Which of your favorite artists has the biggest flaw in their back catalouge?

Question

Inspired by sarah c's flawless discography question, which of your favorite bands went has the deepest flaw in their catalouge? Albums that you only buy because you're a slightly obsessive compulsive collector, that make you wish they had lived fast and died young, well maybe not, that's kind of sick but you get the point.

I submit the Clash. Their first album (The Clash) is one of the best albums ever made by anyone ever, their second (Give 'Em Enough Rope) is a slight decline in quality but still very good and utterly fantastic in it's better moments, and their third (London Calling) has it's lows but is generally great and occasionally magnificent, and their singles and EPs up to this point are better than any other band has ever done and I stand by that statement.Then came Sandinista!, it stays in the terrible to mediocre range, occasionally good, and to make it worse it's a triple album. Then Combat Rock with a few good songs among bad and average. Not a terrible album but far from the godliness attained on their first three albums. Then Mick Jones gets kicked out which effectively ends the Clash’s career in the fans’ eyes, and yet a bunch of guys behind Joe Strummer released an album called Cut The Crap. It’s bad, and to add insult to injury there’s a song called “We Are The Clash” on it.

I agree on the Lydon thing sadly, he's now entertaining for all the wrong reasons. You only occasionally get glimpse of the old Lydon who was one of the coolest people to walk the Earth, when it just came natural.

And I don't know much about Yes or Radiohead, but I agree "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" is pretty lame.

Other issue: They shouldn't have let Squeeze be released under the name The Velvet Underground, with NO original members.

Bob Dylan definitely had his low points.

Blondie's more typical 80's "new wave" very much tarnished their earlier excellent output.

I'm sure a lot of people disagree, but save maybe a few songs, Tommy by the Who shouldn't exist.

David Bowie could make some real crappy music when the mood took him, "Let's Dance" for example is downright embarrassing.

Billy Idol would be on that plane mentioned in the first answer, right after Generation X broke up.

Devo could have given up after their first album.

I agree with Recomend and I like Janis's answer. I almost said the same thing about Led Zeppelin, although I do like a few songs off the third album and some from IV are pretty catchy. And not enough people are willing to say that about the Stones, and it's mostly true.

But I'd like to add that "This Is England" on Cut The Crap, the last album by Kind Of The Clash is actually worth listening to. In general it's still a disgrace though.

I agree that AC/DC was never as good without Bon Scott. It had more energy and something I can't really explain, something special when he was there, with Johnson I always thought they just sounded like another hard rock n=band, whoop-tee-do. Songs like "Jail Break" "Let There Be Rock" "TNT" "It's A Long Way To The Top" and "Rocker" and the edginess on songs like "Big Balls" put everthingt post-Bon to shame in my opinion.

Answer 1

The first 2 Led Zeppelin albums were pretty good but in my opinion that's all.
After Peter Gabriel left Genesis they sucked monkeys
Metallica was GREAT in the 1980's
The Rolling Stones in the 60's- good dark British pop. They bored me to death afterward.

of course David Bowie, who I devoted so very much of my time to and adored from Space Oddity through Diamond Dogs just didn't appeal to me anymore. I didn't care for his change of style. I know he was a cameleon but The Thin White Duke didn't do it for me

Answer 2

While perusing the old CD collection:

Aerosmith - Done With Mirrors, Just Push Play, and the endless assortment of live and compilation albums seriously tarnish an otherwise magnificent body of work.

Bon Jovi - While most would probably disagree that these guys have a great catalog, I quite like the band with the exception of the horrific This Left Feels Right album. There wasn't one redeeming moment on that disc.

Iron Maiden - Everything is absolutely solid with the exception of the two albums recorded with Blaze Bailey at the helm. How could they listen to that guy and think for a second that he'd be accepted as a replacement for Dickinson?

Kiss - We're cruising along just fin here until the trio of Dynasty, Unmasked, and The Elder appear. Now, I enjoy all three of these albums, but they just don't hold up to anything that came prior. Then we see an upswng in quality before the Asylum and Crazy Nights albums... and then things look good again before the Psycho Circus abomination.

Metallica - Wonderful until Justice. The production and lack of bass on that album make it impossible to listen to. Everything that comes after is just pure garbage.

Ozzy Osbourne - Two serious flaws: Ozzmosis and Down to Earth. I'm still undecided on the new album.

Van Halen - Their entire catalog is masterful except the Van Halen III album with Cherone. I have nothing against Cherone, but I found the quality of that album to be more on par with a (s)Laughter release.






NP: "Counterpunch" - Sebastian Bach

Answer 3

Guns' N' Roses went to doing covers. They did darn good on those covers, but they were still freakin' covers. And that new crap Axl Rose calls GNR is not GNR.
Roger Waters' ego killed Pink Floyd. The Final Cut was unimaginative for such a talented band. Who has heard any of Roger Waters' solo stuff? I haven't heard it anywhere, yet Dark Side of the Moon is still played a million times everyday on the radio almost 40 years after the fact because it's legendary. No matter what anybody says, DSotM beats The Wall, and the post-Waters albums weren't as bad as people say. Learning to Fly is one of PF's best songs.
Rammstein sang in Spanish on their last album Rosenrot. The album all around is not up to Rammstein standards, IMO but is still a good album, but that Spanish song in particular stands out. The Spanish language doesn't suit their music, and that woman singing in the background is painful to hear.
Three bands who we know are all capable of better.

Answer 4

Hum... I think all three of my favorite bands had major flaws in their catalog. But Radiohead's first album was pretty bad for me. It was amateur and mediocre, but I guess it takes time to develop a sound right? But still, Creep? Really? I'm not a fan of Pablo Honey at all.
Oh and Yes just came onto my speakers, and Yes is one of those amazing bands that just... ugh. Owner of a Lonely Heart kills my ears each time.

EDIT: Ha! So agree on Bowie.

Answer 5

I'll agree with you on David Bowie's Let's Dance but he made a huge comeback with Tin Machine later on.
I also agree with Silver on Jethro Tull.
My biggest flaw would be with Queen who I thought was great until the Jazz album and they went steadily downhill after that.
Another of my favorite bands that went downhill was Yes starting with the Drama album. Come off it, Yes without Jon Anderson was just a joke?
Also Foghat starting with Boogie Motel.
All I can think of for now.

Answer 6

Man "Cut the Crap" was just awful, it was so bad that they didn't even mention on the discography in "Clash on Broadway". 7 Seconds latest cd is just not good. Bad Brains new album isn't that great either, I was hoping that they would drop the Rasta thing, and go back to the Black Dot days.

Answer 7

Bostons 1st was great but everything after that sucked.
Bon Scott made ACDC and Back In Black was good but couldn't reach Bon and then everything went down from there.
The Stones haven't put anything out worth listening to since Some Girls.

Answer 8

I've always said (jokingly) that John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) should have died in a plane crash years ago. His later work is just a shame (in my opinion) and look, Sid Vicious is a cult hero now, because he died before getting old and embarrasing himself too much. If I kept thinking, it would probably be a fairly full plane, but thats the first one to come to mind. Take care.

Answer 9

Throughout KISS' history they've had a knack for changing with the times. In the late 70's they put out "Dynasty" which had a few songs on it that leaned towards the disco sound.
70's - straight up R'nR sound
80's - more of a hair metal sound
90' - more of a grunge sound

Answer 10

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