Bad Albums/Music From Otherwise Great Artists

[WillieMorgan]

Deadlines are great. You don't write good songs sitting around waiting for "inspiration." However, an album and tour every year? Ouch. It's no wonder "creative differences" broke up so many bands.

Yeah, the old 'creative differences' chestnut. It also speaks volumes about the workload that bands had back then, Here's another very impressive album sequence that newer bands wouldn't even attempt to replicate in the same time frame:

Iron Maiden-Killers-The Number Of The Beast-Piece Of Mind-Powerslave-Somewhere In Time-Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. 1980 to 1988 there. The World Slavery Tour alone ate up 13 months of that period as well. Phew!

[Joker]

Pink Floyd - Meddle through The Wall.

Staying on topic, Floyd had some definite misfires in their run, too.

[WillieMorgan]

I just didn't need an explanation of what albums are and why the format persists. I'm old enough to remember the time before CDs. I was there. I remember when everyone bemoaned CDs because everything was "track #" now, so why even name songs?! I remember Vitology trying to recreate the vinyl packaging experience that was lost.

But bands are still releasing thought out albums. Working with specific producers is still noteworthy. Vinyl is back. Maybe you just listen to the wrong artists. I don't have a problem finding all the things you mentioned missing from modern music.

I thought 'Vitalogy' was pretty good actually. I also liked the 'vinyl' theme, also elaborated on with the track 'Spin The Black Circle'. Both 'Better Man' and 'Nothingman' were superior tracks.

I've actually been thinking of starting a thread relating to modern music. It's true that great music is still being made but being completely ignored by the mainstream media. This thread would potentially make people aware of music they may be interested in but are largely unaware of as it isn't getting the attention it deserves, bar in specialist magazines, websites or radio stations. I don't wanna clog up the Community Board with music threads though so maybe in the future.

[ed2962]

I don't think we've mentioned the Rolling Stones yet. Of course they're one of the greatest Rock n Roll bands of all time, but even their biggest fans will admit that they've had some miss steps. For this thread I will submit Black and Blue from 1976. Not great as an album. No stand out singles other than "Fool to Cry" which itself was kinda meh. And an ad campaign than even in the 70's was called out for being sexist.

[Joker]

I
I've actually been thinking of starting a thread relating to modern music. It's true that great music is still being made but being completely ignored by the mainstream media. This thread would potentially make people aware of music they may be interested in but are largely unaware of as it isn't getting the attention it deserves, bar in specialist magazines, websites or radio stations. I don't wanna clog up the Community Board with music threads though so maybe in the future.

I say go for it. People seem to like talking music, and it doesn't have its own section.

[WillieMorgan]

I don't think we've mentioned the Rolling Stones yet. Of course they're one of the greatest Rock n Roll bands of all time, but even their biggest fans will admit that they've had some miss steps. For this thread I will submit Black and Blue from 1976. Not great as an album. No stand out singles other than "Fool to Cry" which itself was kinda meh. And an ad campaign than even in the 70's was called out for being sexist.

It's a long time since I last listened 'Black And Blue'. I don't remember it particularly standing out back in the day. The Stones' 'Dirty Work' is also pretty poor by their standards. It reeks of the worst elements of the 1980's.

I say go for it. People seem to like talking music, and it doesn't have its own section.

I'll have a think about it. There's certainly a lot of good modern music out there that is getting criminally ignored by the media in favour of badly produced mainstream pop tat.

[WillieMorgan]

Diabolus In Musica - Slayer

Recently on this thread I've been dismissive of the Metallica album 'St. Anger'. This is due in part to Metallica's decision to incorporate 'nu-metal' influences into their music at that time which I contended was for commercial reasons, not musical ones. It's only fair then to bring up the fact that Metallica weren't the only Thrash Metal titan to stray down this path. Slayer also decided to journey down that rabbit hole with this 1998 album which is probably their least regarded offering. Now, 'Diabolus In Musica' is definitely a better album than 'St. Anger'. It doesn't drag on for well over an hour for a start and boasts much better production values. It is Slayer rather desperately trying to 'get down with the kids' though and, frankly, they should be better than that. Kerry King later expressed disappointment in the record.