crap debut, went on to greatness!

Well, personally I don't consider that 1985 U2-wannabe EP an "album". :-)

You mean "Strange, I" or "Jesus Urge Overkill"? Both those records, while containing some filler, are pretty damn relentless.

Rush and Radiohead are the only examples I can think of where I think the artist has done great work and I also see virtually no value in their debut. On a tangential note, The Bends has been growing on me in a weird way in that I keep hearing it places and liking it.

lz and frogs = you need new speakers.

(Sundar, there are 8 good-great songs on The Bends, and 4 fairly mediocre ones, and the album is best listened to with that in mind)

Common Sense... "Can I Borrow a Dollar" = awful too.

Geir: I like the first Genesis album! The box-set versions of songs, without the string arrangements, sound much better to me, though. In comparison, the strings added to the LP versions seem to sap the energy of the performances.

"The Frogs" as well. Doesn't hold a candle to "It's Only Right And Natural".

I'm finding it very hard to come up with a true example of the
above. Most bad bands were bad from day one, and most good bands
released debut albums that are only "crap" in comparison to their
future accomplishments.

Hmm.
I'll bet that if all 50 million _The Wall_ and
_Dark Side Of the Moon_ buyers heard _Piper At The Gates Of
Dawn_, most of them would find it unlistenable.

my pick would be Flaming Lips

Yeah! Anything who thinks Dubnobasswithmyheadman is their crap album has obviously never heard Underneath the Radar.

Well, The Pod I can definitely understand people hating (the slow stuff sure can get on peoples' nerves), but GodWeenSatan: The Oneness is a forkin' MASTERPIECE!!! One of the funniest albums ever. How can you not like an album that has a song called "Let Me Lick Your Pussy"?

The XTC one isn't that bad, but still extremely inferior compared to their marvellous 1986-onwards stuff.

The Squeeze album is worse. Producer John Cale apparently didn't like any of their brilliant songs and forced them to write songs while in the studio. Thus, it is a pretty patchy collection of hastily written songs, not at all close to the quality of their following three albums (which were all classics). "Take Me I'm Yours" is still a great song (which was released before the rest of the album was recorded anyway), but the rest of the album was a disaster.

Of course, standing up for "Bang Bang" and "Sex Master" will probably speak volumes about why I love the first XTC album as well.

In conclusion: The Boo Radleys.

obv answer = flaming lips.

Sacrilege! You're choosing a semi-melodic, instantly forgettable baggy album over THE sharpest set of 90's pop songs! I will defend that album to the grave!

You go right ahead with that. In fact, I'm going to go home tonight, put on Leisure at a ill-advisedly high volume, open a bottle of beer and use The Great Escape as a coaster.

I would scold you further, but the fact that you have no "great Escape" in your life is punishment enough!

what on earth is shameful about being poppy?

arguably : M. Jackson - from Got To Be There to OFW/Thriller.
GTBT is good though so again, it's not so much about the debut being crap but about it being far from the following peak.

I guess there's a few examples of artists on Motown coming into their own when they've been allowed to express themselves creatively.

Does anyone stan for Springsteen's debut? I adore the man, hate that debut album, though.

Carly Rae Jepsen

xpost yep hi I love the debut

spirit of the night, blinded by the light, lost in the flood, hard to be a saint in the city... besides the highlight tracks, just the general folky Bruce, yknow, the Van Morrison/Bob Dylan idol worship & megawordy young & antsy vibe is really enjoyable for me

i'll stan for it forever

Same. Lots of good to be found on the first Springsteen album.

^yeah, figured I was in the minority about The Boss. I much prefer his economy-of-words approach to his latter-day lyric writing.

Simple Minds (before becoming crap again)

warren zevon wanted dead or alive

(UK) Squeeze

Yo la Tengo

Chairlift, who went crap again

I love the Latin Van Morrison feel of Greetings From Astbury Park. & the amount of words adds to the cadence.

a lot of people (not necessarily me) would classify Lana Del Rey here