New Yorkers were disappointed in the best of ways this week when a blizzard that was set to be among the worst ever by The Weather Channel and other networks ended up dumping just a relatively mundane eight inches on the city. Millions of dollars were spent preparing for the storm and many millions were lost from work unable to be carried out due to transportation cancellation. The city should have taken Public Enemy's advice and ignored the hype. Not everyone was so lucky however—Boston and the rest of the Northeast got a far heavier load dumped on them.
Typically disappointment is a bad thing, especially when it comes to these seven record, which were huge bummers to the fans who went out and bought them.
Smiley Smile by The Beach Boys (1967)
The Beatles and The Beach Boys were in the middle of a war during the '60s (although no one except Brian Wilson realized it). Wilson helmed Pet Sounds, one of the best albums of all time, which impressed Paul McCartney and the rest of his coworkers, who responded by releasing Revolver a month or so later. Wilson was hellbent on one-upping his buddy McCartney and so he immediately began crafting Smile with Van Dyke Parks, another wildly ambitious songwriter. Wilson's ideas for the concept album were genius and nearly impossible to produce in any sort of timely manner. Therefore all the Beach Boys really had to show from the Smile sessions before Wilson collapsed into mania and drug abuse was "Good Vibrations"—which admittedly is one of the best pop songs of all time. The label released Smiley Smile in the meantime, which freaked out everyone upon first listen, representing experimental psychedelia at its best. Now it's considered a cult classic but folks just weren't ready at the time.
Let It Be by The Beatles (1970)
Few album are as controversial overall as The Beatles' Let It Be, and we suppose we'll invoke some heat for including it on this list. First controversy: Is it actually the band's last album, or should it be considered penultimate, as Abbey Road was actually recorded last? Regardless, at least the latter album features perhaps the finest side of Beatles music in the group's history (Side A). Let It Be features classics such as the title song and "Across The Universe" but should be considered on the whole as a huge disappointment. Many critics at the time praised it upon release (a month after the band's demise), but as years wear on fans realize that the greatest band of all time went out on a rather sore note. Just ask longtime Beatles engineer Glyn Johns.
Metallica by Metallica (1991)
Let us clarify quickly that Metallica is a great album, regardless of what your cousin in the denim vest tells you. That said, anyone who looks at the entire spectrum of Metallica's career would agree that the world would be better off without the "Black" album. The band had already been accused of selling out on multiple occasions, for including "ballads" such as "Fade To Black" on its legendary '80s thrash records. Metallica flipped the switch from any semblance of true thrash to straight hard rock, and honestly, if modern hard rock bands look at this as a goal to resemble, good. But, like hard rock in general, Metallica only got worse as it tried to replicate the formula. Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets, as well as ...And Justice for All are true songwriting masterpieces for music in general, not just metal. That era will never return.
Zooropa by U2 (1993)
You have to give some credit to the U2 of the '90s: The band had just released The Joshua Tree, one of the best albums of the '80s. The group referred to its process behind the excellent follow-up Achtung Baby as "chopping down the Joshua Tree." Perhaps the band felt it hadn't uprooted the tree enough because it dropped the rock thing entirely for 1993's Zooropa—produced by New Order and Nine Inch Nails collaborator Flood—an electronics-influenced alt album for the new era of U2. Following that and Pop, no one was surprised when U2 went back toward arena rock with All That You Can't Leave Behind (a critical smash). Electronics are always a source for controversy for otherwise organic bands and few succeed shifting format (although we'll admit to being fans of the Smashing Pumpkins' Adore).
Chinese Democracy by Guns N' Roses (2008)
Everyone, including Axl Rose (probably especially Axl Rose), realized that the frontman and lone remaining member of the original Guns N' Roses was setting fans up for disappointment with the legendary Chinese Democracy. At one point the album was literally legendary, as no one believed it would ever see the light of day. Even if he still had Slash and Duff on his side, Rose had been pushing the already-titled Democracy since 1998, and when fans wait 20 years to listen to an album, they expect it to sound like 20 years had been put into it. Chinese Democracy was not an awful album, certainly better than The Spaghetti Incident, but it was nowhere near as good as the best the band had to offer. It didn't even come close in terms of size to the truly epic Use Your Illusion album series, which took maybe three years to record.
Tha Carter IV by Lil Wayne (2011)
Lil Wayne produces music at a rate that suggests if he doesn't sleep with his mouth taped shut, he will have recorded a mixtape by morning. Being that Wayne is not a musical genius (and we don't mean that as an insult), very small amounts of his actual output actually turn out well. When he puts his mind to it however, as was the case with The Carter III, the results are wondrous. That's why people presumably rolled their eyes and said "Wee-zyyyy!" when he dropped two mediocre albums and handful of mixtapes before Tha Carter IV. It seemed that the return to "Tha Carter" title suggested that Wayne had gotten his adjectives in order and was willing to deliver big. No such luck. Hence we can only pray that Tha Carter V (scheduled for 2015 barring a legal battle between the rapper and Cash Money over distribution) turns out well.
Xscape by Michael Jackson (2014)
Michael Jackson's story mirrors Brian Wilson's in an even more extreme sense. He released Off The Wall, which would be an artistic peak for 99 percent of performers. The he released Thriller, the bestselling and perhaps outright best pop album of all time. Then he released Bad, which despite having the unpleasant distinction of following in Thriller's footsteps, was pretty great. Then the '90s hit. As Jackson's struggles with drugs and self-image started to catch up with him, the quality of his albums did as well. Dangerous and HIStory were bloated where Thriller was epic. Jackson's story ended unfortunately and as is the case with nearly all dead icons, labels were eager to make a buck by selling his unreleased back catalogue off. Michael, from 2010, was forgettable. Xscape, from 2014, was downright awful. Jackson was a noted perfectionist, and based on his '90s track record, there was a reason why he never pushed to have this music released. It was a lamentable cash grab, and Quincy Jones agrees with us. If we had our way, the only postmortem releases we'd wish for would be from Johnny Cash, who bucks the bad back catalogue trend.
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