BAD FOR GOOD: 10 GOOD WORST ALBUMS BY GREAT BANDS
You can thank Bedsitter23 for this. He had been putting together a playlist of “unheard” albums, and that got me to thinking about a related category: great unloved albums by otherwise good artists/bands. You know, the duds that disappointed fans and offended music critics, the albums that just don’t make the top of the average fan list - and yet I like them a lot.
One thing I found is that it’s harder to do this kind of list these days, because lots of albums that were flops or critical failures at the time have since been re-evaluated and found to be better than people thought at the time - Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk being a go-to example. Also, there’s a difference in ratings between the established fan base and the general public. What exactly counts as a “bad” album - is it all about units sold, critical maulings, fan alienation, the weight of the back catalog?
Eventually I just decided to go with my own experience - these are ten albums that I remember fans, music critics or friends hating at the time (and in many cases still hate to this day) that I happen to like. I’m not saying these are the best works of that particular artist/band - I’m just saying I don’t think they’re nearly as bad as other people do.
In no particular order:
1. Kiss, Music from The Elder
Kiss tries to go back to its hard-rock roots and instead makes corny concept album - what could go wrong? I ended up with a tape of this somehow in 1985 (probably abandoned by a former roommate) - and at the time, my knowledge of Kiss was limited to the hit singles and their TV appearances (including Phantom of the Park, yes). Maybe it’s because I liked the idea of concept albums, or maybe I was expecting it to be far worse, but I thought it was alright - the “concept” is naff and there’s a lot of filler, but there’s also some decent songs here, and Kiss have made far worse albums before and after this, IMO. Also, Lou Reed has three co-writing song credits on this thing, so there’s that.
Name one good track: “Only One”
2. Lou Reed, Mistrial
Speaking of Lou, like with a lot of artists that started in the 60s, a lot of people dismiss Reed’s entire 80s catalog as disposable and unnecessary up to 1989’s New York. I wouldn’t agree with that completely - I think New Sensations is an underrated masterpiece - but I’m going to go to bat for Mistrial because it’s the most “80s” sounding album of the bunch. But listening to it, I think Reed transcends the 80s production issues better than a lot of his peers (Bowie’s Never Let Me Down comes to mind).
Name one good track: “Mama’s Got A Lover”
3. U2, Pop
U2 goes Eurodisco! A lot of people bag on this album, and probably for good reason, but for me it was sort of the logical next step of the musical-expansion journey that started with Achtung Baby, and it works better than people give it credit for. Like a lot of latter-era U2, it’s too long and the energy fades by the second half, but there’s some really solid songs on here.
Name one good track: “Gone”
4. Neil Young, Everybody’s Rockin’
When you’re as prolific and iconoclastic as Neil Young, the problem with picking a “worst album” is that there’s so many to choose from so it depends who you ask and at what point in his career they first started listening to him. That said, Young’s infamous rockabilly album Everybody’s Rockin’ (with the Shocking Pinks) tends to make a lot of “worst Neil Young albums” lists - it certainly pissed off the suits at Geffen Records. And, you know, I won't say it’s his best record ever, but I think it’s one of his most misunderstood albums - to me, it’s equal parts in-joke, tribute to Young’s musical influences and middle finger to Geffen for trying to tell him what music to play. As rockabilly tribute albums go, it’s pretty good. And it only runs for less than 25 minutes, so it won’t waste too much of your time.
Name one good track: “Kinda Fonda Wanda”
5. The Doors, The Soft Parade
It seems most Doors fans agree that the worst Doors albums are the post-Jim albums. No argument here. But of their six studio albums with Jim Morrison, The Soft Parade is the one that is most consistently ranked last. So naturally it’s among my favorite Doors albums. I’ll admit the title track has a lot to do with that - it’s one of my all-time favorite Doors tracks, and worth the price of admission alone - but I also appreciate that they were willing to mess around with the formula and take chances at that point in their career.
Name one good track: “The Soft Parade”
6. The B-52s, Good Stuff
This is the B-52s album you were most likely to find in the bargain bin shortly after it came out, or so it seemed to me. My assumption is that while Cosmic Thing was a huge comeback for them, it was also somewhat overproduced, and it was so ubiquitous that when Good Stuff came out, offering more of the same but without Cindy Wilson, the euphoria had worn off and everyone was all about The Grunge. But I still like to listen to it - for the most part, it’s as fun and goofy as Cosmic Thing.
Name one good track: “Hot Pants Explosion”
7. The Go-Gos, Talk Show
Not just the most underrated Go-Gos album, but one of the most underrated albums ever. The album didn’t do well commercially and a lot of people thought the band peaked with their debut, Beauty and the Beat. I wouldn’t say this is better, but it’s hard to compare them because B&TB had a bigger cultural impact and broke new ground. So Talk Show has to get by mainly on the songs, but it does just that - listening to it now, it’s enjoyable power-pop that has aged as well as B&TB.
Name one good track: “Turn To You”
8. Warren Zevon, Mutineer
This was Zevon’s least successful album, and one that tends to be near the bottom of online fan lists. I can sort of see why. It’s his most experimental album that’s miles away from the standard Laurel Canyon 70s rock he built his career on - so much so that even CMJ gave it a good review it when it came out in 1995. Accordians! Piano fights! Doomed clowns! Carl Hiassen! I love it, obviously - in fact, it’s probably my favorite Zevon album. If nothing else, it contains some of his best one-liners (“They say these are the good times / but they don’t live around here”), and only Zevon could come up with a song about the afterlife called “Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse”.
Name one good track: “Something Bad Happened To A Clown”
9. Van Halen, Diver Down
I stopped listening to Van Halen when David Lee Roth left, and it may be no coincidence that most of the Van Halen albums that make the bottom of fan lists tend to be the ones with other singers (the exception being Sammy Hagar’s inaugural VH album 5150). So while Diver Down tends to be near the top of the fan lists, it’s usually dead last if you limit yourself to Diamond-Dave-era VH. Even Eddie Van Halen has been critical of it, mainly because it was a rush job and almost half the songs are covers. But I’ve always liked it - it’s relatively more diverse musically, and VH were no slouch when it came to covers.
Name one good track: “The Full Bug”
10. Queen, Hot Space
Fans sometimes disagree which album is the worst one their favorite band has done, but ask any Queen fan, and 99 times out of 100 they’ll say Hot Space, a.k.a. The WTF Gay Disco Album. I’m the 1 out of 100, because honestly I don’t think it’s as bad as people say. That’s probably because I grew up listening to a lot of disco and funk on the radio, which I liked, so that part doesn’t put me off. And frankly, Queen’s take on club disco was more interesting musically than most proper disco acts. Besides, there are several “proper” Queen songs on it that are as good as most things they’ve done. And of course it’s the one with “Under Pressure” on it.
Name one good track besides “Under Pressure”: “Dancer”
LISTEN TO IT: Here’s a sampler if you don’t believe me.
Indefensible,
This is dF This entry was originally posted at https://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1641042.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
One thing I found is that it’s harder to do this kind of list these days, because lots of albums that were flops or critical failures at the time have since been re-evaluated and found to be better than people thought at the time - Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk being a go-to example. Also, there’s a difference in ratings between the established fan base and the general public. What exactly counts as a “bad” album - is it all about units sold, critical maulings, fan alienation, the weight of the back catalog?
Eventually I just decided to go with my own experience - these are ten albums that I remember fans, music critics or friends hating at the time (and in many cases still hate to this day) that I happen to like. I’m not saying these are the best works of that particular artist/band - I’m just saying I don’t think they’re nearly as bad as other people do.
In no particular order:
1. Kiss, Music from The Elder
Kiss tries to go back to its hard-rock roots and instead makes corny concept album - what could go wrong? I ended up with a tape of this somehow in 1985 (probably abandoned by a former roommate) - and at the time, my knowledge of Kiss was limited to the hit singles and their TV appearances (including Phantom of the Park, yes). Maybe it’s because I liked the idea of concept albums, or maybe I was expecting it to be far worse, but I thought it was alright - the “concept” is naff and there’s a lot of filler, but there’s also some decent songs here, and Kiss have made far worse albums before and after this, IMO. Also, Lou Reed has three co-writing song credits on this thing, so there’s that.
Name one good track: “Only One”
2. Lou Reed, Mistrial
Speaking of Lou, like with a lot of artists that started in the 60s, a lot of people dismiss Reed’s entire 80s catalog as disposable and unnecessary up to 1989’s New York. I wouldn’t agree with that completely - I think New Sensations is an underrated masterpiece - but I’m going to go to bat for Mistrial because it’s the most “80s” sounding album of the bunch. But listening to it, I think Reed transcends the 80s production issues better than a lot of his peers (Bowie’s Never Let Me Down comes to mind).
Name one good track: “Mama’s Got A Lover”
3. U2, Pop
U2 goes Eurodisco! A lot of people bag on this album, and probably for good reason, but for me it was sort of the logical next step of the musical-expansion journey that started with Achtung Baby, and it works better than people give it credit for. Like a lot of latter-era U2, it’s too long and the energy fades by the second half, but there’s some really solid songs on here.
Name one good track: “Gone”
4. Neil Young, Everybody’s Rockin’
When you’re as prolific and iconoclastic as Neil Young, the problem with picking a “worst album” is that there’s so many to choose from so it depends who you ask and at what point in his career they first started listening to him. That said, Young’s infamous rockabilly album Everybody’s Rockin’ (with the Shocking Pinks) tends to make a lot of “worst Neil Young albums” lists - it certainly pissed off the suits at Geffen Records. And, you know, I won't say it’s his best record ever, but I think it’s one of his most misunderstood albums - to me, it’s equal parts in-joke, tribute to Young’s musical influences and middle finger to Geffen for trying to tell him what music to play. As rockabilly tribute albums go, it’s pretty good. And it only runs for less than 25 minutes, so it won’t waste too much of your time.
Name one good track: “Kinda Fonda Wanda”
5. The Doors, The Soft Parade
It seems most Doors fans agree that the worst Doors albums are the post-Jim albums. No argument here. But of their six studio albums with Jim Morrison, The Soft Parade is the one that is most consistently ranked last. So naturally it’s among my favorite Doors albums. I’ll admit the title track has a lot to do with that - it’s one of my all-time favorite Doors tracks, and worth the price of admission alone - but I also appreciate that they were willing to mess around with the formula and take chances at that point in their career.
Name one good track: “The Soft Parade”
6. The B-52s, Good Stuff
This is the B-52s album you were most likely to find in the bargain bin shortly after it came out, or so it seemed to me. My assumption is that while Cosmic Thing was a huge comeback for them, it was also somewhat overproduced, and it was so ubiquitous that when Good Stuff came out, offering more of the same but without Cindy Wilson, the euphoria had worn off and everyone was all about The Grunge. But I still like to listen to it - for the most part, it’s as fun and goofy as Cosmic Thing.
Name one good track: “Hot Pants Explosion”
7. The Go-Gos, Talk Show
Not just the most underrated Go-Gos album, but one of the most underrated albums ever. The album didn’t do well commercially and a lot of people thought the band peaked with their debut, Beauty and the Beat. I wouldn’t say this is better, but it’s hard to compare them because B&TB had a bigger cultural impact and broke new ground. So Talk Show has to get by mainly on the songs, but it does just that - listening to it now, it’s enjoyable power-pop that has aged as well as B&TB.
Name one good track: “Turn To You”
8. Warren Zevon, Mutineer
This was Zevon’s least successful album, and one that tends to be near the bottom of online fan lists. I can sort of see why. It’s his most experimental album that’s miles away from the standard Laurel Canyon 70s rock he built his career on - so much so that even CMJ gave it a good review it when it came out in 1995. Accordians! Piano fights! Doomed clowns! Carl Hiassen! I love it, obviously - in fact, it’s probably my favorite Zevon album. If nothing else, it contains some of his best one-liners (“They say these are the good times / but they don’t live around here”), and only Zevon could come up with a song about the afterlife called “Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse”.
Name one good track: “Something Bad Happened To A Clown”
9. Van Halen, Diver Down
I stopped listening to Van Halen when David Lee Roth left, and it may be no coincidence that most of the Van Halen albums that make the bottom of fan lists tend to be the ones with other singers (the exception being Sammy Hagar’s inaugural VH album 5150). So while Diver Down tends to be near the top of the fan lists, it’s usually dead last if you limit yourself to Diamond-Dave-era VH. Even Eddie Van Halen has been critical of it, mainly because it was a rush job and almost half the songs are covers. But I’ve always liked it - it’s relatively more diverse musically, and VH were no slouch when it came to covers.
Name one good track: “The Full Bug”
10. Queen, Hot Space
Fans sometimes disagree which album is the worst one their favorite band has done, but ask any Queen fan, and 99 times out of 100 they’ll say Hot Space, a.k.a. The WTF Gay Disco Album. I’m the 1 out of 100, because honestly I don’t think it’s as bad as people say. That’s probably because I grew up listening to a lot of disco and funk on the radio, which I liked, so that part doesn’t put me off. And frankly, Queen’s take on club disco was more interesting musically than most proper disco acts. Besides, there are several “proper” Queen songs on it that are as good as most things they’ve done. And of course it’s the one with “Under Pressure” on it.
Name one good track besides “Under Pressure”: “Dancer”
LISTEN TO IT: Here’s a sampler if you don’t believe me.
Indefensible,
This is dF This entry was originally posted at https://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1641042.html. Please comment there using OpenID.