00:00You're gonna love this.
00:02Go ahead, Mike.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:08And today, we're counting down our picks for those instances
00:11when artists did not lead with their best musical foot.
00:32There's a good reason why R.E.M.'s fifth album, 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi,
00:37only appears at the tenth spot on our list.
00:40This is due to the general consensus from R.E.M. fans being that the album is pretty darn good.
00:45It just didn't have a great first single.
00:54Ebo the Letter did well internationally in areas like the United Kingdom,
00:58but this opening salvo from the album struggled in the USA,
01:01only making it to the 49th spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
01:05Maybe it was that weird title not resonating with casual fans
01:08that had picked up on R.E.M. in the wake of their success with Monster,
01:11but Ebo the Letter fizzled out almost before it began.
01:22Number 9. Stand. Poison. Native Tongue.
01:32The early 90s saw much of the hair metal guards scrambling in a search for relevancy.
01:37This search often resulted in membership or stylistic shifts
01:41as groups like Poison attempted to transition into an era of flannel and grunge.
01:45Native Tongue felt in line with these sentiments,
01:47as Poison's fourth album debuted a new guitarist in Richie Kotzen,
01:50as well as a sound that was significantly less shiny and carefree.
02:03The debut single Stand featured a gospel choir, acoustic guitars,
02:07and a musical approach that couldn't have felt more removed from Poison's eternal search for nothing but a good time.
02:12This didn't necessarily speak to a legitimate drop in quality with Native Tongue,
02:16but it certainly represented the era's changing tastes and general disinterest in glam.
02:28Number 8. Falling in Love is Hard on the Knees.
02:40The Aerosmith of the late 90s felt more like an organization than a rock group,
02:45an amalgamation of music makers employing personnel across the board,
02:49to increasingly less interesting results.
02:51This felt particularly evident as Aerosmith settled into their latter-day role
02:55as eternally touring statesman without a lot of great creative albums left in the tank.
03:07Nine Lives may have sold over 2 million copies,
03:11but contemporary and retroactive reviews of the record frequently spoke to Aerosmith
03:15feeling increasingly like a product.
03:17Falling in Love is Hard on the Knees wasn't the best way to introduce the album either,
03:21thanks to its wordy title and lack of any real earworm status.
03:24Falling in Love is Hard on the Knees.
03:32Number 7. Get On Your Boots, U2, No Line on the Horizon.
03:36The future means a big kiss, winds blow with a twist,
03:39never seen a moon like this, can you see it too?
03:42The situation with U2's 12th album No Line on the Horizon
03:45may not have been as controversial as the automatic iTunes debacle
03:49that occurred with their 14th Songs of Innocence.
03:51That said, both LPs still feel sonically removed
03:55from the Irish rock band's classic heyday of the 80s and 90s.
04:05Get On Your Boots was the debut single for that former record,
04:08an effort that did result in an epic and lucrative promotional tour.
04:12However, Get On Your Boots never really felt like the proper opening track
04:16to represent No Line on the Horizon,
04:18with most U2 fans struggling to accept its relevancy even today.
04:28Number 6. This Is England, The Clash, Cut The Crap.
04:31The YouTube music critic Todd and the Shadows series Train Records
04:35has already released a great dissection of why Cut The Crap by The Clash
04:38was such a musical disaster.
04:46The situation here is actually an outlier from much of our list
04:49in that This Is England is actually considered the best song from Cut The Crap.
04:53Joe Strummer's interesting lyrics combined with the song's anthemic tone
04:57lessens the electronic vibes of its execution.
05:06Strummer himself even labeled This Is England as his, quote,
05:09last great clash song, and this situation essentially opened the door
05:13for fans to actually pick up the accompanying album
05:15to their ultimate disappointment.
05:17There was no Mick Jones and no Tupper Heaton,
05:20but hey, we had drum machines.
05:22Lots of drum machines.
05:29Number 5. Without You, Van Halen, Van Halen 3.
05:39It's an album that will probably make its eternal home
05:42in the cutout bin of history.
05:44One of those ultimate bombs that, yes,
05:46was also featured to great effect on that
05:48aforementioned YouTube series Train Records.
05:57The situation is also similar to This Is England by The Clash
06:00in that Without You actually generated some mild interest for fans
06:04with regards to how Van Halen 3 might turn out.
06:06Then they actually heard the full album.
06:08The return CDs, failing sales, and critical lambasting
06:12pretty much spoke for themselves
06:14and effectively killed the Gary Cherone era of Van Halen
06:17before it ever really began.
06:18The group would eventually reunite with frontman David Lee Roth
06:21for their final studio album, A Different Kind of Truth, in 2012.
06:32Number 4. Ride It, Jerry Halliwell.
06:35Passion.
06:36You know that the public's general malaise with your musical career
06:39is apparent when a promotional tour has to be cancelled for low ticket sales.
06:50This was what happened to former Spice Girl
06:52Jerry Halliwell back in 2004
06:53in the wake of releasing this single from her third album, Passion.
06:57It seemed readily apparent back then
06:59that the goodwill afforded to Halliwell
07:00in the aftermath of Spice Girl Mania
07:02and the release of her first solo LP, Schizophonic, had dissipated.
07:06When the phase kicks in, I can dance like no one's watching.
07:12The first single from Passion, titled Ride It, did well in Europe
07:16but failed to resonate with critics of the day.
07:19It also didn't really ignite a fire for the album either,
07:22which was Halliwell's final studio effort at the time of this writing.
07:33Number 3. Eat You Alive, Limp Biscuit.
07:35Results may vary.
07:37Hey, you, Mrs. I don't know what your name is.
07:41I'm drawn to you, something's magnetic.
07:43Pop culture tends to be cyclical,
07:45with everything eventually becoming nostalgic for someone.
07:48Nu Metal definitely has its fandom in the modern day too,
07:51although even ardent defenders of this much-maligned genre
07:54might have difficulty coming to the aid of results may vary by Limp Biscuits.
08:05The band themselves has gone on record
08:07describing the challenging circumstances of this album's birth,
08:10a complicated series of studio sessions
08:12that weren't helped by the response to its first single, Eat You Alive.
08:16Critics absolutely roasted this album as poorly conceived and similarly executed,
08:20although, like we said earlier,
08:22some younger fans have reported Limp busting out Eat You Alive in concert
08:26with some degree of actual excitement.
08:28So, there you go. Nostalgia.
08:36Number 2. Filthy, Justin Timberlake, Man of the Woods.
08:41This lead single from Justin Timberlake's fifth album, Man of the Woods,
08:44felt stylistically different from what that LP primarily brought to its listeners.
08:54Filthy was ultra-synthesized with a desire to appeal to dance and EDM fans,
08:59while the album proper was more folk and country influenced.
09:02This disconnect made the whole affair feel messy,
09:05not only in hindsight, but at the time of its release.
09:15Filthy did receive some critical praise,
09:17but the resulting consensus by critics for the album was mixed,
09:20and references JT's general lack of focus during this era.
09:32If you love games, be sure to check out WatchMojo's new game, Terrible Influence.
09:37Just launched for purchase at TerribleInfluence.com.
09:40Terrible Influence is a satirical board game about the dark side of fame
09:44from the writer of the most popular girls in school and us, WatchMojo.
09:47Boom. I can make an apology video.
09:50Oh, you so would.
09:51Click on the link in the description to check out the game
09:53and be the first to play Terrible Influence.
10:08The life of a pop star can frequently be one where sacrifices must be made with regards to authenticity.
10:14The question could then be asked,
10:16Who is Katy Perry?
10:17Does she know where she sits as an artist?
10:19Or do fans care whether or not the music they receive is the music Perry really wants to make?
10:26Number one.
10:28She's a sister.
10:30She's a mother.
10:31What is clear is that fans did not want Perry's 143 album, nor its debut single, Woman's World.
10:37There were a lot of creative hands in the pot with this one, including Dr. Luke.
10:41The inclusion of this latter name helped add fuel to the fire of controversy for Woman's World,
10:46a situation that was exacerbated by both the accompanying video and the resulting album's critical failure.
10:57What are some albums that grew on you after multiple spins?
11:00Let us know in the comments.
11:06Now we won't miss you.
Comments