# Do you own any albums on which you only like 1 song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 8, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799 "2025-04-08T18:10:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/61 "2025-04-10T15:42:17Z")
I generally agree, a tepid album overall–especially coming after Express which I always include on any “perfect album” list. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/62 "2025-04-10T16:18:41Z")
I didn’t understand or listen to much of the new music categories after disco. I still liked some of the new hard rock bands that got labeled arena rock. That was mirrored by my album purchases. I bought fewer albums after college. I started reading reviews in audio magazines before buying a new band’s album. I had too many dusty albums on the shelf. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/63 "2025-04-10T20:05:09Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Hard for me to imagine liking pop music and not liking _Parallel Lines_’ opening combo of “Hanging on the Telephone” and “One Way or Another.” I was meaning to look up the album to see what else was on there, as I thought I recalled liking quite a bit of it. Actually thought Heart of Glass one of the weaker songs. I remember my roommate in college and me arguing Debbie Harry vs Chrissie Hynde… Now I’m happy at what I expect to be my ear worm: “I’m gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha”! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/64 "2025-04-12T05:10:25Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > and Blondie was nowhere close to punk. This is wrong in so many ways… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Z1Lv6_DafyU/hqdefault.jpg "Blondie - X-Offender - CBGBs, New York - 23rd Dec 1976") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Lv6_DafyU) ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/65 "2025-04-12T11:27:38Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > This is wrong in so many ways… OK, we need to clarify. There were musical movements called ‘punk’ in both the US and the UK. But the two had very little in common. The US side, as I understand it, was somewhat of a theatrical thing, and the bands could generally play quite well. On the UK side it was more about social disaffection rather than music. Many of the UK ‘punk’ bands at the local pub level hardly knew which way up to hold their intruments, let alone play them. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/66 "2025-04-12T12:16:15Z")
I’m a huge fan of Frank Zappa, so many years ago I bought the album _Cruising with Ruben & the Jets_. Loved the first song ([Cheap Thrills](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Dpdzs-xOw)). Was eager to hear the rest, only do discover they were all slow, greasy, 1950s-style, doo-wop songs. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/67 "2025-04-12T12:47:52Z")
Brain Salad Surgery is just terrible, I agree. Like dimwitted Jock Prog, among a sea of excellent Prog Rock c. 1968 - 1976. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/68 "2025-04-12T13:37:00Z")
I thought that I would enjoy _The Tractors_ (1994) more than I do. “Baby Likes to Rock It” is fine (and the video is fun), but the rest of the album is not my cup of tea. And I might have added Billy Joel’s _The Bridge_ (1986), but I can’t decide if I really like “A Matter of Trust” all that much. Hmmm… Nah. It’s _The Tractors_. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/69 "2025-04-12T13:55:20Z")
I have roughly a gazillion albums with only one good song, but the first one that came to mind is the legendary album by Max Frost and the Troopers that featured _Shape of Things To Come"_, from the movie _Wild In The Streets_, a 1960s alleged counterculture cult classic that starred Christopher Jones, Hal Holbrook and 🤢 Shelley Winters.\*\* The movie was fairly terrible, the album worse, and its stereo mixing for the “hit” song _Shape of Things To Come_ grotesquely amateurish. But I like the song anyway. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xbzpCCN-1T4/maxresdefault.jpg "Shape Of Things To Come") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbzpCCN-1T4) \*“The Shape of Things To Come” was the title of a sci-fi novel written by H.G. Wells in the 1930s. \*\*There is no movie that can’t be substantially ruined by Shelley Winters in her latter stages. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/70 "2025-04-12T22:46:08Z")
I heard this great song today, and its lyrics are surprisingly deep. I do remember buying the album, and this was the only good song on it. > **[Aztec Camera - Oblivious (Official Video) (REMASTERED)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B2Sc2G_5ZA%2F)** > > Once again, not great quality video but hey, resynced audio from "High Land, High Rain"... best on YouTube! They did release another single, and the B-side was a remake of the then-recent #1 hit by Van Halen, “Jump.” > **[Aztec Camera - Jump](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COtZZmWKcRI%2F)** ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/71 "2025-04-12T23:49:35Z")
_All Right Now_ by Free. The title song is a great rocker (though “move before they change the parking rates” is an awful lyric). The rest are undistinguished blues numbers that sound pretty much the same. The first Columbia album for Pacific Gas and Electric has nothing memorable. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/72 "2025-04-13T00:06:14Z")
Roomie says that the only song she can stand on Lipps, Inc debut album, _Mouth To Mouth_, is “Funkytown”, and I’m a gonna agree with her. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/73 "2025-04-13T00:26:26Z")
Sure. There are several CDs I purchased when younger that I don’t listen to much now. Some only had one good song at their best. Most are from bands not that well known today by people not my age. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/74 "2025-04-13T02:42:48Z")
That’s a pretty good one. I actually do own that album, and have only ever enjoyed American Pie and (occasionally), Vincent. But I think that since Vincent actually is a pretty good song, I can’t say it fully meets the OP for me. I was (am?) a pretty big Pearl Jam fan, so I bought all of their albums until their self-titled 2006 album. I’m pretty sure I only really like one song off of Riot Act (“I Am Mine”, and I wouldn’t say I _really_ like that song). I’m sure I have lots of albums from the mid-90s grunge era that have one (or zero) good songs on them. I’m thinking things like Lemon Parade by Tonic, or Blind Melon. That was the days of hearing a banger on the radio and rushing over to Best Buy to buy the album, then being disappointed that either (a) everything else on the album was different or (b) everything else on the album was the same but worse. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/75 "2025-04-13T02:47:24Z")
I have (or had) an album by Squirrel Nut Zippers. The only song I really liked on it was _[Hell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS2IBMQIjDo)_. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/76 "2025-04-13T02:54:07Z")
Oh yeah, I had that one too! And Reel Big Fish’s Turn the Radio Off of which I’m pretty sure I only ever listened to Track 1 (“Sell Out”) on loop. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799/77 "2025-04-13T13:50:00Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > American Pie (Don McLean). > > I remember when I got the tape in high school and was so excited to listen to more magical tunes like American Pie…and I found utter dreck. Vincent isn’t too bad, but nowhere near the title song. > [@Jas09](#): > > That’s a pretty good one. I actually do own that album, and have only ever enjoyed American Pie and (occasionally), Vincent. But I think that since Vincent actually is a pretty good song, I can’t say it fully meets the OP for me. Nobody liked “Everybody Loves Me”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-any-albums-on-which-you-only-like-1-song/1016799.md?page=3)