{"id":113060,"date":"2024-10-11T21:47:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T14:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113060"},"modified":"2024-10-11T21:47:54","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T14:47:54","slug":"the-50-most-disappointing-albums-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113060","title":{"rendered":"The 50 Most Disappointing Albums Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>Even the greatest artists screw up sometimes. Here are the most iconic duds from Dylan, the Stones and more  <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n\t\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Hot streaks can\u2019t<\/span>  last forever. And if you\u2019re a successful recording artist with a long career, the moment inevitably comes when fans and critics feel let down by a new album. This can be because a grand experiment didn\u2019t pay off like you hoped, tastes shifted rapidly and you\u2019re suddenly dismissed as a relic from the past, you made something so bold and innovative that its genius won\u2019t be appreciated for years to come, or you simply dropped a dud due to some combination of physical and creative exhaustion, the unbearable stress of trying to top yourself, and perhaps the influence of certain chemical substances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tFor truly great artists, a disappointing album can be merely a tiny speed bump on the road of a long, successful career. Bob Dylan has many albums one could safely call \u201cdisappointing,\u201d and they did little but make the follow-ups all the more impressive and interesting. We could say the same for David Bowie, Madonna, Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, and other acts with careers that span several generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tWe have assembled a list of the 50 most disappointing albums in musical history. Some major caveats need to be made before various stan armies start making plans to firebomb our offices or unleash SWAT teams on our homes. We absolutely love some of these albums. An album can be seen as disappointing in the moment it came out, and be forever reappraised afterward. This largely has to do with timing and where the critical consensus is at a given moment. And an album that\u2019s seen as a B+\/A- is still disappointing if it follows a bunch of A\/A+ albums.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAlso, a disappointing album for a titanically talented act like Radiohead or U2 would be seen as a masterpiece if almost anyone else had released it. (We agonized over putting <em>The<\/em> <em>King of Limbs <\/em>and<em> Songs of Innocence<\/em> on here, but ultimately included them.) To see the other 48 albums on the list, keep scrolling. (And if you\u2019re going to SWAT our houses for including your favorite act here, can you at least send them in the daytime? It\u2019s a drag when they storm in during the dead of night. Also, <em>The<\/em> <em>King of Limbs<\/em> is friggin\u2019 great. Keep your shit together, Radiohead army.)<\/p>\n<div id=\"pmc-gallery-vertical\">\n<div class=\"c-gallery-vertical-loader u-gallery-app-shell-loader\">\n<ul class=\"pmc-fallback-list-items lrv-a-unstyle-list lrv-u-margin-t-2\">\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Chance the Rapper, \u2018The Big Day\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Chance The Rapper, 'The Big Day'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/chance-the-rapper-the-big-day.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/chance-the-rapper-the-big-day.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/chance-the-rapper-the-big-day.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/chance-the-rapper-the-big-day.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/chance-the-rapper-the-big-day.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Chance The Rapper, 'The Big Day'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/chance-the-rapper-the-big-day.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/chance-the-rapper-the-big-day.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/chance-the-rapper-the-big-day.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Chance the Rapper<\/span>  was still a high school student when he dropped his first mixtape in 2011. Before he knew it, he\u2019d amassed over a half million downloads, a guest appearance on a Childish Gambino track, and a reputation as the most promising young rapper on the Chicago scene. His popularity grew exponentially over the next few years as he toured across the country and continued to drop acclaimed mixtapes like 2013\u2019s <em>Acid Rap <\/em>and 2016\u2019s <em>Coloring Book<\/em>. By 2017, he was able to headline Lollapalooza in front of 100,000 screaming fans in Chicago\u2019s Grant Park, even though he had yet to release a single legit album. That moment finally came in June 2019, when he put out <em>The Big Day<\/em>, featuring guest appearances by John Legend, Death Cab for Cutie, Megan Thee Stallion, and Gucci Mane. The songs center around his romance with new wife Kristen Corley. After seven years of buildup, many critics were less than impressed. \u201cIt\u2019s exultant, like his 2016 gospel-rap opus <em>Coloring Book<\/em>,\u201d wrote <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2018s Danny Schwartz in a three-star review, \u201cbut narrower in emotional scope.\u201d We\u2019re now over five years past the Big Day, and he\u2019s yet to release his second record. He instead made the wise choice to return to one-off singles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Radiohead, \u2018The King of Limbs\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Radiohead, 'King of Limbs'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Radiohead-King-of-Limbs.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Radiohead-King-of-Limbs.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Radiohead-King-of-Limbs.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Radiohead-King-of-Limbs.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Radiohead-King-of-Limbs.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Radiohead, 'King of Limbs'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Radiohead-King-of-Limbs.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Radiohead-King-of-Limbs.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Radiohead-King-of-Limbs.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Put down your<\/span>  pitchforks. Everybody calm down.\u00a0We\u2019re not suggesting <em>The<\/em> <em>King of Limbs <\/em>is anything short of a sensational record. We named it the fifth best album of 2011 as the year was wrapping up, and we stand by that all these years later. But it followed <em>The Bends, OK Computer, Kid A, Amnesia, Hail to the Thief, <\/em>and <em>In Rainbows<\/em>. It\u2019s one of the best 12-year runs in rock history, maybe even the very best one. Because of that, expectations for<em> The<\/em> <em>King of Limbs<\/em> were sky high. And standout tracks \u201cLotus Flower,\u201d \u201cSeparator,\u201d and \u201cBloom\u201d did indeed deliver, but there\u2019s simply too many tunes like \u201cFeral\u201d and \u201cMorning Mr. Magpie\u201d that underwhelm. In 2017, producer Nigel Godrich told us how the album came into being. \u201cI was like, \u2018OK, let\u2019s do an experiment for two weeks where everyone has a turntable instead of playing the guitar or drums or whatever,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201c\u2019And that two-week experiment ended up being fucking six months. And that\u2019s that record, the whole story of all of it.\u201d It was a bold move, but it simply didn\u2019t pay off quite like everyone hoped.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Wings, \u2018Wild Life\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Wings, 'Wild Life'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/wings-wild-life.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/wings-wild-life.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/wings-wild-life.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/wings-wild-life.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/wings-wild-life.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Wings, 'Wild Life'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/wings-wild-life.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/wings-wild-life.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/wings-wild-life.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Imagine you\u2019re a<\/span>  Paul McCartney fan in December 1971. Over the past two years, you\u2019ve been given <em>Abbey Road, Let It Be<\/em>, <em>McCartney,<\/em> and <em>Ram<\/em>. They\u2019re all stellar albums, to put it mildly, and wildly unique. You hear he\u2019s formed a new band called Wings. It\u2019s his first group since the Beatles. You then head to the record store and pick up <em>Wild Life<\/em>. \u201cDisappointment\u201d doesn\u2019t even begin to describe the experience of most fans in such a position. Recorded over just a few days in the summer of 1971, the album is a mixture of half-baked originals (\u201cDear Friend,\u201d \u201cTomorrow\u201d), a pointless cover (\u201cLove Is Strange\u201d), and reprises of songs (\u201cMumbo,\u201d \u201cBip Bop\u201d) that didn\u2019t work the first time around, let alone the second. \u201cMcCartney is coming to terms with his own fluff \u2014 the overproduction sounds less cluttered this time \u2014 but it\u2019s still fluff,\u201d wrote Robert Christgau, \u201cand not even goosedown. Maybe the thrill of leading his very own band has him distracted.\u201d It didn\u2019t take Wings long to figure out their strengths and give the world <em>Band on the Run<\/em>, but they got off to an extremely shaky start on <em>Wild Life.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>LL Cool J, \u2018Bigger and Deffer\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"LL Cool J, 'Bigger and Deffer'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LL-Cool-J-Bigger-and-Deffer.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LL-Cool-J-Bigger-and-Deffer.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LL-Cool-J-Bigger-and-Deffer.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LL-Cool-J-Bigger-and-Deffer.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LL-Cool-J-Bigger-and-Deffer.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"LL Cool J, 'Bigger and Deffer'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LL-Cool-J-Bigger-and-Deffer.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LL-Cool-J-Bigger-and-Deffer.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/LL-Cool-J-Bigger-and-Deffer.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">When LL Cool<\/span>  J exploded onto the scene in 1985 with his debut LP, <em>Radio,<\/em> he had Rick Rubin behind the mixing desk, virtually no rappers on the scene who could compete with him, and\u00a0incandescently great songs like \u201cRock the Bells,\u201d \u201cI Can\u2019t Live Without My Radio,\u201d and\u00a0\u201cYou\u2019ll Rock.\u201d When he came back in 1987 with <em>Bigger and Deffer<\/em>, Rubin was AWOL, he was suddenly up against Public Enemy and Eric B. and Rakim, and he had few true standout songs besides \u201cI\u2019m Bad\u201d and \u201cI Need Love.\u201d \u201c<em>Bigger and Deffer<\/em> collapses under the sophomore strain,\u201d wrote Mac Randall in the <em>Rolling Stone Album Guide<\/em>. \u201cBusier and dumber might be closer to the truth.\u201d Hip-hop careers were painfully short in these early days, and it briefly seemed like LL Cool J might join the likes of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and the Fat Boys on the sidelines, but his story was just getting started.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Oasis, \u2018Be Here Now\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Oasis, 'Be Here Now'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/oasis-be-here-now.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/oasis-be-here-now.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/oasis-be-here-now.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/oasis-be-here-now.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/oasis-be-here-now.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Oasis, 'Be Here Now'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/oasis-be-here-now.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/oasis-be-here-now.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/oasis-be-here-now.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Looking back all<\/span>  these years later, it\u2019s clear that nothing Oasis released after (<em>What\u2019s the Story) Morning Glory? <\/em>would do anything but disappoint masses of people. The hype reached such insane proportions by 1996 that people were pegging the Brit pop band as the new Beatles. Throw in millions of dollars, brutal infighting, and mountains of cocaine, and <em>Be Here Now <\/em>was inevitable. The reviews were initially fairly positive (sort of like Roger Ebert giving <em>Star Wars: The Phantom Menace <\/em>four stars), but the singles didn\u2019t take off, copies started piling up in used record stores, and the sense grew that this was no masterpiece. In truth, \u201cStand by Me,\u201d \u201cD\u2019You Know What I Mean?,\u201d and \u201cAll Around the World\u201d are great tunes, but there\u2019s a lot of bloat. Most of the songs are simply too long, and they could have easily cut five or six of them. Meanwhile, Radiohead dropped a new album called <em>OK Computer <\/em>that same summer. The torch had been passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>George Michael, \u2018Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"George Michael, 'Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/george-michael-listen-withotu-prejudice.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/george-michael-listen-withotu-prejudice.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/george-michael-listen-withotu-prejudice.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/george-michael-listen-withotu-prejudice.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/george-michael-listen-withotu-prejudice.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"George Michael, 'Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/george-michael-listen-withotu-prejudice.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/george-michael-listen-withotu-prejudice.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/george-michael-listen-withotu-prejudice.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">As the title<\/span>  of his album suggests, George Michael had a bit of a chip on his shoulder when he released his follow-up to <em>Faith<\/em>. He\u2019d been a teen idol for the greater part of a decade at this point, and he yearned to be taken seriously as an adult artist. He didn\u2019t want to spend the rest of his life singing \u201cMonkey.\u201d (In fact, he never sang it again after 1989.) To make this point as clear as possible, the video for \u201cFreedom! \u201990\u201d shows his leather jacket, jukebox, and acoustic guitar from the <em>Faith <\/em>era explode into a ball of fire. Leadoff single \u201cPraying for Time\u201d shot to Number One out of habit, but quickly fell off the chart. \u201cFreedom! \u201990\u201d was the only other song on the album to make an impact. Before the George Michael fan community goes insane on us here, let\u2019s make clear that <em>Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1<\/em> isn\u2019t a bad record. It\u2019s just not the one most of his fans wanted at that moment. That\u2019s why <em>Faith<\/em> sold 17 million more copies, and why <em>Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2 <\/em>never happened.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Aerosmith, \u2018Draw the Line\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Aerosmith, 'Draw The Line'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Aerosmith-Draw-The-Line.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Aerosmith-Draw-The-Line.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Aerosmith-Draw-The-Line.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Aerosmith-Draw-The-Line.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Aerosmith-Draw-The-Line.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Aerosmith, 'Draw The Line'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Aerosmith-Draw-The-Line.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Aerosmith-Draw-The-Line.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Aerosmith-Draw-The-Line.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Aerosmith weren\u2019t exactly<\/span>  casual drug users during their early days, but music still came first when they were crafting their first four albums. That changed in 1977 when work began on <em>Draw the Line.<\/em> \u201cEveryone was gacked to the nines,\u201d singer Steven Tyler said on the band\u2019s <em>Behind the Music<\/em> episode. \u201c[We were] as stoned as you could be. It was truly days full of night. It was just a matter of time before we all killed ourselves.\u201d They somehow crafted two strong songs for <em>Draw the Line<\/em> \u2014 the title track and \u201cKings and Queens\u201d \u2014 but the rest are just coke-fueled disasters. \u201c<em>Draw the Line<\/em> is a truly horrendous record, chaotic to the point of malfunction and with an almost impenetrably dense sound adding to the confusion,\u201d <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s Billy Altman wrote in a brutally negative review of the album. \u201cIt shows that these guys are not evil con men selling stolen or leftover goods to the youth of the nation. If they were, this record would have been a lot better than it is, since almost anyone can repeat a formula. Instead, Aerosmith sounds like a band just starting out \u2014 very much, in fact, like amateurs.\u201d (For the record, this is wildly harsh, and Aerosmith would go on to release far worse records in the years to come. This is just the first time it was a genuine surprise that they were less than brilliant.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Kanye West, \u2018The Life of Pablo\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Kanye West, 'The Life of Pablo'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kanye-West-The-Life-of-Pablo.jpeg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kanye-West-The-Life-of-Pablo.jpeg 1500w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kanye-West-The-Life-of-Pablo.jpeg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kanye-West-The-Life-of-Pablo.jpeg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kanye-West-The-Life-of-Pablo.jpeg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Kanye West, 'The Life of Pablo'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kanye-West-The-Life-of-Pablo.jpeg 1500w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kanye-West-The-Life-of-Pablo.jpeg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kanye-West-The-Life-of-Pablo.jpeg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">It may be<\/span>  slightly hard to remember now, but there was a time before he destroyed his name by going \u201cdeath con 3 on Jewish people\u201d when a new Kanye West record was a source of tremendous excitement. His run from<em> The College Dropou<\/em>t in 2004 to <em>Yeezus <\/em>in 2013 represents the high water mark for hip-hop this century. And even though <em>Yeezus<\/em> was a step down from the pinnacle of <em>My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy<\/em>, no West album could be called a genuine disappointment until 2016\u2019s <em>The Life of Pablo<\/em>. High points like \u201cUltralight Beam\u201d and \u201cFather Stretch My Hands\u201d are up there with some of his best work, and \u201cReal Friends\u201d is a rare look at his vulnerable side (\u201cWhen was the last time I remembered a birthday?\/When was the last time I wasn\u2019t in a hurry?\u201d), but there\u2019s simply too many undercooked tracks that don\u2019t stand up to repeat listens. \u201cIt\u2019s a labored-over opus that wishes it were a mixtape, trying hard to curate the vibe of a sprawling mess,\u201d wrote <em>Rolling Stone\u2019<\/em>s Rob Sheffield, \u201cand that\u2019s because it\u2019s made by an artist who feels like a mess and doesn\u2019t care to hide it.\u201d West would release significantly worse albums in the years to come, but none came with the sting of disappointment quite like <em>The Life of Pablo.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>U2, \u2018Songs of Innocence\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"U2, 'Songs of Innocence'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/u2-songs-of-innocence.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/u2-songs-of-innocence.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/u2-songs-of-innocence.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/u2-songs-of-innocence.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/u2-songs-of-innocence.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"U2, 'Songs of Innocence'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/u2-songs-of-innocence.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/u2-songs-of-innocence.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/u2-songs-of-innocence.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Let\u2019s get something<\/span>  very important out of the way here: <em>Songs of Innocence <\/em>didn\u2019t deserve even a tiny amount of the hate and mockery it absorbed back in 2014 when U2 made the inexplicably dunderhead decision to upload it for free to every iPhone on the planet. Had single \u201cEvery Breaking Wave\u201d come out in 1992, it could have been a big hit.\u00a0\u201cSong for Someone\u201d is a beautiful love song to Bono\u2019s wife, and \u201cThe Miracle (of Joey Ramone)\u201d is a heartfelt ode to the punk icon. And even if they made something as perfect as <em>Achtung Baby <\/em>or <em>The Joshua Tree <\/em>in 2014, many people would still have reacted with fury to the iPhone stunt. U2 can still play stadiums whenever they tour, but most young people have little use for them. The band\u2019s grandiosity just turns them off. And unfortunately, <em>Songs of Innocence<\/em> just doesn\u2019t come near the highs of U2\u2019s best work. It was the wrong album at the wrong time, and it damaged their brand in huge ways, fairly or not. (We feel it was mostly unfair.) And it disappointed just about everyone besides the most faithful members of the U2 cult.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Terence Trent D\u2019Arby, \u2018Neither Fish nor Flesh\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Terence Trent D\u2019Arby, 'Neither Fish Nor Flesh'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Terence-Trent-DArby-Neither-Fish-Nor-Flesh.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Terence-Trent-DArby-Neither-Fish-Nor-Flesh.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Terence-Trent-DArby-Neither-Fish-Nor-Flesh.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Terence-Trent-DArby-Neither-Fish-Nor-Flesh.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Terence-Trent-DArby-Neither-Fish-Nor-Flesh.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Terence Trent D\u2019Arby, 'Neither Fish Nor Flesh'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Terence-Trent-DArby-Neither-Fish-Nor-Flesh.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Terence-Trent-DArby-Neither-Fish-Nor-Flesh.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Terence-Trent-DArby-Neither-Fish-Nor-Flesh.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Remember Terence Trent<\/span>  D\u2019Arby? If not, take a listen to his singles \u201cWishing Well\u201d and \u201cSign Your Name\u201d from his debut LP, <em>Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D\u2019Arby<\/em>, and you\u2019ll be transported to 1987, when it briefly looked like D\u2019Arby was a new supernova of talent, on par with Prince. The instant success went to his head in absurd ways, and he started comparing himself to the Beatles in the press. \u201cThere are people who make me feel like I\u2019m the most arrogant person to ever walk the face of the planet earth because I\u2019m passionate,\u201d he told <em>Rolling Stone.<\/em> \u201cWhen I feel things, I feel them passionately. And, for better or worse, what makes me the artist that I am \u2014 and the artist that I want to be \u2014 is that passion.\u201d That passion didn\u2019t serve him well when he entered the studio to craft his follow-up, <em>Neither Fish nor Flesh<\/em>. None of the singles connected, it peaked at Number 61 on the <em>Billboard<\/em> 200, and D\u2019Arby\u2019s brief moment of fame was over. \u201cUnbeknownst to me, even then were forces, dark working to alter my blessed situation,\u201d the artist, who now goes by the name Sananda Francesco Maitreya, wrote on his website. \u201cThey would succeed.This album is the one, of necessity, closest to my heart. This was my \u2018fatwa\u2019 project. This is the one where Orpheus descended into the Underground, and began his deepest meditation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Meat Loaf, \u2018Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Meat Loaf, 'Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-iii.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-iii.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-iii.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-iii.jpg?resize=300,298 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-iii.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Meat Loaf, 'Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-iii.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-iii.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-iii.jpg?resize=300,298 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Having high expectations<\/span>  for a new Meat Loaf album in 2006 might have seemed insane, but it was equally insane to be excited for a new Meat Loaf album in 1993, when he dropped <em>Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell<\/em>, and that was one of the best comeback albums in rock history. The initial buzz around <em>Bat III <\/em>was that Meat was once again working with <em>Bat I<\/em> and <em>Bat II <\/em>mastermind Jim Steinman. But it turned out Meat and Steinman were at legal odds over the <em>Bat Out of Hell <\/em>trademark. Steinman was also dealing with significant health issues at the time. This meant that Meat had to comb through the Steinman back catalog and pick everything from \u201cIt\u2019s All Coming Back to Me Now\u201d to \u201cIn the Land of the Pig, the Butcher Is King,\u201d which was written for a <em>Batman<\/em> musical that never got off the ground. The end result is a deeply unsatisfying effort unworthy of the <em>Bat Out of Hell <\/em>name.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Run-D.M.C., \u2018Back From Hell\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Run-D.M.C., 'Back from Hell'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Run-DMC-Back-from-Hell.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Run-DMC-Back-from-Hell.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Run-DMC-Back-from-Hell.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Run-DMC-Back-from-Hell.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Run-DMC-Back-from-Hell.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Run-D.M.C., 'Back from Hell'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Run-DMC-Back-from-Hell.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Run-DMC-Back-from-Hell.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Run-DMC-Back-from-Hell.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Run-D.M.C. were largely<\/span>  untouchable in the Eighties as they brought rap music from the streets of New York City to suburban households all across America thanks to MTV and hits like \u201cIt\u2019s Tricky,\u201d \u201cKing of Rock,\u201d \u201cMy Adidas,\u201d and \u201cWalk This Way.\u201d Their 1988 LP,<em> Tougher Than Leather<\/em>, was a clear comedown from the heights of 1986\u2019s<em> Raising Hell <\/em>since new groups like Public Enemy had suddenly entered the scene, and Run-D.M.C. didn\u2019t quite know how to react. But they didn\u2019t release a genuine disappointment until 1990 when they attempted New Jack Swing with grittier, N.W.A-inspired lyrics that simply didn\u2019t feel genuine coming from the formerly squeaky-clean trio. \u201cGratuitous obscenities abound on the record, and they sure don\u2019t make Run-D.M.C.\u2019s new tales of street violence and urban injustice any more convincing,\u201d <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s Mark Coleman wrote in a two-star review. \u201cBrandishing guns and bantering with racist cops, Run and D.M.C. may well be telling it like it is in 1990. But on most of <em>Back From Hell<\/em> they sound like actors playing out roles rather than artists dramatizing their own lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Sugarcubes, \u2018Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"296\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Sugarcubes, 'Here Today. Tomorrow, Next Week!'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Sugarcubes-Here-Today-Tomorrow-Next-Week.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Sugarcubes-Here-Today-Tomorrow-Next-Week.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Sugarcubes-Here-Today-Tomorrow-Next-Week.jpg?resize=300,296 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Sugarcubes-Here-Today-Tomorrow-Next-Week.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Sugarcubes, 'Here Today. Tomorrow, Next Week!'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Sugarcubes-Here-Today-Tomorrow-Next-Week.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Sugarcubes-Here-Today-Tomorrow-Next-Week.jpg?resize=300,296 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">When the Sugarcubes<\/span>  emerged in 1988 with their debut LP, <em>Life\u2019s Too Good,<\/em> they seemed like visitors from another planet to most Americans. The term \u201cIcelandic alternative rock\u201d was gibberish at a time when Poison, Paula Abdul, Phil Collins, and Steve Winwood ruled the airwaves. But the quirky six-piece led by future solo star Bj\u00f6rk was so undeniable they wound up with a slot on <em>Saturday Night Live<\/em>, and some of the best reviews of the year. Just a year later, however, they flopped with the release of <em>Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week!<\/em> Singer Einar \u00d6rn Benediktsson was under the impression fans wanted to hear a lot more of him, and a lot less of Bj\u00f6rk. (They didn\u2019t.) There also wasn\u2019t a single song that could compare to the majesty of \u201cBirthday\u201d from the first album. They carried on for one more album in 1992 until the inevitable happened and Bj\u00f6rk went solo, never to look back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Devo, \u2018Shout\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Devo, 'Shout'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/devo-shout.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/devo-shout.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/devo-shout.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/devo-shout.jpg?resize=300,298 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/devo-shout.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Devo, 'Shout'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/devo-shout.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/devo-shout.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/devo-shout.jpg?resize=300,298 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">After the huge<\/span>  success of \u201cWhip It\u201d in 1980, Devo could have scaled up and become an arena band. They just needed a few more mainstream hits that could work on MTV. Instead, they leaned heavily into weirdness and saw their audience shrink considerably. But the weirdness was largely quite excellent on 1981\u2019s<em> New Traditionalists <\/em>and 1982\u2019s <em>Oh, No! It\u2019s Devo<\/em>. The same cannot be said of 1984\u2019s <em>Shout<\/em>, where they put their guitars aside, broke out a new Fairlight synthesizer and a drum machine, and crafted a devastatingly boring record that wraps up with a wildly unnecessary remake of the Jimi Hendrix Experience\u2019s \u201cAre You Experienced.\u201d Even today, Devo\u2019s Jerry Casale says the record is \u201ctoo painful to talk about.\u201d And the reviews were uniformly negative. \u201cWhile the herky-jerky push-and-pull between homemade electronics and cheap guitars was a large part of what made Devo\u2019s first few albums so exciting,\u201d wrote<em> AllMusic<\/em>\u2019s Mark Deming, \u201c<em>Shout<\/em> is so slick and glossy one could fry an egg on its surfaces, and that isn\u2019t a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Fleetwood Mac, \u2018Behind the Mask\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Fleetwood Mac, 'Behind The Mask'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/fleetwood-mac-behind-the-mask.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/fleetwood-mac-behind-the-mask.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/fleetwood-mac-behind-the-mask.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/fleetwood-mac-behind-the-mask.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/fleetwood-mac-behind-the-mask.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Fleetwood Mac, 'Behind The Mask'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/fleetwood-mac-behind-the-mask.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/fleetwood-mac-behind-the-mask.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/fleetwood-mac-behind-the-mask.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Against all odds,<\/span>  considering the mountains of cocaine they consumed and the civil wars they fought, Fleetwood Mac had a pretty good run in the Eighties. But they got the Nineties off to a horrid start with 1990\u2019s <em>Behind the Mask,<\/em> the first album they made after Lindsey Buckingham left the band just before the <em>Tango in the Night<\/em> tour. Rick Vito and Billy Burnette were able to somewhat fill the void left behind on the road, but the studio was a very different story. The combined weight of their songwriting chops wasn\u2019t equal to a single Buckingham. There isn\u2019t a single song here that can stand up to \u201cBig Love,\u201d \u201cEverywhere,\u201d \u201cLittle Lies,\u201d or \u201cGypsy.\u201d There are a handful of originals by Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie, most notably \u201cSave Me\u201d and \u201cSkies the Limit,\u201d but it\u2019s likely none of them would have gotten a nod of approval from Buckingham. His mere presence elevated everyone\u2019s game. They were lost without him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Panic! at the Disco, \u2018Pretty.Odd\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Panic! At The Disco, 'Pretty.Odd'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Panic-At-The-Disco-PrettyOdd.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Panic-At-The-Disco-PrettyOdd.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Panic-At-The-Disco-PrettyOdd.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Panic-At-The-Disco-PrettyOdd.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Panic-At-The-Disco-PrettyOdd.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Panic! At The Disco, 'Pretty.Odd'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Panic-At-The-Disco-PrettyOdd.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Panic-At-The-Disco-PrettyOdd.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Panic-At-The-Disco-PrettyOdd.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">The first sign<\/span>  of trouble came when word hit that Panic! at the Disco were dropping the exclamation mark. The Las Vegas emo group had just made one album at this point, 2005\u2019s <em>A Fever You Can\u2019t Sweat Out<\/em>, and they were already looking for ways to shed their past and mature. The second worrisome sign came when the band started saying this record was inspired by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and psychedelic bands from the Sixties. In other words, they didn\u2019t want to write anything remotely like their breakthrough hit, \u201cI Write Sins Not Tragedies.\u201d A group can get weird on their fourth or fifth record once they\u2019ve already established a large, devoted audience. You can\u2019t do that on album two. Leadoff single \u201cNine in the Afternoon\u201d stalled out at Number 51 on the Hot 100, and the others didn\u2019t even chart. By the time the dust settled, guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker left the band. The remaining members brought the exclamation mark back for the next album. Dropping it along with their signature sound was a pretty odd choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Black Sabbath, \u2018Technical Ecstasy\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Black Sabbath, 'Technical Ecstasy'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Sabbath-Technical-Ecstasy.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Sabbath-Technical-Ecstasy.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Sabbath-Technical-Ecstasy.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Sabbath-Technical-Ecstasy.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Sabbath-Technical-Ecstasy.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Black Sabbath, 'Technical Ecstasy'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Sabbath-Technical-Ecstasy.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Sabbath-Technical-Ecstasy.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Black-Sabbath-Technical-Ecstasy.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<em>Technical Ecstasy<\/em> is far from Black Sabbath\u2019s worst album. (That one would arrive two decades later when the fried remnants of the band united with Body Count guitarist Ernie C for <em>Forbidden<\/em>.) And it isn\u2019t even the worst one of the original Ozzy Osbourne era. (That\u2019s 1978\u2019s turgid <em>Never Say Die!<\/em>) But it\u2019s the first one where it was clear that the metal gods who gave the world masterpieces like <em>Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality<\/em>, and <em>Sabbath Bloody Sabbath <\/em>in remarkably short order were running out of ideas and unable to adapt to a shifting musical climate. They were also snorting mountains of cocaine, distracted by legal and financial concerns, and unable to see that schmaltzy ballads \u201cIt\u2019s Alright\u201d and \u201cShe\u2019s Gone\u201d weren\u2019t going to win over new fans enthralled by upstart punk groups like the Clash and the Sex Pistols. To get a sense of where it all went wrong, listen to \u201cRock and Roll Doctor,\u201d which sounds like a lost Kiss song. \u201cGotta see my rock and roll doctor,\u201d Osbourne sings. \u201cI gotta see him, see him today\/He\u2019s gonna blow me away.\u201d The album ends on a strong note with \u201cDirty Women,\u201d but the rest is just filler that would never have made the cut for a Black Sabbath record just a couple of years earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Public Enemy, \u2018Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Public Enemy, 'Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Public-Enemy-Muse-Sick-n-Hour-Mess-Age.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Public-Enemy-Muse-Sick-n-Hour-Mess-Age.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Public-Enemy-Muse-Sick-n-Hour-Mess-Age.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Public-Enemy-Muse-Sick-n-Hour-Mess-Age.jpg?resize=300,297 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Public-Enemy-Muse-Sick-n-Hour-Mess-Age.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Public Enemy, 'Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Public-Enemy-Muse-Sick-n-Hour-Mess-Age.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Public-Enemy-Muse-Sick-n-Hour-Mess-Age.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Public-Enemy-Muse-Sick-n-Hour-Mess-Age.jpg?resize=300,297 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">The very instant<\/span>  that Public Enemy hit the scene in 1987, every rap group that came before them seemed hopelessly pass\u00e9. And nobody could top them for the next few years as they dropped <em>It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back<\/em> and <em>Fear of a Black Planet<\/em>. But they finally had real competition on their hands when N.W.A arrived, and a major self-inflicted wound when Professor Griff went public with antisemitic views that got him ejected from the group. They were slightly past their prime in 1991 when <em>Apocalypse 91 \u2026 The Enemy Strikes Black <\/em>came out, but it was still an extraordinary effort. They didn\u2019t show any real decline until 1994 when <em>Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age<\/em> arrived, and Chuck D used it as a platform to blast gangsta rap. The critics weren\u2019t impressed. \u201c<em>Muse Sick<\/em> is not only a bad PE record but a bad hip-hop record \u2014 evidence that Chuck either quit early, abandoning the album a few evolutions short of its completion, or has lost his ear altogether,\u201d Tour\u00e9 wrote in an infamously negative review in <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>.\u00a0\u201cAnd because Chuck, a man whose political power has always been a function of his aesthetic power, is the conscience of hip-hop, the failure of this album will cost him more than sales.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Peter Frampton, \u2018I\u2019m in You\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Peter Frampton, 'I\u2019m In You'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Peter-Frampton-Im-In-You.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Peter-Frampton-Im-In-You.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Peter-Frampton-Im-In-You.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Peter-Frampton-Im-In-You.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Peter-Frampton-Im-In-You.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Peter Frampton, 'I\u2019m In You'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Peter-Frampton-Im-In-You.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Peter-Frampton-Im-In-You.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Peter-Frampton-Im-In-You.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">To be fair,<\/span>  anything Peter Frampton released after <em>Frampton Comes Alive! <\/em>was going to be seen as a disappointment. The 1976 concert album was one of the biggest records of the Seventies, and even Frampton himself grew tired of the songs. \u201cI was dying to hear myself on the radio,\u201d he told <em>Rolling Stone <\/em>in 2019, \u201cand then it got to the point where I thought, \u2018I wish they wouldn\u2019t play me so much.\u2019\u201d As the mania began to subside, he headed into the studio to make a proper album. And even though the title track hit Number Two on the <em>Billboard<\/em> Hot 100, the rest of the album didn\u2019t connect like <em>Frampton Comes Alive!<\/em> Making matters worse, he gave his critics plenty of ammo when he posed shirtless. Looking back in 2019, Frampton said he had only himself to blame. \u201c[<em>I\u2019m In You<\/em>] could have been a lot better had I been in a better mental state at that point,\u201d he said, \u201cbut my head exploded just before we went in the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>MGMT, \u2018Congratulations\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"MGMT, 'Congratulations'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/MGMT-Congratulations.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/MGMT-Congratulations.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/MGMT-Congratulations.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/MGMT-Congratulations.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/MGMT-Congratulations.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"MGMT, 'Congratulations'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/MGMT-Congratulations.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/MGMT-Congratulations.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/MGMT-Congratulations.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">In 2007, college<\/span>  buddies Andrew VanWyngarden and Benjamin Goldwasser dropped their psychedelic synth-pop opus <em>Oracular Spectacular,<\/em> featuring timeless songs like \u201cKids,\u201d \u201cTime to Pretend,\u201d and \u201cElectric Feel.\u201d And for a minute, it felt like the musical gods had given us a new Depeche Mode. But instead of merely repeating the formula for the second MGMT album, VanWyngarden and Goldwasser turned away from accessible hooks and anything that resembled a single, doubled down on their weirdness, and made an art-rock album. \u201cMGMT aren\u2019t hitting the self-destruct button here,\u201d wrote <em>Pitchfork\u2019<\/em>s Scott Plagenhoef, \u201cbut the best-case scenario is that a cult, happy to shed the carpetbagger fans of OS, are willing to follow these guys around from idea to idea.\u201d That\u2019s exactly what happened, which means that <em>Congratulations<\/em> was probably the right move in the long run. It just caused them a lot of pain in the short run.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Red Hot Chili Peppers, \u2018One Hot Minute\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Red Hot Chili Peppers, 'One Hot Minute'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-One-Hot-Minute.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-One-Hot-Minute.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-One-Hot-Minute.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-One-Hot-Minute.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-One-Hot-Minute.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Red Hot Chili Peppers, 'One Hot Minute'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-One-Hot-Minute.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-One-Hot-Minute.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Red-Hot-Chili-Peppers-One-Hot-Minute.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">In 1994, the<\/span>  Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dave Navarro faced two problems that were the exact inverse of each other. He was a guitarist without a band after the dissolution of Jane\u2019s Addiction.\u00a0And they were a band without a guitarist after John Frusciante peaced out during the tour for their breakthrough album, <em>Blood Sugar Sex Magik<\/em>. On paper, this was an alt-rock supergroup. But in reality, they had to live up to the legend of both bands. Anthony Kiedis was also deep in the throes of drug addictions, and sessions stretched out for months and months. A few standout songs did emerge like \u201cAeroplane,\u201d but nothing that will make fans forget \u201cUnder the Bridge\u201d or \u201cMountain Song.\u201d \u201cNavarro\u2019s metallic guitar shredding should have added some weight to the Chili Peppers\u2019 punk-inflected heavy-guitar funk, but tends to make it plodding,\u201d wrote AllMusic\u2019s Stephen Thomas Erlewine. \u201c<em>One Hot Minute<\/em> is as musically ambitious as <em>Blood Sugar Sex Magik<\/em>, but is even more unfocused, which means it provides the fewest thrills of any of the group\u2019s albums.\u201d For their next album, <em>Californication<\/em>, Fruscianate returned to the fold, and the entire <em>One Hot Minute <\/em>era has since been mercifully memory-holed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Pink Floyd, \u2018The Final Cut\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Pink Floyd, 'The Final Cut'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pink-Floyd-The-Final-Cut.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pink-Floyd-The-Final-Cut.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pink-Floyd-The-Final-Cut.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pink-Floyd-The-Final-Cut.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pink-Floyd-The-Final-Cut.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Pink Floyd, 'The Final Cut'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pink-Floyd-The-Final-Cut.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pink-Floyd-The-Final-Cut.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Pink-Floyd-The-Final-Cut.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">How do you<\/span>  follow up a run of albums like <em>The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals, <\/em>and<em> The Wall?<\/em> If you\u2019re Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters, you fire keyboardist Richard Wright, insist on writing every song completely by yourself, even if David Gilmour helped you write a little tune called \u201cComfortably Numb\u201d on the last record, and assemble yet another concept album about the evils of war and the loss of your father. And if this doesn\u2019t piss off the band enough, you credit it as \u201ca requiem for the post-war dream by Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd,\u201d basically demoting them all to the status of backing band. Now, all of this would be somewhat tolerable if the album stood up to his best work. But beyond a few songs like \u201cThe Gunner\u2019s Dream,\u201d it doesn\u2019t come close. It just sounds like a bunch of outtakes from <em>The Wall <\/em>strung together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Band, \u2018Cahoots\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Band, 'Cahoots'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Band-Cahoots.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Band-Cahoots.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Band-Cahoots.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Band-Cahoots.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Band-Cahoots.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Band, 'Cahoots'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Band-Cahoots.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Band-Cahoots.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Band-Cahoots.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">The Band were<\/span>  in a rough place when work started on <em>Cahoots <\/em>in 1971. Robbie Robertson was completely drained of new song ideas after pounding out <em>Music From Big Pink, The Band<\/em>, and<em> Stage Fright <\/em>in quick succession between 1968 and 1970, and many of his bandmates were quickly descending into drug addictions that would hobble their productivity for years to come. \u201cLife is a Carnival\u201d kicks the album off with a gem, and their spin on Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cWhen I Paint My Masterpiece\u201d shows that nobody was better at interpreting his music. But it takes a deep dive after that with misfires like \u201cShoot Out in Chinatown,\u201d \u201cLast of the Blacksmiths,\u201d and \u201cVolcano\u201d that never would have made the cut on their prior albums. Reviews were very mixed, and they wouldn\u2019t release another album of new material for four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Van Halen, \u2018Balance\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Van Halen, 'Balance'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Van-Halen-Balance.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Van-Halen-Balance.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Van-Halen-Balance.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Van-Halen-Balance.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Van-Halen-Balance.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Van Halen, 'Balance'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Van-Halen-Balance.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Van-Halen-Balance.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Van-Halen-Balance.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">It\u2019s tempting to<\/span>  believe that Van Halen didn\u2019t succumb to mediocrity until Sammy Hagar left and Gary Cherone took over as lead singer. But that narrative requires erasing their 1995 LP,<em> Balance<\/em>, from history. Unfortunately, the deeply disappointing followup to 1991\u2019s <em>For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge <\/em>does indeed exist. There\u2019s nothing here that even remotely compares to the highs of \u201cPoundcake\u201d and \u201cRight Now\u201d from the prior album.\u00a0We instead get the twin cheeseball love songs \u201cCan\u2019t Stop Lovin\u2019 You\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)\u201d along with \u201cAmsterdam,\u201d a tribute to the city where Hagar is free to openly smoke weed. (Sample lyric: \u201cGot a pocket full of money\/Got me a long night ahead\/Quick stop by the Bulldog\/Score me some Panama Red.\u201d) And the album kicks off with actual monk chants. The whole thing is just all over the place, and sad evidence that Eddie Van Halen was out of ideas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Rod Stewart, \u2018Smiler\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Rod Stewart, 'Smiler'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Rod-Stewart-Smiler.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Rod-Stewart-Smiler.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Rod-Stewart-Smiler.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Rod-Stewart-Smiler.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Rod-Stewart-Smiler.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Rod Stewart, 'Smiler'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Rod-Stewart-Smiler.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Rod-Stewart-Smiler.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Rod-Stewart-Smiler.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Rod Stewart has<\/span>  released so much shoddy work over the years that it\u2019s easy to forget his first four solo albums (<em>An Old Raincoat Won\u2019t Ever Let You Down, Gasoline Alley, Every Picture Tells a Story, Never a Dull Moment<\/em>) were all undeniably brilliant. And when you factor in his work in the Faces at the same exact time, it was safe to presume any new Rod release you picked up at the record store was going to rise to the level of what came before. That expectation ended forever with the release of <em>Smiler<\/em> in 1974. With the lone exceptions of a tender cover of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cGirl From the North Country\u201d and a rollicking rendition of \u201cSweet Little Rock and Roller,\u201d nothing works on <em>Smiler<\/em>. The nadir is a cover of the Elton John super deep cut \u201cLet Me Be Your Car\u201d that is just as dumb as it sounds. Let\u2019s not even talk about his decision to rework Carole King\u2019s \u201c(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman\u201d as \u201c(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Man.\u201d Stewart would release far worse albums than <em>Smiler<\/em> throughout his long career, but never one as wildly disappointing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>George Harrison, \u2018Dark Horse\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"George Harrison, 'Dark Horse'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/George-Harrison-Dark-Horse.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/George-Harrison-Dark-Horse.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/George-Harrison-Dark-Horse.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/George-Harrison-Dark-Horse.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/George-Harrison-Dark-Horse.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"George Harrison, 'Dark Horse'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/George-Harrison-Dark-Horse.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/George-Harrison-Dark-Horse.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/George-Harrison-Dark-Horse.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">It\u2019s hard to<\/span>  blame George Harrison for not exactly being at the top of his game on 1974\u2019s <em>Dark Horse<\/em>. He was suffering from laryngitis, a growing addiction to cocaine and booze, and he had a very narrow time frame to finish the album before the start of his ill-fated inaugural solo tour. There was also the tiny matter that his best friend, Eric Clapton, had just run off with his wife, Pattie Boyd, after telling the world he couldn\u2019t live without her on a little song called \u201cLayla.\u201d He attempted to poke fun at the situation by reworking \u201cBye Bye Love\u201d at the session while Clapton and Boyd looked on (\u201cI hope she\u2019s happy\/Old Clapper too\u201d), but the result is just a cringe-fest. Things don\u2019t get much better on woefully undercooked songs like \u201cSo Sad,\u201d \u201cFar East Man,\u201d and \u201cDing Dong, Ding Dong.\u201d This all came just a year after the brilliance of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/george-harrison-living-in-amaterial-world-1234737644\/\"><em>Living in the Material World<\/em><\/a>, and it kicked off a long period of decline for Harrison that didn\u2019t really pick up until Jeff Lynne entered his life over a decade later.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>John Fogerty, \u2018Eye of the Zombie\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"296\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"John Fogerty, 'Eye of the Zombie'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Fogerty-Eye-of-the-Zombie.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Fogerty-Eye-of-the-Zombie.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Fogerty-Eye-of-the-Zombie.jpg?resize=300,296 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"296\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Fogerty-Eye-of-the-Zombie.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"John Fogerty, 'Eye of the Zombie'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Fogerty-Eye-of-the-Zombie.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Fogerty-Eye-of-the-Zombie.jpg?resize=300,296 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">After a decade<\/span>  in the musical wilderness, John Fogerty reemerged with <em>Centerfield <\/em>in 1985 and won over a new generation of fans thanks to the baseball-themed title track and the Creedence-y \u201cThe Old Man Down the Road.\u201d Just one year later, he lost many of those fans when he dropped <em>Eye of the Zombie<\/em>. The production screams mid-Eighties, and there isn\u2019t a single memorable song or hook on the entire thing. \u201c<em>Eye of the Zombie<\/em> bears every mark of being a rush job from this notorious rock &amp; roll perfectionist,\u201d Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote for AllMusic. \u201cTrack for track, it\u2019s a misfire of staggering proportions.\u201d Fogerty promoted the album with a tour where he didn\u2019t do a single CCR song, meaning fans had to sit through <em>Eye of the Zombie <\/em>duds like \u201cSoda Pop\u201d and \u201cWasn\u2019t That a Woman\u201d all night. The whole project was a debacle that caused Fogerty to take another complete decade off from the business of making records.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Monkees, \u2018Justus\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Monkees, 'Justus'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Monkees-Justus.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Monkees-Justus.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Monkees-Justus.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Monkees-Justus.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Monkees-Justus.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Monkees, 'Justus'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Monkees-Justus.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Monkees-Justus.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Monkees-Justus.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Sometime in early<\/span>  1996, Michael Nesmith heard the <em>Friends<\/em> theme song and had a brainstorm. \u201cHe had the idea it sounded exactly like <em>Headquarters<\/em>,\u201d Peter Tork told <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> in 2016. \u201cHe just caught a charge and wanted to see it through, so he asked me and Micky [Dolenz] to come jam with him. It was the first time we\u2019d played together like that since 1969.\u201d The trio eventually pulled Davy Jones into the mix and recorded <em>Justus<\/em>. As the title suggests, everything on the album was created by just the four members of the Monkees. Fans were thrilled with the idea of hearing a <em>Headquarters <\/em>for the Nineties. Sadly, they simply didn\u2019t have great songs like they did back then. The album was a complete dud, and Nesmith lost interest in the project after a quickie U.K. tour. It would be another 20 years before he decided to participate in another Monkees record, which wound up being the brilliant <em>Good Times!<\/em> It erased the unfortunate memory of <em>Justus.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, \u2018Dylan &amp; the Dead\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, 'Dylan and the Dead'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dylan-and-the-dead.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dylan-and-the-dead.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dylan-and-the-dead.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dylan-and-the-dead.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dylan-and-the-dead.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, 'Dylan and the Dead'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dylan-and-the-dead.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dylan-and-the-dead.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/dylan-and-the-dead.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">It seemed like<\/span>  a pairing that couldn\u2019t fail. This was the greatest songwriter of his generation backed by one of the most beloved bands in American history, just as they were riding a massive comeback wave thanks to their\u00a0unexpected hit \u201cTouch of Grey.\u201d But Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead simply didn\u2019t gel when they toured together in 1987. This was Bob at the absolute nadir of his career, and playing a painfully plodding, nine-minute version of \u201cJoey\u201d with the Dead wasn\u2019t going to fix anything. Dylanologists insist the tour was slightly better than the seven songs selected for this package, which is a relief. It\u2019s hard to imagine anything worse. \u201cDespite the presence of the Dead, the album is an all-too-typical late-Eighties Dylan album,\u201d <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s David Fricke wrote in a review, \u201cfascinating for the expectations it raises and frustrating in the ways it keeps missing the mark.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Stone Roses, \u2018Second Coming\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Stone Roses, 'Second Coming'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Stone-Roses-Second-Coming.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Stone-Roses-Second-Coming.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Stone-Roses-Second-Coming.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Stone-Roses-Second-Coming.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Stone Roses, 'Second Coming'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Stone-Roses-Second-Coming.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Stone-Roses-Second-Coming.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">The Stone Roses<\/span>  are one of the great \u201cwhat if\u201d stories in rock history. What if the U.K. alt-rock quartet toured America hard after the release of their flawless 1989 self-titled debut instead of completely ignoring it? What if they kept their egos in check, laid off the drugs, and managed to remain friends? What if they didn\u2019t wait five-and-a-half years to release their second album? What if that album was even a quarter as strong as their first record? They could have been just as big as Oasis or even Radiohead had they stayed on their original path and kept writing signs on par with \u201cI Am the Resurrection\u201d or \u201cI Wanna Be Adored.\u201d Instead, they were cocky enough to name their second LP \u201cSecond Coming\u201d as if they were literally Jesus. By the time it hit, Brit pop was in full swing, and they didn\u2019t have a single song on the album strong enough to make anyone put down their Blur or Oasis albums and give it more than a single listen. They broke up not long afterward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Journey, \u2018Raised on Radio\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"298\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Journey, 'Raised on Radio'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Journey-Raised-on-Radio.jpg?w=298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Journey-Raised-on-Radio.jpg 993w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Journey-Raised-on-Radio.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Journey-Raised-on-Radio.jpg?resize=298,300 298w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 298px) 85vw, 298px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"298\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Journey-Raised-on-Radio.jpg?w=298\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Journey, 'Raised on Radio'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Journey-Raised-on-Radio.jpg 993w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Journey-Raised-on-Radio.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Journey-Raised-on-Radio.jpg?resize=298,300 298w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 298px) 85vw, 298px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">In the three-year<\/span>  gap between <em>Frontiers <\/em>and <em>Raised on Radio,<\/em> Journey frontman Steve Perry became a solo star thanks to \u201cOh, Sherrie\u201d and \u201cFoolish Heart.\u201d He used his newfound fame to push bassist Ross Valory and drummer Steve Smith out of the band. He wanted to\u00a0 modernize their sound by bringing in session pros, but the remaining trio simply didn\u2019t have songs like \u201cFaithfully\u201d or \u201cOpen Arms\u201d ready to go. Leadoff single \u201cBe Good to Yourself\u201d had some of the old Journey magic, and \u201cIt Could Have Been You\u201d is a hidden gem, but the rest of the album falls fairly flat. Perry\u2019s heart simply wasn\u2019t in music anymore, Journey or otherwise, and he largely vanished from the scene in the decade that followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Patti Smith Group, \u2018Radio Ethiopia\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Patti Smith, 'Radio Ethiopia'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Patti-Smith-Radio-Ethiopia.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Patti-Smith-Radio-Ethiopia.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Patti-Smith-Radio-Ethiopia.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Patti-Smith-Radio-Ethiopia.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Patti-Smith-Radio-Ethiopia.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Patti Smith, 'Radio Ethiopia'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Patti-Smith-Radio-Ethiopia.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Patti-Smith-Radio-Ethiopia.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Patti-Smith-Radio-Ethiopia.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Patti Smith\u2019s 1975<\/span>  debut LP, <em>Horses<\/em>, was a triumph by every possible measurement besides commercial success. It didn\u2019t generate anything resembling a mainstream hit, and it stalled out at Number 47 on the <em>Billboard <\/em>200 despite rapturous reviews and its massive influence in the rock world. For the follow-up, Smith (and her label) wanted a hit. That\u2019s why she picked Aerosmith\/Cheap Trick producer Jack Douglas to oversee the sessions. But it\u2019s simply not in her blood to write a song like \u201cI Want You to Want Me\u201d or \u201cWalk This Way.\u201d That\u2019s why she gave Douglas avant-garde works like the 10-minute title track, which never goes near the heights of \u201cLand,\u201d its companion song on <em>Horses<\/em>. \u201cPissing in a River\u201d is one of the best songs in Smith\u2019s catalog, but the rest of the album is underwhelming in the extreme. \u201cSmith seems to lack the direction necessary to live up to her own best ideas \u2014 the song-poem structure of the first album wasn\u2019t completely effective, but here there\u2019s no structure at all,\u201d Dave Marsh wrote in <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cEven her lyric writing, the most captivating and polished part of her work, seems depersonalized \u2014 there\u2019s nothing as moving as \u2018Redondo Beach\u2019 or \u2018Kimberly\u2019 on this album. And if there were, one would hardly be able to hear it in Jack Douglas\u2019 overpowering mix.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Duran Duran, \u2018Thank You\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Duran Duran, 'Thank You'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Duran-Duran-Thank-You.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Duran-Duran-Thank-You.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Duran-Duran-Thank-You.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Duran-Duran-Thank-You.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Duran-Duran-Thank-You.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Duran Duran, 'Thank You'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Duran-Duran-Thank-You.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Duran-Duran-Thank-You.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Duran-Duran-Thank-You.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Duran Duran were<\/span>  as dead as disco when the Nineties started, but they rocketed back to relevance in 1993 thanks to \u201cOrdinary World\u201d and \u201cCome Undone\u201d from 1993\u2019s<em> The Wedding Album<\/em>. This was a moment to head back into the studio and craft another album of originals and capitalize on the unexpected momentum. It was not a moment to record a covers album where everything from Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cLay Lady Lay\u201d and Elvis Costello\u2019s \u201cWatching the Detectives\u201d to Public Enemy\u2019s \u201c911 Is a Joke\u201d and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five\u2019s \u201cWhite Lines\u201d received the Duran Duran treatment. Nobody wanted to hear Duran Duran try their hand at hip-hop. The project was just woefully misguided from beginning to end, and it prematurely ended their comeback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Byrds, \u2018Byrds\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Byrds, 'Byrds'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Byrds-Byrds.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Byrds-Byrds.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Byrds-Byrds.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Byrds-Byrds.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Byrds-Byrds.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Byrds, 'Byrds'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Byrds-Byrds.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Byrds-Byrds.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Byrds-Byrds.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Long before reunions<\/span>  of major rock were commonplace, the original Byrds came back together to see if they could recapture the magic of the early days. It was 1973 and they\u2019d all gone in dramatically different directions in the seven years since they\u2019d all been together, with only David Crosby becoming a genuine superstar thanks to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Roger McGuinn, meanwhile, had led many lineups of the Byrds, and he was ready to bring the saga back to where it started. This all made sense on paper, but all five of them were still focused relentlessly on their solo work and other outside projects. The album was slapped together over the course of just a few weeks, and most everyone later admitted they held back their best songs. The result is a meandering album spotlighted by a couple of decent Neil Young covers (\u201cCowgirl in the Sand,\u201d \u201cSee the Sky About to Rain\u201d), one Joni Mitchell song (\u201cFor Free\u201d), and a smattering of originals that didn\u2019t make anyone forget about \u201cEight Miles High\u201d or \u201cSo You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star.\u201d \u201cI am obliged to comment on the most disappointing and one of the dullest albums of the year, <em>Byrds<\/em>,\u201d Jon Landau wrote in a brutal <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> pan. \u201cAt their best, they were once my favorite white American rock &amp; roll band, but not only isn\u2019t this their best \u2014 it is barely them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, \u2018Let Me Up (I\u2019ve Had Enough)\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 'Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Tom-Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-Let-Me-Up.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Tom-Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-Let-Me-Up.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Tom-Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-Let-Me-Up.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Tom-Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-Let-Me-Up.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Tom-Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-Let-Me-Up.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 'Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Tom-Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-Let-Me-Up.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Tom-Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-Let-Me-Up.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Tom-Petty-and-the-Heartbreakers-Let-Me-Up.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">As the title<\/span>  suggests, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were burned out by 1987. They\u2019d been recording and touring for about a dozen years straight by this point, and were in desperate need of a break. But they trudged back into the studio without longtime producer Jimmy Iovine and churned out this sub-par album. Leadoff single \u201cJammin\u2019 Me\u201d is a strong effort (despite the insanely outdated references to Vanessa Redgrave and Joe Piscopo) co-written by Bob Dylan, but the album falls off a cliff after that. Songs like \u201cAll Mixed Up\u201d and \u201cRunaway Trains\u201d aren\u2019t horrid, but they simply don\u2019t meet Petty\u2019s usual standards. And none of them are helped by cheeseball late-Eighties production. Very few of these songs besides \u201cJammin\u2019 Me\u201d were ever played live again after the Eighties, and none of them appeared on 1993\u2019s <em>Greatest Hits<\/em>. The album wasn\u2019t a total loss, though. It persuaded Petty to make a big change the next time out. The result was <em>Full Moon Fever<\/em>, the most successful album of his long career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Elton John, \u2018A Single Man\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Elton John, 'A Single Man'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Elton-John-A-Single-Man.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Elton-John-A-Single-Man.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Elton-John-A-Single-Man.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Elton-John-A-Single-Man.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Elton-John-A-Single-Man.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Elton John, 'A Single Man'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Elton-John-A-Single-Man.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Elton-John-A-Single-Man.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Elton-John-A-Single-Man.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Elton John\u2019s undisputed<\/span>  golden period ran from 1970\u2019s <em>Elton John<\/em> to 1975\u2019s <em>Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy<\/em>. (One could argue there\u2019s a fair number of weak tracks on 1974\u2019s <em>Caribou<\/em>, but it\u2019s still a strong album overall.) There was a clear dip in quality on 1975\u2019s<em> Blue Moves <\/em>and 1976\u2019s <em>Rock of the Westies,<\/em> but the bottom didn\u2019t fall out until <em>A Single Man<\/em> in 1978. It\u2019s the first album without lyricist Bernie Taupin. And with all apologies to John\u2019s new collaborator Gary Osborne, he\u2019s no Bernie. He doesn\u2019t even come close. Making matters worse, John was in a deep depression and hopelessly addicted to cocaine. The songs suffered greatly as a result, with the lone exception being the shimmering instrumental \u201cSong for Guy.\u201d The rest is just instantly forgettable fluff. \u201c<em>A Single Man<\/em> demonstrates just how thin the line really is between disposable radio pop and elevator music,\u201d wrote <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s Stephen Holden in a vicious pan, \u201cand suggests that for all of Elton John\u2019s public whining about not being taken seriously, the only thing that\u2019s ever mattered to him is that the hits keep coming. May they not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Neil Young, \u2018Hawks &amp; Doves\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Neil Young, 'Hawks and Doves'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Neil-Young-Hawks-and-Doves.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Neil-Young-Hawks-and-Doves.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Neil-Young-Hawks-and-Doves.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Neil-Young-Hawks-and-Doves.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Neil-Young-Hawks-and-Doves.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Neil Young, 'Hawks and Doves'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Neil-Young-Hawks-and-Doves.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Neil-Young-Hawks-and-Doves.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Neil-Young-Hawks-and-Doves.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Between the first<\/span>  Buffalo Springfield record in 1967 and <em>Rust Never Sleeps<\/em> in 1979, Neil Young had one of the greatest runs of sustained brilliance in the history of rock. And then the Eighties came. It\u2019s a bit unfair to razz Young over his output at the start of the decade, considering the vast majority of his time was spent caring for his son Ben, who was born with cerebral palsy. That explains why he slapped <em>Hawks &amp; Doves <\/em>together in a matter of days, and relied heavily on Seventies outtakes. It\u2019s those songs (\u201cLittle Wing,\u201d \u201cCaptain Kennedy,\u201d \u201cThis Old Homestead,\u201d \u201cLost in Space\u201d) that prevent <em>Hawks &amp; Doves<\/em> from being a total fiasco. But the originals on side two are not only lifeless, they\u2019re also oddly conservative and jingoistic, reflecting his brief support of Ronald Reagan. The album hit days before the 1980 election, and it was forgotten almost instantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Blondie, \u2018The Hunter\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Blondie, 'The Hunter'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blondie-The-Hunter.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blondie-The-Hunter.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blondie-The-Hunter.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blondie-The-Hunter.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blondie-The-Hunter.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Blondie, 'The Hunter'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blondie-The-Hunter.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blondie-The-Hunter.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Blondie-The-Hunter.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">If Blondie broke<\/span>  up in 1981 instead of 1982, they would have left behind an absolutely pristine catalog. But they pushed forward that one extra year and gave the world<em> The Hunter <\/em>out of contractual obligation. It\u2019s clear from the start that their heart isn\u2019t into this overproduced mess of a record. \u201cIsland of Lost Souls\u201d is a pathetic attempt to craft another \u201cThe Tide Is High,\u201d and their Beatles tribute \u201cEnglish Boys\u201d is simply an embarrassment. \u201cThe austere, foreboding tone of this record suggests that Blondie has forgotten how to have a good time, and how to make one,\u201d wrote <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s Parke Puterbaugh. \u201c<em>The Hunter<\/em> is an album of icy, otherworldly moods for moderns, a looking glass trained upon our own peculiar, self-consuming social mores. At the least, it\u2019ll have you wondering just how far an erstwhile New Wave pop group can row itself away from the mainstream before it finds itself out of the current altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>AC\/DC, \u2018Flick of the Switch\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"295\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"AC\/DC, 'Flip The Switch'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AC_DC-Flip-The-Switch.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AC_DC-Flip-The-Switch.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AC_DC-Flip-The-Switch.jpg?resize=300,295 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AC_DC-Flip-The-Switch.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"AC\/DC, 'Flip The Switch'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AC_DC-Flip-The-Switch.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/AC_DC-Flip-The-Switch.jpg?resize=300,295 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tAC\/DC had a lot of reasons to be cocky in 1983. They\u2019d not only survived the death of frontman Bon Scott in 1980, but they\u2019d somehow grown even more popular thanks to new vocalist Brian Johnson. His first two albums at the helm were the mega-sellers <em>Back in Black <\/em>and <em>For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)<\/em>, which were both produced by Mutt Lange. For the third Johnson album, they ditched Lange and decided to produce it themselves. This may have worked if they had another set of strong songs, but they simply did not. They were also dealing with guitarist Malcolm Young\u2019s growing drinking problem and conflicts with drummer Phil Rudd, who was fired before the LP was finished. The result of this is a deeply uneven album. \u201cAC\/DC\u2019s music has always been simple, but here it sounds underdeveloped and unmemorable,\u201d wrote AllMusic\u2019s Steve Huey. \u201cAs perhaps indicated by the record\u2019s idiotic original title, the utterly generic <em>I Like to Rock<\/em>, AC\/DC seemed to be running out of ideas at an alarming rate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Lou Reed, \u2018Lou Reed\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Lou Reed, 'Lou Reed'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lou-Reed-Lou-Reed.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lou-Reed-Lou-Reed.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lou-Reed-Lou-Reed.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lou-Reed-Lou-Reed.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lou-Reed-Lou-Reed.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Lou Reed, 'Lou Reed'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lou-Reed-Lou-Reed.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lou-Reed-Lou-Reed.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Lou-Reed-Lou-Reed.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">The Velvet Underground<\/span>  didn\u2019t sell many records or make it out of the club scene, but their four albums with Lou Reed at the helm are various shades of perfect. And when he reemerged after a brief wilderness period with his solo debut in 1972, fans had every reason to expect something brilliant. But what they got was a bunch of warmed-over Velvet Underground outtakes where Reed was inexplicably joined by Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman of Yes along with Elton John guitarist Caleb Quaye. These are very talented musicians in their own right, but ludicrously wrong for this particular assignment. When you toss in the LP\u2019s horrid production choices, you get an album that even hardcore Reed aficionados don\u2019t bother to defend. Thankfully, VU superfan David Bowie entered the picture shortly after this album flopped and helped him craft <em>Transformer<\/em>. It\u2019s basically considered his first solo album at this point. He\u2019s been given a mulligan for the actual debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Michael Jackson, \u2018Invincible\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Michael Jackson, 'Invincible'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Michael-Jackson-Invincible.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Michael-Jackson-Invincible.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Michael-Jackson-Invincible.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Michael-Jackson-Invincible.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Michael-Jackson-Invincible.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Michael Jackson, 'Invincible'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Michael-Jackson-Invincible.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Michael-Jackson-Invincible.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Michael-Jackson-Invincible.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">At the height<\/span>  of the teen-pop era, when acts like \u2018NSync and Backstreet Boys were crafting dance-pop songs straight out of the Michael Jackson playbook, the man himself returned after a six-year absence to try and reclaim his throne with <em>Invincible.<\/em> It was the product of $30 million, five years, and an absurd number of songwriters and producers. But it still just sounded like an AI was tasked with churning out Michael Jackson songs. There wasn\u2019t a moment on the album that sounded every remotely fresh or original. In that sense, it was the opposite of <em>Thriller<\/em>. \u201cThere\u2019s no joy or humor in it, no sense of release,\u201d Jon Pareles wrote in <em>The New York Times<\/em>.\u00a0\u201cTrying to make songs that will blanket the media universe again, pop that lives up to his past fame, Mr. Jackson is unwilling to get too personal but unable to escape his scars and ambitions.\u201d To make matters worse, the first single dropped just weeks before 9\/11. When the album came out in October, not many people felt like dancing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Yes, \u2018Tales From Topographic Oceans\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Yes, 'Tales From Topographic Oceans'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Yes-Tales-From-Topographic-Oceans.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Yes-Tales-From-Topographic-Oceans.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Yes-Tales-From-Topographic-Oceans.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Yes-Tales-From-Topographic-Oceans.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Yes-Tales-From-Topographic-Oceans.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Yes, 'Tales From Topographic Oceans'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Yes-Tales-From-Topographic-Oceans.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Yes-Tales-From-Topographic-Oceans.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Yes-Tales-From-Topographic-Oceans.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Before you progheads<\/span>  have a conniption fit, let\u2019s be very clear: <em>Tales From Topographic Oceans<\/em> isn\u2019t a terrible album. There are very fine moments on it, especially album closer \u201cRitual (Nous Sommes du Soleil).\u201d But it followed <em>The Yes Album<\/em>, <em>Fragile<\/em>, and <em>Close to the Edge<\/em>. These are three of the best albums in prog history. Yes took a big step backward with the sprawling, unfocused <em>Tales From Topographic Oceans<\/em>. If you think we\u2019re overstating it, let\u2019s hear from Rick Wakeman himself. \u201cThe trouble is <em>Tales <\/em>had a lot of good melodies and a not lot of good songs,\u201d he told <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> in 2019. \u201c[After the tour] I called a meeting and said, \u2018I\u2019m really sorry, guys, but if this is the direction we\u2019re going in, I can\u2019t be a part of this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Stevie Wonder, \u2018Stevie Wonder\u2019s Journey Through \u201cThe Secret Life of Plants\u201d\u2018<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Stevie Wonder, 'Stevie Wonder's Journey Through &quot;The Secret Life of Plants&quot;'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Stevie-Wonder-Stevie-Wonders-Journey-Through-The-Secret-Life-of-Plants.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Stevie-Wonder-Stevie-Wonders-Journey-Through-The-Secret-Life-of-Plants.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Stevie-Wonder-Stevie-Wonders-Journey-Through-The-Secret-Life-of-Plants.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Stevie-Wonder-Stevie-Wonders-Journey-Through-The-Secret-Life-of-Plants.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Stevie-Wonder-Stevie-Wonders-Journey-Through-The-Secret-Life-of-Plants.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Stevie Wonder, 'Stevie Wonder's Journey Through &quot;The Secret Life of Plants&quot;'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Stevie-Wonder-Stevie-Wonders-Journey-Through-The-Secret-Life-of-Plants.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Stevie-Wonder-Stevie-Wonders-Journey-Through-The-Secret-Life-of-Plants.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Stevie-Wonder-Stevie-Wonders-Journey-Through-The-Secret-Life-of-Plants.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">\u201cIf I had<\/span>  one musical hero, it would have to be Stevie Wonder,\u201d Barack Obama told <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> in 2008. \u201cWhen I was at that point where you start getting involved in music, Stevie had that run with <em>Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness\u2019 First Finale<\/em> and <em>Innervisions<\/em>, and then <em>Songs in the Key of Life.<\/em> Those are as brilliant a set of five albums as we\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d Obama stopped with <em>Songs in the Key of Life<\/em> for good reason. The follow-up was<em> Stevie Wonder\u2019s Journey Through<\/em> <em>\u201cThe Secret Life of Plants,\u201d<\/em> which is the soundtrack to a documentary based on a book that claims plants are sentient and can communicate with each other and humans. We\u2019ll avoid the veracity of all that and focus on the music here. Leadoff single \u201cSend One Your Love\u201d has the old Stevie magic, but a more typical song is \u201cVenus\u2019 Flytrap and the Bug\u201d where Wonder scat-sings over cheeseball synth sounds and then explains to a child how a venus flytrap eats insects. Many of the tracks are instrumentals coupled with nature sound effects, and the whole thing feels remarkably tossed off and a complete waste of his talents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Beach Boys, \u2018Smiley Smile\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Beach Boys, 'Smiley Smile'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Beach-Boys-Smiley-Smile.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Beach-Boys-Smiley-Smile.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Beach-Boys-Smiley-Smile.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Beach-Boys-Smiley-Smile.jpg?resize=300,297 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"297\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Beach-Boys-Smiley-Smile.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Beach Boys, 'Smiley Smile'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Beach-Boys-Smiley-Smile.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Beach-Boys-Smiley-Smile.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Beach-Boys-Smiley-Smile.jpg?resize=300,297 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Taken on its<\/span>  own, <em>Smiley Smile <\/em>is a charmingly odd low-fi experiment that stands out as one of the best Beach Boys albums in their vast catalog. But this was the followup to <em>Pet Sounds<\/em> and \u201cGood Vibrations.\u201d Brian Wilson was determined to top those twin masterpieces by creating a \u201cteenage symphony to God\u201d known as<em> Smile<\/em>. But he was dealing with severe mental health problems at the time, and he ultimately abandoned the project. His bandmates simply took Wilson\u2019s songs and quickly created quickie versions at his home studio that lack the lush, subversive brilliance of the originals. In some ways, it\u2019s like looking at a Polaroid of the Mona Lisa. That said, <em>Smiley Smile<\/em> is still a wonderful musical experience since the underlying songs are so strong. But it\u2019s a pale facsimile of the real deal, as fans learned when the original <em>Smile<\/em> tapes slowly leaked out as bootlegs before Wilson finally finished the project in 2004. \u201cWe hit a bunt,\u201d said Carl Wilson, \u201cinstead of a grand slam.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Bruce Springsteen, \u2018Human Touch\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Bruce Springsteen, 'Human Touch'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bruce-Springsteen-Human-Touch.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bruce-Springsteen-Human-Touch.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bruce-Springsteen-Human-Touch.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bruce-Springsteen-Human-Touch.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bruce-Springsteen-Human-Touch.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Bruce Springsteen, 'Human Touch'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bruce-Springsteen-Human-Touch.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bruce-Springsteen-Human-Touch.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bruce-Springsteen-Human-Touch.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">At the dawn<\/span>  of the Nineties, Bruce Springsteen fired the E Street Band, moved to Los Angeles, and had his first child with wife Patti Scialfa. He also began recording songs with session pros like drummer Jeff Porcaro and bassist Randy Jackson that reflected his newfound domestic bliss. Some of them were quite excellent, like \u201cHuman Touch\u201d and \u201cReal World,\u201d but others were among the worst he\u2019d ever deemed worthy of release, like \u201cMan\u2019s Job\u201d and \u201cThe Long Goodbye.\u201d And the production was painfully dated all around. He released <em>Human Touch <\/em>on the same day as <em>Lucky Town,<\/em> a slightly superior album, and received the worst reviews of his career. The albums initially sold well, but there were stacks of them in used CD shops just a few months later. For the first time in his career, he whiffed. When he was inducted into the Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, he acknowledged it with typical frankness. \u201cNow my dad, he passed away this year, but I\u2019ve gotta thank him because \u2014 what would I conceivably have written about without him?\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, you can imagine that if everything had gone great between us, we would have had disaster. I would have written just happy songs \u2014 and I tried it in the early \u201990s, and it didn\u2019t work. The public didn\u2019t like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Guns N\u2019 Roses, \u2018Chinese Democracy\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Guns N\u2019 Roses, 'Chinese Democracy'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/chinese-democracy.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/chinese-democracy.jpg 1800w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/chinese-democracy.jpg?resize=300,200 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/chinese-democracy.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Guns N\u2019 Roses, 'Chinese Democracy'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/chinese-democracy.jpg 1800w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/chinese-democracy.jpg?resize=300,200 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">In hindsight, it<\/span>  was slightly crazy to expect anything spectacular from Guns N\u2019 Roses by the time <em>Chinese Democracy<\/em> hit shelves in November 2008. By this point, the band had just been Axl Rose and hired hands for over a decade. Their 1999 song \u201cOh My God\u201d from the <em>End of Days<\/em> soundtrack was profoundly unexciting, and we\u2019d all read the reports of the endless, ludicrously costly C<em>hinese Democracy <\/em>sessions. But we still hoped that Axl had spent all those years chipping away at his masterpiece and the end result would prove all the doubters wrong. That did not happen. Despite a handful of strong songs like \u201cBetter,\u201d \u201cThere Was a Time,\u201d and \u201cProstitute,\u201d the album is ludicrously overcooked. The partially reunited band breathed new life into many of them on the reunion tour about a decade later, but <em>Chinese Democracy <\/em>itself remains a deep disappointment. And the sad fact they\u2019ve offered up nothing new since it came out short of warmed-over <em>Chinese Democracy <\/em>outtakes is even more disappointing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>David Bowie, \u2018Tonight\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"David Bowie, 'Tonight'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/David-Bowie-Tonight.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/David-Bowie-Tonight.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/David-Bowie-Tonight.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/David-Bowie-Tonight.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/David-Bowie-Tonight.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"David Bowie, 'Tonight'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/David-Bowie-Tonight.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/David-Bowie-Tonight.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/David-Bowie-Tonight.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">After the huge<\/span>  success of <em>Let\u2019s Dance<\/em> in 1983 and the 13-year streak of near perfection prior to that album, it felt like David Bowie was incapable of creating a bad record. He proved that theory wrong just a year later by dropping the turgid <em>Tonight<\/em>. Leadoff single \u201cBlue Jean\u201d has some charm, and \u201cLoving the Alien\u201d is vintage extraterrestrial Bowie, but the rest is shockingly inept, even his duet with Tina Turner on the 1977 Iggy Pop tune \u201cTonight.\u201d Things reach rock bottom with a pointless remake of \u201cGod Only Knows\u201d by the Beach Boys. Bizarrely, there\u2019s very few new Bowie originals, and a glut of old Iggy tunes that were in no need of modernizing for the Eighties. The whole album just feels oddly rushed. The fiasco destroyed nearly all the momentum he gained from <em>Let\u2019s Dance<\/em>. It would be a long, long time before he regained it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>Bob Dylan, \u2018Self Portrait\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Bob Dylan, 'Self Portrait'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bob-Dylan-Self-Portrait.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bob-Dylan-Self-Portrait.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bob-Dylan-Self-Portrait.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bob-Dylan-Self-Portrait.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bob-Dylan-Self-Portrait.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Bob Dylan, 'Self Portrait'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bob-Dylan-Self-Portrait.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bob-Dylan-Self-Portrait.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Bob-Dylan-Self-Portrait.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Not long after<\/span>  hearing Bob Dylan\u2019s<em> Self Portrait <\/em>for the first time, <em>Rolling Stone <\/em>critic Greil Marcus penned the most famous lede to a review in the history of rock criticism: \u201cWhat is this shit?\u201d He was responding to an odd hodgepodge of covers, live cuts, and originals gooped up with strings and background singers that make up the album. In 1984, the notoriously unreliable Dylan claimed he made it bad on purpose to alienate his fans and earn him some peace. \u201cI wanna do something they can\u2019t possibly like, they can\u2019t relate to,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll see it, and they\u2019ll listen, and they\u2019ll say, \u2018Well, let\u2019s go on to the next person.\u2019\u201d The 2018 box set <em>Another Self Portrait<\/em> proved he actually recorded a lot of great music at this time, leading to a slight reassessment of the original album. But compared to Dylan\u2019s Sixties output that preceded it, <em>Self Portrait <\/em>was still a massive disappointment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>The Rolling Stones, \u2018Their Satanic Majesties Request\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Rolling Stones, 'Their Satanic Majesties Request'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rolling-Stones-Their-Satanic-Majesties-Request.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rolling-Stones-Their-Satanic-Majesties-Request.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rolling-Stones-Their-Satanic-Majesties-Request.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rolling-Stones-Their-Satanic-Majesties-Request.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rolling-Stones-Their-Satanic-Majesties-Request.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"The Rolling Stones, 'Their Satanic Majesties Request'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rolling-Stones-Their-Satanic-Majesties-Request.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rolling-Stones-Their-Satanic-Majesties-Request.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/The-Rolling-Stones-Their-Satanic-Majesties-Request.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">Near the height<\/span>  of the psychedelic movement, months after the Beatles stunned the world with <em>Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/em>, the Rolling Stones dropped <em>Their Satanic Majesties Request<\/em>. It\u2019s a wildly ambitious album where they utilize mellotrons, strings, and African rhythms in a failed attempt to out-psychedelic their competitors. There are very strong moments like \u201cShe\u2019s a Rainbow,\u201d but also painfully mawkish ones like album opener \u201cSing This All Together\u201d that fade from memory seconds after they end. The album has some passionate defenders, but no serious fan argues it\u2019s even a fraction as brilliant as the group\u2019s early singles or the work that followed over the next decade. \u201cIt\u2019s not very good,\u201d Mick Jagger told <em>Rolling Stone<\/em> in 1995. \u201cIt\u2019s a sound experience, really, rather than a song experience. There\u2019s two good songs on it: \u2018She\u2019s a Rainbow\u2019 and \u201c2000 Light Years From Home.\u2019 The rest of them are nonsense\u2026. I think we were just taking too much acid.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<article class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item\">\n<h2>John Lennon, \u2018Some Time in New York City\u2019<\/h2>\n<figure>\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"John Lennon, 'Some Time in New York City'\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Lennon-Some-Time-in-New-York-City.jpg?w=300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Lennon-Some-Time-in-New-York-City.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Lennon-Some-Time-in-New-York-City.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Lennon-Some-Time-in-New-York-City.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Lennon-Some-Time-in-New-York-City.jpg?w=300\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"John Lennon, 'Some Time in New York City'\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Lennon-Some-Time-in-New-York-City.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Lennon-Some-Time-in-New-York-City.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/John-Lennon-Some-Time-in-New-York-City.jpg?resize=300,300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<p>\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-not-a-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<span class=\"lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-012\">When John Lennon<\/span>  moved to New York City in 1971, he immersed himself in the anti-war movement and befriended counter-culture radicals like Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. It didn\u2019t take long for the Nixon administration to try and deport him. While he fought to remain in the country, he penned songs like \u201cAttica State,\u201d \u201cJohn Sinclair,\u201d and \u201cSunday Bloody Sunday\u201d that reflected the combustible politics of the moment. But they were half-assed, at best, and seemed dated almost instantly. Listening to <em>Some Time in New York City<\/em> today, it\u2019s almost impossible to believe his prior two albums were <em>Plastic Ono Band<\/em> and <em>Imagine<\/em>. Both of those albums are timeless masterpieces. <em>Some Time in New York City<\/em> is as disposable as the newspapers on the cover. He bounced back with <em>Mind Games<\/em> in 1973, leaving <em>Some Time in New York City<\/em> little more than an unfortunate time capsule from a troubled time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-lists\/most-disappointing-albums-ever-1235111528\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even the greatest artists screw up sometimes. Here are the most iconic duds from Dylan, the Stones and more Hot streaks can\u2019t last forever. And if you\u2019re a successful recording &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=113060\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113060\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}