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

Love this thread btw. New Jersey was the first album I ever got (that wasn't e.g. something taped off my Mum's friend's kid or something). IIRC, the local album rock station played the whole thing when it came out. Even then, I think I kind of felt that it was an event yet not quite the same as "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer".

trying to figure out which Garth Brooks record was his New Jersey...probably Sevens? 10x platinum, but when's the last time you heard "Longneck Bottle" (a #1) on the radio? Plus it's followed by a live album & the Chris Gaines thing.

yeah that sounds right

It's too soon to give a nod to Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown but if that new single is any sign of where they're headed, jesus

Is it that a NJ feels a little bit hollow or makes you feel that everything before it was also hollow and you just didn't notice it until NJ came along?

the former, I think. Latter seems overly personal an experience.

Something that was a little surprising for me was the realization that for some Pumpkins fans who were born in the mid-80s (I dated one), the band really starts with Mellon Collie and Adore is a completely beloved album.

To compare, I've totally known young Bon Jovi fans who got on the bus with "Bed of Roses" or "It's My Life" or some shit but I've never known someone whose interest was sparked by New Jersey and has no interest in Slippery When Wet.

man listening to New Jersey is weird....when I pulled it up on Spotify, the song titles "Born to Be My Baby" and "Living in Sin" didn't even register with me, but hearing them I realized I'd heard them a zillion times.

"Born to Be My Baby" was totally my favourite (when I was 9).

Since it was the first album I got, I know the damn thing inside out. Have really vivid memories of the liner notes, even.

"Living in Sin" is totally what would happen if Bruce Springsteen wrote "Father Figure" by George Michael

That was kind of brilliant!

was "In the Zone" Britney's New Jersey?

what is Tori Amos's New Jersey? The one where the pig is sucking on her boob?

Sevens and All For You are otm

what is Tori Amos's New Jersey? The one where the pig is sucking on her boob?

I dunno: that reocrd and its followup are beloved by her fans!

I get the logic for In The Zone but it could be argued that Blackout and Circus were still certainly "events" and she's still hitting #1 and making fans happy - plus ITZ has it's fair share of hits (i.e. "Toxic").

Tori Amos has never been in spitting distance of a huge event album

was "In the Zone" Britney's New Jersey?

― Elrond Hubbard (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 7 August 2012 20:47 (14 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But after that album her music suddenly became amazing! A false start New Jersey

actually wow, never realized she hit double platinum - but she's still more of a megacult than a hitmaker

tori, i mean

yeah but hitting number one by then didn't really mean that much.

like using myself as an example, i think for many many people that don't really care either way, "Toxic" is the last Britney Spears song we know about.

(wrt britney)

How about Black Crowes "Southern Harmony & Musical Companion"?

The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. The effort spawned the singles "Remedy", "Sting Me", "Thorn in My Pride" and "Hotel Illness", all of which topped the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. "Remedy" and "Thorn in My Pride" also charted on the Hot 100 in 1992.

xpost so In The Zone is her New Jersey for older men, is what you're saying

"Toxic" is the last Britney Spears song we know about.

"Toxic" isn't even her biggest hit!

xp New Green Day album is split into three, two months apart, so it's hard to tell how that will pan out but 21CB has New Jersey written all over it - similar to the one before, only bigger and less good.

I'm no Chili Peppers fan but By the Way or Stadium Arcadium would seem to qualify.

21CB makes me wonder about bands who survive their New Jerseys and how many times they can do it. Like Green Day were in serious trouble but rebounded with American Idiot, now they seem a bit lost again. U2 are the only big band I can think of who rebounded twice (with Achtung Baby and All That You Can't Leave Behind) - three times seems impossible for anyone.

every generation of rock crits gets the new jersey they deserve

Gimme More
Womanizer
Hold It Against Me
Till The World Ends
I Wanna Go

^^^ all bigger than "Toxic" from albums that suddenly got her more respect

on the other hand it wouldn't surprise me if "Toxic" became her signature song.

I came here to say Mellon Collie, but it's already been said. I adore (pun unintended) that album.

I would agree All For One would be Janet's, I just don't know if the situation actually works given the whole Superbowl fiasco

Had that not happened, we could be saying that Damita Jo is her New Jersey

― keeping things contextual (DJP), Tuesday, August 7, 2012 3:12 PM (45 minutes ago) Bookmark

c'mon there's no song on Damita Jo that could be plausible as a #1 pop hit even w/o the super bowl

Thinking out loud here...is "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" U2's?

pastsex/lovesounds

xp Absolutely. Maybe Pop too but I think that was perceived as a dud right away.

That might qualify!

xpost

Pop followed by their second best selling album of the Soundscan era.

c'mon there's no song on Damita Jo that could be plausible as a #1 pop hit even w/o the super bowl

she didn't need a #1, just a top 5; given some of her other hits, "Just A Little While" or "All Nite (Don't Stop)" could conceivably had gotten there if they'd gotten the same type of saturation push that "All For You" and "Someone To Call My Lover" received even considering that at least one is blatantly inferior to those two singles

yeah Atomic Bomb is good - they really tried hard to worm out another hit off that album after "vertigo" and failed

Listening to Rhythm Nation in the car a couple weeks ago with friends we wondered how Janet's sales and saturation could have so utterly collapsed after 2002 without the record company actively sabotaged her, as someone posted above.

*sabotaging

xp I'm unsure about the definition here. I was basing it on da croupier's "served as a stopgap before a major drop or left turn", with ATYCLB as the left turn (or right turn). If the only option is a major drop then by definition you can't come back from a New Jersey. But I like records that feel at the time like the beginning of the end but turn out not to be, I guess because they're an encouraging change from the usual narrative of irreversible decline.

yeah the problem with pop is that it wasn't a stopgap, it was a bomb

what about....

Bowie's Tonight

xpost so In The Zone is her New Jersey for older men, is what you're saying

― da croupier, Tuesday, August 7, 2012 2:54 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

waiting on a text from someone from a more desirable demographic who doesn't own any silkworm albums

True. Forget Pop. Tonight's a good one.

setting aside the fact that Damita Jo just isn't that great compared to the run of Janet albums preceding it starting with Control, you really can't downplay the effect that zero label support, limited radio play and a blanket ban by MTV on its videos was going to have on the performance of that album

add in the quality of the album and it's even grimmer

Celebrity Skin

Actually Bowie might be the only artist with two New Jerseys:

Tonight & Alladin Sane

um a lot of people like Aladdin Sane