# Famous, respected musicians who only had 1 good album **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 18, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712 "2014-10-18T16:06:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/1 "2014-10-18T16:06:02Z")
Are there any musicians who only put out one album, or one really respected album (while the other albums were forgotten) who are still considered well respected musicians and not one hit wonders? I was thinking Meat Loaf may fit that bill because until he did bat out of hell II his first bat out of hell album was what he was known for. Then again his album dead ringer sold several million worldwide, so that probably isn’t accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/2 "2014-10-18T16:12:55Z")
By ‘good’, do you mean most popular (commercially successful)? “Good” is not an objective word. [Arthur Brown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Brown_(musician)) had one very successful album and then faded from sight, except for fans of his music and other musicians that he worked with, who probably thought his other works were also good. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/3 "2014-10-18T16:14:46Z")
Guns n’ Roses. There, I said it. Alanis Morrisette. (don’t snark the respected part; she did well for herself) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/4 "2014-10-18T16:24:44Z")
Liz Phair cones to mind. Her second and third albums are okay, then I compketeky lose track of her after that, but Exile n Guyville is the only one I find myself listening to (and I listen to it fairly regularly.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/5 "2014-10-18T16:30:49Z")
Googling “one album wonders” brings up some suggestions, though many of them are IMHO either too obscure, or disqualified because the musicians involved did release other albums, just not in that configuration. But **Jeff Buckley** , **The La’s** , and **The Sex Pistols** may be reasonable suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/6 "2014-10-18T16:38:15Z")
Oh, **The Knack**. Don’t get snarky with me on that one, either. Great, aggressive power pop. **Thudlow** - good ones. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/7 "2014-10-18T16:40:35Z")
Blind Faith, of course. The Spin Doctors – **Pocket Full of Kryptonite** ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/8 "2014-10-18T16:42:57Z")
ooo: **The Stone Roses** ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/9 "2014-10-18T17:13:01Z")
Derek and the Dominoes. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/10 "2014-10-18T17:14:19Z")
Leo Sayer’s first two albums are great and eclectic and very original. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/11 "2014-10-18T17:33:48Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Guns n’ Roses. > > There, I said it. As someone who LOVES Guns ‘n’ Roses, I have to… agree with you. 😛 _Appetite for Destruction_: an all-time classic album. If you own any GnR album, it should be this one. _GnR Lies_: really just a compilation of 2 EPs. _Use Your Illusion I & II_: some good material in there for sure, but certainly could have been condensed into a much tighter single disc (though opinions greatly vary on what would be included on that single disc). _“The Spaghetti Incident?”_: just an album of covers. No original material at all. _Chinese Democracy_: not even GnR as everyone besides Axl Rose is concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/12 "2014-10-18T17:43:48Z")
Depending on your definition of “famous”, Jackson C. Frank certainly counts, and he was certainly massively respected and his songs have been covered many times. Skip Spence only had one solo album, but was a member of both Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape before that. Robert Johnson lived before albums were a thing, but his total recordings only fill two CDs, and he’s one of the most famous and respected blues musicians. There’s a lot of early blues musicians who didn’t record a great deal, but it’s arguable how famous they are… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/13 "2014-10-18T17:44:19Z")
I think **Mountain** ’s first album may qualify. Perhaps their second. **It’s A Beautiful Day** ---
**Author:** ![sco3tt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@sco3tt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sco3tt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/14 "2014-10-18T18:34:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > **The La’s** This, to me at least, is the perfect answer to the OP’s question. This wasn’t a case of an artist or band managing to release one great album among several duds. Their eponymous album was their sole major-label release, and it was incredible from start to finish. Almost 25 years later I still pull it up on Spotify every now and then, and it still amazes me. There have been other La’s releases since then, but they’re essentially all remastered, repackaged, BBC sessions or demos and outtakes from this one. Every couple of years a rumor circulates about Lee Mavers reforming the band for a second album, but at this point it seems that anything they might do would only tarnish the perfection of the original (cf. The Stone Roses’ “Second Coming”). Whether the band meets the “Famous, respected” qualification among the general populace is debatable, but for years afterward it was impossible to read anything from the alternative music press without finding a glowing reference or comparison to the album, the band or Mavers himself every other month. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/15 "2014-10-18T18:39:04Z")
The reputation of _Love_, and their leader, Arthur Lee, rests (not quite but _almost_) entirely on their brilliant third album “Forever Changes”. It is at 40 on Rolling Stone’s greatest rock albums list, but I would put it higher. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/16 "2014-10-18T19:10:46Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > **It’s A Beautiful Day** Great choice. [Super Session](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Session). Kooper, Bloomfield, and Stills recorded it in two days, then left. [Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Wayne%27s_Musical_Version_of_The_War_of_the_Worlds) Mike Oldfield’s [Tubular Bells](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubular_Bells). ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/17 "2014-10-18T19:40:54Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Derek and the Dominoes. BRAAAAAP! Does not fit the requirements of the OP. My entry for the thread is Hermann Szobel. He wrote and recorded one album,; it is still considered genius today. He then disappeared off the face of the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/18 "2014-10-18T23:33:22Z")
**Spanky and Our Gang** ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/19 "2014-10-19T00:11:13Z")
Peter Frampton? ---
**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:** [October 19, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712/20 "2014-10-19T00:36:38Z")
Frampton Comes Alive that’s the only one Peter Frampton is known for. The others albums went in the cut out bin. I had more than more than my stomach full of that talk box gimmick. One album is all I could stand. discography shows all the duds that didn’t chart. > **[Peter Frampton discography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Frampton_discography)** > > This is the discography of English rock musician Peter Frampton. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-respected-musicians-who-only-had-1-good-album/701712.md?page=2)