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

Nirvana - In Utero

Virtually every album that follows a smash ends up being a disappointment. Some then get reappraised
In 1980, Tusk would have been all over this thread.
In 1967, it would have been Smiley Smile.

Be Here Now definitely the best example in UK rock in the past 20 years. Though I like the upthread proposition of Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, since it was a victory lap for the singles, and it was staggeringly overblown and hollow and pompous. I remember some kid at our school writing a poem in anticipation for the photocopied school mag. "Then with joy I began to bubble/ It was going to be a double!" (I was not the poet; I just have a good memory.)

David Gray - A New Day at Midnight, apparently went quarduple platinum but I can't for the life of me remember how either of the singles go.

Have Queen ever had a NJ?

Queen's might have been "The Game", but then they came back with "The Works" a few years later and found a new audience, so maybe not.

Virtually every album that follows a smash ends up being a disappointment. Some then get reappraised

most, maybe, but not virtually every. sometimes the follow-up to a 1999 is a Purple Rain -- see artists who had a long streak of every album selling more than the last

Yeah, but then "Diamonds and Pearls" seems one of this.

oh i'm not saying Prince DOESN'T have one, just that he had quite a few smash hits before any real disappointment

Pet Shop Boys - Very

With Prince it might even be Lovesexy, but if not it's definitely Diamonds & Pearls.

If it's the big selling album that signals the end of the Imperial Phase then with REM it's Monster rather than Automatic or New Adventures.

Sometimes there's a plateauing album that might qualify - thinking of something like Bossanova here.

With Depeche Mode it's definitely 'Songs of Faith & Devotion'. Throw 'Republic' by New Order in there as well.

Just checked "everyhit", "Come" was Prince's last number one album (Uk).

Queen's is Hot Space, surely? Following The Game's big-hit diversification with diversification that alienated everyone

Throw 'Republic' by New Order in there as well.

yep

Pet Shop Boys - Very

this certainly doesn't sound hollow. It's many fans and critics' favorite record!

I'm sort of pinpointing that as the time they started to feel anachronistic.

hmmm...again, not the critical consensus. It's certainly true about Bilingual.

If Wile E. Coyote ever releases an album it'll be a New Jersey

xp That's not how Very seemed then or now. It outperformed Behaviour, and Go West is the PSBs hit for people who don't pay any attention to the PSBs.

Songs of Faith and Devotion for sure. All the Gahan drama behind the scenes added to the sense that the wheels were about to come off.

One of my favourite Wikipedia features BTW is the discography page that shows the sales. They're often counterintuitive - Depeche Mode, for example, have never had a platinum album in the UK - and you really get to see the size of the plunge after a really big album.

Yeah I only noticed that last night, very interesting. It really shows the difference between what we sometimes think of as big (Depeche Mode, The Eagles as a stadium act in the UK) and actually, staggeringly massive (Robbie Williams putting out any old crap and selling 2 million plus, The Eagles going 29x platinum in the US).

Bob Seger- Against the Wind might qualify

i pick once upon a time. sparkle in the rain was critically acclaimed and number one in the u.k. and then don't you forget about me became huge and everyone loved it and then the BIG album came out and everyone bought it because they loved the previous albums or they loved don't you forget about me and after that huge album it took them four years to put out another album and it was all downhill from there. plus, in between albums they put out a big lavish expensive double live album to pat themselves on the back for being so cool on their don't you forget about me tour. and nobody owns once upon a time anymore. and nobody wants to own it. people would much rather own a copy of the breakfast club soundtrack.

just calling back to earlier conversation to agree with everyone big-upping "The Call", especially the Neptunes remix

scott otm

As a Garden State native I find this thread offensive, and suggest this phenomenon be renamed for any of Sufjan Stevens' stupid "state" records.

Pet Shop Boys - Very

**massive engine braking noise, followed by an explosion**

As a Garden State native I find this thread offensive, and suggest this phenomenon be renamed for any of Sufjan Stevens' stupid "state" records.

Yes, any one of those two stupid records that were on like every single "year best" list

As a Garden State native I find this thread offensive, and suggest this phenomenon be renamed for any of Sufjan Stevens' stupid "state" records.

― Hadrian VIII, Wednesday, August 8, 2012 10:06 AM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

i think we should start calling the big preceding hits everybody loves "New York" albums just to make you more angry

LOL

Yes, any one of those two stupid records that were on like every single "year best" list

― frogbs, Wednesday, August 8, 2012 10:17 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha there were only two? I thought he was making his whimsy way through all fifty. Anyway, pffft

New poll, best albums named after states

dave matthews band - before these crowded streets

ohhhh yeah good call. DON'T DRINK THE WATER!

alanis guesting on that right after supposed former infatuation junkie was like new jersey synchronicity.

I'm not so convinced SFIJ belongs here - it's just a slumping sophomore album, right? Strong first-week sales on momentum, then completely dropped off the radar.

Before These Crowded Streets MAYbe, although I maintain Crash is their NJ.

the correct title is "Don't Drink The WatEEYAEEYAYEEER"

Crash is definitely their Slippery When Wet, easily their biggest album

Yeah, I was the first to say SFIJ but now I'm doubtful it's really a good example. If memory serves, nobody thought Alanis was poised to become a permanent megastar.

xpost No wayyyyy dude, Under The Table and Dreaming is that. Sold a little less but it's easily the catalog choice for them, and "What Would You Say?" and "Ants Marching" are the long-term radio staples in my experience. Which I'll grant is striking given that the Crash singles generally did way better on release. But that's a New Jersey for you!

But I think I've got a good one: Boston, THIRD STAGE. The return of Boston after the long hiatus was a big deal, to the point that I went to the record store and bought this the day it came out. Sold 4 million and topped the album charts; the lead single, "Amanda," was their only #1! But nowadays Boston is pretty much just thought of as the '70s records, right? I mean, I can still hum "Amanda," and "Cool The Engines" too, but I don't think anybody else can.

good call

xpost No wayyyyy dude, Under The Table and Dreaming is that. Sold a little less but it's easily the catalog choice for them, and "What Would You Say?" and "Ants Marching" are the long-term radio staples in my experience. Which I'll grant is striking given that the Crash singles generally did way better on release. But that's a New Jersey for you!

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, August 8, 2012 11:05 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

dude, on Spotify's most popular DMB tracks there are four Crash tracks before the most listened to Under The Table track

Third Stage sounds legit to me too.

Elvis Telecom brought up For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge but Van Hagar probably have like three of these records. Consider their Mainstream Rock top-tenners:

Why Can't This Be Love (#1)
Dreams (#6)
Love Walks In (#4)
Black and Blue (#1)
When It's Love (#1) (also Hot 100 #5!)
Finish What Ya Started (#2)
Feels So Good (#6)
Poundcake (#1)
Runaround (#1)
Top of the World (#1)
The Dream Is Over (#7) (lol)
Right Now (#2)
Won't Get Fooled Again (#1)
Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do) (#1)
Can't Stop Lovin' You (#2)
Amsterdam (#9)

"Why Can't This Be Love" is the only one of those I ever hear. As Wiki succinctly puts it:

Although the four studio albums produced during this period reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop music charts and 17 singles breached the top 12 of the mainstream rock tracks chart, overall sales showed a marked decline with each release selling less than its predecessor.

Like, you open any karaoke binder and like 3/4 of the Van Halen songs are shit you can't remember and that they never play anymore. These guys spent the majority of their career deep in New Jersey.

huh, wow, okay, I may be wrong about the Crash material's staying power then.

so here's my question, what's the BIGGEST SELLING "New Jersey"? Is it "New Jersey"? It's 7 times platinum US, 18m sold worldwide.

While Michael Jackson's Dangerous is his NJ if he has one, I necessarily want to argue he does. but does anything else on these lists count as one? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_worldwide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_in_the_United_States

haha i mean i DON'T necessarily want to argue he has one

ha wait forgot about backstreet's black & blue that beats it

8m Us, 24m worldwide

Black and Blue Jersey.