I’d say the Stones’ Emotional Rescue marked their true nadir, from which they’ve never really recovered. Even more so than the eponymous track, “She’s So Cold” is a positively nails-on-the-blackboard listening experience.
Oddly, I liked Yes’ 90210 more than any other they’ve produced…mostly because I can’t stand the very things about them the proggers love.
Speaking of prog (or something like it), I’d say Pink Floyd hit the crapper hard with The Final Cut. Oy yoi-yoi, a couple good tracks, but a turgid, gaseous mess overall. Post-Waters Floyd is…well, it’s something else entirely, so I won’t even bring it up.
:smack:
I meant derivative. I swear, I’m really not that dumb.
No need, we have Paul Westerberg’s solo career to accomplish that.
Paul Westerberg contributed lyrics to We Are the Normal? I never liked that song, but I’ll have to look up the lyrics.
I think you got Bowie’s tanking misplaced. The album right after Young Americans, Station to Station, was one of his best. I think it was after Scary Monsters and through the rest of the 80’s and early 90’s when he sucked.
Hardly anyone agrees with me on this, but Idlewild when they came out with their ‘The Remote Part’ album. From balls-out punk and songs like ‘When I Argue I See Shapes’ to chart chasing stadium friendly modern indie tedium like ‘American English’ in one album.
Although those three albums are not for the faint of heart (I love them), I don’t think that is when YES went bad in the sense of the OP. He is referring to when the band sold out. You can’t get much further from selling out than YES’s TFTO, and that was the problem…
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and not just because of “Under The Bridge”. I remember hearing “Give It Away” for the first time and thinking, “What is this crap?”
It’s too bad, because Mother’s Milk was so friggin’ good, too.
Funny, the first thing I thought of when I saw your OP title was Jewel/Intuition. I’ll add though: Saw the video for the first time a couple weeks ago wherein she satirizes selling out/image is everything. Sorta (but not completely) restores some faith (yeah, I have a little faith in her)
Still have little interest in her latest album though.
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew Genesis: “Follow You, Follow Me”–the rest of the And Then There Were Three album was merely turgid. This dreadful ditty topped off the album by removing the “gi” from that description. The band never recovered.[/QUOTE]
Have to respectfully disagree here. Although FYFM is the weakest cut on this album, this was by no means a sell-out album. This was the band frantically trying to make up for the loss of Steve Hackett.
The REAL sell-out came when they let Phil Collins actually have a real-say in the song-writing. The first horrible sign came in DUKE, with the god-awful “Please Don’t Ask”.
And then they dispensed with an indespensible part of their team, producer David Hentschel, and opted for the home-grown shit sound that allowed dreck like
‘abacab’ to spring forth. It’s been 24 years and I can still remember the blow to my stomach when I first heard “No Reply At All”.
I used to call this song “The End of Billy Joel as We Know Him”; a rather cheap joke on REM’s also god-awful “The End of the World as We Know It”.
Both those songs deserve to be forgotten.
The horrible “stream-of-consciousness” lyric style that Dylan may have created (and thankfully) abandonned, has never worked for anyone else. Even INXS tried it (title escapes me) and their song also sucked ass.
I don’t think we disagree that much at all. While I find the album as a whole rather bloated and lacking in energy, it’s still at least a halfway decent record made, as you point out, under difficult circumstances. It’s just that one song that really began the process of stinking up the Genesis legacy. (A lot of people would point to “Your Own Special Way” on the previous album, but I don’t have a problem with that one.)
I couldn’t agree with you more. Michael McDonald is a hack.
Along the same lines, Blood, Sweat, and Tears put out one good album, picked up the awful David Clayton Thomas, and sucked ever afterwards. Interestingly, Al Kooper, the main talent on the first album, was the arranger for “You Made Me So Very Happy,” the precursor of the horror to come.
Jethro Tull pretty much lost it after “Thick as a Brick,” although they made a brief comeback (to good stuff, that is) with “Songs from the Wood.”
After “Play It Again, Rod” (a hits compilation), Rod Stewart never did a thing worth listening to. Up to that point, I thought he was fantastic.
Once U2 released Pop, everything went downhill. Terrible album and I don’t think they recovered. They’ve had a few good songs here and there, but they’re too old to play the rockstar game anymore. It is my firm belief that U2 needs to go away.
I dunno; what about Billy Joel’s terrific We Didn’t Start The Fire or R.E.M.'s classic It’s The End Of The World As We Know It? Oh wait, you didn’t like those, never mind
Seriously, we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I think the REM song in particular is one of their best.
Same for Hung Mung burying U2 after Pop. I didn’t care so much for that album either, but I was totally blown away by All That You Can’t Leave Behind. I thought it was as good, possibly better all around than Joshua Tree, and that’s saying a lot.
And the guy who didn’t like RHCP’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik needs to find his medication… That’s like, one of my favorite listen-to-the-whole-thing-through albums of all time. Go on, dump on Abbey Road, Electric Ladyland or The Wall while you’re at it!
