Bad Albums by your favorite artists

[cjefferys]

"Cut the Crap" isn't a very well regarded Clash album. It didn't help that Mick Jones wasn't involved.

[Mr.Marion]

"Cut the Crap" isn't a very well regarded Clash album. It didn't help that Mick Jones wasn't involved.

No it didnt. The Clash certainly left with a whimper.

Did anyone get the Rolling Stones Emotional Rescue? I think it was after Some Girls but before Tattoo u, so 1981ish. Was it that bad that my Walter White looking co-worker would throw it out his car window?

[Nostalgiabuff]

Does anybody here ever listen to anything pre 1980 ?

pretty much all I listen too, other than new material but artists from that era

[nvmbrsdoom5]

I listen to loads of stuff that's pre-1980! Other than the metal and new wave stuff I love, most of the music I listen to is mostly from the 1954-1979 years.

As for Celtic Frost's "Cold Lake"......man that's still a hotly debated/discussed topic in the scene. To the point where it's become a frame of reference anytime a heavy band releases a controversial album. "Ut oh, I think this band just pulled a 'Cold Lake'!" LOL I think there was definitely some redeemable material on that album but the lyrics and much of the vocal delivery (along with their image) was what really sank that record for most folks.

And in regards to "Emotional Rescue", I think it's not an awful record, but it's not one I find myself returning to very often, if ever. It hasn't aged well compared to "Tattoo You", in my opinion. There's a lot of folks who also detested "Undercover" but I think that record overall holds up better than "Emotional Rescue" nowadays.

[4NDR01D]

"Land Speed Record" by Husker Du is pretty unlistenable. A live album that is worse than bad bootleg quality and since it's their first album you don't even know the songs yet.

[ZMOQ]

Cheap Trick's "All Shook Up (1980) and "One on One" (1982). Both albums have a couple of good songs, but those stick out like sore thumbs among the novelty songs and the shouters. That's really too bad, because Cheap Trick's first 4 studio albums skilfully and wittily walked the line between heavy metal and power pop. On some albums, the power pop came through more heavily ("In Color", "Heaven Tonight"). But, sadly, on "All Shook Up" and "One on One", Cheap Trick seemed to have lost their sense of melody and had Robin Zander (usually a good singer) screaming at the top of his lungs. Those 2 albums coincided with Trick's commercial decline. It was only the huge hit, "The Flame" that saved them in 1987.

It was really disappointing to hear Trick devolve from a band where "every song on the album is good" to "good thing for cassette tapes so I can skip all the duds on the album".

[Mr.Marion]

Cheap Trick's "All Shook Up (1980) and "One on One" (1982). Both albums have a couple of good songs, but those stick out like sore thumbs among the novelty songs and the shouters. That's really too bad, because Cheap Trick's first 4 studio albums skilfully and wittily walked the line between heavy metal and power pop. On some albums, the power pop came through more heavily ("In Color", "Heaven Tonight"). But, sadly, on "All Shook Up" and "One on One", Cheap Trick seemed to have lost their sense of melody and had Robin Zander (usually a good singer) screaming at the top of his lungs. Those 2 albums coincided with Trick's commercial decline. It was only the huge hit, "The Flame" that saved them in 1987.

It was really disappointing to hear Trick devolve from a band where "every song on the album is good" to "good thing for cassette tapes so I can skip all the duds on the album".

I think Cheap Trick was more a victim of the changing times. Mostly the new wave movement, which I think started with Iggy Pop's the Idiot

[cjefferys]

The Idiot is a great album. I agree that Cheap Trick was a victim of changing times though.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

Ouch, again I find myself somewhat in disagreement! "All Shook Up" and "One On One" had some sterling songs on there....but I admit, for the first time in their career, they started to have some truly "filler" songs and ideas that just really didn't work. But the songs on those records that are good to me are SO good that I still have a fondness for the records overall. However, Cheap Trick's 1986 album, "The Doctor", is pretty much useless. A couple of good riffs and ideas but overall an extremely lackluster record, I can't even tell you when the last time was that I listened to it (probably sometime in 1986 haha!)

And I agree with cjeffreys about "The Idiot", I really dig that album. But then again I love post-punk/new wave, etc.

[Blue Meanie]

For the Cheap Trick fans...If you don't have Robin Zander's Solo album go out and find it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Zander_(album)

When I was an assistant manager at The Wiz here in NY I received one of these as a promo and was immediately hooked on this album. Very Beatlesque and just a really great album. Worth finding if you like Zander's vocals. 'Show Me Heaven' duet with Maria Mckee of Lone Justice is just AMAZING. I didn't know that 'Jump Into The Fire' was originally recorded by Nilson until I got the album that it originally was on. Another great song on the album. You can probably find this for a really good price on Ebay or Amazon. Worth every penny and then some.

[ZMOQ]

Ouch, again I find myself somewhat in disagreement! "All Shook Up" and "One On One" had some sterling songs on there....but I admit, for the first time in their career, they started to have some truly "filler" songs and ideas that just really didn't work. But the songs on those records that are good to me are SO good that I still have a fondness for the records overall. However, Cheap Trick's 1986 album, "The Doctor", is pretty much useless. A couple of good riffs and ideas but overall an extremely lackluster record, I can't even tell you when the last time was that I listened to it (probably sometime in 1986 haha!)

And I agree with cjeffreys about "The Idiot", I really dig that album. But then again I love post-punk/new wave, etc.

Oh gosh, don't I know! Side 1 of "All Shook Up" is the good side. But when the needle hit "Love Comes a Tumblin' down" and "High Priest of Rhythmic Noise" I wondered, why is Robin Zander screaming in my ear? Is he trying to be AC/DC? The real *** moment was "Who D' King". Sigh... waste of groove space and the beginning of the end of a great band.

Then we got to "One on One". Great singles, and 2 or 3 good power pop songs ("Ooh La La", "Time is Runnin", maybe "Love's Got a Hold on Me") but the rest is more screaming, or novelty dreck ("I Want Be Man", "Four Letter Word").

They had at least one truly great single, pre-"The Flame". It was "Tonight It's You" that reminded fans of what was right about Cheap Trick all along. It just wasn't a hit and sunk into obscurity, but I still have a very dear spot in my heart for that one.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I think I remember hearing Cheap Trick HATES the song "The Flame", because it foisted on them by their record company. It's their biggest hit, and they won't perform it live.

Chris

[Mr.Marion]

I think I remember hearing Cheap Trick HATES the song "The Flame", because it foisted on them by their record company. It's their biggest hit, and they won't perform it live.

Chris

I hate it as well. It's a terrible song. They are a great band otherwise though.

[ZMOQ]

I think I remember hearing Cheap Trick HATES the song "The Flame", because it foisted on them by their record company. It's their biggest hit, and they won't perform it live.

Chris

Well, yes, that is understandable why'd they hate it. Cheap Trick usually wrote their own songs (mostly by Rick Nielsen) and then, all of a sudden, they got pushed to perform a song written by outside writers. But, from Epic (Records) standpoint, Cheap Trick had several years of "no hit singles" and albums that didn't sell well. If they kept going at that rate, they'd be dropped from the label. "The Doctor" was their absolute nadir.

In a way, Cheap Trick and Heart had similar problems in the mid 80's. Both bands were new and fresh in the late 70's, wrote their own songs, had hit singles and albums. But both bands hit a rough spot in the early 80's with rapidly dropping sales and a dearth of hit singles. Both bands were revitalized in the mid-late 80's with songs by outside writers. But, the 2nd wind eventually soured on them and both bands disavowed their mid-late 80's hits and stopped performing them.

That said, "Heart" (1985) and "Bad Animals" are actually pretty good albums.

[Werewolf]

I love Yosemite Sam's cover of The Flame.