Mr. Lonesome:
Music: the
greatest single invention since Farrah Fawcett circa 1976.
Of course, when
you have such passion for something, there must be an inevitable let-down.
Either from an album you’ve been anticipating the release like it’s a new Star
Wars action figure lost in the Lucas Vaults, or from an album in a band’s canon
that you are exploring years after it came out. Here’s my list of three major
disappointments, moments that made me almost as sad as when my parents
divorced.
1. Kid A – Radiohead. When I was in college,
I got turned onto The Bends. It was fantastic. I would listen to it straight
through, then listen to it again. So when OK Computer was scheduled for
release, I was very much anticipating it. Then, the video for “Paranoid
Android” premiered, and it was a revelation: a complex, beautifully executed
suite. I’d never heard Radiohead hitting on all cylinders quite like that
before. The beat, the acoustic, the electrics over top showering in
atmospherics, the vocals soaring to falsetto, the quirky lyrics that were so
quirky they were profound, the insane distortion riffs, the angelic middle
section, then the reprise. All set to killer British animation, to boot. When
the album was released, I ate it up like oxygen. My bandmate, at the time, and
I learned all the songs, and were challenged by how interesting and creative and layered the pieces were. The production was
lovely, dark, not over-done in any sense. This was my Dark Side of the Moon, an
album timely themed in alienation, scored with lush and majestic sounds. And
Radiohead became the band that could do no wrong. That is, until they released
Kid A. And though every music critic seemed to essentially stroke their genius
for innovation and evolution, I basically heard an album of songs that made me
want to punch grandmothers. The soundscapes were diluted with monotonous beats,
uninventive progressions, and just plain old ridiculous moments of what I felt
were miles down from their previous two records (this is where I say that the
Bends and OK Computer were so good, we pretend as though Pablo Honey never
existed). Plain and simple, I was “let down… crushed like a bug in the ground.”
After all this time, I only have three songs from that entire recording on my
iPod. Truly disappointing.
2. Use Your Illusion I – Guns N’ Roses. This
is another where prior expectation played a role in my extreme disappointment.
Appetite for Destruction is one of the finest rock albums ever recorded. It
played like a soundtrack to my middle school years, minus the drugs and booze
and intercourse, of course. I actually owned it on vinyl. And I still go back
to it every couple months to listen to it from start to end. The Lies EP was
fine. I didn’t care for the first side of live tracks, but I loved the four
acoustic numbers. “Patience” is still a classic every way you look at it. So
when they were set to release their not-exactly-a-double-album of new songs,
sure – I bought both the day they came out. Even though the first single was on
Use Your Illusion II, I am a purist, so I played the first cd first. And my
goodness it sucked. It was disorganized, lacking any sort of congruency
whatsoever (it so turned out that many of the songs on the record were
older-penned songs, some even pre-dating Appetite for Destruction – and it’s
easy to see why they weren’t released previously). It was like they were trying
to make a Stones album, showing all their influences in a tight package, letting
multiple band members sing, etc. It was a mess. And mostly, it was simply
because the songs just weren’t any good. The only highlights were the Izzy
songs (specifically “Dust N’ Bones” and the
underrated “Double-Talkin’ Jive”) and the final epic, “Coma.” I don’t give any
credit to their cover of “Live and Let Die” or to the ridiculously melodramatic
“November Rain.” Which is a shame, because the latter would have been a great
song if it wasn’t so saturated in cliché. Use Your Illusion II is a superior record,
though it also had some awful moments too
(“Get In the Ring” and “My World” – for real?). To this day, I chose to listen
to Chinese Democracy over Illusion I. If only they would have combined the best
tracks from the two and made one record.
3. Queensryche – PD (Post DeGarmo, for those
reading at home). One of my all time favorite bands whose legacy is becoming
that of a serious Has-Been. And that breaks my heart. They began in Seattle,
playing a mixture of Maiden and Priest, then they formed their own identity on
Rage For Order, a strange album with brilliant songs. Their follow-up was the
immortal Operation: Mindcrime, the best “story” concept album of all time in my
opinion. It really has not one misguided note or lyric. Their next album was
the commercial breakthrough, Empire, with a slew of hits (including “Silent
Lucidity” which still gives me an uneasy yet awesome feeling when I hear it).
Promised Land came next, and it blew me away. Though not generally a favorite
of fans or, especially, critics, I think it is an absolute trip (and one I’ll
speak at length about if anyone dares me to – additionally, the tour supporting
this album happened to be the best single show I ever saw. Simon Kennedy, you
were there!). They made one more album with DeGarmo, then he was done. And so
was the band. They carried on, and though there were some song highlights scattered here and there, as you’d hope there
should be, the records became pretty dreadful in the sense of not sounding like
the band you once loved. Their last two records, in fact, are just pretty much
fodder, with boring songwriting. The only PD exception is the very good Tribe,
which coincidentally brought DeGarmo back to pen some songs. Otherwise, this
band became a former all-star with bad knees who was too proud (frightened) to
retire. Chris DeGarmo, on the other hand, built my Hot Rod.
 |
| The beginning of a long end. |
Mr. Mean:
First of all, no.
Farrah Fawcett, no. Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson all the way.
Aside from that,
you have some good points below, though I must confess to listening to nothing
(except Promised Land, thanks to you) after Queensryche post-1990. Kid A did
not piss me off as much as it did you, and, dare I say, I have actually enjoyed
parts of that album immensely, something I cannot say about OK Computer. The
parts I liked totally ripped off Aphex Twin and I like Richard D. James so it
worked for me. GNR…as you know, I never got into them, and I agree that UYI
I&II should have been one album’s worth, like many double albums (ahem,
White Album).
Here’s some of
mine:
The Mission –
Masque. So, yeah, I listened to a lot of alternative (college rock, postpunk,
whatever you want to call it) music in the late 80s/early 90s and I always
liked The Mission. I had their other albums, so when Masque came out in 1992, I
jumped on it. At first (for like the next 15 years) I simply hated it. They got
“poppy” and went the indie dance route, abandoning all of their Batcave and 120
Minutes leanings for the “in” sound that was going on in England at the time.
Hell, even U2 (“Mysterious Ways”) and The Cure (“Never Enough”) got into that
vibe. What strikes me is the fact that the 87-92 scene in England is my
favorite music scene ever. Whether indie, Madchester, acid house, shoegaze,
etc., I loved it all. Masque, for the most part, kinda fell into the same
scene, though they still looked goth and the album was called, well, Masque,
none of which made me think Happy Mondays or The Stone Roses. I should have
liked this album initially but I did not. Why? They changed their sound 360
degrees. I went back and listened to it a few years back and, all of a sudden,
it clicked with me. I like it now. I actually think some of the tracks on it
are their best ever. But, in 1992, I wanted them to be as dark as they were
previously. This album disappointed me big time back then.
R.E.M. – Up. I
love R.E.M. (listening to Murmur as I type this). Up, the first album post-Bill
Berry,was just horrible. I don’t even own it. I don’t even want to write about
it here. The only album I have by them after Berry left was Accelerate because,
well, it kicks major butt and reminds me of Lifes Rich Pageant, which is my
all-time favorite album by them.
Metallica –
Metallica. I know, I know, here we go again with the Metallica thing. But
dudes, I tell you this: I wanted this to be a good album, I wanted this to be a
classic, but I was severely let down. I should have known it was not going to
be good when I saw that 1) Bob Rock produced it and 2) it was self-titled. If a
band cannot come up with a title to an album, then they probably cannot write
and record a good album. Yes, I know about Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin
having self-titled albums that are classics. But, for the most part in the
modern era, it is just effing laziness. The album, as a whole, is not a
worthless pile of crap. There are some good songs on it that should have made
up a mini album or something. Trim off 6-7 songs and you’ll have a classic on
your hands. This album jump started a lot of people in discovering Metallica.
It basically started my gradual “I don’t give a crap about Metallica” anymore.
See also: Anthrax - Sound Of White Noise.
Brutal Truth –
Need To Control. Unsure if Chip is with me or not on this one, but I hate this
album. Brutal Truth released what is, in my opinion, one of the best grindcore
albums ever made called Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses. They
followed that up with this one and I never, ever, got through the whole thing
start to finish once. I turned it off here and there, would go back and listen
to it again, and nothing clicked. Perhaps because it followed up one of the
genre’s staples meant it had no chance anyway. Maybe I was too hung up on the
first one to give it a shot. But, no matter what I did, nothing on this album
hit me at all. I hated the cover art, and even their choice of using The Germs’
“Media Blitz” (one of my all-time favorite punk songs) did not seal the deal
for me. Chip…am I nuts? Do you feel the same way?
 |
| UP was down for Mr. Mean. |
Mr. Lonesome:
I
enjoyed your list. And it’s nice to see you got into The Mission album years
after the fact. It makes this particular experiment worthwhile, because it
shows what kind of extreme expectations we put on the bands we love.
As
far as Queensryche, you are fine stopping at Promised Land. As I mentioned,
there are good songs here and there, and they’d make a fine comp. I guess
that’s why we’ve (the Public, the Industry) moved to such a digital, download
age: bands just generally don’t make good albums anymore. Especially the bands
that we’ve loved and have seen age. Rush is a great example of this. I think
Counterparts is a great record, but after that, you have maybe a small handful
of exceptional songs paired with some very uninspired pieces per record.
And
I share your hatred of double-albums. I cant think of one (other than The Wall,
which works for me because it is designed to be a story and has some fantastic
songs to boot – though let’s not forget it’s really about 60 minutes long and
could be one record as it is) that shouldn’t have been consolidated into a
singular album: The White Album, Mellon Collie, etc. It’s ridiculous excess,
quantity over quality.
Mr. Mean:
Every time I
think about bloated double albums, I think about the White Album and Mellon
Collie. Both would be great single albums.
Your point about
Rush is totally spot on. I feel the same way but for different reasons than
yours, I would imagine. Counterparts is their last great album, no doubt. Some
of the stuff on that record rivals their best work. The problem with me is
that, while some of the songs are good and “Rush” sounding, their later records
suffer from the loudness wars controversy when it comes to recording/mastering.
Test For Echo is one of the most unbearable aural experiences that rivals
RHCP’s Californication as one of the worst albums sonically speaking. You look
at the wave forms for those records and they are crunched together and just
nasty in the red sounding. It is hard to listen to bands you loved make albums
that progressively get worse. Megadeth and Metallica are also those bands, at
least for me. I actually like Countdown to Extinction but everything after is
just crap.
I brought up
R.E.M. before and they are another one that just should have given up, though
if they had, I would not have Accelerate and, like I said, it is a great album.
I know you guys hate them, but I love R.E.M. When I was 13 I heard “Fall On Me”
and it was one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard up to that point. I
bought the album it came from (Lifes Rich Pageant) and thought that the song
after “Fall On Me” called “Cuyahoga” was one of the most beautiful songs ever.
Coincidentally, they are both about the ills of pollution. They were a vital
part of my musical upbringing when I had money to buy music and a video channel
to watch videos on. From about 1986-1990, I was heavily into the US college
rock scene and it was because of my discovery of R.E.M. and The Replacements in
1986. I bought Rolling Stone for the record reviews (they were really into the
college sound back then) and the Gavin Report top ten charts for college
albums. I sought out everything I saw on MTV and read about in Rolling Stone,
artists as diverse as Died Pretty and The Ophelias to Shona Laing and Flat Duo
Jets. I always said I want my ashes dropped somewhere in Manchester, England,
but I think I need to have some thrown in Athens, GA as well. Those two cities
completely made me who I am today as far as a music lover, DJ, and record
collector.
I strayed off
here and apologize for that. This time of year (Spring) always gets me thinking
about nostalgia and youth. College rock was a huge part of it.
Mr. Lonesome:
Well,
until On’ry gets on the ball, we can wax nostalgia as much as we like.
I
don’t dislike R.E.M., for the record. But they aren’t a favorite either. They
are a band where I love a good deal of their songs a lot (such as “The One I
Love” and “Stand” and “Orange Crush”), but they also greatly bore me on other
occasions. But they are certainly a band to revisit, particularly the 80s stuff
for which you so greatly pine.
And
regarding the sound clipping, you mention it frequently when it comes to
(certain) reasons you dislike an album, Personally, it doesn’t bother me so
much. I can hear the sound being less than good, but I’m also not using
fantastic speakers when I listen these days. To me, the opposite is annoying,
those recordings that are so quiet it’s unbearable. I had to buy the recent
remastering of the Wall just so I could have a louder version of “Hey You.”
Mr. On'ry:
Well, once again I’m tardy to
the party. My bad. You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about this
topic and to be honest I’ve mentally compiled a list of like two dozen
bands/albums. But in the interest of time and sanity I’m going to refrain
from offering up any more. Besides, almost every single example I came up
with was from the metal genre and for certain bands I’d feel like I would be
talking to myself to be honest. Cop out? Absolutely. Instead,
because you two have given me enough ammo, I’m going to talk about a couple of
your selections:
Brutal Truth – Dude I won’t
argue with you that Need To Control is probably the weakest album in their
catalog. But it’s not a horrible record and to be honest their best
efforts came after that album. Sounds of the Animal Kingdom is their best
album in my opinion. You want to talk about a classic of the grind
genre? That’s the one you should hone in on. It’s nasty good.
If you gave up on this band completely because of Need To Control you’ve missed
some great albums since then. Just saying.
Megadeth/Metallica – I don’t
know if any bands have ever disappointed me as much as these two have over the
years. I don’t think we need to rehash this anymore but when I look back
on their 80’s material specifically it’s almost like a parent looking at baby
pictures of their child who, as an adult, is now in prison for some heinous
crime. In this case the heinous crimes are horrible, horrible
music. It cuts me that deep.
I’m not going to talk about REM
because I no longer have anything constructive to add to this
conversation. They are another band, much like the Beatles and Metallica
that I’m getting tired of discussing. I’m also getting tired of having to
defend my dislike for them. Mr. Mean, I appreciate your story about
them. That’s awesome that they had that effect on you in your formative
years. I’ll leave it at that.
O.k., hell with it, I’m on a
roll. Here’s a couple examples that most should recognize:
Danzig – III: How The Gods Kill
– I love, LOVE the first two Danzig albums. They were on constant
rotation for a long time for me. But this album just bored the crap out
of me. I’ve gone back too and tried to figure out where it went
wrong for me and I still can’t place it. Maybe I simply outgrew
Danzig? I don’t know. All I know is that I still don’t like this
record years later. It still bores me to no end.
GZR – Do you guys remember this
band? This is the band that Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath fame formed in
the 90’s. Their first album Plastic Planet came out in 1995 when I was
working in college radio for the first time. I was so excited when I read
(in Terrorizer Magazine!) that Geezer had a new band and was about to release a
new record. I mean, the dude helped pen (and wrote most of the lyrics
for) my all-time favorite band. Yeah that album and all subsequent albums
are awful. Just…plain…awful. That band spent their entire first
album simply searching for an identity and they never found it. The
vocalist (Burton Bell from Fear Factory) was god awful and the whole thing was
just a disappointing mess. Fun story though – I was asked by their label
(TVT Records I think?) if I wanted to interview Geezer Butler for my radio show
but on one condition – we had to talk about the new band and new album
ONLY. NO Black Sabbath questions. Sure, I said. Anything to
interview a musical hero…then I proceeded to ask two questions about the new
album and spent the rest of it talking about Sabbath. Ha! Best.
Interview. Ever!!! And you know what, he didn’t mind one bit.
Mr. Lonesome:
Thank
you for not dissing my choices. Or me, in fact. And your story about Geezer is
quintessential awesome. No other words to add there.
I
have to confess, I really LOVE the title track to How the God’s Kill (it’s
actually on my current Metal Comp “Thor”). There are a couple other tracks on
there I like, but overall, yeah, it’s pretty boring.
Getting
back to GZR, it’s funny you mention how bad the singer was. When Chris DeGarmo
left Queensryche, he formed a band called Spys4Darwin that came out with an EP.
I was stoked, naturally. He had Mike Inez and Sean Kinney on it, while both
were in AIC. The downfall was the singer. They picked the dude from Sponge. I
don’t even want to google his damn name, that’s how bad he was. As you can
imagine, that EP is all that exists from the potential of DeGarmo continuing
on. After that, he became a pilot.
And
for the record: I like both Countdown to Extinction and The Black Album. Not my
favorites by either band, but also not their worst. Though I think Megadeth
took a more straight line down than Metallica from that point.
*Tell us, what albums disappointed you the most?
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