 'rock' at their core, hence the rubber band metaphor. On 'Hot Space', a largely synth and disco based exercise, that rubber band was stretched too far and snapped. You've got 'Under Pressure' on there but little else of note. This was Queen's lowest selling album by far at that point.

What other music is there out there by legendary artists that is sub-par for whatever reason? I know that I personally waffle on about Classic Rock and Metal artists but this thread is open to music of all genres.

I would agree with this. Roger Taylor joked in an interview a few years later that he thought that they should give people who bought it a free album They added "Under Pressure" at the last minute, which is the only track people remember. The Disco/synth era really messed with a lot of artists who tried to adapt to it.

The follow up album The Works thankfully got them on track again.

[PaulBullion]

Made a lot of money for Stevie Wonder, but maaaaaan.

[WillieMorgan]

The Disco/synth era really messed with a lot of artists who tried to adapt to it.

That's very true in the main. Very few long standing artists managed to change gear with the times back then and do so convincingly. Rush managed it, as did a couple of others.

Other misguided attempts by great artists to adapt to synthesised technology:

Under Wraps - Jethro Tull
Trans - Neil Young
Landing On Water - Neil Young

At least one of those records could have been pretty decent if recorded in a more traditional manner.

[Jackalope89]

AC/DC is my absolute favorite band, and I love just about all of their songs. But even they put out an album I just can't get into; Stiff Upper Lip. Came out in 2000, went back to their more Blues/Jazz background, but none of the songs really stood out to me. Never gave me that "bang your head" feel nearly all of their other albums do.

[WillieMorgan]

AC/DC is my absolute favorite band, and I love just about all of their songs. But even they put out an album I just can't get into; Stiff Upper Lip. Came out in 2000, went back to their more Blues/Jazz background, but none of the songs really stood out to me. Never gave me that "bang your head" feel nearly all of their other albums do.

I have a friend with that same opinion. He's a huge AC/DC fan, of both the Bon Scott and Brian Johnson era but he can barely stand to listen to both Stiff Upper Lip or Ballbreaker. Something about both records just turns him off completely. I don't mind either but they are certainly no Highway To Hell.

Another classic rock loving friend of mine is a huge Yes fan but similarly can't abide their Tales From Topographic Oceans album from 1973. It's definitely an acquired taste but he loathes it with a passion that I can't quite fathom. For the record Yes' poorest album for me is Open Your Eyes. It's just very flat and obviously unfinished/underdeveloped.

[WillieMorgan]

How could I start a thread about musical atrocities and not include this?



Ding, ding! We have a winner.

[Iron Maiden]

I have to confess I like that one. At least it's not as bad as My Sharona

[CellarDweller]

As a long-time (and current) Madonna fan, I have to say, I can't remember the last time I played her "American Life" CD. Does nothing for me, and there are only two songs on it that I like, which I can remember by looking at the track listing. "Nothing Fails" and "Die Another Day".

"Die Another Day" was a James Bond theme, and is the only song that was able to crack the Top 10 on the pop charts.






Then, we have her latest, "Madame X". I had high hopes for this project. I wasn't expecting her to return to the pop charts with it, after all, when was the last time someone in their 60s hit the charts or got radio play with a new song? I just remember hearing about how different and unique the project is. The only song that I can even remember off of this album was the lead single, "Medellin".

[Jim Kelly]

I wouldn't say LET IT BE is a bad album, but its timing was bad. The final album from the Beatles is ABBEY ROAD. That is a great final statement. It's a beautiful work of art. It was conceived to be an album. LET IT BE was not conceived by the Beatles as an album. It was a bunch of tapes that were handed to Phil Spector and he made some compilation out of them. But because this was released after ABBEY ROAD and just in time for the release of Paul McCartney's first solo album, MCCARTNEY, to compete with him, LET IT BE gets to pretend to be the Beatles' last album. Which is just an injustice to the band.