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

I picked Monster based on buyer's remorse. The last album that, in retrospective, most people ended up caring about from REM is Automatic for the People which makes Monster the one that signaled the gig was up, it also sold more than its predecessors and successors at the time. It fits perfectly with the criteria of the thread.

The fact that it became the most sold-back album of all time tells you all you need to know. Lots of people bought it and lots of people stopped caring.

xp: except that it's awesome

Afterburner, Rattle and Hum and Fore! look like the best contenders so far.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, August 7, 2012 2:18 PM (2 minutes ago)

Should totally have the heavyweights compete in a most "New Jersey" poll after this runs its course!

and Dancing on the Ceiling

To be a New Jersey:
- follow-up to a huge, (possibly) defining record
- has less and/or smaller hits than prev album - or - hits based more on momentum than appeal
- brings with it the feeling that the NEXT record (if there is one) will see the bottom fall out (relatively speaking)

Def Leppard's "Adrenalize" ... right? Or no?

definitely

YES

So is it that New Jerseys are way more common in rock than in pop or R&B or that people just expect artists to drop away in the latter 2 genres?

i mean it's a little off in that New Jersey was huge and Adrenalize was merely a hit, but shit if MTV didn't play the video for "Make Love Like A Man" a ton anyway

Yes' Big Generator maybe?

xposts If so, I love that BTW even sounds like it's trying to be a New Jersey.

xp: based more on momentum than appeal, I assume

In penance for my challopsy stance on REM I would like to nominate Bossa Nova, which charted higher than Doollittle in both the US and UK. I think it's fair to say that "Velouria" and "Dig for Fire" are hardly listened to now compared to the earlier singles, but they were a big deal at the time.

"Adrenalize" would have been even more of a "New Jersey" if had come out in say 1990 rather then 1992.

"Use Your Illusion 1 & 2" mention'd up thread is so otm it is kind of blowing my mind a bit

I can't decide if it's Kid A or the one that came after it.

Seriously, can we refrain from listing albums that sold less than a million copies, much less 5 million?

idk if i had a special nose for these or anything but new jersey, adrenalize, and mellon collie all just seemed plain BAD to me at the time

Yes' Big Generator maybe?

I remember trying really hard to love "Rhythm of Love" as much as I did "It Can Happen" or "Leave It," but I dunno, this was well outsold by 90125 and had no huge hit like "Owner of a Lonely Heart"

Bossanova totally sounds like a low-level Jersey to me

The Pixies discography is too short imho but Bossa Nova could definitely fit in this thread.

I don't know how general consensus had it, this kind of thought applied to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots for me for a while, until Embryonic brought something new. But since there's (surprisingly to me) only one album in between it muddies it a bit - with the novelty band ubiquitousness they managed to maintain over a fairly long period of not releasing much it feels like there had to have been a couple of other passable but uninteresting Yoshimi-style albums in there somewhere.

yeah I get Eric's "actual hit please" request but in hindsight Doolittle is clearly a bigger deal than Bossanova and the only people who even talk about Trompe Le Monde are people who thought the Pixies were consistently awesome (like me).

Journey - Frontiers
REO Speedwagon - Good Trouble
Foreigner - Agent Provocateur
Styx - Kilroy Was Here

Paula Abdul - Spellbound

hah perfect

yeah i don't think the pixies qualify here but frank black's solo career sure does. maybe his first solo album? idk

I dunno how big a deal it was but:

Rolling Stones - Goat's Head Soup

Journey's Raised on Radio closer, Matt #2, no?

I considered Bossanova my fave Pixies album for a long time. I still love it.

I understand it's not as good as Doolittle, etc., but it's a good record. And if nothing else, I don't think the bottom dropped out on Trompe Le Monde AT ALL. Yeah, there are a couple weak tunes in the second half, but overall it's great, too.

Could be that I just love the Pixies too much to see any of the albums as a NJ.

though actually the problem with the Pixies is that people weren't saying "oh the pixies they're over" when Trompe Le Monde came out or anything. That album still got them Buzz Bin status and high placement in critic charts - in general maybe it is a good idea to stick to actual chart heavies.

man those Spellbound singles have vanished, in part, I hope, because everyone realized they were awful

I love Spellbound. So it probably deserves to be mentioned in this thread.

fwiw, i think keeping this to giant hits a la REM, U2, Def Leppard, etc., makes more sense than something like Frank Black's solo albums...i mean it's hard to even fathom shoehorning "NJ" status on like The Cult of Ray

Tho in that case, the problem was that it deviated too far from its predecessor. So "coasting off the last one" isn't really in play.

and by Cult of Ray I meant Teenager of the Year

Also, "Rush Rush" gets played about as often as "Opposites Attract" and "The Way That You Love Me" these days, so *shrug*

I can't decide if it's Kid A or the one that came after it.

― Clarke B.

You're probably joking but anyhoo:
Hail to the Thief did pretty good on sales and even though we don't know actual sales numbers 'In Rainbows' but it seemed like a big thing at the time. 'Nude' hitted the Top 40 charts (something which they hadn't managed since High and Dry) and it did pretty good with fans and critics. If anything The King of Limbs might be it but you'll have to wait for the next album to be sure.

I think Ministry bricked too hard to qualify here otherwise I'd totally be repping Filth Pig

Some people in this thread are confusing the difference between an album they consider bad versus one that gave the overall perception that it was over. I never said Bossanova or Monster were bad albums, I actually like them a lot.

But do you think Bossanova gave the overall perception that it was over? If anything I think Trompe Le Monde did that.

which it was, of course. sort of. for a while.

cult acts have a different but similar arc involving albums that seemed like potential breakthroughs that weren't in hindsight, shit like that deserves its own thread

the ministry pick should be psalm 69 if you were an OG wax trax head but the sales numbers throw that one out, no?

xp hm lotta rules to this thing

well as an OG Wax Trax head I'd actually say A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste is the answer but I know no one agrees with me; I did have Psalm 69 in there originally but for whatever reason a lot of people still like that thing

But do you think Bossanova gave the overall perception that it was over?

I do, and I think you see a lot of Bossanova in used-CD racks a la Monster.

someone should have told spin

also u2

a lot of people in 1991 missed that the pixies were in decline

I think Bossa gave the perception that they'd only likely be a marginal concern going forward, rather than breaking through into the mainstream.
In the slipstream of Doolittle, it kinda seemed anything was possible.

That WOULD be a nice separate thread.