Albums That Bombed

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]

Talking more about albums that came out and sold worse than expected. But if you want to post about albums that bombed artistically I guess you could mention that too, to widen the discussion

Inspired by Soulja Boy having a front page TMZ story about him in 2021. It’s crazy people still have his name in their mouths all these years later. He has to qualify with at least one of his albums, right?

I mean he made the 2007 version of The Macarena so I don’t think anyone was expecting him to have a long career.

His first album not to chart at all was King Soulja 3. It doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page.

Also, dishonorable mention to Enzo Amore or whatever he is calling himself now. The title of that thread on here saying he went double glad bag still cracks me up.

[Natural Born Farmer]

Chinese Democracy has to hold the all time title for this.

Has it's defenders artistically and it sold ok, but for the amount of time and money spent on it the ROI was absolutely miserable.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

[No Longer a Produceman]

Artistically, St. Anger has to be up there. And this is coming from a Metallica fan.

[karl100589]

Robin Thicke’s Paula sold 530 copies in the UK.

Bare in mind this was just 12 months after Blurred Lines was one of the biggest hits of the year.

[karl100589]

Jul 17, 2021 11:53:11 GMT -5 No Longer a Produceman said:

Artistically, St. Anger has to be up there. And this is coming from a Metallica fan.

Footage of Lars Ulrich during the recording session.

[Magnus the Magnificent]

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

The self-titled Suicide Silence album. Tee-Hee.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

The Metallica/Lou Reed album "Lulu" is one that you would call 'divisive'... don't know how successful it was.

[Vampiro138]

Jul 17, 2021 10:26:44 GMT -5 Natural Born Farmer said:

Chinese Democracy has to hold the all time title for this.

Has it's defenders artistically and it sold ok, but for the amount of time and money spent on it the ROI was absolutely miserable.

the record company telling Axl in 2000 that there are only 2 good songs on the entire album and get back to work was a mistake, the 2000 mixes of the album are far superior to the released version from 2008 except for There Was A Time which didn't have the Buckethead solo yet. And the fact that they made him go back and tinker with it make him remove Brian May from the album completely too. And plus the record company telling Axl to get lost when he was asking about promotion for the album in 08 has led us to today when the record company is wondering why Axl is being so difficult with them in terms of new music with the reunion lineup.

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

2 Sophomore albums that were originally disappointments that were later hailed as classics

Weezer-Pinkerton
Beastie Boys- Paul's Boutique

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

Jul 17, 2021 14:33:17 GMT -5 Vampiro138 said:

Jul 17, 2021 10:26:44 GMT -5 Natural Born Farmer said:

Chinese Democracy has to hold the all time title for this.

Has it's defenders artistically and it sold ok, but for the amount of time and money spent on it the ROI was absolutely miserable.

the record company telling Axl in 2000 that there are only 2 good songs on the entire album and get back to work was a mistake, the 2000 mixes of the album are far superior to the released version from 2008 except for There Was A Time which didn't have the Buckethead solo yet. And the fact that they made him go back and tinker with it make him remove Brian May from the album completely too. And plus the record company telling Axl to get lost when he was asking about promotion for the album in 08 has led us to today when the record company is wondering why Axl is being so difficult with them in terms of new music with the reunion lineup.

This album wasn't promoted?

I remember going to Best Buy multiple times and them damn near BEGGING you to buy the CD.

Not sure if that was because the Label were paying them or they just bought too many copies that weren't selling

[Paul]

Jewel- 0304. This gives me a good excuse to post Todd In The Shadows' excellent video about the album and why it was such a misstep for her.

(Language Warning).

[Vampiro138]

Jul 17, 2021 16:45:15 GMT -5 Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite said:

Jul 17, 2021 14:33:17 GMT -5 Vampiro138 said:

the record company telling Axl in 2000 that there are only 2 good songs on the entire album and get back to work was a mistake, the 2000 mixes of the album are far superior to the released version from 2008 except for There Was A Time which didn't have the Buckethead solo yet. And the fact that they made him go back and tinker with it make him remove Brian May from the album completely too. And plus the record company telling Axl to get lost when he was asking about promotion for the album in 08 has led us to today when the record company is wondering why Axl is being so difficult with them in terms of new music with the reunion lineup.

This album wasn't promoted?

I remember going to Best Buy multiple times and them damn near BEGGING you to buy the CD.

Not sure if that was because the Label were paying them or they just bought too many copies that weren't selling

the music videos were where???

the interviews were where??

the commercials on tv were where???

Best Buy spending 14 million to be the exclusive chain for it means they had a massive interest in moving the album, any promo that happened in store was 100% on Best Buy. In terms of record company promo, there was none. The album produced zero music videos, the band and Axl did zero interviews, there were zero tv commercials. The Best Buy deal worked out horribly for Best Buy, hell the album was shipped with the wrong artwork and album notes, the one Axl wanted never reached the masses of the 'red hand' cover and a massive thesis by Axl for every song in the booklet inside. Not to mention the vinyl copies were shipped with a inner grove distortion which makes the album sound all messy in places so that was botched as well.

[Spider2024]

Jul 17, 2021 11:35:40 GMT -5 Mighty Attack Tribble said:

I have to think that CD wouldn't have sold even 100 copies without the support of Britney fans buying a copy just to support her.

[Paul]

Jul 17, 2021 19:08:15 GMT -5 Spider2024 said:

Jul 17, 2021 11:35:40 GMT -5 Mighty Attack Tribble said:

I have to think that CD wouldn't have sold even 100 copies without the support of Britney fans buying a copy just to support her.

That's true, but also the album wouldn't have existed period without his association with Britney.

[Natural Born Farmer]

Jul 17, 2021 19:11:52 GMT -5 Paul said:

Jul 17, 2021 19:08:15 GMT -5 Spider2024 said:

I have to think that CD wouldn't have sold even 100 copies without the support of Britney fans buying a copy just to support her.

That's true, but also the album wouldn't have existed period without his association with Britney.

Pretty much my thoughts.  I don't know that it can be called a bomb because I don't think anyone, including the label, expected people to buy it.  It was a vanity project they shit out to keep Britney sweet.

[Jaws the Shark]

I don't know if it counts since they weren't an established act at the time, but my first thought was Big Star. Their first two albums were famously acclaimed by contemporary critics, and are now recognised as immeasurably influential, but both completely flopped when they were released in the early seventies; their first LP was said to have sold fewer than 10,000 copies at the time.

[G✇JI☈A]

Yes Please! by The Happy Mondays

If you haven’t seen the awesome film “24 Hour Party People”. I’ll sum up what happened.. Manchester record label “Factory Records” were haemorrhaging money and needed hits from their biggest acts New Order and The Happy Mondays. The Mondays wanted to record a new album in Barbados and the label let them as long as smack addicted lead singer Shaun Ryder got clean and he agreed. Problem was at the airport the methadone he was prescribed and to last the trip was somehow lost at the airport, then the Mondays spent most of the trip getting high and drunk… but they did manage to record some material… once they got back to Manchester, Ryder held the master tapes hostage and would not give them to the label unless they paid him some cash, the label relented and paid him about 50 pounds to get the tapes, Ryder agreed, and then they discovered there was no vocals recorded on any of the tracks, so they had to get Shaun back into a studio to record some.

So of course the album was a disaster.. and was one of the factors that led to the demise of Factory Records.

[Jaws the Shark]

Jul 17, 2021 19:33:15 GMT -5 G✇JI☈A said:

Yes Please! by The Happy Mondays

If you haven’t seen the awesome film “24 Hour Party People”. I’ll sum up what happened.. Manchester record label “Factory Records” were haemorrhaging money and needed hits from their biggest acts New Order and The Happy Mondays. The Mondays wanted to record a new album in Barbados and the label let them as long as smack addicted lead singer Shaun Ryder got clean and he agreed. Problem was at the airport the methadone he was prescribed and to last the trip was somehow lost at the airport, then the Mondays spent most of the trip getting high and drunk… but they did manage to record some material… once they got back to Manchester, Ryder held the master tapes hostage and would not give them to the label unless they paid him some cash, the label relented and paid him about 50 pounds to get the tapes, Ryder agreed, and then they discovered there was no vocals recorded on any of the tracks, so they had to get Shaun back into a studio to record some.

So of course the album was a disaster.. and was one of the factors that led to the demise of Factory Records.

I sort of love how many stories about Factory Records releases or endeavours ended up with them losing loads of money in some way.