10 albums that ruined artists’ careers
No artist ever goes into the recording process of an album wanting to upset their fanbase. The fans come first before anybody else, but every artist will show a different side of their creativity whenever they’re stuck behind glass in a recording studio and allowed to express themselves. The studio might be a playground for artists, but these albums from U2 and Oasis left nothing but a mess in their wake.
As opposed to albums with a few sour moments, there’s a core problem at the heart of these projects. From a production idea that didn’t work to mediocre songs from back to front, fans were unwilling to stand up for these records upon release. While the band might have believed in these songs at the jump, the aftermath of these releases made their fans lose faith in them.
After years of making great music, these records killed artists’ momentum. Although there are acts like Fiona Apple who can keep releasing records sporadically and still earn acclaim, the records listed below took these artists from some of the most in-demand musicians in the world to yesterday’s news in a matter of a few months.
Then again, only select few people on this list have faded into obscurity after these albums came out. Musicians should never be counted out; every one of these LPs can be recovered from if you have the right idea. No matter what these artists would do next, things would always be different after these disappointments.
10 albums that ruined artists’ careers
Songs of Innocence – U2
U2 has always been at arm’s length in the world of legendary artists. Although Bono seemed like he would bring rock and roll salvation on albums like The Joshua Tree, the back half of the ‘90s made the band look pretentious on albums like Pop. They seemed on a better trajectory in the 2000s, but Songs of Innocence is where millions of fans jumped off the bandwagon.
Then again, the reason why this LP is on the list has almost nothing to do with the music. Songs of Innocence remains a solid entry in U2’s catalogue, but how it was delivered was terrible. After striking a deal with Apple, this album was force-fed onto most listeners’ iPods whether they wanted it or not.
While Bono thought it made a pretty decent PR exercise between brands, he also admitted that it was a wrong move in retrospect, especially since listeners had a more challenging time trying to get the new album off their devices. There’s a good U2 album at the heart of this, but Big Brother shoving it into your ears wouldn’t set the world on fire.
Other Voices – The Doors
There is no The Doors without Jim Morrison at the very front. While Morrison might not have known how to play any instruments, his aura and swagger onstage were at the heart of every great song they performed night after night. Once Morrison passed away, that should have been the end of the band, but the remaining members had some other ideas.
Since the band were cooking up material before Morrison passed away, they decided to keep rolling on Other Voices, with keyboardist Ray Manzarek filling in for Morrison behind the mic. While the instrumentation isn’t terrible (it is still the Doors), the magic behind these songs isn’t there, sounding more like a jam at a blues bar than anything substantial.
And while Manzarek can carry a tune when he wants to on a song like ‘Tightrope Ride’, the rest of the album feels more lacklustre when you listen to any other Morrison vocal. The Doors may have lit a fire under the belly of many rock fans, but when you take Morrison out of the picture, they become a less exciting version of the Grateful Dead.
Mardi Gras – Creedence Clearwater Revival
It’s astonishing to look at the amount of work that Creedence Clearwater Revival pumped out in the 1960s. Within two years, they had made some of the best rootsy rock and roll committed to tape, being enjoyed by both country fans and rock and rollers alike. When the band entered the ‘70s, they were on shaky ground, and the tensions boiled over on Mardi Gras.
While the original idea for this album was for the band to operate as a democracy, not having John Fogerty kneecaps every song on a handful of these cuts. Since Fogerty was known as the heart and soul of the band, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford’s songs don’t measure up, especially with Cook’s borderline tone-deaf voice on ‘Take It Like a Friend’.
When Fogerty does show up for work, he turns in his lowest effort, sticking to cover songs, down-and-out country songs, and only one classic, ‘Someday Never Comes’. There was always an urban legend surrounding whether or not Fogerty was trying to sabotage the project. If so, it worked with flying colours.
The Wall – Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd’s The Wall could be studied as a work of art in the grand scheme of prog rock. Although the album might have been arduous, this became the definitive rock opera, as Roger Waters waxed poetic about Pink’s pain and self-exile from society. Waters had that vision from the beginning, and the rest of the band had to suffer to get that vision right.
Outside of David Gilmour, Waters was the only one who conducted the sessions, mapping out what the rest of the band would play. While getting constructive criticism is always helpful, Waters was looking at a deadline and would make sure nothing stood in his way, even hiring another drummer to play ‘Mother’ after Nick Mason wasn’t playing it correctly.
The real casualty of this album is the future of Pink Floyd. After Richard Wright was fired and rehired during production, the accompanying tour ripped the band apart, with Waters leaving the band for a solo career. While Pink Floyd prospered for a few more years after Waters’ departure, the magic of the Dark Side of the Moon era of the band would never be seen again.
Mezmerize/Hypnotize – System of a Down
After 20 years in the hard rock industry, listeners still haven’t heard anything like System of a Down. Combining metal, alternative music, and humour under one roof, every one of the band’s albums was a thoughtful look at politics and absurdity all the way through. And while their sister album experience was seen as their peak, not everyone in the band looks back fondly on the albums.
On the one hand, these albums contain some of the most pointed lyrical themes of any System project, like deconstructing Hollywood and rallying against the Iraq War. On the other hand, Serj Tankian has mentioned being strong-armed into doing the project and unable to bring nearly as much enthusiasm as he would have liked.
It sounds impossible listening to this record without Tankian, but the creative tension led to the band fracturing afterwards, with no new music on the horizon after nearly two decades. Since Daron Malakian had a hand in getting each of these albums off the ground, this feels like more of a warm-up for what he would do in his solo band Scars on Broadway.
Second Coming – The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses’ debut album is ground zero when looking through the best of Britpop. Although they arrived in the Madchester scene in the late ‘80s, every band that came up in their wake was trying to copy their style, from Oasis to Ocean Colour Scene. As the public waited to hear what the second album would sound like, the band were at each other’s throats in the studio.
After woodshedding for years, Second Coming got swallowed up by its production, having songs that went on for too long and not building to that much payoff. Although songs like ‘Love Spreads’ might have stood the test of time, there were always disagreements about what should be included, as John Squire hid behind his electric guitar and played one riff after another.
It wouldn’t be that long after the album’s release that the band was history, with drummer Reni announcing his departure a few months after the album hit store shelves. Britpop may have continued for a few more years, but this was when the cracks in the genre started to form.
Just Push Play – Aerosmith
Having success is just as intimidating as failing. Although bands might love the idea of a number one hit, there’s a good chance they’ll spend the rest of their days chasing after the same hit and hoping to have lightning strikes twice. And when Steven Tyler saw what happened with ‘I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing’, a wild idea turned into Just Push Play.
Despite the band co-producing the album together, most of the songs sound Frankensteined by a corporation, featuring none of the grit of early Aerosmith albums. Outside of their Bad Boys From Boston moniker, Tyler tries to rip off different pop trends of the early 2000s and falls flat on his face, from the jangly sounds of ‘Jaded’ to the weird Zeppelin-techno going on in the title track.
While the band did make the album sound epic from a production standpoint, they ended up with something that doesn’t sound like Aerosmith, with guitarist Joe Perry eventually dismissing some songs from the record. Although some of these songs are close to being great, they should have been reserved for a Steven Tyler solo project.
Cut the Crap – The Clash
After the punk wave came and went, it looked like the Clash would usher the genre into the next decade. The band had already made a double album classic on London Calling, and Combat Rock brought their weird new wave stylings to MTV. The Clash were always their worst enemies, though, and everything changed once Mick Jones left the fold.
While Joe Strummer was determined to continue without his writing partner, Cut the Crap is nowhere near the level of a Clash album. Drafting in new faces to replace Jones, half of the songs sound unfinished, with cheap electronic drum machines added in and Strummer sounding like he’s scraping the bottom of the barrel on songs like ‘Dirty Punk’.
Even though ‘This is England’ left the Clash legacy on a high note, it reads like a sad epitaph for what the band had become by the 1980s. They had started as one of the most militant forces in punk history, and now they were left as a shell of what they could have been.
Be Here Now – Oasis
For a fleeting moment, it looked like Oasis would take over the world in the 1990s. After coming off two blockbuster albums, the Gallagher brothers’ ability to write classics was only matched by their animosity towards each other. While Noel Gallagher had expected his name to go down with the likes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Be Here Now is where things come to a screeching halt.
In the wake of their success, the band was determined to go bigger than big on their next project, including songs that went on for far too long and production that sounded too noisy from the opening track ‘D’You Know What I Mean’. While songs like ‘Don’t Go Away’ capture a sense of innocence, the rest of the album feels bloated, as the band slowly went from the biggest band in the world to yesterday’s news.
Even though the Gallaghers have never been ones for critical opinion, Noel seemed to listen to the criticism, remarking later that the album was a mess from start to finish. The sounds of Britpop felt like they were going to take over the world, but the minute the door shut in the last few seconds of the album, the genre was as good as dead.
St. Anger – Metallica
By the early 2000s, Metallica were bigger than any other metal band in existence. While they had started in the underground thrash scene, The Black Album turned them into the biggest band on the planet, playing to stadiums worldwide. Although the band was on shaky ground during the Load era, no one was prepared for what happened in 2003.
After losing bassist Jason Newsted and James Hetfield left to go to rehab, the band regrouped to make St. Anger as a therapeutic exercise. Although the band was much healthier after this record, they turned in one of the most wretched albums in metal history, from Hetfield’s subpar vocal performances to Lars Ulrich unhooking his snare drum and pounding your snare eardrums over the course of the album.
Though Metallica recovered from their setbacks and became a big metal band again, they would never be at the forefront of the mainstream again. Death Magnetic may have set them on firmer ground, but it felt like an apology for the earlier metal torture they subjected to their fans.
