Every huge artist has their "New Jersey" - a huge event album that ultimately feels a bit hollow & signals a career decline

Mellencamp "Lonesome Jubilee"

― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, August 7, 2012 12:25 PM (28 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^good one

I hate myself for writing this but... Wild Mood Swings

― keeping things contextual (DJP), Tuesday, August 7, 2012 1:26 PM (10 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wouldnt wish be a better examp

I wish Weezer's Make Believe had been one of these but they are just as popular as ever.

this would be a great pick but Trent lets too much time go in between albums, it was a different era when he reemerged, but if it were like a year or two after the downward spiral i'd be totally on board

I see what you mean, this is why I didn't really want to mention Human After All because the follow-up to Discovery would have been huge had it came out in 2003. But The Fragile still sold boatloads.

wouldnt wish be a better examp

NO SHUT UP I HATE YOU

yeah weezer's thing is too weird because their Led Zeppelin IV was perceived as a New Jersey when it came out and then things changed a few years later.

wouldnt wish be a better examp

NO SHUT UP I HATE YOU

― keeping things contextual (DJP), Tuesday, August 7, 2012 12:27 PM (4 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha your anger just confirms that Wish is a New Jersey.

THE ALBUM EVERYONE LOVES followed by THE ALBUM EVERYONE BOUGHT followed by THE PROOF THINGS DONE CHANGED

with New Jersey in the middle - so albums that are adored by the fanbase (like Melon Collie) can't really qualify

Fatboy Slim - Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars is another one, maybe FBS was never really "huge" per se but that was the "wait, why did we make such a big deal out of this guy" moment

wouldnt wish be a better examp

NO SHUT UP I HATE YOU

― keeping things contextual (DJP), Tuesday, August 7, 2012 12:27 PM (4 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha your anger just confirms that Wish is a New Jersey.

― Elrond Hubbard (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, August 7, 2012 1:28 PM (33 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lolll

You're right, I think REM and NIN fit that pattern though.

it's actually a real accomplishment to get a New Jersey - a lot of bands miss their window and go straight to PROOF THINGS DONE CHANGED

WMS still went gold in the US

Bloodflowers then went gold in... Switzerland

Phil Collins "...But Seriously"

I am totally losing this argument aren't I

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Liverpool. Or maybe even Welcome To The Pleasuredome, I remember the expectation around the album was huge but it seemed like a Grand Statement that fell pretty flat.

This is a UK thing btw.

it's actually a real accomplishment to get a New Jersey - a lot of bands miss their window and go straight to PROOF THINGS DONE CHANGED

^^^ this

hmm maybe downward spiral is the new jersey? but it's probably too good.

NIN wasn't really huge until that album, though

I feel like some people aren't getting that a New Jersey isn't a flop, and isn't an album that still makes Best of the Decade lists

I guess I could say Songs of Faith and Devotion? DM sales are kind of weirdly constant tho, esp in German-speaking countries

I think this theory explains many of the things I love about Born This Way. Being massively, zeitgeisty huge and still violently underrated and undervalued is tons of fun.

I feel like some people aren't getting that a New Jersey isn't a flop, and isn't an album that still makes Best of the Decade lists

Right, no one will admit to either liking it, even though they own or owned it.

either

Fairweather Motherfucking Johnson

Pearl Jam - Vs.

Afterburner is perfect - it was still a HIT ALBUM, but nobody loves it like Eliminator and by the next one the moment clearly passed. A key symptom of a New Jersey is to look at at the singles and see if you're surprised how high they charted.

Like say Cyndi Lauper's True Colors featuring the #3 hit "Change Of Heart"

Stankonia

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

A "New Jersey" is a big album (sometimes huge) that is basically only big becuz it is cresting on the interia of the previous record.

If he didn't die..."In Utero" would have been Nirvana's "New Jersey"

excuse me, waiter, i specifically asked for no challops

Manic Street Preachers - This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours

Ha, but still, all my friends were kind of over Nirvana before he died! It's a great record though

xpost

Floyd's The Final Cut went platinum in the USA & was #1 in the UK, I'll put it forward

Dancing on the Ceiling - Lionel Richie

― mr.raffles, Tuesday, 7 August 2012 1

yes

I'd think there was a Sting album that fit this criteria, but Ten Summoner's Tales is really one of his best and Mercury Falling was a commercial disaster.

Totally "The Final Cut", do people even know that record exists anymore?

A friend with whom I'm IM'ing said "Tunnel of Love" but that's not quite right

PE's Greatest Misses felt this way to me at the time, but I don't know what its sales were like.

Songs of Faith & Devotion is a good one. Not Rattle & Hum though - nobody would ever be under the impression that Joshua Tree had been supplanted. (that's the point, right? It looks for a while like the blockbuster's been beaten, then it ... just hasn't)

I thought of "Tunnel of Love" but yeah it's not quite right, a "New Jersey" isn't a flop exactly, more like no one realizes it is a flop until they've owned it for six months

Cheap Trick- Dream Police

You got killer single and George Martin- should have been their victory lap and it was popular but they had kinda lost something and the slide to the state fair starts.

oh I think R&H is a perfect example!

I gotta say, this is basically the perfect ILM thread

Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes, and Life

Like say Cyndi Lauper's True Colors featuring the #3 hit "Change Of Heart"

wtf are you talking about, that is not a surprise at all

surprising is seeing that "I Drove All Night" hit #6

Tribe Called Quest - Beats, Rhymes, and Life

omg this is super OTM

Blur - The Great Escape

True Colors also, erm, had a #1 single that unfortunately hasn't disappeared

the only thing is the singles from Future Nostalgia did pretty well, so I don't expect this album to outperform (if that is a requirement for an NJ). Otherwise, it does feel like the jig is up. I enjoy "Training Season" but it's not a patch on any of the Future Nostalgia singles. and "Illusion" is a poor excuse for a single

i heard a dua song in public recently and thought "oh this must be one of her not-quite-a-hit songs that didn't really connect from a few years ago" (like "we're good" or "idgaf" or w/e -- yes i know the latter was an actual hit in the uk, but not here). the song turned out to be current (or should i say past) single "training season"

song is bad btw

idgaf is at 1.5 billion Spotify streams