# Great albums ruined by one bad song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 28, 2023, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329 "2023-04-28T23:08:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/1 "2023-04-28T23:08:10Z")
I’m listening to Dire Straits’ “Making Movies”. It could be my favorite Dire Straits album, but of course it has “Les Boys”. I would listen more often to the album if it hadn’t that song, a turd thrown in a delicious pudding. It’s a horribly homophobic song told from the outside perspective of a smug straight cis-male- “Les boys are glad to be gay”. Yeah, Mark, why shouldn’t they, does every gay person have to succumb to ridicule like your song and from society in general and be miserable like it’s supposed to be? I hate this song. I cannot grasp the fact that it’s on the same album as one of the most beautiful rock ballads ever, “Romeo And Juliet”. I know, I could easily skip the song, but I have one special OCD (not any other in my life): to play albums completely, like they were meant to be heard. It probably comes from starting listening to music on vinyl when it was too much of a drag to skip songs. Do you have other albums with almost only great songs, but one massive stinker? ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/2 "2023-04-28T23:12:33Z")
Never was fond of the song “Oh Daddy” on the Fleetwood Mac album, Rumours, but it certainly didn’t ruin the album for me. It’s one of my favorites. I just grit my teeth a little through that one. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/3 "2023-04-29T00:03:11Z")
Revolution Number 9 on the White Album. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/4 "2023-04-29T00:10:49Z")
“Mother” on The Police’s _Syncronicity_. ---
**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 29, 2023, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/5 "2023-04-29T00:14:21Z")
Now that’s a pretty good pick. I can’t really say that any one bad song _ruined_ an album for me, though. I do wish The Who had never covered “Barbara Ann” or “Bucket T”. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/6 "2023-04-29T00:16:08Z")
Well, it’s not ruined, but Seamus is the stinker on Pink Floyd’s Meddle, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/7 "2023-04-29T00:24:51Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Revolution Number 9 on the White Album. You forgot Honey Pie, Wild Honey Pie, Piggies, Rocky Raccoon, and Don’t Pass Me By. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/8 "2023-04-29T00:26:51Z")
I like “Honey Pie” and “Rocky Raccoon”. I don’t even skip “Revolution Number 9”. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/9 "2023-04-29T00:28:13Z")
Yeah, Rocky Raccoon is one of my favorites ---
**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:** [April 29, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/10 "2023-04-29T00:28:21Z")
> [@Jaycat.again](#): > > You forgot Honey Pie, Wild Honey Pie, Piggies, Rocky Raccoon, and Don’t Pass Me By. Some of those are okay, but more importantly, none of them last long enough to ruin the album. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/11 "2023-04-29T00:28:31Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I do wish The Who had never covered “Barbara Ann” or “Bucket T”. Good thing those were 45s, then 🙂 Now for a Who song that lowers the album it’s on, “A Legal Matter” is a good pick. “Sorry I got you pregnant, have fun raising that kid on your own!” isn’t a good look even by the standards of '60s rockers. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/12 "2023-04-29T00:35:58Z")
While we’re on The Who, I am very much not a fan of “Sister Disco” from “Who Are You”. mmm ---
**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 29, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/13 "2023-04-29T01:43:42Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@Jackmannii](#): > > > > I do wish The Who had never covered “Barbara Ann” or “Bucket T”. > > Good thing those were 45s, then 🙂 “Bucket T” is one of the tracks on the album “Magic Bus”. Both “Bucket T” and "Barbara “Ann” were featured on The Who’s 1966 EP “Ready Steady Go”.\* \*That album also includes their forgettable cover of “Batman”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/14 "2023-04-29T01:49:11Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > “Bucket T” is one of the tracks on the album “Magic Bus”. The “Magic Bus” album really isn’t a regular Who album, rather a shoddy compilation of singles, B-sides, album tracks and other obscure tracks for the US market. It was even marketed misleadingly as “The Who On Tour” (it says so on the very cover) though there wasn’t a single live recording on it. It’s a curiosity. Of course I have it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/15 "2023-04-29T03:47:53Z")
That was actually one of my favorite tracks, because of its sheer weirdness. For me, “Bang and Blame” on R.E.M.'s “Monster”, which also had the audacity to be a hit single. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/16 "2023-04-29T04:03:13Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Well, it’s not ruined, but Seamus is the stinker on Pink Floyd’s Meddle, I’d say. I rather like Seamus. It reminds me of seeing that Mademoiselle Nobs sequence in the Pompeii movie. It is just a nice contrast to the other stuff, and a proper prelude to the immensity of the next song. The one I really do not like is Money. Never did. It just feels wrong for its album. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/17 "2023-04-29T08:14:21Z")
‘Ruin’ is too big a word, but: > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Do you have other albums with almost only great songs, but one massive stinker? Deep Purple’s terrific Mk III album ‘Burn’ has a massive stinker in ‘A’200’. In a similar vein, Rush’s tremendous ‘Signals’ has a futile, messy exercise in ‘Countdown’. That both of these are instrumentals that are the last song of their respective albums is coincidental. I like instrumental music. But I do feel the last songs should be especially strong tracks, just like the first songs, and this is pretty much a standard structure. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/18 "2023-04-29T08:51:34Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The one I really do not like is Money. Never did. It just feels wrong for its album. I’m just not sure what could ever follow The Great Gig in the Sky. Perhaps it was best to clear the air with something completely different. In addition, since one is flipping the disc anyway, the moment for a smooth segue may have been lost. (I know I have experienced that with A Fever You Can’t Sweat out by Panic! at the Disco, where there is a buildup of tension at the end of the last song on side 1, which abruptly breaks quite awesomely with the beginning of the next song. But that track starts off side 2. So the tension doesn’t get resolved until after you flip the disc, which ruins the moment.) I guess The Great Gig in the Sky, in a digital format, could have been followed by something like Brain Damage _except somehow even better_, but what would be worthy followup to an entire album side about a person’s complete birth, life, and death? ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/19 "2023-04-29T11:05:18Z")
The first time I heard _Mother_ I would probably have agreed, but it has grown on me over the years and now I actually rather like it. Agree with the OP on _Les Boys_. What was Knopfler thinking?! There is homophobic language in _Money for Nothing_ as well of course, but I always took that as being in an ironic fashion as it seems like it’s a dig at those who would use the terms to describe musicians. But I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2023, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/20 "2023-04-29T12:34:30Z")
I’m not sure what Rush song you’re thinking of, but “Countdown” is not instrumental. It’s about the first Space Shuttle launch. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329.md?page=2)