- 2 days ago
From overhyped releases to creative misfires, join us as we explore the most anticipated albums that left fans wanting more. Whether it was excessive delays, dramatic style changes, or simply not living up to previous work, these releases proved that sometimes the wait isn't worth it.
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00:00I got muscles like Superman trainer, real, real rare like Super Sam manga.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 10 albums that were definitely not worth the wait,
00:15and in some cases, even tarnished artists' legacies.
00:19Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:25Number 10. Revival, Eminem.
00:30Why are expectations so high? Is it the bar I set? My arms I stretch, but I can't reach?
00:37Don't be fooled by its title. If anything, this album put Slim Shady's career in the ICU.
00:44On 2017's Revival, Eminem went for a kitchen sink approach with its sounds, subject matter, and features.
00:51It featured songs about his personal life and politics, a large amount of rock samples, and guest artists from Ed Sheeran to Beyonce.
01:01In other words, it was all over the place and lacked a clear focus.
01:06He's coming home with his neck scratch to catch black, sweat jackets and dress slacks, mismatched on his breast jackets, a sex addict.
01:13The political songs on Revival received extra criticism. While many rappers have dissed Donald Trump's first presidency, which was ongoing at the time of release, Eminem just felt like an odd messenger.
01:26It took up more airtime than fans wanted, which could have gone towards sharpening Revival's themes.
01:41Number 9. Man of the Woods, Justin Timberlake.
01:45I brag about you to anyone outside, but I'm a man of the woods, it's my pride.
01:53When JT said, yeehaw, many listeners answered, hell no.
01:58Justin Timberlake's folk and country-inspired record, Man of the Woods, was released days after he performed at the 2018 Super Bowl halftime show.
02:07But it wasn't exactly a touchdown.
02:09While the album was a relative success, boasting two hit singles in Filthy and Say Something, it lacked Timberlake's previous coolness.
02:20Instead, highlighting his latent corny side.
02:23Some reviewers gave Man in the Woods points for experimenting, but it didn't fully commit to the country bit or his familiar R&B sound.
02:41Alienating fans from both genres, the woods in question ended up ablaze in a forest fire.
02:47So far, it's great, it's fair to say something, this don't say nothing at all.
02:54Number 8. Solar Power, Lorde.
02:57Acid green, aquamarine, the girls are dancing in the sand.
03:06That kind of luxe just ain't for us, but is it for her after all?
03:11On Lorde's 2021 album Solar Power, she sang about goop-style wellness culture and being a prettier Jesus over a beachy backdrop.
03:21The album's escapist tone, especially during the pandemic when celebrities got called out for their ill-timed summer vacations, rubbed some listeners the wrong way.
03:31I can't feel a thing I keep looking at my mood, baby
03:41They felt that Lorde had abandoned her socially conscious roots displayed in her breakout hit Royals and lost the relatability displayed on her melodrama album.
03:51Furthermore, Solar Power was the latest in a string of Jack Antonoff-produced albums by female artists from Taylor Swift to Lana Del Rey.
04:01And to many, it was the trend's clear saturation point.
04:05My team has this possession, or why we can't see?
04:11Number 7. Weezer. Green album, Weezer.
04:15To some people, this band was on a holiday from making truly great music.
04:29The Green album wasn't even Weezer's first encounter with fan backlash.
04:33That would be their previous album, 1996's Pinkerton, which was criticized for its personal, sometimes uncomfortable lyrics.
04:42But after the band went the totally opposite direction on 2001's Green album, fans thought they overcorrected.
04:55The music was perfectly passable and full of catchy hooks, but it lacked Weezer's previous edge and risk-taking altogether, seemingly in anticipation of another critical beatdown.
05:09Still, compared to future missteps, they had much further to fall, and the Green album is looked back on somewhat fondly.
05:16It's in the photograph. It's in the photograph for long.
05:25Number 6. Self-Portrait. Bob Dylan.
05:28We just lay there by the juniper.
05:34Never mind a rolling stone, this album went over more like a lead balloon.
05:40In 1970, Bob Dylan released Self-Portrait, a double album consisting mostly of pop and folk covers.
05:48Dylan's songwriting has always been more celebrated than his singing, so releasing covers made people zero in on the latter, where he had adopted a country croon.
05:59Self-Portrait was viewed as a failure, but it turned out that was exactly what Dylan wanted.
06:16He's since revealed that he purposely released an album critics would pan, calling it a joke and admitting that he put a lot of crap on it.
06:25He was dissatisfied with his lofty reputation after the 1960s, and Self-Portrait was Dylan's way of relieving himself of all expectations.
06:35And they say, glory. Let it be peace.
06:44Number 5. Humans. Gorillas.
06:47All my life. Me ever have my buns, so me have to move sharp like me night. All my life.
06:55It's coming up. It's coming up. It's no dare.
06:58After a long hiatus, following their 2010 albums Plastic Beach and The Fall, Gorillas finally returned in 2017 with Humans.
07:08The track list had some promising features, including Grace Jones and Pusha T, as well as up-and-comers Kali Uchis and Vince Staples.
07:17Some might even say too many features.
07:20Let my people go crazy. Them stars falling, don't chase em.
07:23The sky's falling, baby, drop that ass for it crashing.
07:26Not counting the interludes, Gorillas creator Damon Albarn only shined solo on one song.
07:34He seemed oddly absent from his own album and felt more like the curator of a musical collective than the actual artist fans had waited seven years for.
07:44Overall, Humans disappointed because there were too many cooks in the kitchen, and listeners were only invested in one of them.
07:52Something out the country fair is about to change his book.
07:57Number 4. Saint Anger. Metallica.
08:01It must it out. It must it out.
08:03Sleepy tangle on my knee.
08:06It must it.
08:06Even Metal's biggest band isn't immune to a midlife crisis.
08:10On 2003's Saint Anger, Metallica entered the new millennium hot off a lawsuit against music-sharing site Napster.
08:19The band made a few sonic departures in the album's recording process, and listeners didn't take kindly to the changes.
08:26If I could have my wasted day back, would I use them to get back on track?
08:32Not only was Saint Anger's dissonant snare drum sound an unpopular choice, but of all things, it was completely devoid of guitar solos.
08:43Add in attempts at chasing trends with new metal influences and cringy lyrics like,
08:49My lifestyle determines my death style, and you have a pretty rough adjustment period for Metallica in the 2000s.
08:57Some kind of monster, this monster lives.
09:03Number 3. The Big Day. Chance the Rapper.
09:07Hot damn hot water, hot shower.
09:10Hot lennon smoking green cauliflower.
09:1350 years after John Lennon and Yoko Ono's critically reviled wedding album, an unlikely artist repeated history.
09:21In 2019, all the hype Chance the Rapper built with his mixtapes suddenly died, when he released his debut studio album, The Big Day.
09:31Based on his recent wedding to longtime girlfriend Kirsten Corley, the 22-track, 77-minute-long album didn't discuss much of anything else.
09:41While Chance's marital bliss was palpable, The Big Day felt like the marriage version of a YouTuber who gets pregnant and abruptly changes all their content to mommy vlogging overnight.
09:59Chance saw continued commercial success thanks to Justin Bieber's song, Holy, but his reputation among serious hip-hop heads has yet to fully recover.
10:08Show me all the money that you make off that, that you make off that, peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat.
10:14Number 2. Chinese Democracy. Guns N' Roses.
10:19It don't really matter, go find out for yourself.
10:25If some fans had their way, they'd put this sweet child up for adoption.
10:29After first announcing the title Chinese Democracy in 1999, Guns N' Roses took until 2008 to finally release their sixth studio album.
10:40Several factors led to the delay, including leaks, label disputes, and lineup changes.
10:47Shout out to Buckethead, the band's eccentric guitarist in the early aughts.
10:51If we ever find it's true, then we have the great control.
11:01By the time Chinese Democracy was finished, it was the most expensive rock album ever made.
11:08A title it still holds.
11:10G&R's comeback could have been much worse, but it wasn't the magnum opus people demanded after such a long wait.
11:17Its industrial influences drew comparisons to Nine Inch Nails, and it didn't sound like the Guns N' Roses everyone was waiting for.
11:251. Be Here Now
11:51Oasis
11:52This album didn't just disappoint one fanbase, it killed an entire movement.
12:06Oasis' third album, 1997's Be Here Now, was hugely successful, and even celebrated by fans and critics initially.
12:15After all, they were slow to catch on to the brilliance of its predecessor, watch the story Morning Glory, and didn't want to be wrong again.
12:23But once listeners had more time to sit on it, they turned against Be Here Now.
12:27All around the world, you gotta spread the world, tell them what you better.
12:35Between its lengthy track list, uneven production and lyrics, and general overexposure, the album was simply too big for its britches, and couldn't measure up to the band's ambitions.
12:47The Britpop bubble bursting can be traced back directly to this album, and the genre's relevance would only decline from there.
12:56Stand by me, nobody knows the way it's gonna be
13:03Do you have a soft spot for any of these albums? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
13:09Stand by me, nobody knows the way it's gonna be
13:17Stand by me, nobody knows the way it's gonna be
13:18Stand by me, nobody knows the way it's gonna be
13:19At least when we spend the little song
13:22We have a soft spot for any of these albums.
13:22But when we do so sorry, what makes aha
13:27We're almost
Recommended
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