# Artists who never released a disappointing album **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820 "2009-02-28T20:28:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/81 "2009-03-04T16:52:37Z")
For me, the following artists are ones I can pop in any CD (or Album) and be able to listen to it all the way through with few or no skips over songs: Def Leppard Yes Billy Squier Abba The Beatles The Monkees Weird Al Yankovic (the guy is a genius) I have other favorites where the albums I have of theirs are some of my favorites, but I haven’t listened to _everything_ in their catalog, so I can’t make the claim as I can for the bands above…a few examples would be: Peter Gabriel Eagles Duran Duran ELO The Moody Blues ---
**Author:** ![mabes10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@mabes10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mabes10)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/82 "2009-03-04T22:06:26Z")
Can we eliminate the 80s? Then Neil Young. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/83 "2009-03-04T22:16:38Z")
I wish I could say this about my favorite band - 311 - but I was kind of disappointed in their last album. That’s not to say I totally disliked it. I would confidently say they’ve never made a _bad_ album. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/84 "2009-03-04T23:45:29Z")
I have four to nominate. Three already mentioned: The Beatles Renaissance Led Zeppelin The fourth: Supertramp Special mention for a group if you only count their first three albums and ignore the other sixty-five or so: Chicago Off the top of my head, consistently good artists with a clunker or two: Pink Floyd (I can’t stand Meddle) No Doubt Blood Sweat and Tears Paul Simon ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/85 "2009-03-04T23:52:10Z")
> [@Peanut\_Gallery](#): > > Mike Patton I almost included FNM, but when they released _King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime_, I can’t say I wasn’t a little disappointed. The album has now grown on me (a lot), just it was a little underwhelming after _Angel Dust_. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/86 "2009-03-05T01:43:15Z")
The Hives - although they’re getting dangerously close to being a one-trick pony. But I can crank up to any of their four albums and start spazzing. If I cheat and consider David Lee Roth era Van Halen an act separate from the Hagar and Cherone incarnations, then I’d nominate them. All 6 DLR-era Van Halen albums put a smile on my face (yes, even Diver Down, with all the cover tunes) If I pretend John Lennon never handed the Get Back session tapes over to Phil Spector and left Let It Be unreleased (maybe allowing “One After 909” and “I, Me, Mine” to get out as B-sides), then The Beatles qualify. The White Album has a lot of cruddy filler, but there’s enough good stuff to keep it from being a disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/87 "2009-03-05T15:14:50Z")
Simon and Garfunkel Alice in Chains Fiona Apple Pearl Jam The Beatles Outkast Mos Def Erykah Badu REM G. Love ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/88 "2009-03-05T16:08:34Z")
Personally: Bauhaus Joy Division Dead Can Dance Swans Smiths & Billy Bragg have not released anything I don’t like. Not a single song. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/89 "2009-03-05T21:36:39Z")
Lindsey Buckingham as a solo artist. Freddie King Albert King Lynyrd Skynyrd, pre-plane crash Allman Brothers Band, pre and post Duane. Cream Derek Trucks Gov’t Mule, up until we lost Woody. Jeff Beck ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/90 "2009-03-07T22:22:31Z")
> [@FalconFinder](#): > > Duran Duran I’d be interested in knowing which albums you’ve heard because I think everything after Notorious (1986-87) has ranged from mediocre (e.g., Wedding Album, Medazzaland, Astronaut) to not that good (e.g, Big Thing, Red Carpet Massacre, Liberty, Thank You) just plain bad (e.g., Pop Trash). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/91 "2009-03-07T22:32:50Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > \ > Allman Brothers Band, pre and post Duane. > \ Was there a pre-Duane ABB? ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/92 "2009-03-08T05:52:38Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > I’d be interested in knowing which albums you’ve heard because I think everything after Notorious (1986-87) has ranged from mediocre (e.g., Wedding Album, Medazzaland, Astronaut) to not that good (e.g, Big Thing, Red Carpet Massacre, Liberty, Thank You) just plain bad (e.g., Pop Trash). I have: Seven and the Ragged Tiger, Red Carpet Massacre, Big Thing, Thank You, Astronaut, Decade, Duran Duran, and Essential Night versions. Like I said in my post, I haven’t heard their whole catalog and there are plenty of songs on Big Thing, Thank You and Decade that I don’t like… I was in high school during their heyday and generally liked what I heard from them on the radio. I didn’t have money back then to buy their albums, and once I got older, I forgot about them for a while. It might be that I would like more of their stuff – then again, I might not! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/93 "2009-03-08T07:09:30Z")
**The Jayhawks**. All of their albums are just varying degrees of great. The **Eagles**. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/94 "2009-03-08T23:16:12Z")
> [@FalconFinder](#): > > I have: > Seven and the Ragged Tiger, Red Carpet Massacre, Big Thing, Thank You, Astronaut, Decade, Duran Duran, and Essential Night versions. > > Like I said in my post, I haven’t heard their whole catalog and there are plenty of songs on Big Thing, Thank You and Decade that I don’t like… > > I was in high school during their heyday and generally liked what I heard from them on the radio. I didn’t have money back then to buy their albums, and once I got older, I forgot about them for a while. It might be that I would like more of their stuff – then again, I might not! OK, thanks. I was just curious. Personally, I would get every album chronologically up to Notorious and then stop. I would also get _So Red the Rose_ by the spin off group Arcadia (1986). DD just started back in the studio again working on another album with Mark Ronson. We’ll see how that goes. Hopefully, they will stop trying to be popular with the kids and just write good music again. _Red Carpet Massacre_, their most recent attempt at a “hit” by recruiting Timbaland and Justin Timberlake, was not a good idea and suffered from a lack of Andy Taylor. Then they compounded the problem by releasing the uber-boring _Falling Down_ as the first single. UGH! IMHO. I digress. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/95 "2009-03-09T00:51:56Z")
Pearl Jam. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/96 "2009-03-09T16:32:57Z")
Are any Queen albums of the sort you’d classify as “disappointing”? It seems they fairly successfully stuck to their model and what’s considered their big hits or really interesting songs are scattered across the various albums? ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820/97 "2009-03-10T02:42:04Z")
> [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](#): > > And less seriously, the **Postal Service**. You’re right, _Give Up_ is a great album. I’m quite excited to hear their second one. **The Barenaked Ladies** are very, very reliable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-who-never-released-a-disappointing-album/487820.md?page=4)