10 rock albums that saved artists’ careers
Not every new band is meant to go the distance. The life expectancy of any rock and roll act tends to be short, and it only takes one lousy release to send them falling back down to Earth. While some acts like Queen may have been dead in the water once upon a time, they were ready to pick themselves up and keep moving.
That’s not to say that every one of these albums is perfect from top to bottom. Each album has an adjustment period where the artist struggles to return to their old sound. When they pull it off and win, it’s like being transported back to the glory days, when they never dated past their prime and are ready to kick some ass again.
There are even a handful of songs that almost surpass where these acts were initially, building off of their old momentum to create something that none of their fans was ready for. It’s one thing to give fans what they want, but it’s something different to give them what they didn’t know they wanted.
Above all else, artists proved they didn’t have to give up the business once they grew up. Rock and roll might be a young man’s game, but once artists gain some perspective, they can do much more in their elder statesmen phase.
10 rock albums that saved artists’ careers
A Thousand Suns – Linkin Park
For a good portion of Linkin Park fans, A Thousand Suns was where everything went wrong. While they had always flirted with a bit of electronica in their repertoire, hearing them turn themselves into digitised noise was too much for fans to take. When looking past the sheen on the record, this might be responsible for keeping Linkin Park alive.
Looking to mix things up in 2010s, Linkin Park took inspiration from acts like Radiohead and Pink Floyd to craft this album, telling the story of what happens in the fallout of nuclear Armageddon. While there’s a case to be made that there are one too many interludes, the album is supposed to be taken in as a whole, as if it’s caught in the middle of the carnage when the bombs go off and left sorting through the rubble.
Although there are a few classics on here like ‘The Catalyst’ and ‘Waiting for the End’, the best moments are where LP stretch themselves into new territories, like letting Mike Shinoda take the reins on ‘Wretches and Kings’ and incorporating world music melodies into the chorus of ‘When They Come For Me’. As the rock genre has spread out in the past few years, people have used this album as an inspiration, seeing the influence cross over to newer artists like Bring Me the Horizon. Regardless of the criticism behind A Thousand Suns, the final product is now the sound of modern rock.
Alive! – KISS
It’s nearly impossible to ignore a band like KISS. They might not have been the best musicians in the world, but these freaks from New York brought shock rock to the masses, turning every one of their shows into a circus wherever they went. The show might have gone down well every night, but none of the spectacle translated to record sales.
For most of their early career, KISS got no traction off their first three albums, with most people interested in seeing the stage show. After trying their hand at studio magic, they thought the best way to give the people what they wanted was to capture the live experience across a double record. The live album might have been considered a throwaway art form, but Alive! Gave the shock rockers an entire second wind on the album charts.
Operating like a souvenir from a great show, every song gets a real kick in the ass when performed live, from the singalong energy of ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ to stretching out ‘100,000 Years’ to include an amazing drum solo by Peter Criss. KISS may have tried to slog away in the studio, but their home has always been up on stage playing for the people.
Cloud Nine – George Harrison
By the start of the 1980s, George Harrison didn’t seem to want a music career anymore. After being one of the most successful ex-Beatles out of the gate with All Things Must Pass, albums like Somewhere in England and Gone Troppo saw Harrison take his foot off the gas, focusing more on his film company than anything substantial. The ‘80s might have been tough on ‘The Quiet One’, but things began to turn around once Jeff Lynne got involved.
Being one of the biggest Beatle fans, the Electric Light Orchestra frontman helped Harrison come out of his shell on Cloud Nine, making songs that were more accessible than what he was used to preaching about on his earlier records. The attention on spirituality might still be there on ‘This is Love’, there’s a glossier sheen behind it, almost like Harrison is trying his hand at Peter Gabriel tunes partway through the record.
Harrison isn’t alone, either, bringing in his old mate Eric Clapton to play the guitar on the title track and bringing Ringo Starr back on drums on the Beatles-esque track ‘When We Was Fab’. Harrison embraced his role as the ageing rock star, and there was nothing with pumping out quality tunes in his twilight years.
David Bowie (Space Oddity) – David Bowie
The world of rock and roll without David Bowie is a much scarier place to think about. Throughout his career, ‘The Starman’ gave audiences some of the most forward-thinking music of his generation, always pushing the boundaries for what the art form was capable of. If Space Oddity hadn’t set him up, though, chances are no one would have known what Davey Jones was actually up to.
Although most fans only know Bowie in his outlandish costumes, the beginning of his career saw him making dramatic theatre pieces, which was quickly forgotten once the psychedelic movement kicked in. Bowie knew that he needed something more than vaudeville to get people to pay attention, and that meant looking far beyond the stars to get it.
Space Oddity is more in line with folk-rock than glam. But the title song set Bowie on the right track to dominate the rock world in the future. As he toys with his sound, Bowie paints vivid pictures of people who don’t quite fit into mainstream society, all while expanding his musical palette, from the gritty side of ‘Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed’ to the nine-minute epic ‘Cygnet Committee’. Vaudeville may have been one of the many hats Bowie could wear, but this album was the breeding ground for the man who would become Ziggy Stardust.
Private Dancer – Tina Turner
It could be argued that Tina Turner has never had a slump era in her career. From her work in the ‘60s to her turn as a solo star, Turner was always about bringing some of the most forceful soul music to listeners wherever she went. Private Dancer promised to be another helping of good music, and it was a small miracle that Tina was able to make it at all.
Around the start of the ‘80s, Tina had finally been fully separated from her husband Ike, who had helped lead her backing group and trained her to be a glorified puppet for his act. Almost in retaliation for those years of being used, every song on here feels like an empowerment anthem, from the kiss-off to her husband ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ to making a glorified rock track on ‘Steel Claw’.
Underneath all of the makeup and synthesisers was a lonely woman still trying to make sense of her world, painting pictures of other down-on-their-luck loners on the title track and ‘Better Be Good To Me’. It would never be easy stepping away from Ike’s clutches, but Tina’s strength as a performer and person is far greater than her reputation.
Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters
There was no real game plan for Dave Grohl after Nirvana ended. He had thought that the grunge giants would keep going forever, and the loss of Kurt Cobain sent him into a downward spiral that took him months to recover from. After finally coming to his senses, Grohl found the one thing that would help bring him back: music.
Going into the studio by himself, Grohl planned on recording a bunch of his favourite songs that he had written on his own while still in Nirvana. The mission was to make a glorified demo tape, however the final product became the Foo Fighters’ first record, with Grohl playing every single instrument except for a few token guitar appearances here and there. Though there is definitely some leftover Nirvana influence, Grohl is trying to break out of his funk, either mining something a lot heavier on ‘Weenie Beenie’ or making some of the sugariest pop tunes he can think of on ‘Big Me’.
The seeds were also being planted for future Foo Fighters projects, like ‘I’ll Stick Around’ becoming a staple of their live show and ‘Good Grief’ having an emotional streak that would run through the rest of the Foos catalogue. The rest of the band would join later, but this is the record that helped Grohl pick up the pieces and move on.
A Night at The Opera – Queen
After their third album, Queen was ready to take over the world of rock. The band had their sound down to a science at this point. Their first hits were starting to make significant dents on the charts, with ‘Killer Queen’ becoming a staple in their catalogue. So when they’re making that much money, how the hell did they go broke?
After getting their latest financial statements, Queen found out they had been ripped off on their contract and went to war against their higher-ups. As a sort of payback to get out of their deal, the group pulled out all the stops for A Night at the Opera, running the gamut between every genre they knew best, from rockers on ‘I’m In Love With My Car’, earnest love songs on ‘Love of My Life’, and even delving into prog rock with the epic ‘The Prophet’s Song’.
The icing on the cake was ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, sprawling out over six minutes and becoming one of the most avant-garde hits to ever grace the charts, going through different movements and operatic sections before finally coming to a close. Queen was always going to make music on their own terms, but this is the record that bought them the freedom to be anything they wanted.
Fleetwood Mac (White Album) – Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac in the mid-’70s began as a hot mess. Although their first incarnation with Peter Green produced some of the best blues rock England had to offer in the late ‘60s, his search for new sounds led them to get new guitarists like Bob Welch. When Welch left the fold in the middle of recording a new album, The Mac lucked out by bringing in two superstars for the price of one.
As Mick Fleetwood listened to some of the newer acts in the studio, he came across Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who would join their songwriter ranks. It soon transpired that what they were making on this record was far from the slap-dash blues, it was much closer to musical perfection than anyone could have asked for.
Taking a folksy approach to most of the tracks, Mac generated one piece of ear candy after another, from Christine McVie’s gorgeous pop gems like ‘Say You Love Me’ or Nicks tapping into her spiritual side on ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Landslide’. Rumours was just around the corner, but this is the proving ground when Mac went from a kickass blues band to a rock and roll giant.
2112 – Rush
Towards the end of the ‘70s, Rush had pretty much run out of options. After spending years without cracking into the rock scene, Caress of Steel was the straw that broke the camel’s back, having no hit singles and most of their concert dates not selling out. It was time for them to get some single material ready, but Rush wasn’t the kind of band that likes to conform.
After the label asked them to write hits, they lied through their teeth and said they would give it a shot, only to come back with a long conceptual piece on the entire first side of the record. Telling the story of a man living in a dystopian future run by tyrannical priests, the 20-minute epic actually started to gain traction, drawing fans to Rush, who related to the underdog story. While the album wasn’t commercial by any means, the cult following surrounding it began to slowly grow, spreading through word of mouth and turning Rush into one of the biggest cult acts in the world.
After the label saw the results, they gave Rush the creative golden ticket, giving them free rein to do whatever they wanted in the studio going forward, leading to even more conceptual pieces like A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres. Rush were never meant to be mainstream, but sometimes an artist can do something so intriguing that the masses come to them.
Band on the Run – Paul McCartney
For as famous as he is nowadays, Paul McCartney was actually in trouble in the mid-’70s. After the Beatles’ breakup, Macca was cast as the villain in ‘The Fab Four’ story, and his latest sugary stabs at pop on ‘My Love’ did nothing to endear him to the rock and roll crowd. Once his entire group abandoned him before recording in Nigeria, McCartney pulled out the big guns for Band on the Run.
Recorded under horrible circumstances (including being robbed at knifepoint), Band on the Run is the McCartney that fans had been missing for all those years, getting in touch with his rock and roll side on ‘Jet’ and creating a mini medley out of the title track, which tells the story of a band breaking free from jail.
The best parts of the project are where he gives nods to other styles of music, whether that’s playing into his folksy side on ‘Bluebird’ or driving that piano riff home in the middle of ‘Nineteen Hundred Eighty-Five’. With just his wife Linda and Denny Laine by his side, this was what turned McCartney into a superstar all over again, making Wings one of the biggest concert attractions of the ‘70s. Despite what critics had been saying about McCartney’s performance for the past few years, this was where he found his rock and roll self again.
