irritating songs in good albums

[Guest godthedog]

isn't that a great topic title? it just explains itself, & i don't have to give any lame exposition. so, my picks:

 

"past the mission" from 'under the pink': this might have been tori's best album, were it not for this piece of crap. the drums & the whole 'generic pop song' feel completely out of place on an album that has stuff like "god," "space dog" and "yes, anastasia." the fact that trent reznor does guest vocals is kind of cool, but it adds nothing at all to the song. likewise, the song adds nothing to the album. i'd skip it everytime if i had it on cd.

 

"it's only love" from 'rubber soul' (US version): again, a ho-hum, totally generic song that's supposed to fit in with classic music. "the word" also does this to a lesser effect.

 

"the sidewinder sleeps tonite" from 'automatic for the people': i have friends that love this song, but i just don't get it. i know it's supposed to be cheesy and inane, but it ends up being 'bad' bad instead of 'good' bad. it's everything that 'automatic for the people' isn't, & its inclusion just makes me scratch my head.

 

"misty mountain hop" from led zeppelin IV/zoso/whatever you want to call it: pretty stupid in any context, but right after "stairway to heaven" it's really pathetic.

 

"blackjack," "nicole" and "nan" from 'godweensatan'.

[Guest Eyeball Kid]

Hey, I like "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite." It's a kick.

 

I'll think of more eventually, but right now I want to single out "Silver," from Pixies' Doolittle. That's a great friggin' album, but that agressively mediocre track brings it down--and so close to the finish, too! Fortunately, "Gouge Away" is an excellent blast of ROCK.

 

Also, the only thing that keeps Outkast's Stankonia from being on the same level as the out-and-out masterpiece that is Aquemini is the gangsta-posin' bullshit of "Gangsta Shit." Run-of-the-mill thug bravado, and terribly out of place on such a wonderfully weird album.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

I feel like we've had the "Silver" discussion on this board at some time, or maybe I just babble about Doolittle more than is healthy in the course of my regular day. My personal take is that I don't like it too much as a stand-alone, but I like it as far as placement goes; it's a quick dip into the apocalyptic before the RAWK! DESTRUCTION! ROCK! of "Gouge Away," and I don't think it'd feel right going straight off of "Hey."

 

The one that always stands out for me is "Within You Without You," probably one of my least favorite Harrison-plays-with-a-sitar tracks. It really nuts up Sgt. Pepper's for me, though I usually get past it all right. I even have a bit of fondness for "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite," oddity that it is, but I can't handle the sitarmania.

[Guest Eyeball Kid]

We've had the "Silver" discussion before, yes, but I really do not like the song. That is all.

[Guest godthedog]

The one that always stands out for me is "Within You Without You," probably one of my least favorite Harrison-plays-with-a-sitar tracks. It really nuts up Sgt. Pepper's for me, though I usually get past it all right. I even have a bit of fondness for "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite," oddity that it is, but I can't handle the sitarmania.

that's odd, i always felt the weakest track on 'pepper' was "she's leaving home." i sometimes have to fight not to skip that one, it feels like a pale imitation of "eleanor rigby" that just completely fails on any emotional impact. of course, you could see "within you without you" as a pale imitation of "love you to," but i dig it a lot with the changing time signatures & no chords (IIRC, "love you to" has one chord that's played over & over).

[Guest DawnBTVS]

From RHCP's "Californication" I despise Road Trippin and Purple Stain a little. They totally kill the flow of the CD for me.

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

"Love You To," by the way, is my favorite Harrison-with-a-sitar moment.

[Guest godthedog]

does this include all the songs he played a sitar on (like "norwegian wood") or just his trilogy of indian music?

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Mostly his trilogy, though I really love that damn song. But better than "Norwegian Wood"...hmm.

 

I guess I'll just have to listen to those albums tonight to come to my decision. Damn, what a difficult life I lead.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

"Caged Rat" on Soul Asylum's Let Your Dim Light Shine, such a great cd, but such a bad and out of place song.

[Guest Anorak]

'Golden Thing' from Throwing Muses The Real Ramona album is the kind of track you skip every time because its ten times worse than any other song on the album. Completely devoid of the melody and nuance of the other 11 songs.

 

The only weak track on Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger for me is 'Slaves and Bulldozers'. A ponderous bore of a song which just goes on seemingly forever and doesn't rock in the slightest.

 

Lambchop's Nixon album would have been almost perfect if it wasn't for two tracks. 'You Masculine You' & 'What Else Could It Be?' are both marred by horrible kareoke soul vocals. Lambchop's frontman is well known for 'mumbling' his vocals rather than singing them and it works fine with the music normally. The two songs aren't musically inferior to the other songs but the vocals just make me skip them every time.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

"Night Time in the Switching Yard," a crappy song on the otherwise flawless Warren Zevon album, Excitable Boy

[Guest Harry Hood]

Funny I really like Misty Mountain Hop, but I could do without Four Sticks

Same with Living Loving Maid on LZ II

 

On Hoist by Phish I could learn to do without Lifeboy for sure...

On The Doors album I could get rid of End of the Night

On DMB's Crash, Let You Down should go...

 

It's funny, i was looking thorugh my floyd albums, and really I can't see any of those cd's without any of their songs...

[Guest Youth N Asia]

REM's Monster album could do without "King of Comedy," it's just not a good song.

[Guest whatitistoburn]

"Elite" on the Deftones - White Pony kills me everytime I hear it. So close to best record ever....

[Guest Plushy Al Logan]

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. I just hate that song.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. I just hate that song.

Do you hate the song cause you hate the song? Or hate the song cause it's the "sell out" song where they got over and everyone liked them after that.

 

I think it's very overrated and not one of my favs on the album, but I don't hate it.

[Guest Eyeball Kid]

I don't like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for its spit-shine polished production. It may've blown my mind when I was 13, but time has not been kind.

[Guest Plushy Al Logan]

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.  I just hate that song.

Do you hate the song cause you hate the song? Or hate the song cause it's the "sell out" song where they got over and everyone liked them after that.

 

I think it's very overrated and not one of my favs on the album, but I don't hate it.

I'm not a big Nirvana fan, but I think they made better songs than this. Plus I hear the damn thing all of the time on the radio next to "Enter Sandman," "Crazy Train," and other once good songs I'm now sick of.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

We've had the "Silver" discussion before, yes, but I really do not like the song. That is all.

tsk tsk. Next thing you'll be creaming over late XTC or something

 

Oh how I jest.

 

I think stag by the melvins would be the greatest album ever made if 'lacrimosa' (or maybe the song either side of it, can't remember now) didn't go on a *tiny* bit too long. Mind you, I can't think of a better album offhand. I can't remember disliking 'slaves and bulldozers' in the slightest, but I'll have to give it another listen, it's been a while. Basically this post is me saying I can't think of anything. Fuck it, I'll come back.

[HurriShane 0]

Wet my Bed by STP off Core, it just didn't fit in with the rest of the CD at all.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

The entire second half of rancid's 'let's go' album. I mean, it's not like they're a great band or anything, but I like them. The trouble is, a punk album really really really shouldn't be this long. 30-35 mins is pretty much all you should need. This has like 24 tracks all of which sound the same. Guh. I personally think their most recent release is far superior to anything I've heard from them before, including 'and out come the wolves'. But hey, it's only rancid.

[Guest Eyeball Kid]

We've had the "Silver" discussion before, yes, but I really do not like the song. That is all.

tsk tsk. Next thing you'll be creaming over late XTC or something

Because I have superior taste, natch.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

It's funny, i was looking thorugh my floyd albums, and really I can't see any of those cd's without any of their songs...

I will maintain forever that San Tropez is a festering boil on Meddle.

 

Everything after Interstellar Overdrive on Piper at the Gates of Dawn is pretty sub-par as well.

 

Ummagumma has The Grand Vizier's Garden Party, which I wouldn't say is actively bad, but it would probably be better off with something else.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

We've had the "Silver" discussion before, yes, but I really do not like the song. That is all.

tsk tsk. Next thing you'll be creaming over late XTC or something

Because I have superior taste, natch.

 

science friction-a burns mah finguuurs...

[Guest Dmann2000]

"it's only love" from 'rubber soul' (US version): again, a ho-hum, totally generic song that's supposed to fit in with classic music. "the word" also does this to a lesser effect.

 

"misty mountain hop" from led zeppelin IV/zoso/whatever you want to call it: pretty stupid in any context, but right after "stairway to heaven" it's really pathetic.

I don't know why you think "The Word" is a bad song.

 

Also, understand that Misty Mountain Hop wasn't meant to follow Stairway. It was the opening track for side B of IV. An upbeat rocker is a good choice. Plus I like the song.

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

"Bugs" off Vitalogy. I might be the biggest Pearl Jam fan here, but even I'm scratching my head saying "WTF?"

[Guest Youth N Asia]

"Bugs" off Vitalogy. I might be the biggest Pearl Jam fan here, but even I'm scratching my head saying "WTF?"

Least "Bugs" was funny...that was a real hit and miss album to begin with

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

Eh, "Bugs" is kinda funny. I'm not real high on it. "Hey, Foxymophandlemomma, that's me" I liked, but "Bugs" I could have done without.

 

ESIT: Although, I'd probably mark out if they ever busted out "Bugs" in concert.

[Guest godthedog]

The entire second half of rancid's 'let's go' album. I mean, it's not like they're a great band or anything, but I like them. The trouble is, a punk album really really really shouldn't be this long. 30-35 mins is pretty much all you should need. This has like 24 tracks all of which sound the same. Guh. I personally think their most recent release is far superior to anything I've heard from them before, including 'and out come the wolves'. But hey, it's only rancid.

what about 'london calling'? that album runs over an hour.

 

i don't think 'the word' is really a bad song, it's just very generic. there's nothing particularly good about the tune or the lyrics, & as such it sticks out on an album full of otherwise spectacular songs.