# Hate the single, love the album **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505 "2007-03-26T04:26:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/1 "2007-03-26T04:26:28Z")
We’ve all bought albums where the only good song was the single, and the rest of it filler. How many times did you hate the single, but like the rest of the album? I’ve got two –Lily Allen’s “Alright, Still”'s radio track is “Smile”, an unremarkable ska track. The rest of the album features smart-assed lyrics in her slurry working class accent, with heavy bass and rap influences–very distinctive, –When I first bought Regina Spektor’s “Begin To Hope”, I was crestfallen to hear the opening track “Fidelity” (a superslick track that sounds like it was an 80’s Top 40 reject). Now it’s all over the radio. But once you get past the first three tracks, the album is a brilliantly idiosyncratic effort that includes everything from her singing about her friend’s drug use to a dead-on Billie Holiday tribute. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/2 "2007-03-26T05:00:50Z")
**Yes** ’s _90125_. The single (a big hit) was ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’. God, I hate that song. Great album, though. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/3 "2007-03-26T05:14:22Z")
I was gonna say how much I hated U2’s “Discotheque”, but actually the rest of the album was even worse, so I can’t use that one. Instead, I’ll go with another U2 release: I really thought “New Year’s Day” was a boring, dreary song, but I loved the rest of _War_. Also, “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” is probably the worst XTC song (never mind single) ever, but _Nonsuch_ overall turned out to be much stronger than I initially gave it credit for. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/4 "2007-03-26T05:18:07Z")
Ooh, thought of another: Wasn’t a fan of “E-Bow The Letter”, but _New Adventures in Hi-Fi_ was the last listenable R.E.M. album. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/5 "2007-03-26T11:26:31Z")
Genesis, _We Can’t Dance_. The popular singles, _Hold on my Heart, We Can’t Dance, and Jesus, He Knows me_ are the weakest songs on the album. _Fading Lights, Driving the Last Spike, and Dreaming While You Sleep_ \*\*are \*\*the album! ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/6 "2007-03-26T11:49:43Z")
[QUOTE=woodstockbirdybird] Also, “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” is probably the worst XTC song (never mind single) ever, but _Nonsuch_ overall turned out to be much stronger than I initially gave it credit for. [/QUOTE] Oh, I completely love that song. For me, it was Suzanne Vega’s album Solitude Standing. The single was the insipid, depressing “Luka” but the rest of the album is quite good (you know, if you LIKE Suzanna Vega.) ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/7 "2007-03-26T12:47:05Z")
Fountains of Wayne’s _Welcome Interstate Mangers_ is a great album, saddled with _Tracy’s Mom_. ---
**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:** [March 26, 2007, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/8 "2007-03-26T12:56:04Z")
“Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” is the weakest song in **Bat Out of Hell**. Tolerable, but nowhere near as good as anything else there. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/9 "2007-03-26T13:04:06Z")
Nearly all of the Elvis Costello albums I have: _Alison_ and _Watching the Detectives_ off of **My Aim is True**. _Pump it Up_ from **This Years Model**. _You Little Fool_ from **Imperial Bedroom**. _13 Steps Lead Down_ from **Brutal Youth**. The last two were just what a friend told me were the released singles, but its in keeping with releasing the bad stuff from the other albums. Not that Alison and Watching the Detectives are bad, and they indeed have radio-worthy quality that the rest of the stuff on MAiT doesn’t (and, by contrast a lot of the stuff on his other albums _does_,) but the rest of the albums is just so much _fun_. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/10 "2007-03-26T16:04:36Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Nearly all of the Elvis Costello albums I have: _Alison_ and _Watching the Detectives_ off of **My Aim is True**. _Pump it Up_ from **This Years Model**. _You Little Fool_ from **Imperial Bedroom**. _13 Steps Lead Down_ from **Brutal Youth**. The last two were just what a friend told me were the released singles, but its in keeping with releasing the bad stuff from the other albums. Not that Alison and Watching the Detectives are bad, and they indeed have radio-worthy quality that the rest of the stuff on MAiT doesn’t (and, by contrast a lot of the stuff on his other albums _does_,) but the rest of the albums is just so much _fun_. [/QUOTE] Well, the other singles from _Imperial Bedroom_ were “Beyond Belief”, “Man Out Of Time” and “Shabby Doll”, and the other singles from _This Year’s Model_ were “(I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea” and “This Year’s Girl” (and “Radio, Radio”, depending on whether you got the UK or US version of the album), so that might change your picks a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/11 "2007-03-26T17:13:56Z")
True for IB: those three from IB were immensely better than You Little Fool (although I can’t pick a favorite track from that album,) and while everything in TYM is one of Elvis’ best (besides Pump it Up,) TYG, Chelsea, and Radio Radio are not in the top half of my favorite songs on that album, (although they are close, so you can’t really say I “hate” them, but it sure explains why I always hear them and not, for instance “No Action” in concert :mad: ) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/12 "2007-03-26T17:26:43Z")
Joan Osborne’s dreadful “One of Us,” (you know, “what if God was one of us”) is on _Relish_, and every other song on the album is better. A couple - “St. Teresa,” “Ladder,” - are wonderful. One of the few albums I love playing all the way through. With that one exception. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/13 "2007-03-26T17:36:01Z")
I LOVE IbMePdErRoIoAmL and think “You Little Fool” is the best song on it, but I actually think it is the type of album best enjoyed whole and that singles from it are/were unnecessary, other than someone trying to make EC an artist with many charting singles, which he should have been. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/14 "2007-03-26T17:42:05Z")
“ **Brick** ” on Ben Folds Five’s _Whatever And Ever Amen_. It was a good song for about a minute, then I quickly got tired of hearing it all over. But the album is top-notch. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/15 "2007-03-26T17:45:04Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Joan Osborne’s dreadful “One of Us,” (you know, “what if God was one of us”) is on _Relish_, and every other song on the album is better. A couple - “St. Teresa,” “Ladder,” - are wonderful. One of the few albums I love playing all the way through. With that one exception. [/QUOTE] Great choice. One of my favorite albums, Counting Crows _August and Everything After_, had as its initial single “Mr Jones,” a repetitive, catchy, high energy, but utterly disposable radio song. While the rest of the album had other energetic tracks like “Murder of One” (later released as a single) or “Rain King” (also later released as a single), most of the rest of the album is plaintive, moody, dark, with a lot of slow tracks and piano-based cuts. Whereas I’ve since come to appreciate that there is more meaning buried in the lyric to “Mr Jones” than at first glance, I loathed the song when it first came out, and figured that it was probably representative of the entire album, some stupid white guy bouncing around in dreadlocks and a Davy Crockett jacket, total early 90s west coast Bohemian fodder. I still think the endlessly repeating four chord jingle that is the music is crap. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/16 "2007-03-26T17:45:51Z")
**Big Time** and **Sledgehammer** from _So_ by Peter Gabriel have always sounded like they were from a completely different album and were dropped in by some marketing guy. I mean, with **Excellent Birds** , **Mercy Street** , **In Your Eyes** , and **Don’t Give Up** (God I love Kate Bush); how could they come up with those two?!?!? ---
**Author:** ![AHoosierMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@AHoosierMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHoosierMama)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/17 "2007-03-26T18:07:19Z")
Blind Melon’s “No Rain” was awful on the otherwise good self-titled album. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/18 "2007-03-26T18:23:11Z")
David Bowie Single: _The Hearts Filthy Lesson_ Album: _Outside_ The song does not stand up well as a single, but in the context of the rest of this great album, it fits well. ---
**Author:** ![sweepkick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@sweepkick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweepkick)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/19 "2007-03-26T18:50:37Z")
Jeremy on Pearl Jam’s ‘Ten’… a serious misfire in an otherwise impeccable album. While I don’t hate the song, I always thought ‘Money’ was oddly out of place on Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505/20 "2007-03-26T18:59:19Z")
I’m glad hadn’t heard the single “Tush” before I bought Ghostface’s **The Pretty Toney Album** , because I would never have spent money on it if I had. Fantastic album though, as long as you skip “Tush.” And while I don’t hate OutKast’s “Ms. Jackson,” it’s definitely the worst song on the brilliant **Stankonia**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hate-the-single-love-the-album/397505.md?page=2)