You guys know we like to post other people's lists and call it "Shit List" ('cause you get to shit all over it, see?) -- but this one is a Shit List in the truest! Blender put together their selections for "The Most Disasterous Albums Of All Time," or records that took unhealthy tolls on artists' careers. No rank, no order, just the infamous-record listings:
MC Hammer - The Funky Headhunter. Gangsta Hammer. Bad idea.
Garth Brooks - In The Life Of Chris Gaines. Garth's failed Ziggy Stardust.
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk. The inevitably commercially-disappointing follow-up to Rumours.
The Electric Prunes - Mass In F Minor. Classical-psych rock fusion. Another bad idea.
Peter Frampton - I'm In You. Folks had enough Frampton for awhile after Comes Alive
Mariah Carey - Glitter. Soundtrack to a horrible film and released on 9/11/01. Doomed.
Moby - Animal Rights. moby goes hard rock (look ma, no caps!)
Kiss - [Music From] The Elder. Concept album about immortal, energy based beings. Exactly what their fan base wanted!
The Happy Mondays - Yes Please! - Recorded in Barbados with Shaun Ryder on a healthy diet of 50 rocks of crack a day.
Tusk? Really? Anyway, the list isn't meant to be exhaustive, so we figure you guys could chime in. What records can you think of that signalled an artist's point of no return? We'll help get you started: Playing With Fire. Your turn.
Posted at 5:57 PM in
Tusk rules.
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Tusk is a great album. Although it obviously didn't sell like Rumours, it did sell something like 4MM copies at a, for that time, high list-price. I think it's a stunning record, timeless AND reflective of its time, and more like the Beatles' White Album than anything else on the Shit List.
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Yeah, what the fuck. Tusk is incredible, just awesome. I mean, "Save Me A Place"? Come on!
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"Playing with Fire" is Spacemen 3's best album, I don't get that one at all.
I also really liked "Animal Rights" and, well, one certainly can't say that it hurt his career unless you're talking long-term 'I'm gonna get stuck in a rut rather than trying something new' sorta way.
I might offer the selftitled Suicide Machines record but I haven't listened to it enough to feel comfortable doing so.
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The problem with "Tusk" is that they used the USC marching band on the title track and not teh UCLA marching band.
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A couple of really good album came out on 9/11. Is this it? (in the US, at least), and The Moldy Peaches first and last album save their b-sides collection. I'm sure there are others.
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Dylan and Ben Folds both had great albums released on 9/11. I don't think Strokes came out on 9/11.
Also, agreed Tusk is awesome. Silly Blender.
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I can't believe "Zingalamaduni" wasn't on this list.
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Dandy Warhols' latest album: 'Odditorium Or Let's Make More Tedious 10 Minute-plus-long Songs And Test The Patience Of Our Fanbase Even Further'.
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Trail Of Dead "World's Apart"
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I can't believe "Zingalamaduni" wasn't on this list.
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Weezer's last gasp, whatever it was called.
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Weezer's last gasp, whatever it was called.
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a few come immediately to mind...
the wallflowers 3rd album really killed the momentum they had accumulated with their 2nd album 'bringing down the horse'. *cue people chiming in that the wallflowers "always sucked"*
elefant's 2nd album was horrifically awful. their debut wasn't great by any means, but at least seemed promising.
you could maybe argue that 'use your illusions' destroyed guns'n'roses. i mean, they were pretty much done anyway despite the success of the album, but with the overblown excess of that double album, i wonder if there was really anywhere for them to go... could they ever recapture whatever had originally made them popular?
i thought interpol really suffered in terms of media attention after their 2nd album. while it may have received good reviews (though i personally didn't like it), i get the impression it didn't sell that well. they certainly don't seem as ubiquitous as they used to, but that might just be a product of time...
neat concept for an article... thanks for the post!
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Elton John's "Victim Of Love". Complete disaster. "Leather Jackets" is not far behind.
BTW, TUSK RULES!!!! 'Think About Me', 'Sisters of the Moon', 'Never Forget', 'Sara', 'Angel', 'That's All For Everyone', 'Walk A Thin Line', 'Beautiful Child', 'Brown Eyes', 'Over & Over'...these are all great songs. If there is a problem with Tusk, it is the sequencing. Starting the album with a really slow (but still beautiful) song like 'Over & Over' was a mistake. And they could have honed it down to a really great single lp by leaving off some of Lindsey's weirder tracks like 'Not That Funny'.
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counting crows - this desert life
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How about Metallica's commercial nadir with St Anger? It's more monumental when accompanying it with a viewing of Some Kind Of Monster (although personally, they started slipping right around The Black album).
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Not to be a jerk, but do you totally steal stories/links from Whitney Matheson's Pop Candy blog at USA TODAY? The Blender article, the Time article and more have been posted here hours after she did.
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This list is pretty terrible - not only is Tusk a fantastic record, but the Electric Prunes' Mass in F Minor is a David Axelrod-produced near-masterpiece (just ask everyone who has sampled it!). Right now, it's looking like DJ Shadow's The Outsider and OutKast's Idlewild should be added to that list. If we go by the criteria of records that took a huge toll on a band's career, the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile should also be included. Maybe Courtney Love's solo record, too?
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I agree with Thierry, 'Mass in F Minor' was a great album.
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Each and every Garth Brooks album should have taken an unhealthy toll on his career.
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if god wills it: sam's town
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It could argued that Dynasty was the album that crippled Kiss.
Moby's Animal Rights didn't do much damage to his career. How many copies has Play sold?
No list like this is complete without Arrested Development's MTV Unplugged album.
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counting crows - this desert life
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I'll take "First Impressions of Earth" for $400, Alex.
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I'll take "First Impressions of Earth" for $400, Alex.
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Wheat's "Per Second, Per Second, Per Second... Every Second" (i.e., the overproduced hunk o' crap).
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BIG FUCKING GENERATOR.
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"Sam's Town"- before that, The Killers were pretty enjoyable, but then they turned to pretentious artsy shit that really sucks.
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I love all of the Fleetwood Mac fans who frequent this site.
And yes, 'Tusk' is a fantastic album that does not belong on this list at all. I'd even go so far as saying it's Fleetwood Mac's *best* album. Even if you disagree, you've got to at least admit it's their most interesting. The production is incredible, and perfect for the songs.
Damn, I'm about to go listen to it again.
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I know these aren't indie rock, but from my childhood:
Smashing Pumpkins - Adore
Live - Secret Samadhi
Pearl Jam - No Code
And I think Playing with Fire was a Fed-Ex reference, not Spacemen 3.
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not exactly "career crippling" but Pink Floyd's 1983 album The Final Cut should have been their final cut.
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Dylan and Ben Folds both had great albums released on 9/11.
Jay-Z's The Blueprint came out on 9/11, too.
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Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music.
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Pink Floyd's "The Final Cut" is a great album and, in our current political climate, strangely prescient. And of course, the only reason "Tusk" is on the list is because, yes, the album did kinda tank at the bank.
But how could it not? The Mac followed a gazillion-platinum "Rumours" with a Lindsey Buckingham sound project (for the most part). All the things that turned off those late 1970s kids are the things that make "Tusk" so damn essential today. It is the strangest pop album in pop music history, but the sonic inventiveness would be copied by millions of indie rock kids and Elephant 6 devotees.
Blender, while financially correct with this, missed the mark nonetheless.
DwD
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every oasis ablum after what the story...
but hell hath no fury certainly is not. just listened to it. best rap cd of the year. and dont bitch at me im still buying it
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every oasis ablum after what the story...
but hell hath no fury certainly is not. just listened to it. best rap cd of the year. and dont bitch at me im still buying it
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"Yusk" is a masterpiece. Every song fits. WTF? This magazine is the bottomless pit anyway, with their dumbass lists. They have Paris Hilton and Britney Spears on the cover every other month, who theff takes them seriously?
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"Yusk" is a masterpiece. Every song fits. WTF? This magazine is the bottomless pit anyway, with their dumbass lists. They have Paris Hilton and Britney Spears on the cover every other month, who theff takes them seriously?
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I can't believe i read a blog where people are so quick to defend Fleetwood Mac, let alone "Tusk."
That said, BIG FUCKING GENERATOR was spot on.
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Ryan Adams' 'Gold' was released on 9/11 too, methinks.
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At War With the Mystics
Unfortunately, the Lips have left the building. I suppose only time will tell if it's permanent.
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Pavement - Brighten the Corners
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Bob Dylan has crippled his career at least 4 times (Self Portrait, Slow Train Coming, Knocked Out Loaded, and Under the Red Sky) and has arguably done it many more times, but, of course, he limps his way back up to the top every time.
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While I don't think it's a bad record, "Worlds Apart" certainly seems to have damaged Trail Of Dead's career, especially judging by the rather dispirted interview Conrad gave Pitchfork recently.
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I'll go to bat for Big Generator any day of the week, suckaz! I actually prefer it to 90125.
Have to agree, though, with whoever it was above that pointed out Animals Rights was released directly before Moby's biggest selling album of his career. If the rock album crippled his career, he's got miracle Jesus drugs!
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I am seeing an ad for The Who's new album at the bottom of the comments thread but it could just as easily be the latest comment.
I'm nominating Badly Drawn Boy's 'Have You Fed the Fish?' - after 'Hour of Bewilderbeast' was SO good...what happened?
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U2's "Pop" and all their subsequent releases have been a disaster. If only their popularity had dwindled to support my outrageous claim...
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"Cyberpunk" by Billy Idol.
"End of the Century" by the Ramones (even though I like it).
"Human Touch" and "Lucky Town" by Bruce Springsteen (although you could just say "Bruce breaks up the E Street Band" and it would be the same thing).
"Raised on Radio" by Journey.
"Kilroy was Here" by Styx.
"VH III" by Van Halen.
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The Boo Radleys, "C'mon Kids". Though it's actually rather good.
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QUEEN - HOT SPACE
Queen follows the huge commercial success of THE GAME with a funk record? The "Body Langauge" video didn't help matters.
The lp bombed and QUEEN never recovered in the US until WAYNE's WORLD revived them. (I speaking USA here.)
Personally, I love the record, too bad it predated the funk revivial of the mid-late 80's.
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"If there is a problem with Tusk, it is the sequencing. Starting the album with a really slow (but still beautiful) song like 'Over & Over' was a mistake. And they could have honed it down to a really great single lp by leaving off some of Lindsey's weirder tracks like 'Not That Funny'."
I've always been in the opposite camp - keep all of Lindsay's weird stuff and cut a couple of Christine McVie's poppier tunes (and maybe even a Nicks track, but her songs are generally stronger here). It's the Mac album with McVie's weakest, most pedestrian contributions (coming right after the one with some of her best). Including them might have given the album a better shot at commercial success, but that wasn't in the cards, anyway. Its biggest flaw is that it's trying to play to the band's commercial appeal and experimentation simultaneously, and would have made for a better, consistently weirder cult album. It's still pretty darn great, though; glad to see so many other people hold it in such esteem.
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I don't think people understand the idea of a career-crippling record. It's not just bad, guys. It's so bad that an artist/band's career is put on indefinite hiatus.
That said, Playing With Fire is automatically exempt. How can it cripple a career that doesn't exist?
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Whoever said "Brighten The Corners" is now on my personal shit list. Most underrated Pavement album and also my personal fave.
How about The Green Album. Most disheartening moment in my music listening life.
I doubt they're popular here, but Toxicity was a killer album that I think was either released on or a week prior to 9/11.
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Mercury Rev's "All is Dream". Another 9-11 release.
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Mercury Rev's "All is Dream". Another 9-11 release.
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Phil Collins' "Both Sides" followed two huge solo albums and two equally successful Genesis albums (hey, if people are going to discuss "Big Fucking Generator"...) but, despite the usual massive tour, decimated his sales track record. It's his second-best album (after "Face Value"), pretty much demos influenced by the Blue Nile and John Martyn, and it's much more satisfying than anything he's done since, most of which has seemed too eager to please in the aftermath of that derailment. Also, the cover had a brown-and-tan color scheme, a virtual guarantee of chart disaster.
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"Tusk? Really?"
my thoughts, exactly... yes, it did somewhat tank, but to call it "career crippling"? that's over-reaching a bit. You can't really blame Tusk for the reason why Fleetwood Mac didn't meet success in the later half of their career, or at least I don't.
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Y'know, I'm inclined to agree with the "At War With The Mystics" line. And shut up about "Big Generator". Just shut up about it! You know nothing about "Big Generator"! How it saved seven orphans from that flaming school bus, redirected the tornado from the trailer park and TAUGHT AN ENTIRE GENERATION HOW TO LAUGH, LOVE AND ROCK AGAIN!
Don't disrespect the Yes.
DwD
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Liz Phair: s/t - I thought that would be a more popular choice, but maybe too many people had already given up on her with whitechocolatespaceegg.
R.E.M.: Monster - I love this album, but you can't deny that it was the start of their big swan dive. U2 had a similar moment with Pop, though somehow, they came back.
Hootie & the Blowfish: Fairweather Johnson - Not that they were built for longevity anyway.
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John Lennon's Some Time In New York City was so bad it almost got him kicked out of the country. Last album previous was Imagine. He never got much over two stars ever again.
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On the Who tip, Pete Townshend's "Iron Man" marked the end of a superb run of solo albums.
The La's 2nd album.
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SPICEWORLD.
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Though I'm sure there are people who will defend it, The Cure's Wild Mood Swings was pretty awful. It ended their radio singles streak. But, they are slowly getting back to form...Bloodflowers and s/t rocked.
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I don't think the La's had a second album, unless you wanna count their odds & sodds compilations OR a bbc session
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Second La's album? What?
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The Stone Roses "Second Coming" should be on that list too.
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I think U2 hit the decline a bit before Pop. I would suggest that bloated piece of crap Zooropa. What an f'ing disaster that was, after a brilliant Achtung Baby no less. Everything after Achtung is pure shite.
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I agree with fearlessweaver that Monster started the commercial decline for REM, but they came back with the criminally underrated New Adventures In Hi-Fi two years later.
Also, Kiss' Music from The Elder was definitely a curveball, and an odd one that - medieval-themed metal isn't for everyone...but I love it. It was maybe even a necessary step before they went on their heavier and impressive 3-album run with Creatures of the Night, Lick It Up and Animalize.
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This is a fun game! I'll go with:
Live - Secret Samadi (great momentum, great forward buzz, then -- well, they were on American Idol last season)
Killers - Sam's Town (from Band of the Year to mere footnote in one easy step!)
Bloc Party - wait for it...
Elvis Costello - Punch The Clock (dead-stopped his initial streak of brilliance -- and widescale appeal -- which never really got started again)
Oasis - The Masterplan (yuck)
The Hives - Tyrannosaurus Hives (Remember them? They were Your New Favorite Band on all the magazine covers a few years ago! Now they're Sweden's twentieth-best indie band)
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REM: Automatic for the People
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if people are still listing 9/11 albums:
from the irony department:
Slayer - God Hates Us All (self explanatory)
Dream Theater - Live Scenes from New York
(featuring this album cover - OH MY GOD
http://www.autoreview.ru/new_site/year2001/n24/music/800/cd-4.jpg)
and even worse, the Coup, who put out this cover
http://www.100megsfree4.com/stimso/coup.jpg
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Blink 182 - self-titled. Killed the band.
The Darkness - One Way Ticket to Hell and Back. Killed the band.
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl (unlistenable - in the tradition of Sam's Town and Stoned & Dethroned )
Sinead O'Connor - Am I Not Your Girl? (cover album follow-up to her break-out album; one ripped Pope picture and tales of being abducted by Prince's thugs followed shortly)
REM - Up (I'm a huge REM fan. Loved Monster. Thought New Adventures in Hi Fi had good songs but was overproduced and stuffed with shoulda-been-b-sides. Up was the point of no return -- file under 'lost drummers' alongside Smashing Pumpkins' Adore)
Phish - Billy Breathes (I don't expect anyone on this list to get this, but that's fine)
Also, an unfortunate truth seems to be that most first albums out of rehab would fall on this list.
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DJ Shadow "The Outsider"
and props to whomever said Stone Roses "Second Coming"...what an unmitigated disaster.
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl (unlistenable - in the tradition of Sam's Town and Stoned & Dethroned )
Sinead O'Connor - Am I Not Your Girl? (cover album follow-up to her break-out album; one ripped Pope picture and tales of being abducted by Prince's thugs followed shortly)
REM - Up (I'm a huge REM fan. Loved Monster. Thought New Adventures in Hi Fi had good songs but was overproduced and stuffed with shoulda-been-b-sides. Up was the point of no return -- file under 'lost drummers' alongside Smashing Pumpkins' Adore)
Phish - Billy Breathes (I don't expect anyone on this list to get this, but that's fine)
Also, an unfortunate truth seems to be that most first albums out of rehab would fall on this list.
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Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl (unlistenable - in the tradition of Sam's Town and Stoned & Dethroned )
Sinead O'Connor - Am I Not Your Girl? (cover album follow-up to her break-out album; one ripped Pope picture and tales of being abducted by Prince's thugs followed shortly)
REM - Up (I'm a huge REM fan. Loved Monster. Thought New Adventures in Hi Fi had good songs but was overproduced and stuffed with shoulda-been-b-sides. Up was the point of no return -- file under 'lost drummers' alongside Smashing Pumpkins' Adore)
Phish - Billy Breathes (I don't expect anyone on this list to get this, but that's fine)
Also, an unfortunate truth seems to be that most first albums out of rehab would fall on this list.
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BRMC's Howl unlistenable? probably their best work to date. If anything it resurrected their career after that unlistenable shit of a record Take them on your own.
Dylan's Slow train coming. really? Got him his first grammy win, didn't it. The whole "christian" phase contains some of his best work. Give me Saved over Modern Times anytime.
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Did Second Coming really cripple the Roses? I agree, it's total shit, but afterall, were people really waiting for it on end for eight years? I'd say they lost their steam around the time that the Mondays did (Yes, Please marked the end of the Madchester scene anyway).
Speaking of which, I know I'll get jumped on for saying it, but Thrills, Pills, and Bellyaches still hasn't grown on me and I'm a huge fan of Bummed. It probably has something to do with the absence of Martin Hannett.
Oh yeah, I read that Trail of Dead interview on Pitchfork. What a fucking downer. That's what being an indie band with a metal mentality will get you.
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More evidence against Tusk crippling the Mac:
"Gypsy"
"Hold Me"
"Big Love"
"Seven Wonders"
"Everywhere"
"Little Lies"
"As Long As You Follow"
"Silver Springs" (yeah, live and old, but still a hit)
That's a pretty good number of hit singles for a "crippled" band.
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Explosions in the Sky's "Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever" came out on 9/11 or pretty close to it. Complete with artwork depicting planes crashing into buildings and angels and shit. Pretty crazy. Great album too.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Keith Urban's new one "Love Pain and the whole crazy thing" is going to ruin his career. It sucks ass.
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Another 9/11 album: Beulah's "The Coast Is Never Clear", which is terrific. But they got tired of being an indie band that went through the grind of touring and didn't sell many records, so they wrote one more album about breaking up, and then broke up.
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Up is actually my favorite R.E.M. album-- and I think that they're like Yo La Tengo, and every third album or so everyone will faun over them again. (Reveal == Summer Sun)
I'll second "Brighten the Corners", even if it gets me on someone's personal shitlist-- too much Spiral Stairs right in the middle of the record. Keep those fucking corners dark and mysterious.
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"Don't Tell A Soul" by the Replacements - suddenly the country's greatest rock band sounded like a karaoke tape.
"Door to Door" by the Cars. After "Heartbeat City" ... wow
"Lauryn Hill Unplugged 2.0" and "Cut The Crap" - although "This Is England" is pretty great.
The thing about "Sam's Town" is that the Killers are basically a singles band and "When You Were Young" is a great single. Really, what were you expecting?
If you want a modern day example ... how many White Stripes fans are there left after "Get Behind Me Satan"?
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The Great Destroyer by Low. they were never very popular or even very good, but that album just reeaally sucks a lot. and i haven't heard a thing about them since it was released.
and what about Loveless? it didn't end MBV's career because it was shitty (that goes without saying), but there was just no way for them to follow that up. personally, i like the individual songs on Isn't Anything more than the ones on Loveless (excepting Only Shallow and When You Sleep, most notably), but as a capital-A Album, loveless is kind of unbeatable.
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I think Tusk was considered a bomb because although it sold about four or five million copies, it cost a then-staggering $1 million to produce. And I guess when you're selling, what four- or five-dollar LP's, the record companies want you to sell more than "a few" million copies, then.
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I disagree on Second Coming. It's