I think we all know the trope of denying that the sequel to “Highlander” has ever existed, it’s at least an old SDMB meme though I don’t know if it’s universal. Anyway, I know that Highlander 2 exists because I saw it in the theater at the time, but I understand the denial because it was awful and turned all the premises of the original upside down and should never be spoken of again. So what are albums by excellent artists or bands that are so out of the ordinary quality that even die-hard fans deny them?
My pick is “Cut The Crap” by the Clash. I mean, the Clash are one of the most respected rock bands of all time, both by the public and critics, but what shit was this? Every die-hard Clash fan like me wants to live in a parallel universe where this album just doesn’t exist, and the fact that is does exist in ours is just a sign that all universes have their tragic glitches sometimes.
You may have noticed that I stole the line “what shit was this?” from Greil Marcus’ famous Rolling Stone review of Bob Dylan’s 1970 album “Self Portrait” which started with the question “What is this shit?”. So that album might be another contender, but as a big Dylan fan I’m more lenient in hindsight, it’s not that bad, “Knocked Out Loaded” and “Down In The Groove” later in his career were even worse.
So, what are yours? Keep the forgettable nadirs of genius bands coming.
Back in the late 80s, there was an urban legend that Dee Dee Ramone, the main songwriter for the Ramones, released a rap album under the name Dee Dee King. Never happened, you hear me! It. Never. Happened.
Oh my god, I once heard the single from that album on Youtube about 20 years ago! It was cringefully awful. IIRC. half of the lyrics were in bad German.
I immediately thought “Well, at least Neil Young never made an album of random electronica.”
.
But then I thought "I wonder if there are albums people consider worse than TRANS?"
Wow, he’s cut over 40 albums. I never thought there’d be records I’ve never even heard of! I wonder if I have the nerve to try albums like ‘Storytone’ … “incorporating an orchestra, choir and big band, many of the cuts are about the environment; some are love songs. They all add up to one of his most unfocused albums, a mess of too many ideas and not enough memorable tracks.”
“Trans” is not to everybody’s taste, especially rock fans of Neil, but at least it’s interesting. “Landing On Water”, now that’s a turd with heavy synths.
As a Who fan, I feel the same way about Two Sides of the Moon (Keith Moon’s first and only (Thank God!) solo album. The only thing good or clever about that album is the title.
I’ve known about the reputation of that album for a long time, and I never intended to buy it, but was always curious. When music streaming became available (around 2005 or so), I gave it a try. A short try, of every of the four sides. Which are just 16 minute repetitions of four different noises. From this on I’ve been a strong supporter of the theory that Lou released the album only to piss of the suits.
A time-honored tradition of rock ‘n’ roll. A lot of artists put out crappy “Contract Obligation” albums. The afore-mentioned Mr. Young spent a good chunk of the '80s pissing off Geffen Records on many occasions.
Ah, found a quote:
… Young’s tumultuous Geffen years, when he played chicken with the label by making everything but the rock ‘n’ roll records the record label was hoping for (the company responded by shelving some of those albums).
I found Trans unlistenable. I think honestly, Neil hates his fans more than he hates his label. The success of Harvest scared him.
I read once that Neil created Rust Never Sleeps with one side good songs and the other side a bunch of FU songs to the record buyers. I don’t know if it is true, or even close, but if it is, I think I have the sides in the other order that he did! (honestly, I no longer remember which side was which. Also, Neil, Johnny Rotten was (and is) still alive, it was Sid that burned out and didn’t fade away. Kind of a weird error.)
Bob Seger’s Against the Wind probably qualifies for a lot of his hardcore fans.
Dave Marsh said it was made up of “failureproof songs that are utterly unlistenable and quite meaningless” in his Rolling Stone review. All in all, it was a little too slick, a little overproduced, a bit of a capitulation to the yacht rock trends of the day.
I mean this in the nice way possible, that’s baloney, IMHO. That’s Dave being a pompous ass. It’s a perfectly cromulent album that meshes nicely into his discography.
IIRC Coda was music left on the editing room floor from other albums Led Zeppelin did because those songs sucked. After John Bonham died and the band dissolved the record label scraped the shit off the floor and published it.
So, I agree with you but it kinda isn’t the band’s fault (and it is fair to assume every band ever has produced some crap…part of the creative process).
If I had to pick a Zeppelin album that sucked that is on them I would say Presence.
You can tell by listening which album they were recorded for, and in every case, the band was right to leave them off.
OTOH, if they’d have put Hey Hey What Can I do on it, I would have bought it. They missed their chance. That song was not available on anything other than a 45 for like ever.
. Well, some German anyway. He was raised in West Berlin by his military family until he was 15.