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Worst albums by best bands
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Dog 3000
Dog 3000
4611 posts

more late 80's flops from underground
Nov 24, 2003, 23:48
Black Flag "In My Head" (1986) -- another great band stumbles off the stage with a lame final album. The songs aren't really that bad (the live versions prove it) but the production is icky with lots of reverb and little energy. Like bad 80's metal.

Meat Puppets "Mirage" (1987) -- after 3 classic albums where they grew by leaps & bounds every time, their 4th record is sterile and not that interesting. It still sounds like them, just blander. Supposedly this was the first time they actually spent a lot of time in the studio (several months) working on a record. The result is too much tinkery overdubbing, not much ROCKIN' and certainly no FREAKIN' OUT. They recovered six months later with "Huevos" (also 1987) which they only spent 4 days recording -- it DOES rock and the songs are better too.

Replacements "Don't Tell A Soul" (1988) -- pathetic attempt to crossover to mainstream success. In fact "I'll Be You" actually was a minor hit single. But there's only 2 other half decent tunes, "Talent Show" & "Achin' To Be". That's a reaal low ratio of hits to filler. Worse yet, on the back of the album is a photomontage group pic where Westerberg's head is huger than everyone else put together (like the cover of The Doors LP) -- he had a big head all right! Never a good sign when one guy becomes "the star" and everyone else gets shoved to the back. Bob Stinson was long gone and his replacement was a zero (no personality = no threat to Der Paulenfuhrer) -- and supposedly they were heavily in to sniffing coke around this time. Their next album (which was their last one) was better, but really more of a Westerberg solo album.
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