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

Don De Lillo's New Jersey = Underworld.

OTM!

more on Encore - Like, I was going to just say "the hell, everyone hated that album and it flopped totally" but checking Wiki, nope, damn thing did 5x platinum in the US... but the singles were frighteningly unsuccessful for a top-tier artist. Chart peaks: Just Lose It (#6), Encore (#25), Like Toy Soldiers (#34), Mockingbird (#11), Ass Like That (#60).

Like, "Mockingbird" aside (side note, I don't remember this song at all), that's the story of an album that had strong momentum going in, enough to push a weak first single into the top ten for a second, and then the wheels came off.

yeah Encore should be in there imo

i mean has an album ever sold so much with the artist telegraphing "i don't like doing this anymore and i'm hoping you stop making me" so clearly?

They're horrible singles but no more so than Adrenalize, and bigger (three went Gold!). However, when the follow-up came around the bloom was definitely off the rose. He's pushed 3x platinum out of Recovery and will always be Rap's Elvis right to Vegas, but he definitely lost some luster after Encore. I'm going to include that as a sop to the Shady-haters.

Be Here Now would be a New Jersey in the UK, but in the US it only went platinum. Definitely a fairweather johnson here.

dangit, i was trying to push Encore as Fairweather Johnson, oops

Eminem's arc has a kink in it because of the 4-5 year "retirement"; granted acts often go that long between albums anyway, but Relapse didn't really feel like "the followup to Encore," it was the comeback album....with Recovery being the actual comeback album where suddenly he's a huge-selling name again.

the release of the "Mosh" video just before the 2004 election felt like an event (stupid as that may seem in retrospect)

comeback album or not, Relapse did really badly and the fact that Encore was an ass platter probably didn't help

I don't think No Need To Argue is a New Jersey. The album was a hit in its own right, not because it was riding on it's predecessor's success. And "Zombie" is ten times better remembered than "Linger".

not on ilx!

I thought Zombie was remembered on ILX as the high-water mark of horrible music.

I was debating No Need To Argue - it may be the only album listed that did better than the previous one - but people really do hate it here and the follow-up was a yeargh drop. If everyone loves it they can vote for it as the Best New Jersey and shame "Zombie"-phobes.

Things I didn't forsee myself doing today - searching 'Eminem discography' on wikipedia.

But where Rattle & Hum and Be Here Now fail the test is that they were exposed as steaming piles almost immediately. A true New Jersey keeps going, like Wile E. Coyote off his cliff, until the collective realisation much later.

the release of the "Mosh" video just before the 2004 election felt like an event (stupid as that may seem in retrospect)

― Euler, Thursday, August 9, 2012 11:20 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol 52 professional critics were so desperate for a political moment in pop music that they put "Mosh" on their Pazz & Jop ballots

But where Rattle & Hum and Be Here Now fail the test is that they were exposed as steaming piles almost immediately. A true New Jersey keeps going, like Wile E. Coyote off his cliff, until the collective realisation much later.
Yeah this is actually a fair point. My memory may be faulty but with Be Here Now I don't even remember the singles getting much radio play with the exception of Stand By Me (they still charted fairly well though).

it's been mentioned upthread but there was a pretty sharp divide with Be Here Now being initially pretty successful in the UK but not so much in the US. although i did see the goddamn "All Around The World" video on MTV quite a lot.

Lol All Around The World was such a steaming pile, totally fits that hollow, bloated vibe we've been discussing here.

wasn't it used in a commercial a few years ago?

ok so actually does anyone mind if I take out No Need To Argue? I think my judgement may have been clouded by the anti-"Zombie" bile on here, it's not like Cranberries fans per se have obvious beef with it, could definitely be argued To The Faithfully Departed (which still sold 2x platinum) was their Fairweather Johnson.

In the US, I feel like there was maybe a two-month period where you would hear "D'ya Know What I Mean" and "Don't Go Away" in not-very-heavy rotation, and then they just disappeared. I heard "Don't Go Away" at the grocery store earlier this year and was kind of floored like, how did that make the playlist?

A Be Here Now is probably its own shorthand already, right? For a massively anticipated album that just disappoints everyone from the word go, incredibly negative critical consensus, sense that success has gone to the band's heads. Fairweather Johnsons just miss the moment and fade into the night, Be Here Nows suck and everybody knows it.

xpost i kinda like "all around the world" tho

keeping Rattle & Hum cuz some people obviously want it, plus fuck U2

BHN got spectacular reviews in England iirc

The level of hubris around Oasis was so great in 1997 that everyone who reviewed it convinced themselves it was a classic and then got very embarrassed when they'd calmed down a bit.

Kind of interested to see how this poll rolls - - glad it's "Best" rather than "Worst," since the latter would just be piling up conventional wisdom on albums that we all know suck.

I'm also amazed, by the way, that we've gone this long without any die-hard Bon Jovi fans - - Googler or otherwise - - barging in to lecture us on how New Jersey is amazing and that true Jovvalos widely agree that it, not Slippery When Wet, is their real lasting achievement.

i will take "I'll Be There For You" over "Wanted Dead Or Alive"

waht is springsteens new jersey

The 5 CD live set, Live 1975-1985

considered it but nah, followed by Tunnel Love which is still adored as hell.

also remarkable display of hubris or no, weird to say the mega-live set signaled a career decline for a guy who's never not filled those stadiums since

btw, just wanted to share this: the first Google search result for "what are bon jovi fans called" begins ominously: The Bon Jovi fan fiction community is small, with the few communities out there not being...

did not find out what bon jovi fans are called, leaning towards "Jovvalos" or perhaps "Bon Bronies"

Afterburner is probably the most archetypical of these because woah 5 million copies and you never hear any of those songs anymore, plus it's called AFTERBURNER for chrissakes

If Human Touch & Lucky Town had been combined for a one album release I bet that would have pushed past 3x platinum and then be his jersey.

Would go for the Love Symbol album over D&P tbh. D&P was surely more of a mini-comeback after Graffiti Bridge and allowing for the novelty of Batman.

former too bloated, less memorable singles, certainly somewhat less successful units wise

You definitely hear My Name is Prince/SexyMF/Morning Papers etc less than D&P/Cream/Money Dont matter

Yeah, now I understand the question better, I vote that too.

i will take "I'll Be There For You" over "Wanted Dead Or Alive"

you are certifiably insane

Would go for the Love Symbol album over D&P tbh

I was thinking this, but I really like Love Symbol and I DESPISE Diamonds and Pearls aside from "Gett Off"

wait you didn't include my simple minds example. or didn't it sell enough? it must have sold millions.

I def prefer the NJ singles to Slippery When Wet's.

Critical consensus round Be Here Now: iirc NME embarrassed themselves by giving What's The Story a (6), only to greet BHN with a euphoric (9).

There was definitely something in the air you could see coming, though - I had everything Oasis released up to the lead single (which I even liked), but was not for a second tempted to buy BHN.

Does anyone have an argument against Jewel's Spirit as an NJ?

Can we clear up whether it's 'an NJ' or 'a NJ' first please?

Scott, Simple Minds only went gold in the US. UK different story.

At the risk of getting stabbed through the internet, I could see an argument for Around The World In A Day in the sense that it went 3x platinum, which is better than any album since including Batman and Sign O' The Times (which as a 2CD only has to sell half as many copies to get the award). While he had plenty of hits after (and movies!), it seems like America was a little scared to buy a full-length on the level of Purple Rain after "America."

I liked "D'ya Know What I Mean" a lot more than any other Oasis song I'd heard up to that point, although still not enough to actually consider purchasing the album

Maybe there's another thread in the "This is great, but now it's done" vein, where the band/artist achieve the close.

Spirit only had one hit, which is a little Fairweather Johnson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEM78ElGthI

The intro sounds like ZZ Top attempting "Rockit."

Vox gave BHN a 9 as well

I would go for either the live album or Street Fighting Years over OUAT; if only for the fact that for millions the latter was their first SM album

Stones - It's Only Rock and Roll? I can see Black and Blue but this could fit.

i love that video so much - in the drive to top the Eliminator videos, ZZ Top now have the ability to make tents out of thin air.

3x platinum cut-off, people. 3x platinum.

as mentioned upthread, all Stones albums are Events. Plus, their two biggest sellers came out after IOR&R.

The level of hubris around Oasis was so great in 1997 that everyone who reviewed it convinced themselves it was a classic and then got very embarrassed when they'd calmed down a bit.
Yeah this is basically my memory of it. I feel like the realisation of crapness set in a bit more quickly for BHN than for some of the other albums we've been discussing, but again this is just a vauge memory (might check if the BHN wiki has a 'reception' section to give some clarity).