commercially disappointing major label rock/alternative albums of 1996

I want names

wait are you saying you are defending it?

i'm thinking about it...it's a great-sounding record with a couple of good singles and bush were never as bad as people claimed

except they were worse

"wax ecstatic" is an amazing example of overreaching; my god that album has some stuff

it has TWO DIFFERENT SONGS that are literally about drag queens!

Metallica - Load
This thing makes the black album seem like Masters of Reality. Heard it and thought it sucked. To me a big difference is that it didn’t sound like a band in a room, it had that real tight ass sound with all of the freaking life sucked out of.

There are several problems that I have and have always had with Load... numerous problems. Funnily enough, though, Bob Rock's production has never been one of them. Obviously, first and foremost, the album is wayyy too long even by the standards of the '90s, utilising the VERY maximum possible running time down to the very last fuckin' second. It says a lot about the state that Metallica were in at this point in time (coming off the back of a mega-successful record, and indulging in massive amounts of alcohol and cocaine) that rather than bump one of the lesser tracks, like 'Cure' off the album, they actually edited the ending to 'The Outlaw Torn' down so they would reach the maximum running time possible. One gets the impression they thought that everything they touched would turn to gold at this point. Then there's the dodgy song-sequencing, making the album feel incredibly samey, and the issue of the material itself: there's some decent tracks on the album, but I just get the impression on Load that they weren't spending enough time WORKING on the songs and JUDGING whether they were any good or not. It just felt that they'd knock something out and it'd be like "oh, that'll do... *snorts line* in fact, no that's fuckin' amazing, that's fuckin' cool ass... let's knock out another song while the iron's hot", so they just accumulated this huge batch of stuff that was in places under-worked and then couldn't decide which of their 'cool ass jamz' to release, so they put 'em all out.

I own more of these than I care to admit, but I'll rep for Black Love, which had the misfortune to be too near Gentlemen's light

Load is still better than the complete and utter shite thats come out after

Oh, I completely agree. I'd take the best of the material on Load plus a couple of choice selections from Reload over everything Metallica has done since.

reload was dire. but ugh they split up it never happened

Reload *is* dire, but I do think 'Fuel' is at least a keeper. I have a soft spot for 'Low Man's Lyric' too, but that's about it.

Looking at Load's tracklist I would probably drop '2x4', 'Cure', 'Poor Twisted Me', 'Thorn Within' and 'Ronnie' ... and then include the FULL version of 'The Outlaw Torn', and 'Fuel' and 'Low Man's Lyric' from Re-Load. Don't know what order I'd put the tracks in, though... and I'd still be on the fence about 'Bleeding Me'; some days it bores the shit out of me, and other days it doesn't.

it almost doesn't make sense to even begin to assess the number of bad decisions involved in Load or later Metallica in general. but it still totally astounds me that after the back album the song they decide to come back with is "Until It Sleeps."

we haven't really talked about it much but lemme just say Recovering The Sattelites is so much better than it has a right to be, the better half of it is kind of perfect. and Duritz isn't as embarrassing as Dulli.

whoa whoa whoa

Duritz isn't as embarrassing as Dulli.

haha no

durtiz's head alone, before he even opens the mouth attached to it, is more embarrassing than dulli.

i tried with the Whigs, man, i really tried, but the vocals are just awful

some dude otm

Oooooooh, it's onnnnnnnnn...

(Personally, I think they're both kinda doofy, but I have the sense not to say as much around here...ooooooops.)

yeah i'm kinda trolling because i'm kind of amazed that Black Love seems to be arising as the consensus favorite

voted down on the upside tbh

i tried with the Whigs, man, i really tried, but the vocals are just awful

This is me and the Hold Steady, so I sympathize with your unpopular opinion.

eh I would be amazed if pinkerton doesn't win this poll

Also, ftr, the Whigs and the Crows had some pretty good songs, but I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a fan of either. As opposed to a few other acts on this list (at least within the general era covered by this list).

i tried with the Whigs, man, i really tried, but the vocals are just awful

This is me and the Hold Steady, so I sympathize with your unpopular opinion.

― You Don't Throw Oranges On An Escalator (Deric W. Haircare), Thursday, May 3, 2012 10:43 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

ok then we're 2 for 2 on the same page dude

http://foodcourtlunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/duritz3.jpg

durtiz's head alone, before he even opens the mouth attached to it, is more embarrassing than dulli.

Anybody remember when Dulli and Donal Logue guest hosted 120 Minutes? That was fun. He should've done more of that.

duritz is hilariously horrifying. but "i'm not sleeping" and "children in bloom" and "catapult," those are some great brooding guitar rock songs imo.

was donal logue in character as jimmy the cab driver?

counting crows ugh x 10000, fans treat them like some kind of second-coming Dave Matthews Band and I DON'T GET IT I DON'T I DON'T I DON'T

sorry

calm now

I don't know what prompted it, but I felt compelled to 'check in' on Duritz via GIS a couple of months ago. I mean...props on consistently rockin' the dreads for > 15 years, dude.

I know what prompted it

you are secretly in love with him

well it's easier when they're fake

was donal logue in character as jimmy the cab driver?

No, but I think that was the first time I'd seen him not as Jimmy the cab driver. REVELATORY.

dulli is/was ridiculously over the top, which was not too fashionable at the time (or to me in general). but he totally pulled it off live and however 'obvious' the whigs' rock/soul thing seems, i'm unaware of anyone (apart from prince, who they obviously adore) managing it

I can't think of a musician whose career began with execrable hair that I've been fond of

i am still trying to get over the revelation that donal logue was jimmy the cab driver

Anyone good enough for Jen is good enough for me, VG.

i tried with the Whigs, man, i really tried, but the vocals are just awful

― Neil Young’s social media channels (some dude), Thursday, May 3, 2012 7:39 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

some dude otm

― iatee, Thursday, May 3, 2012 7:39 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cannot be said enough

soon i will be forced to link to aero's reviews of said whigs

dulli is/was ridiculously over the top, which was not too fashionable at the time (or to me in general). but he totally pulled it off live and however 'obvious' the whigs' rock/soul thing seems, i'm unaware of anyone (apart from prince, who they obviously adore) managing it

i can't think of two musicians who have less in common that prince and fucking greg dulli

Greg Dull more like amirite?

I can't think of a musician whose career began with execrable hair that I've been fond of

http://addictedtovinyl.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/bnlgordon.jpg??????

yeah i don't even really object to dulli's lyrics/persona or the whole sketchy R&B thing, if anything that's why i wish i could tolerate the singing itself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT5K4-WWjT8

forever what i associate with this particular era: the radio IDs from the slightly cooler modern rock station that you had to really work hard to hear if you lived where i did, leading to me building a huge DIY antenna (which worked!) during the summer between 8th/9th grade

I now have "Einstein On The Beach (For An Eggman)" on a loop in my head. Thank you, this thread.

lol contenderizer

I remember that 2nd PUSA album was great, but I haven't heard it in over a decade. I did hear a bootleg of a show a few years ago and the entire audience was enthusiastically singing along to every single song. It sounded so fun!

yeah i don't even really object to dulli's lyrics/persona or the whole sketchy R&B thing, if anything that's why i wish i could tolerate the singing itself

yeah, exactly. the boozy, self-loathing/aggrandizing cad thing is fine by me, and i like the idea of fusing heavy soul with heavy rock, but the voice just grates, and it doesn't work with the music. every element of the sound is so thick and oppressive and unnuanced. the guitar churns, the vocals bellow, the rhythm section mulches, and there's no room to breathe. musical waterboarding.

have i mentioned that i don't like the afghan whigs?