# Bad songs on good albums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423 "2005-10-22T14:36:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/1 "2005-10-22T14:36:52Z")
Ok, unlike the other thread on bad songs, what are some good albums which have one (or more) really bad songs? Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery has the terrible song Bennie the Bouncer. Beatles for Sale has Mr. Moonlight, probably one of the worst songs the Beatles released commercially. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/2 "2005-10-22T14:39:19Z")
“Just a Touch” mars the otherwise perfect (IMHO) _Lifes Rich Pageant_ , an R.E.M. album from 1986. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/3 "2005-10-22T15:18:08Z")
Has there ever been a greater contrast than between _Revolution 9_ and everything else on the **White Album**? ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/4 "2005-10-22T16:53:15Z")
The Beatles also had “Within You Without You” on _Sgt. Pepper_. I’ve always considered _Green_ by REM to be a perfect album, with the exception of “Turn You Inside Out”, which sucks. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/5 "2005-10-22T16:53:20Z")
“Synchronicity” by the Police is a good album overall, but I profoundly take exception to “Mother.” Why they ever recorded this aural dog boggles the mind. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/6 "2005-10-22T18:49:51Z")
Pink Floyd’s _Meddle_ finishes off Side A with “Seamus”. Conceivably, possibly cute the first time you hear the dog whining and howling in doggie off-key to the blues, but who on earth would want that to come up every time they cue up the damn album? While I’m ragging on the Floyd, _Obscured by Clouds_ finishes up with “Absolutely Curtains”, which starts off nice but after awhile yields to an interminable bleating by what sounds like a drunken tone-deaf choir singing in Old Middle Martian. And for the heck of it, I’ll enter what’s likely to be a totally unshared opinion: I think “Custard Pie” really sucks and gets Led Zep’s _Physical Graffiti_ off to a bad start. ---
**Author:** ![party\_store](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@party\_store](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/party_store)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/7 "2005-10-22T19:01:06Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally Posted by DoctorJ_ > The Beatles also had “Within You Without You” on Sgt. Pepper. Are you serious? That (along with A Day In The Life) is one of that albums few saving graces. > [@](#): > > I’ve always considered Green by REM to be a perfect album, with the exception of “Turn You Inside Out”, which sucks. I think you mean “Stand.” ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/8 "2005-10-22T19:12:00Z")
Lennon/Ono’s _Double Fantasy_. Everyone I knew who bought it made a cassette of Lennon’s songs only. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/9 "2005-10-22T19:24:47Z")
> [@Oslo Ostragoth](#): > > Lennon/Ono’s _Double Fantasy_. > > Everyone I knew who bought it made a cassette of Lennon’s songs only. “A lot of people happen to think her work on Double Fantasy wasn’t … completely disruptive.” – Dave Nelson, \*NewsRadio \* ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/10 "2005-10-22T19:33:59Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Beatles for Sale has Mr. Moonlight, probably one of the worst songs the Beatles released commercially. I have never understood the ongoing animus toward this song, which is just a throw-away cover like many the Beatles did (including several on that very album). ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/11 "2005-10-22T19:42:09Z")
> [@party store](#): > > Are you serious? That (along with A Day In The Life) is one of that albums few saving graces. Right. Blows away Sgt. Pepper, Lucy in the Sky, Lovely Rita, Fixing a Hole, Good Morning Good Morning, Getting Better, With a Little Help from my Friends, When I’m 64. Beatles fan, are you? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/12 "2005-10-22T20:01:42Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > Right. Blows away Sgt. Pepper, Lucy in the Sky, Lovely Rita, Fixing a Hole, Good Morning Good Morning, Getting Better, With a Little Help from my Friends, When I’m 64. Beatles fan, are you? :dubious: I don’t like Within you, without you. But, I think it is because that song really has not aged well. I wonder what my reaction would have been hearing it in 1967. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/13 "2005-10-22T20:02:44Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > I have never understood the ongoing animus toward this song, which is just a throw-away cover like many the Beatles did (including several on that very album). It is a very bad cover song with that terrible organ. Rock and Roll music was also another cover song which is well done. At least with CDs, it is easier to skip songs! ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/14 "2005-10-22T21:31:05Z")
“Jazz Police” on the Leonard Cohen album _I’m Your Man_. It’s hard to believe its on the same album – nay even by the same artist – as the extemely classic and much-covered “Everybody Knows.” IMHO, “Jazz Police” stands as one of Cohen’s worst songs ever, actually. I completely cringe whenever I hear it – isn’t there a German word for that feeling of being terrible embarassed for someone else? ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/15 "2005-10-22T22:46:26Z")
> [@Hello Again](#): > > “Jazz Police” on the Leonard Cohen album _I’m Your Man_. It’s hard to believe its on the same album – nay even by the same artist – as the extemely classic and much-covered “Everybody Knows.” IMHO, “Jazz Police” stands as one of Cohen’s worst songs ever, actually. I completely cringe whenever I hear it – isn’t there a German word for that feeling of being terrible embarassed for someone else? Hello! I came to this thread to mention _Jazz Police_, a truly _humiliating_ thing to listen to. But then Cohen almost topped it with the equally embarrassing Barry White porno-funk of “Boogie Street” on “Ten New Songs.” My other vote goes for “Some girls are bigger than others,” the final track on **The Smiths** ’ best album, _The Queen is Dead_. The album is almost perfect all the way through, and should have ended on that _ultimate_ album-ender, “There is a light that never goes out.” Instead, we get the silly-stupid grade school humor of “Some girls are bigger than others,” which does its best to torpedo everything that came before it. Abhorrent. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/16 "2005-10-22T22:47:10Z")
I was thinking yesterday about starting a thread like this. I bought R.E.M.'s _Automatic for the People_ Tuesday and have absolutely fallen in love with it. “Star Me Kitten” made me consider the category. I don’t think it’s bad, I’m just not sure it contributes anything. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/17 "2005-10-22T23:01:44Z")
> [@](#): > > I think you mean “Stand.” No, not at all. “Stand” is catchy and fun. “Turn You Inside Out” is bilge, especially in the wake of a great track like “Orange Crush”. > [@](#): > > I don’t like Within you, without you. But, I think it is because that song really has not aged well. I wonder what my reaction would have been hearing it in 1967. True–I mean, they say the weed _was_ better back then. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/18 "2005-10-22T23:04:55Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I was thinking yesterday about starting a thread like this. I bought R.E.M.'s _Automatic for the People_ Tuesday and have absolutely fallen in love with it. “Star Me Kitten” made me consider the category. I don’t think it’s bad, I’m just not sure it contributes anything. Could you possibly be serious? I think “Star me kitten” is probably the best song on that record. If you want to talk “out of place,” what about “Ignoreland,” a pounding, rollicking, raucous arena rock song in the middle of an otherwise dark, brooding, somber, funereal, predominantly acoustic record!? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/19 "2005-10-22T23:12:50Z")
> [@VCO3](#): > > Could you possibly be serious? I think “Star me kitten” is probably the best song on that record. If you want to talk “out of place,” what about “Ignoreland,” a pounding, rollicking, raucous arena rock song in the middle of an otherwise dark, brooding, somber, funereal, predominantly acoustic record!? It does stick out, but I like it. I think “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite” is about as raucous, and that’s a necessary track that keeps _Automatic_ from turning into a dirge right off the bat. “Star Me” has a very nice feel, and you definitely need something between “Ignoreland” and “Man On the Moon.” Maybe it’s just because I can’t make hide nor hair of what Stipe is singing, but I’m just not sure it does anything except fill that spot. I still dubbed the album “perfect” after a few listens, so I’m not trashing the thing. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423/20 "2005-10-22T23:26:37Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > It is a very bad cover song with that terrible organ. Rock and Roll music was also another cover song which is well done. Believe me, it’s not my favorite Beatles song. It just always seems to emerge as a contender for the “worst Beatles song ever,” and I don’t get the hostility. To me it just sounds like an innocuous cover, in the same vein as, say, “Anna.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-songs-on-good-albums/327423.md?page=2)