# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/41 "2023-04-30T16:57:06Z")
This is me, not you, but I really dislike the turgid sludge that is “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood “, no matter who’s doing it… but it particularly mars Elvis Costello’s otherwise amazing “King of America “ for me. ---
**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 30, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/42 "2023-04-30T17:02:40Z")
I really like “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” in several versions (e. g. by the Animals), but I agree that EC’s cover is bland and uninspired and the worst song on an otherwise excellent album. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/43 "2023-04-30T17:52:33Z")
> [@Jaycat.again](#): > > The Noel Redding song is no great shakes either. Oh yeah, that is a bit of a turd, but not stinky enough for me to have fast forwarded. With tapes, it took some effort and commitment. 😉 ---
**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 30, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/44 "2023-04-30T19:09:00Z")
Between _Empty Frame_ and and _Spinning Away_ lies a morose piece of disappointment, _Cordoba_ which is the only thing that prevents _Wrong Way Up_ from being a flawless album. Yes, _Crime in the Desert_ and _Been There, Done That_ are goofy, but at least they are not murky downers. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/45 "2023-04-30T20:58:17Z")
Reading the title of the thread made me immediately think of “Les Boys.” It’s a particularly bad choice for the album since the album so short. Without that song the album is barely more than an EP. If the album had a few more good songs on it then the stinker wouldn’t be as noticeable. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/46 "2023-04-30T21:08:20Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > and _The Bogus Man_, which seems to be _Heartache_’s partner piece, every bit as gauche and tuneless, and slightly enlivened by Ferry’s awful vocal performance. Plus it’s over nine minutes long. I’m indifferent about _In Every Dream Home A Heartache_ but Bogus Man is a fucking banger. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/47 "2023-04-30T21:54:27Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Odd how someone thinks songs are horrible and others think they are great. Odd and/or interesting. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > While we’re on The Who, I am very much not a fan of “Sister Disco” from “Who Are You” As it turns out, that’s my favorite tune from that album. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/48 "2023-04-30T22:42:51Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > As it turns out, that’s my favorite tune from that album. 🙂 Yeah, it’s up there for me as well. ---
**Author:** ![Mars\_Horizon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mars_horizon/32/2804_2.png) [@Mars\_Horizon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mars_Horizon)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/49 "2023-05-01T01:47:45Z")
This, a thousand times this. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/50 "2023-05-01T02:21:37Z")
Re: _Sister Disco_–Pete wasn’t particularly fond of the song, at least when it came to playing it live… > ‘Sister Disco’ I hate even more than ‘Dreaming From The Waist’ because there is a point in which every time we’ve done it where Roger comes over to me, stands next to me and makes some kind of soppy smile, which is supposed to communicate some kind of Everly Brothers relationship we have for the audience, which isn’t actually there.” > > “It’s supposed to be an act where I’m supposed to collude like ‘we know each other very well we look like enemies but we are friends really’ kind of look. Often that will be the moment where I look him in the face and go ‘you f\*\*king wanker’ and he gets angry when I do that.” ---
**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:** [May 1, 2023, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/51 "2023-05-01T13:22:46Z")
As far as one song ruining a Beatles album, for me it’s “What Goes On” from Rubber Soul. Specifically, the lead guitar, which sounds like someone dropped a cat on a guitar and let it scratch around for a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![NinthAcolyte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ninthacolyte/32/13676_2.png) [@NinthAcolyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinthAcolyte)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/52 "2023-05-01T13:43:14Z")
That’s really interesting! _Making Movies_ is also my fave Dire Straits album, and I don’t mind “Les Boys” at all. It feels very affectionate to me, a playful and teasing series of observations. (Disclosure: I am not a gay man, but I am a queer AMAB person who had all sorts of nightmarish homophobia thrown at her growing up.) That said, I have trans friends who adore the Amanda Palmer song “Sex Changes,” which I think is transphobic drivel. So I definitely understand how a work may succeed or land flat among its mentioned demographic. My pick for the great-album-bad-song is REM’s _Out of Time_, which is a flawless masterpiece of an album… Except for “Radio Song,” which is one of the most intensely annoying pieces of music I have ever heard. It feels like nails on chalkboard every time I hear it. This on an album that has _Losing My Religion, Near Wild Heaven, Half A World Away, Texarkana,_ and _Country Feedback_ on it - some of the finest stuff REM ever did. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2023, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/53 "2023-05-01T13:43:57Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > the lead guitar, which sounds like someone dropped a cat on a guitar and let it scratch around for a few minutes. You say that like that’s a bad thing. Carl Perkins via early Harrison has a lot of charm for me but I’ll agree the song was a little…loose…for _Rubber Soul_. Still, it performed really well for a B-side in the US (Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1966). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/54 "2023-05-01T13:53:01Z")
If any song “ruins” _Rubber Soul_, I’d say it’s “Run for Your Life.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/55 "2023-05-01T14:00:54Z")
> [@NinthAcolyte](#): > > That’s really interesting! _Making Movies_ is also my fave Dire Straits album, and I don’t mind “Les Boys” at all. It feels very affectionate to me, a playful and teasing series of observations. (Disclosure: I am not a gay man, but I am a queer AMAB person who had all sorts of nightmarish homophobia thrown at her growing up.) That said, I have trans friends who adore the Amanda Palmer song “Sex Changes,” which I think is transphobic drivel. So I definitely understand how a work may succeed or land flat among its mentioned demographic. Although I can understand some people disliking the lyrics it’s just a bad song. And worse than that, stylistically it is jarring in an album that is otherwise perfectly fitted together. For an album that is only 37 minutes long it makes a big difference that the last song doesn’t fit. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/56 "2023-05-01T14:05:37Z")
> [@NinthAcolyte](#): > > It feels very affectionate to me, a playful and teasing series of observations. Funny how perceptions about works of art can differ. For me, a straight cis-male like Mark Knopfler, the song sounds like a disgusted and clichéd “Ha, look at those queers with their leather, nazi caps and their Jean Genet, and those freaks are even proud of it.” ---
**Author:** ![NinthAcolyte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ninthacolyte/32/13676_2.png) [@NinthAcolyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinthAcolyte)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/57 "2023-05-01T14:10:42Z")
The line that, for me, sets the tone of the song is “They get nervous and they make… Mistakes.” I am _super_ not a musician so I don’t know that I have the vocabulary to describe what I mean, but the music and the delivery of that line are very… Gentle? Playful? It’s got an “aw, you guys are cute” kind of feel to me? Not in a belittling-gay-men way, but like… They _aren’t good_ at cabaret, but they’re doing their best because it’s fun, and he (Knopfler) finds that endearing. Anyway, just my two cents! As Not A Music Person, I certainly can’t defend the song’s musical merits on any technical grounds. I like the way it sounds, but I have no defense to offer for it. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/58 "2023-05-01T14:12:33Z")
Well, I have no complaints about the music, I just find the lyrics jarring. ---
**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:** [May 1, 2023, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/59 "2023-05-01T14:18:57Z")
The only song on _Revolver_ I don’t like is “Doctor Robert.”\* Edit: Ninja’d by @EinsteinsHund I’m surprised no one’s yet mentioned “Four Sticks,” from Led Zeppelin’s fourth album. Also, I’ll add “Just a Touch,” on R.E.M.'s otherwise flawless _Lifes Rich Pageant_. \*I grew up with the US version, which omits this song (and two others), so it was a perfect album! ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329/60 "2023-05-01T15:48:26Z")
Deleted. . . I was thinking about the song Mother by Genesis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-albums-ruined-by-one-bad-song/983329.md?page=4)