Joss Stone, of all people, has us thinking about the albums that musicians wish they never released. In this Rolling Stone interview, Joss talks up Introducing Joss Stone by telling us how much better it is than her previous effort, the UK chart topper Mind, Body & Soul.
“The last two, I just sang on the album. The first one was- I do think that is a good album. The second was a good-ish, okay-ish album … it was kind of rushed, kind of half-assed in my opinion.”
That type of candor from pop stars is rare (she’s young, she’ll learn), but we love it for purposes of trivia: What are some of the other notable disowned albums in rock history? We’re thinking The La’s, The Beta Band, and maybe even some albums that aren’t self-titled. Whatcha got?
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radiohead’s pablo honey is without a doubt the most notable disowned album in rock history.
Dave Grohl [rightly] disowned the Foos’ “One By One”
I’m pretty sure Blur (or at least Damon Albarn) disowned ‘Leisure’.
BEASTIE BOYS-LICENSED TO ILL (NON-FAN FAVE)
OASIS-BE HERE NOW (FAN FAVE)
Dave Matthews Band – Everyday
Pavement sort of disowned Brighten the Corners. They speak about it with very faint praise.
The Stones (bigger than Radiohead BTW) ignored Satanic Majesty pretty quickly. They never played songs off of it until their 1989 reunion tour.
Grohl disowned “One By One”? Their only good recent album? Pity.
Death Cab – “Now You Can Play These Songs With Chords”
Rivers Cuomo very much disowned Pinkerton
you guys are stupid. pablo honey and play these songs with chords? you guys are really stupid. keep it up and i’m going to cry.
In a bizarre twist of events, _Grace_ disowned Jeff Buckley, and then threw him into the Mississippi River.
Maybe not a full disowning, but Rivers Cuomo seems pretty down on Pinkerton. He obviously has no taste.
Nick Cave has come pretty close to disowning Nocturama, which I think is a pretty strong album.
Ryan Adams disowns about 16 albums per week, and more when he breaks up with someone.
Metallica’s St. Anger. Was made obvious by the fact that the tour supporting that very album featured only 2 songs from the album.. That, and, it sucked balls.
Bad Religion Into The Unknown
Common- Eclectric circus.
theres a pussy turd cd if there ever was.
Joss Stone played in San Diego recently and made similar comments. Here are some photos of that day…
http://sddialedin.blogspot.com/2007/02/final-sunset-sessions-pics-joss-stone.html
Kiss pretty much disowned Music From the Elder.
The Clash – “Cut the Crap”
I remember Bono and the boys pretty much confessing that they (a) rushed Pop, and that (b) it sounded pretty half baked as a result.
I thought Blur disowned “The Great Escape” which is the *only* Blur record I like! (Thought the Balzac/Prozac rhyme is the weakest thing ever.)
Yer right re “The Great Escape.”
Mandy Moore disowned her first pop album (read: not the one with the XTC cover.)
Actually Rivers Cuomo said he no longer feels that way about Pinkerton as Rick Rubin and the other Weezer members all listened to it before making Make Believe, but I think he said he thought it was self-indulgent.
And yeah I think Ryan Adams has said Whiskeytown never released an album that sounded the way they wanted it to.
Wilco hasn’t outwardly disowned A.M. but they only seem to play “Passenger Side” at shows, which isn’t even in the top 5 songs on that album.
not that anyone other than me cares but Fall out Boy disowned their debut album “an evening out with your girlfriend”. they wont even talk about it ,claiming that their next album was their “debut” album
Didn’t the rest of the Beach Boys effectively disown Brian Wilson’s “Smile” by totally trashing it and instead releasing “Smiley Smile”?
People have already mentioned Pinkerton and i’m sure most of us would consider that Weezer’s greatest album (or only great album.)
But in Rivers defense you can kind of see why he’d hate the album. I mean it IS essentialy whining/pining for 40 minutes with no hold bars. And the honesty and raw emotion from it is what i think so many people love about it. But if you look at it from the artist’s perspective, that kind of honesty can be incredibly embarrasing in retrospect.
“It’s like getting really drunk at a party and spilling your guts in front of everyone and feeling incredibly great and cathartic about it, and then waking up the next morning and realizing what a complete fool you made of yourself.”
The kidz from Kidz Bop recently disowned Kidz Bop 2. They indicated that it was “too commercial” and crippled by “numerous artistic compromises.”
Wait a minute. Doesn’t this conversation begin and end with “Let it Be”? Gotta be the most famous disowned album in rock history.
pixies and trompe le monde. same kind of thing – no praise, few tunes played live from it now.
It has to be “Into The Unknown” by Bad Religion. The band hated the album so much that they repotedly pulled all remaining albums and it has never been re-released. Sure others may have distanced themselves from their work, but I don’t recall a band completly pulling an album.
What are you talking about with Pavement’s “Brighten the Corners?” I just read an article a couple of months back where they were saying how much they loved that album and are looking forward to its reissue.
Pink Floyd “disowned” Ummagumma The Beatles kinda all summarilly disowned Let It Be and Lennon talked shit on their first albums
Y Kant Tori Read? — Tori Amos
Speaking of the Beach Boys, Dennis and Carl Wilson disowned 15 Big Ones, Brian Wilson’s “comeback” album of weak cover versions and lame originals. It turned out to be their biggest-selling studio album in years and the start of the Mike Love Show.
Dan Whitney’s first album as Larry the Cable Guy, “Unwhite Holocaust”, was violently disowned by Pixar’s management before he appeared in “Cars”. Surviving copies are extremely valuable.
Two cases which are somewhat different because the albums have followings independent of later releases and have thus stayed in print are:
Def Leppard:
“Def Leppard” EP and “On Through The Night”
Red Hot Chili Peppers:
- first four albums (not definitely disowned but certainly ignored)
- and “One Hot Minute”.
Though they never play any songs from their first four albums in concert (except teh cover “Higher Ground”), because fans from that era when they were not stars regard them as sellouts they remain in print. “One Hot Minute” by comparison, is certainly disowned and they never play material from it either.
BOB DYLAN: Dylan
Collection of outtakes from Self Portrait and New Morning, mostly cover versions. Released by Columbia Records in 1971 (against Dylan?s wishes) as per contractual obligation when Dylan left Columbia for Asylum Records; the only Dylan album to not be reissued on CD in North America. Certainly not bad but inessential.