A couple more from 1997: The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka (Warner Bros.) Prodigy - Fat of the Land (Maverick/Warner Bros.)
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 13 July 2008 20:07 (fifteen years ago) link
Both were covered in Kerrang actually so do count I suppose.
― Herman G. Neuname, Sunday, 13 July 2008 21:25 (fifteen years ago) link
Shasta OTM re AWK, and I'll hold out for 'Mechanical Animals'
― Soukesian, Sunday, 13 July 2008 21:43 (fifteen years ago) link
like-minded thread that i just remembered:
hey writer-types, do you ever get any big label rock records that are worth listening to twice?
― scott seward, Sunday, 13 July 2008 22:43 (fifteen years ago) link
Slim pickins on that thread, too, when you consider the time-frame imposed by this thread, and screen out the discs listed there that are, in fact, on non-major labels (and were mistakenly listed as having come from "big labels," e.g., TVOTR's discs, which are on 4AD and/or Touch and Go, neither of which is a major (please correct me if I'm mistaken)).
― Daniel, Esq., Sunday, 13 July 2008 22:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Be Your Own Pet are on Universal, well Ecstatic Peace!, but Universal are at least involved enough to have the best tracks taken off their last album.
― I know, right?, Sunday, 13 July 2008 23:01 (fifteen years ago) link
I thought HIM's Razorblade Romance was quite good, and that came out on a major.
― Jeff Treppel, Sunday, 13 July 2008 23:28 (fifteen years ago) link
xpost
Opinions vary, as usual. The Darkness and Flyleaf have been screened out here. Where's Evanescence, too? All of the heavy or hard-and-fast conventional rock bands thrown into the emo category also gone missing. Quite a few of them have been on majors.
― Gorge, Sunday, 13 July 2008 23:36 (fifteen years ago) link
1996 Weezer - Pinkerton (DGC) Local H – As Good As Dead (Island) The London Suede – Coming Up (Nude/Columbia) Fluffy – 5 Live (The Enclave/Polygram EP) Ruth Ruth - Laughing Gallery (American)
1997 Prodigy: The Fat of the Land (Maverick/Warner Bros.) Everclear – So Much For The Afterglow (Capitol) The Dandy Warhols – Come Down (Capitol/Tim Kerr) Night Ranger – Neverland (Legacy/Sony)
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 00:21 (fifteen years ago) link
1998 Kid Rock – Devil Without A Cause (Atlantic/Lava) Monster Magnet – Powertrip (A&M) The Living End – It’s For Your Own Good/Hellbound (Reprise) Metallica – Garage Inc. (Elektra) Hole – Celebrity Skin (DGC) The Hunger – Cinematic Superthug (Universal) Local H – Pack Up The Cats (Island) Bloque – Bloque (Luaka Bop/Warner Bros.)
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 00:23 (fifteen years ago) link
Night Ranger! I loved that band, way back when. I didn't realize they were still around (aside from the nostalgia circuit) in 1997.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 14 July 2008 00:24 (fifteen years ago) link
1999 Hardknox – Hardknox (Jive/Zomba) Cyclefly – Generation Sap (Radioactive/Universal) Boom Boom Satellites – Out Loud (Epic) Crazy Town – The Gift Of Game (Columbia)
2000 Everclear – Songs From An American Movie: Vol One: Learning How To Smile (Capitol) Green Day – Warning (Reprise)
(2000 is the worst so far, looks like)
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 00:30 (fifteen years ago) link
2001 Montgomery Gentry – Carrying On (Columbia) Kid Rock – Cocky (Lava/Atlantic) Beautiful Creatures – Beautiful Creatures (Warner Bros.) Days of the New – Days of the New III (Uptown/Universal)
2002 Montgomery Gentry – My Town (Columbia) The Donnas – Spend The Night (Atlantic) Cyclefly – Crave (Radioactive/Universal)
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 00:35 (fifteen years ago) link
1996 Ruth Ruth - Laughing Gallery (American)
this was '95. their '96 release was an EP on Epitaph that I thought was way way better than the full-length.
― some dude, Monday, 14 July 2008 01:11 (fifteen years ago) link
btw, fav major label rock album from '97 that may or may not be 'too indie' for this thread's criteria: Skeleton Key - Fantastic Spikes Through Balloons
2003 Brooks & Dunn- Red Dirt Road (Arista Nashville) H.I.M. – Razorblade Romance (Universal)
2004 Big & Rich – Horse Of A Different Color (Warner Bros.) Montgomery Gentry – You Do Your Thing (Columbia) Courtney Love – America’s Sweetheart (Virgin) The Mooney Suzuki – Alive & Amplified (Red Ink/Columbia)
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 01:26 (fifteen years ago) link
2005 Miranda Lambert – Kerosene (Epic) The Living Things – Ahead Of The Lions (Jive/Zomba) Shooter Jennings – Put The O Back In Country (Universal South) Brooks & Dunn – Hillbilly Deluxe (Arista Nashville) The Rolling Stones – A Bigger Bang (EMI) The Darkness – One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back (Atlantic)
2006 Montgomery Gentry – Some People Change (Columbia) Damone – Out Here All Night (Island) Eric Church – Sinners Like Me (EMI) Def Leppard – Yeah! (Mercury) Rammstein – Rosenrot (Universal)
Etc. (And I can already think of a bunch I missed, but never mind. Too tired to do '07 and '08 now.)
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 01:42 (fifteen years ago) link
can already think of a bunch I missed
Including other Darkness and Shooter Jennings and Rammstein albums, for starters. And, uh, White Stripes.
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 01:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Bon Jovi -- Lost Highway When it gets to the point the entire album is played as a concert in public television ... not my favorite, but the performances and songs really kick live after a year of performing them.
― Gorge, Monday, 14 July 2008 01:52 (fifteen years ago) link
xp
And hell, Skye Sweetnam's great debut album Noise From the Basement (Capitol, 2004) is basically a pop-metal record, too. As is Ashlee Simpson's great second album I Am Me (Geffen, 2005).
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 01:56 (fifteen years ago) link
Also ZZ Top Mescalero (RCA, 2003), one of the best rock records of this decade, easy.
― xhuxk, Monday, 14 July 2008 02:03 (fifteen years ago) link
Aerosmith's Honkin On Bobo 2004
― Gorge, Monday, 14 July 2008 02:10 (fifteen years ago) link
Also in 2004, Silvertide's Show and Tell Clive Davis' label.
― Gorge, Monday, 14 July 2008 02:15 (fifteen years ago) link
this thread is getting ridiculously far away from HARD ROCK/METAL...
― stephen, Monday, 14 July 2008 02:52 (fifteen years ago) link
this thread is getting ridiculously inclusive of HONKIN ON BOBO...
― some dude, Monday, 14 July 2008 03:00 (fifteen years ago) link
Make a new thread and fume about it. You can have a campfire for all the hardmen and the death-to-false-metal philosophy of Manowar.
― Gorge, Monday, 14 July 2008 05:15 (fifteen years ago) link
i would like to start that campfire here, and roast some rock critics in it
― latebloomer, Monday, 14 July 2008 05:26 (fifteen years ago) link
death to false s'mores
The Darkness
It's supposed to be good major Label Rock/Metal albums!
― Herman G. Neuname, Monday, 14 July 2008 08:03 (fifteen years ago) link
The Bronx (island) The Distillers (sire) Funeral for a friend (atlantic)
― I know, right?, Monday, 14 July 2008 14:07 (fifteen years ago) link
Rammstein – Rosenrot (Universal)
Mutter even more so - good one, forgot they're on a major but of course they are.
― Siegbran, Monday, 14 July 2008 14:16 (fifteen years ago) link
Ruth Ruth - Laughing Gallery (American)
Man there was one song on this that they played a bit on rock radio that really kicked ass.....
― call all destroyer, Monday, 14 July 2008 14:25 (fifteen years ago) link
(not listed already I don't think) Rammstein-Sehnsucht (Slash, which had major distribution) Best of King's X (Atlantic) Danger Zone (Polygram comp) Third Eye Blind-Blue (something major I'm sure) Rachid Taha-Made in Medina and Live (Ark 21, major distribution) Linkin Park-Meteora Dandy Warhols-Welcome to the Monkey House Kid Rock s/t Trail of Dead-Worlds Apart I'm getting tired.
― dr. phil, Monday, 14 July 2008 14:25 (fifteen years ago) link
Do similar lists of major-label rock albums from the 70s and 80s, and compare them to the lists done for this thread. I think they'll prove what was said above: These are lean times. And -- despite my being old -- I'm not one of those "everything was better when I was young" types. I think today's music in many genres is as good, or better, than ever. Just not this genre (if "major-label rock albums" can be considered a genre).
But, as I always add as a qualifier: WTFdoiknow?nothingthatswhat.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 14 July 2008 14:42 (fifteen years ago) link
You can bet a 60s/70s/80s even early 90s thread would list SHITLOADS more.
― Herman G. Neuname, Monday, 14 July 2008 14:43 (fifteen years ago) link
I think they'll prove what was said above: These are lean times.
Uh not really, given that the vast majority of the best rock albums (I'd say this would be a near-consensus opinion, not just mine) come out on independent labels, of which there are an astronomical amount compared to any time before the 80s
― DJ Mencap, Monday, 14 July 2008 15:06 (fifteen years ago) link
"These are lean times."
bbbbbbbbbbut if you get away from major labels then things don't look so lean at all! for every major label that sucks there are ten indie labels that don't suck. or suck as much. things have changed. the last five horse johnson album was a great major label rock record! but it's on a tiny stoner rock label and nobody heard it. but it exists. and there are loads more where that came from. it's just that the majors don't wanna throw money at a hundred bands like they used to and see what sticks to the wall. which is sad considering that most of my favorite albums are by bands who were signed to a major for one minute and then cut loose.
― scott seward, Monday, 14 July 2008 15:08 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah, what mencap said.
i guess the last two times that the majors DID throw money at tons of rock bands would have been 90's indie/grunge and then nu-metal. and they got burned when all those bands didn't turn out to be next nirvana/korn/etc.
although there was that garagerock revival thing. that didn't seem to last too long though.
― scott seward, Monday, 14 July 2008 15:13 (fifteen years ago) link
major labels are still signing a shitload of rock bands every year. seemingly mostly grungy hard rock and to a lesser degree emo.
― some dude, Monday, 14 July 2008 15:16 (fifteen years ago) link
bbbbbbbbbbut if you get away from major labels then things don't look so lean at all! for every major label that sucks there are ten indie labels that don't suck. or suck as much.
Scott, I totally agree (with DJM, too). But the question that began the thread is limited to major-label rock albums, and I limited my post accordingly. Once you include indies, you're right: Things don't look lean at all. In fact, I think at that point, things look pretty healthy and hopeful.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 14 July 2008 15:23 (fifteen years ago) link
If you're someone who's specifically bummed out by the fact that good and potentially big bands don't get the chance at commercial success, yeah I think 'lean times' is an appropriate phrase. Personally this doesn't usually bother me. But a new band who have designs on being as big as Grand Funk probably shouldn't try and sound like Grand Funk, if you get me
― DJ Mencap, Monday, 14 July 2008 15:36 (fifteen years ago) link
It doesn't really bother me, either, except when I listen to commercial rock radio. But it's still a question worth asking: Why is it that there are so few good major-label rock records nowadays? I think, frankly, that I might just be out-of-touch with what the rock audience wants.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 14 July 2008 15:43 (fifteen years ago) link
I think that the bridge that existed in the 90s between grassroots indie and more careerist or populist metal and hard rock has just kind of gone away, mainly because most indie bands now either don't rock very hard, or they do so in an extreme, noisy way that has no radio potential. Part of the reason Nirvana blew up was because they rocked hard enough to appeal to Metallica/GNR fans. Other than emo/pop punk bands like My Chemical Romance, I don't know what the last indie band that crossed over to alt rock and active rock radio, since the White Stripes like 5 years ago.
― some dude, Monday, 14 July 2008 15:51 (fifteen years ago) link
I think that the bridge that existed in the 90s between grassroots indie and more careerist or populist metal and hard rock has just kind of gone away
I imagine plenty of bands would be happy to cross that bridge if major-labels would build it. Why haven't they?
I'd guess it's because they think what's left of the rock record-buying public wants to hear something else.
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 14 July 2008 15:57 (fifteen years ago) link
. . . would (re-)build it.
Part of the reason Nirvana blew up was because they rocked hard enough to appeal to Metallica/GNR fans.
And had the savvy to leave all their nasty weird distorto stuff on the albums and make sure the singles were the ones with hueg hooks (well Geffen probably ensured that but y'know).
People have talked a little about Torche bridging this gap but I've seen no real evidence to indicate that they actually want to.
― DJ Mencap, Monday, 14 July 2008 16:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Is Roadrunner still indie? Because whatever you think of their product, they occupy a huge niche of the mainstream rock/metal market. I mean, there's a lot of crap, but I've gone on record liking records by Soulfly, Theory of a Deadman, Cradle of Filth, and the Resident Evil soundtrack, at least to an extent. Probably as much as I like '70s/'80s major label second stringers like Blue Oyster Cult and Accept. Someone, not me, should write a book about the Roadrunner effect and I will happily check it out from the library, as soon as I'm done reading about Black Liberation Theology.
― dr. phil, Monday, 14 July 2008 16:26 (fifteen years ago) link
which should totally be a band name, btw
― dr. phil, Monday, 14 July 2008 16:27 (fifteen years ago) link
maybe if max cavalera got together with vernon reid
― dr. phil, Monday, 14 July 2008 16:28 (fifteen years ago) link