Favorite Worst Albums

[Larry Schuler]

Inspired by Dom’s recent radio favorites thread, I’m reminded of just how many “important” albums of my childhood and teens were actually the worst (or very minorest) albums of the band/artist’s catalog due to nothing more than chronological coincidence.

So, what are your favorite albums that are (critically or fan-wise) the worst album in the band/artist’s ouvre?

Here’s my list:

Foo Fighters - There is Nothing Left to Lose (naive Dave Grohl settling down and slowing down 30 years before Foo Fighters the Unstoppable Corporation continues to crank out product)
RHCP - One Hot Minute (not just my favorite of theirs, it’s the only RHCP I can stomach)
Pearl Jam - No Code (great album but it was in that brief window when they were losing mainstream attention and hadn’t yet had their commercial or critical rebirth)
R.E.M. - New Adventures in Hi-Fi (similar to No Code, great album but frequently overlooked/forgotten)
Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore (they released much worse records after this but this was a huge drop off in their career after Melon Colie)
Stone Temple Pilots - Tiny Music (only STP record I can revisit)
Green Day - Insomniac/Nimrod (all-time favorites and great/decent records but adding them because I feel like I haven’t heard a peep about these two from Green Day fans in the last 20+ years)
Neil Young - Trans (jk, can’t enjoy that one)

[Ky Fried Redleg]

Tusk, Fleetwood Mac's followup to Rumours was widely panned but it's probably my favorite album of theirs. Buckingham's signature is all over it. I get the criticism; I mean, how to you follow the success of Rumours? People wanted more of the same and Tusk is very different. I think it's exquisite.

[NebraskaRed]

I agree with you about No Code by Pearl Jam. In terms of sales and radio play, it was a huge dip from their first three albums.

From what I read, the band is critical of the album. I love it.

It's far from their worst, by Monster by R.E.M. was both the first album I ever heard from them and my favorite.

[NebraskaRed]

Tusk, Fleetwood Mac's followup to Rumours was widely panned but it's probably my favorite album of theirs. Buckingham's signature is all over it. I get the criticism; I mean, how to you follow the success of Rumours? People wanted more of the same and Tusk is very different. I think it's exquisite.

Tusk is the gift that keeps on giving. Every time I put it on, I hear different things that I like about it.

[Falls City Beer]

Trans is great. Unironically.

Reconstruction of the Fables gets left off most people’s R.E.M.’s best lists (including the band themselves), but I love it.

Mighty Like a Rose by Elvis Costello gets slagged horribly by just about everyone but I think it’s great.

Mind Games by John Lennon is generally considered his worst album, but I like it a good bit (don’t love it, but I don’t think it deserves the criticism it gets).

Don’t Tell a Soul by The Replacements. Slick production, internal strife. Critical and sales disappointment. Still better than about 99% of what came out in the late 80’s.

[ShyGuy]

Madonna- American Life
Billy Joel- River of Dreams
Todd Rundgren- The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect

[Kingspoint]

Some of the early Fleetwood Mac (great album covers, though).

[Ky Fried Redleg]

Tusk is the gift that keeps on giving. Every time I put it on, I hear different things that I like about it.

I'm the same way. Creatively, I think it's some of their best stuff. There's something for every Mac fan among those twenty tracks. NR, what are your favorite tracks from Tusk ?

[Falls City Beer]

I'm the same way. Creatively, I think it's some of their best stuff. There's something for every Mac fan among those twenty tracks. NR, what are your favorite tracks from Tusk ?

It took serious guts to start a double album follow up to Rumours with such a mid-tempo moody opener like “Over and Over.” Gorgeous song. Beautiful song. Just not what you expect for an opener.

[Falls City Beer]

A couple others:

Slayer— South of Heaven: considered a sell out by thrash fans for being too down tempo and plodding. I think it’s heavy as hell and has some of my favorite drumming by Dave Lombardo.

Husker Du—Candy Apple Grey: again, accusations of selling out surrounded the release of this album after the gorgeous power pop of Flip Your Wig. Yeah, it’s massively dark. It’s raw and brutal. It’s uneven. But it pushed in a powerful new direction that paved the way for their masterpiece: Warehouse.

[Larry Schuler]

Adding Rage Against the Machine - Battle of Los Angeles. The only Rage album I listened to on repeat in real time and the only one I feel compelled to go back to now.

[westofyou]

Worst is a subjective thing really, but if you include bands feelings and press backlash

Loaded - Velvet Underground

Only Rock n Roll - Rolling Stones

I'll second Don't Tell a Soul, it's awesome but really is it when compared to the prior stuff?



Here my Dear - Marvin Gaye

[Dom Heffner]

Most Van Halen people hate 5150. That's a masterpiece.

It is a little like REM's Monster- if you had never heard anything by REM before that, you'd love it.

[Dom Heffner]

I do like the Stones' It's Only Rock n Roll and Black and Blue. Many of the die hards dont like those.

[KronoRed]

Wait.... There is Nothing Left to Lose is considered the worst Foo album? always thought it was the best and One By One was the universally hated one.