Somerockalbums are legends that top the charts for ages or redefine genres, and somealbums peak with the first songand are otherwise forgettable. Sometimes a bad album can completely tank a band’s career, like the Clash’s final studio album, 1985’sCut the Crap, which failed so badly it led to Joe Strummer dissolving the band.
Then there’s that rare bird, the album that’s so bad that critics and fans can’t stand it, but thata band can somehow recover from. Some of these artists took their failures in stride and made sure to listen to the feedback from their fans, some just took a little time to sweep their mistakes under the rug, and some just continued stumbling on and managed to salvage their careers through sheer dumb luck.
10Bob Dylan – Self-Portrait
Columbia Records, 1970
For most of the 1960s, it seemed that Bob Dylan could do little wrong musically. The release of his second album, 1963’sThe Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, saw him begin to garner national attention as a folk music icon, which led to him being dubbed the “spokesman of a generation,“a label he reportedly couldn’t stand. Even his switching to the use of an electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, a decision many folk music purists derided, couldn’t stop music lovers from worshiping Dylan.
1970’sSelf-Portraitwas, supposedly, an intentional effort on Dylan’s part to shatter people’s idealized image of him. Whether or not that was ever the case, though, the critical reviews were atrocious;Rolling Stone’s review, by legendary music critic Greil Marcus, was particularly vitriolic. The album was seen as a mess, with terrible production quality and some of Dylan’s worst singing.
8 Great Fusion Hip-Hop Albums That Took Artists To Another Level
These albums pushed the boundaries of what hip-hop meant when they were released, and still resonate today as phenomenal pieces of art.
Four months afterSelf-Portrait, Dylan releasedNew Morning, which was much more well-received, and likely saved Dylan from being cast aside by critics. Still,it wasn’t until 1975’sBlood on the Tracksthat Dylan started receiving significant critical praise again.
9Lou Reed – Metal Machine Music
RCA Records, 1975
Lou Reed was, for a time,the darling of the avant-garde rock movement. As one of the founding members of the Velvet Underground, he spent the back half of the 60s pushing the boundaries and definitions of music while also doing copious amounts of drugs and hanging out with Andy Warhol. In 1970, he left the Velvet Underground and started releasing solo albums to generally positive reviews.
All that changed in July 1975 with the release of the sonically experimentalMetal Machine Music, whichRolling Stonedescribed as the “tubular groaning of a galactic refrigerator” that was as unpleasant as spending a night “in a bus terminal.” Coming in at just over a one-hour runtime, the album polarized critics, with Lester Bangs praising it for its “psychopathic” artistic integrity even while Billy Altman in the 1979Rolling Stone Record Guidecalled it"nothing more than ear-wrecking electronic sludge.”
After thousands of fans returned their copies,Metal Machine Musicwas withdrawn from stores within three weeks of its initial release(viaBBC Music). Reed’s next album,Coney Island Baby,was released that December, to significantly better reception, but the legacy ofMetal Machine Musicwould remain, especially when Reed released a remastered version of the album in 2011.
Epitaph Records, 1983
Los Angeles punks Bad Religion had a solid success with their debut album, 1982’sHow Could Hell Be Any Worse?, buttheir second foray was a complete departure from the aggressively melodic sound that they initially used. 1983’sInto the Unknownwasn’t punk at all, but a half-hour of pure, organ-solo-laden prog-rock. The band’s 1982 tour had left them feeling that punk rock was dead, and so they decided to change their sound up.
Into the Unknownwas so terribly received that the band not only left Epitaph Records, but broke up for a time. Compounding the failure was the fact that, due to their popularity, they’d had more copies ofInto the Unknownpressed than their previous album, which contributed heavily to their parting ways with Epitaph. Although the band reunited in 1985, titling their next albumBack to the Knownas a way of poking fun at themselves, there was never any further experimentation with prog sounds for Bad Religion.
Into the Unknownwas never re-released in any format other than as a part of 2010’s30 Years of Bad Religionvinyl box set.It has never had an individual re-issue, is not available for legal streaming, and Bad Religion avoided playing any of the album’s songs live until a show in 2010. By the 1990s, though, Bad Religion were back at the top of their game – they just made sure to stay well within the known.
Parlophone/Capitol Records, 1993
While Radiohead eventually became one of alternative rock’s true darlings, the band almost stumbled out of the gate when their first album,Pablo Honey, was released to almost no critical attention. In the years since, plenty of critics have gone back and given the album a more fair assessment, butfor a brief moment in 1993, it seemed like Radiohead wouldn’t even have a chance to become a one-hit wonder.
Pablo Honeywas apparently an extremely difficult album to record,mostly due to the inexperience of Radiohead’s members, which made it difficult for them to reach a consensus on how to finish various tracks. The decision as to what track to use as the album’s first single was also difficult, but a particularly compelling take of “Creep” swayed producer Paul Kolderie.
“Creep” received very little airplay when it was released in 1992, and the same was true for the next two singles fromPablo Honey, as well as the non-album single “Pop Is Dead.” It wasn’t until March of ‘93, when"Creep” caught on with an Israeli radio DJ, that Radiohead started getting some press; after returning from their first overseas concert in Tel Aviv, they found that “Creep” had begun to climb up the US Modern Rock charts. Still, it was a few years yet before 1997’sOK Computerwould catapult these experimental British rockers into genuine rock stardom.
6Black Sabbath – Forbidden
I.R.S. Records, 1995
By the time Black Sabbath entered the studio to recordForbidden, their eighteenth studio album, there were no founding members left in the band except for original guitarist Tony Iommi. Geezer Butler, the original bassist who had already left the band once, had been replaced by Neil Murray at the end of 1994’sCross Purposestour.Black Sabbath were a pale reflection of themselves, andForbiddenreflected that.
Part of the album’s innate struggle likely came from the band working with a new producer – Ernie C., who had produced the demo tapes for Stone Temple Pilots and Rage Against the Machine, but was more generally known at the time as the guitarist for rap metal band Body Count.There were issues with the contrast between Ernie’s production style and Sabbath’s members being fairly stuck in their ways, leading to strange choices like the appearance of rapper Ice-T, Body Count’s vocalist, adding a spoken word section to the bridge of the opening track, “The Illusion of Power.”
10 Early Metal Albums Every Metal Fan Needs To Hear Start To Finish
The metal scene is wildly fragmented, but fans can and should get back to their roots by listening to these albums from start to finish.
Forbiddenwas an absolute critical and commercial failure, with vitriolic reviews and no singles to support it. Black Sabbath faltered inForbidden’s wake, and it wasn’t until original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne reconciled his difficulties with Iommi that the original lineup reunited to record 1998’s liveReunionalbum. Even then, Sabbath continued only releasing live albums, as Ozzy’s other commitments prevented another Sabbath studio album until 2013’s13.
5Metallica – St. Anger
Elektra Records, 2003
While Metallica had been considered by many to be the crème de la crème of 80s thrash metal, their studio releases throughout the 90s found them increasinglyshifting their style towards more mainstream rock, which peaked with 1997’sReloadand its heavily Southern-rock sound. When the band started preparations to record again in 2001, they were ready to return to something more resembling their original sound.
Unfortunately, recording was severely delayed, first by the departure of bassist Jason Newstead, and then by singer James Hetfield entering rehab for his alcoholism. Recording resumed in spring of 2002, with producer Bob Rock stepping in to play bass, and with documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky watching the band’s every move.
10 Most Exciting Albums Confirmed & Rumored For 2025
2025’s biggest albums are on the way. From Rihanna’s return to Lady Gaga, discover who’ll be making waves in the music scene in the next 12 months.
St. Angerturned out to sound nothing like Metallica’s thrash origins, instead winding up somewhere in the neighborhood of nu metal, with the guitars tuned down to drop C and lathered up with so much distortion it was impossible to tell if they were in tune. Drummer Lars Ulrich played his kit with the snare drums unlocked, resulting in a sharp, tinny sound that critics particularly loathed, withPitchfork’s Brett DiCrescenzo saying the drum set “consist[ed] of steel drums, aluminum toms, programmed double kicks, and a broken church bell.”
St. Angerand its accompanying documentary,Some Kind of Monster, did help keep Metallica relevant, helping them kick off two straight years of touring with new bassist Robert Trujillo. Still, the songs fromSt. Angergot far less play in that period than would be expected of a new album’s material, and by 2008’s tour supporting the next album,Death Magnetic,the material fromSt. Angerhad effectively disappeared from setlistsas Metallica worked to put the mess of an album behind them.
4Guns N’ Roses - Chinese Democracy
Black Frog/Geffen Records, 2008
After 1993’s “The Spaghetti Incident?“album of punk covers proved to be a commercial failure, Guns N' Roses stagnated. The late 90s saw the band struggle internally, recording little new material and seeing significant lineup changes as frontman Axl Rose tried to consolidate the legal rights to the band’s name and as guitarist Slash quit. By 1998,Rose was the only remaining original member of the band.
1998 saw the new Guns N' Roses lineup enter the studio to begin work on a new album,but from the beginning the sessions struggled, with Rose himself being chronically inconsistent, and a revolving-door approach to guest musicians and technical personnel. There was also a brief interruption where Rose had the band re-record the albumAppetite for Destruction, but those recordings were never released.
Rose announced the new album’s title,Chinese Democracy, in 1999, and said that they had recorded at least two albums' worth of material. The song “Oh My God” was released late that year on the soundtrack for the horror filmEnd of Days;it was a critical flop, received minimal radio play, and was never released as a proper commercial single.
Chinese Democracysoldiered on into 2001 with no release, only promises and further changes to the band’s roster as members increasingly found conflict with Rose’s artistic vision. That year, the band launched a tour for the album, yet still hadn’t finished the album, and the tour screeched to a halt when canceled dates led to riots. By 2004,label Geffen withdrew any further support for recordingChinese Democracy, as the album had exceeded its budget by several million dollars.
The album was finally released in November 2008, but by thenthe decade-long process had clearly taken its toll not only on the band, but on the patience of the fans. 11 of the album’s 14 songs had leaked online along the way, critics were kind but clearly underwhelmed, andChinese Democracyand its singles sold well below expectations. Although it was better-received than"The Spaghetti Incident?",Chinese Democracywas enough of a mess that Guns N' Roses still haven’t recorded another studio album since. At this rate, if they still have another album in them, expect it by 2030.
3Weezer – Raditude
DGC/Geffen/Interscope Records, 2009
Weezer’s 2008 albumWeezer(not to be confused with their 1994 albumWeezeror their 2001 albumWeezer) had relatively poor commercial performance, despite the success of the single “Pork and Beans.” Soon after its release, the band returned to the studio for their next project,which got its name from a suggestion actor Rainn Wilson gaveto Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.
Raditude’s release in October 2009 was met with reviews that ranged from kind to caustic.Alternative Presssaid it was “the antithesis of everything you loved about [Weezer’s] first two albums.“PopMatterssaid, “As a Weezer album, it is nothing short of a profound disappointment.By any other standard, it’s just the worst album of the year.” Its mediocre first-week sales, only half that of 2008’sWeezer, made it clear that the fans agreed.
2U2 - Songs of Innocence
Island/Interscope Records, 2014
U2’s 2009 album,No Line on the Horizon, had sold poorly, so far as sales went for one of the biggest rock bands of all time. Still, lead vocalistBono publicly expressed concerns that U2 were no longer relevant, considering how far they’d come from the early days of deeply political protest rock, and it took five years untilSongs of Innocencewas ready to release.
The band consideredSongs of Innocenceto betheir most personal album, dealing with themes of childhood and loss and drawing inspiration from the band members' youth in Ireland in the 1970s. Yet whatever the message of the album was meant to be, it was absolutely lost in the mess that was the waySongs of Innocencewas released.
Guitarist the Edge called the release strategy “incredibly subversive” and “really punk rock, really disruptive,” proving once and for all that words have no set meaning.
U2 had been in a commercial partnership with Apple since 2004, but 2014 made fans wonder if that partnership was a deal with the devil. The band participated in September 2014’s Apple product launch event, where the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch were announced, and Apple CEO Tim Cook also announced that U2’s new album would be digitally released to all iTunes customers at no cost. In an interview withTIME, guitarist the Edge called the release strategy “incredibly subversive” and “really punk rock, really disruptive,“proving once and for all that words have no set meaning.
Regardless of the album’s content,almost everyone was frustrated with U2 and Apple both. Musicians were concerned that the move contributed to the devaluation of music; customers were just mad that the album had shown up on their computers or iPods without them having a choice in the matter.The Washington Post’s Chris Richards described the album as “rock-and-roll dystopian junk mail.“Slate’s Chris Wade said it best, though:
Apparently, consent and interest are no longer a requisite for owning an album, only corporate prerogative. Which is, you know, extremely unsettling, possibly indicating a terrifying new future where taste and culture are even more explicitly chosen directly for us by our corporate overlords.
1Green Day - Father of All
Reprise Records, 2020
It’s been a long time since Green Day could be described as punk, but the East Bay trio have come a long way in that time, and anyone who was introduced to them through early albums likeKerplunk!orDookiewould be surprised that the same guys inspired an entire Broadway musical. 2020’sFather of Allcaught fans and critics equally by surprise,but not in a good way.
Recorded with the deliberate intention of trying a new sound,Father of Allabandons Green Day’s traditional straddling of the line between traditional punk and pop-punk, instead taking the more garage-rock sound from 2012’s mediocre¡Dos!andturning everything up to 11, including the mediocrity. With a run time of just over 26 minutes for its 10 songs, some critics considered the best thing aboutFather of Allwas how quickly it was over.
While there were plenty of middling-to-positive reviews,Father of Allfound little purchase withthe band’s fans, who took to social media to vent their frustrations– and considering it was only a month later that the COVID-19 pandemic left most people stuck home in quarantine, there were a lot of frustrations and a lot of time to vent them.MEAWWreported at the time that fans had been comparingFather of Allto Metallica’sSt. Anger, with its abrasive production quality, lack of any display of technical musicianship, and alienating, aggressive energy.
The critics that did take Green Day to task for their production choices onFather of Allrefused to pull any punches.Sputnikmusiccalled it “a hot mess that destroys any hope that Green Day could re-emerge as a band worth listening to.” London-based e-magazinemusicOMHgave the album only a single star, stating simply thatGreen Day had “become the very thing they once despised: buck-chasin’ mild boys of mayonnaise corporate rock.”
(Sources: Rolling Stone, BBC Music, Pitchfork, Alternative Press, PopMatters, TIME, The Washington Post, Slate, MEAWW, Sputnikmusic, musicOMH)
