Queen was not well known then. Queen II happened before they had first hit single. If Queen II had been released after Night At The Opera...it would have sold better.
Listening to it for the first time. Varied tempos, interesting chord changes, thoughtful lyrics. The songs are good, but with one or two exceptions (tv tan and shame on me) I’m still not 100% yet. I’ll keep listening though : )
Rush's "Test for Echo" routinely finishes at the bottom of fan polls, but I don't see why. Yes, it's nowhere near classic Rush and there are some cringey lyrics, but I find it much more listenable and engaging than the three albums that preceded it.
Neil Young - Mirror Ball (1995) I'm surprised this album sold approx. 740,000 copies worldwide. Pearl Jam was the backing band & in 1995 still the hottest band in the world & Young had great success with his 1992 Harvest Moon album which sold 2+ million. I thought this collaboration would sell millions too.
El Loco was the first ZZ Top record I bought. I heard the two mentioned singles all the time. on the radio. As a kid, I had no idea that the album tanked. Saw ZZ Top over the Labor Day weekend in Maryland. They played Pearl Necklace and Tube Snake Boogie, while the classic Tush was left off the set list - though I know why.
A few random thoughts ... Flick Of The Switch - Burnout. They finally exploded in '79 with Highway To Hell and rock radio could no longer ignore them. After the tragedy in early '80, they roar back with Back In Black and we spend the rest of the year and all of '81 with it. '82 rolls in and they give us the anthemic For Those About To Rock ... As Martin said, the "marketplace" in '83 was booming with incredible stuff and I think we all just needed a break. The Darkness - I could be wrong but in America I think most people thought I Believe In A Thing Called Love was a novelty song. Justins' over the top vocals and their looks made it tough to figure out if they were a serious band or just bustin' on 70s pomp rock ... which a lot of us loved. Don't think they were ever going to be given the chance to redeem themselves. Aviary & New England - Every decade ends and a new one begins and if you really take a look, 60s-70s, 70s-80s, 80s-90s, so do the sounds. Why a record company would sign, invest in and then NOT promote a band is beyond me. In 79-80-81 rock radio was in a tizzy trying to figure out if they could actually play Olivers Army or Is She Really Going Out With Him next to Black Dog or Life In The Fast Lane. Why would they jump on a new band that sounded like the last decade? Even the established bands were adjusting .... J Geils (Love Stinks), Foghat (Tight Shoes), Foreigner (4) and ZZ Top El Loco really didn't sound much like anything they did before, did it? Good show, guys 👍
A few random responses… Dirty Deeds’ international version also was released in 1981 on the back of BIB, so people probably got tired of AC/DC at the time. And from Elvis Costello Trust would’ve been a good pick for the show. Maybe not a sales disaster, but it’s overlooked.
As a (sort of/not that) younger viewer, this is cool to learn about forgotten bands. Like hanging out with older brother types; learning about the forgotten history of rock. 🤘🏼
Kansas - In The Spirit of Things, Kerry Livgren AD - Timeline, Alice Cooper - Brutal Planet, Journey - Arrival, Stryper - Against The Law, Styx - Brave New World, Most Frontiers Records Releases
One album I was SHOCKED to see that didn’t even certify was the Porno for Pyros 1996 follow up album to that s/t album. Not that I was ever a fan (To the contrary I never liked them or Janes Addiction) but I do remember the video for Tahitian Moon getting alot of airplay from April-June 1996 on MTV. At the time it seemed huge. But in hindsight it probably seemed bigger than it was lol. I thought it at least would’ve gone platinum based on the amount of airplay that video got. Or at the very least gold (a status which the previous album had attained) but not only did it not go gold it never even certified! lol. I was also surprised to see that album went no higher than #20 on the billboard charts. I guess it sorta makes a little bit of sense maybe because no one remembers that song or that album. Even in those days an album typically had to have a 2 or 3 big singles to go platinum or more or at least one big single to go platinum and continue selling over the years. They did play the video in regular rotation during the spring months of 96’ but by summer there were no follow up singles. Or if there were videos were never aired for them. Maybe it just missed the 500,00 mark? It’s hard to say for sure how it never was certified. Anyone who remembers that song/album I’d appreciate your input.
I do agree 100% with The Darkness' second album (which i prefer to the first)... the first one was huge here in Canada and the second one, not even close... was quite ignored here... I did see The Darkness in Montreal on their first tour with opening act: The Wildhearts! Which brings me to your other choice... i had NO idea who they were... one of the best opening bands i ever saw and became a MUCH bigger fan of The Wildhearts than i did of The Darkness...
Re: The Darkness… My take at the time… Their first album was treated as a fun, ironic, sort of gimmicky throwback to hair metal excesses. Hate to say it, but it was a flash in the pan. This was a time of heavy irony from the hipsters for old school heavy rock, and it didn’t last. I had “One Way Ticket…” and at the time found it kind of boring and lacking the immediacy of the predecessor.
Pat Benetar Seven the Hard Way is another album that comes to mind. Invincible was a big hit as well as Sex as a Weapon. It only went gold which for her was considered a flop. I would have thought it’d gone platinum at least based on the strength of those two hits alone
Hi Contrarians. Love the channel. Long time viewer...first time commentator. Relating to the video’s theme, here’s a small list of albums that failed to chart in the UK upon first release. Makes for some interesting reading; Velvet Underground & Nico ‘s/t’ (didn’t chart until 2002, a whopping 35 years after release, and then only in the chart for 2 weeks!) Marvin Gaye ‘What’s Goin On’(didn’t chart until 1998, 27 years after release) The Doors debut ‘The Doors’ (didn’t chart until 1991, 24 years after release) David Bowie ‘Hunky Dory’ (didn’t chart until after Ziggy Startdust LP became a hit) Genesis ‘Nursey Cryme’ (took nearly 3 years before making the chart) Nirvana ‘Bleach’ (didn’t chart until after ‘Nevermind’) And to finish some albums that have still never made the official chart; Lynyrd Skynyrd debut ‘Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd’ Rush neither ‘Fly By Night’ & ‘2112’ ZZ Top neither ‘Tres Hombres’ or ‘Deguello’ Scorpions no albums prior to ‘Lovedrive’. If I think of anymore, I'll add 'em. addendum: Forgot about Aerosmith (shamefully, just like the rest of the UK at the time) with no albums before 'Permanent Vacation' making it.
Re: Flick of the Switch: other albums released in 1983 Motley Crue- Shout At the Devil Metallica - Kill em' All Slayer - Show No Mercy Dio - Holy Diver Accept - Balls to the Wall Def Leppard - Pyromania Quiet Riot - Metal Health Twisted Sister - You Can't Stop Rock... Ozzy - Bark at the Moon Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind Mercyful Fate - Melissa ...and so many other, newer bands There was a lot of new music coming out in 1983 and Flick was just more of the same, and not thier best. So many other LPs were spun on my turntable.
Great to see Kix mentioned. I'll go one step further with Kix than just one album; Why weren't these guys huge overall? I've always ranked them as the best of the "hair metal" groups even if they don't really belong in that category. They're really sort of a mix between new wave and glam metal (especially the first two albums), but in a way that should have fit right in on 80s radio if they ever got an ounce of support from Atlantic. They're just a fun band with great songs from the start to finish of their catalogue. Not to mention they've always been a great live act.
BLOW MY FUSE and HOT WIRE were played a lot for me as a young kid who loved hard rock. They still hold up real well. As usual, perhaps it was a marketability issue? Unfortunately, a lot of the bands back then were based on having " cute" members to flaunt on an Mtv video, pull out poster material. There were exceptions to that, but unfortunately not too many. CINDERELLA was a comparatively good rockin band to KIX, but for the above aforementioned reason they got a lot more " push" from the industry.
Hotwire and midnight dynamite are solid ! Kix is quite popular on the east coast , I just seen Ronnie youkins and his band last weekend , great original stuff there too , live show review on my channel tomorrow🤘
Motley Crue-S/T Skid Row- Subhuman Race Kings X- Dogman Kiss- Carnival of Souls Dokken- Dysfunctional Poison- Crack a Smile Galactic Cowboys- Space in your Face
Where AC/DC's 1983 release Flick Of The Switch is concerned there is nothing inherently wrong with the songwriting or production, save the dropping of Angus' rhythm guitar a dB or two, that would hold this album back. Rather, I believe you have to look at the complete landscape of the music industry at that time. The market was flooded with Def Leppard's Pyromania, Journey's Frontiers, Kiss' Lick It Up, Metallica's Kill 'Em All, Dio's Holy Diver, Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, and Slayer's Show No Mercy all came appearing in 1983. AC/DC still manage to sell a million in the US, 3x Platinum in Australia, and go Gold in France, Germany and the UK. The market was flooded and they didn't have their unofficial sixth member working with them because he was on loan to Def Leppard. All these albums are great. Keep up the good work, guys!
Great episode! From the ones I know, all panelists choices are great and the ones I’m not familiar with, really peaked my interest. Some of my choices: 1. No Respect - Vain 2. Power Metal - Pantera 3. Against The Law - Stryper I also strongly believe that Love/Hate’s first album should have been a very successful album but it just wasn’t.
Quiet Riot QR III is also an album that should have gone multi platinum imo. The Wild and the Young was only a minor hit sadly but I think between that and the deep cut “Rise or Fall” had that been released as a single it could have been a much bigger album. Unfortunately Kevin Dubrow’s frustration with the label sabotaged their chances for success after Metal Health
I went water skiing with that cassette in my pocket. I put it in my player a few days later and it worked perfectly fine. i always really liked the song Twilight Hotel.
That Tangier album is so good! If you like melodic hard rock from the 80’s era, check out the Four Winds LP by them! The single, On the Line is such a powerful vocal hook. Love it.
'Raise Your Fist and Yell' literally only had one memorable song on it, 'Freedom' and I saw that show in '88 at the same place I saw my first rock concert in '77, KISS on the Love Gun tour. Alice' show was full-macabre cabaret and fantastic but the album never gelled with fans, especially after the better Constrictor album. I've never been a fan of KISS Carnival of Souls, Aerosmith Music From Another Dimension and Honkin' on Bobo. Cheap Trick's 'Busted' was my exit out from that band and Starz Attention Shoppers ended my affinity for that group. Sweet Tubes poster behind you Grant. The New England album is a classic and still on my turntable to this day.
Special Forces- Alice Cooper Pop Art- Transvision Vamp Midnight Dynamite- Kix Social Intercourse- Smashed Gladys Hit and Run- Girlschool Flaunt It- Sigue Sigue Sputnik
I love that first Flowerhead album! And that Kinks EP is great. Some of my own picks: 1) I Love You released a self-titled album that I really liked. 2) T-Ride (self-titled) is one of my favorite albums of the 90s'. 3) Maggie's Dream (self-titled, as well) is a great album of soulful, funky hard rock. Lenny Kravitz originally auditioned to be the singer, but they went with a different guy. They toured with Faith No More and Fishbone and have been compared to Living Colour. 4) Danny Spanos' whole catalog is really good AOR.
'Creatures of the Night' flopped because they made the change over to Mercury Records from Casablanca, and Mercury wouldn't fund the album's PR, partly because they were newcomers, then the two missing original members, and lastly because they didn't make the numbers of the 70'es anymore. I distinctly remember how surprised I was at finding the album at the record store, because there had been no mention of it coming out. And I read most heavy rock music magazines at the time, as a musician myself. Not a word anywhere, so there..
Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy. Their 3rd best album, IMHO. Kansas: Monolith. It sold fairly well, but is viewed as a failure by many Kansas fans(and for a long while, so did the band)This Kansas fan says otherwise Dire Straits: Love Over Gold. This is their best album, it says here, but is sometimes overshadowed by Making Movies and Brothers In Arms Supertramp: Crisis What Crisis. Overshadowed by Crime Of The Century, Even In The Quietest Moments, and Breakfast In America, it is as much a masterpiece as the others mentioned Almost anything from King Crimson
Screaming Trees - Dust I never got, how this album wasn't as big as Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins. 134 in the USA? That's insane. ZZ Top - Rhytmeen A tremendous return to form after the terrible Recycler and the ok Antenna. Antenna got Platinum, Rhythmeen got nothing.
Kudos to Grant for the Aviary mention. Had NEVER heard of this band but the fact there was a mention of Queen made me curious; went on YT to check some of the songs and was blown away. Have been playing the full album daily since this episode was posted; excellent from start to finish. Don't hear the Loverboy angle but if anyone likes Queen, ELO, Sweet and/or Jellyfish you will be in heaven.
@@thecontrarians2438 We all hear things differently, so maybe I need to listen more attentively for a Loverboy influence. Also, don't remember if it was here or somewhere else but there was a mention of Styx as well; while i didn't catch it initially, there is a tiny Styx influence in their music.
How about Blue Oyster Cult - Cultosaurus Erectus? Great BOC record. Probably my #1 or #2 going back and forth with Spectres. Cultosaurus flopped, pretty much. Only sold about 250,000 units, and maybe hasn't even gone gold. It still mystifies me to this day how it sold so poorly. I always thought it was a kick ass hard rock album that came after a disappointing Mirrors (although, I should say that I really do like Mirrors a lot). The album cover for Cultosaurus is awesome. One of my faves.
Love the Tubes talk, underrated band they don't get enough love those Foster albums are great and pretty hard rocking in sports too, I actually thought they sold much better than they apparently did. Then they released one more, Love Bomb (1985) which Todd Rundgren produced and it flopped even bigger.
I’m gonna name two albums - Blue Murder and Slip of the Tongue - both released in 1989. I believe these two albums are completely underrated. I think Slip of the Tongue didn’t do as well as the previous album because Whitesnake 1987 was so gigantic (and in all fairness a better album). At the time, I was a huge Whitesnake fan because of 1987 and both of these albums really hit me at the right time.
Cool that you guys mentioned The Hunter by Blondie... I would add the 2 Piper records. I also think some of the Alice early 80's records are great and never like Raise Your Fist too much myself, but I appreciate the perspective.
Leatherwolf - Street Ready - 1989 Beautiful Creatures - S/T - 2001 Asia - XXX - 2012 (best album since the debut) HM: Artch - Another Return to Church Hill - 1988 Junkyard - S/T - 1989 Uriah Heep - Wake the Sleeper - 2008
Bang Tango- Dancin on Coals, great bang and album. Dee Snyders band Widowmaker, album Blood and Bullets. The whole album is great , never got the success it deserved. The band WASTED, album Save Your Prayers, so many good tunes like Hell Comes Home and Heros Die Young, TYKETTO's album Don't Come Easy. I could list so many more.
Good choices here especially Widowmaker and Waysted. I think Widowmaker suffered from being on an independent record company as well as timing with radio running from this type of hard rock. Saw them play at a Howard Stern book signing in Philly and they were great.
Great topic.. great show!! I always wondered why ROUGH CUTT's debut album didnt get more recognition. Paul Shortinos voice on the record is in top form!!! He holds a note on a track there that would have RJD and RH step back and say "wow!!"
I am in love with a band called "Sister Sparrow and the dirty birds" they have four albums out and I like them all. They just never broke big. They have horns and sound like Chicago but with a woman lead. It is great stuff.
My novice take on why that Wildhearts album didn’t hit big… too bluesy. By 1993, hair metal was waning and grunge/alternative was rising. The later was more influenced by punk, so so anything that sounded too “bluesy” and accomplished was ignored. The kids were hungry for more immediacy, rawness and uniqueness (being slightly off-kilter). Just my humble 2 cents. 🤷♂️
Wire "The First Letter" from 1991 (as "WIR"). I got it at a pawn shop in the 1990s and it is one of the most listened to albums I own. Very high-tech pop/rock with a strong beat poetry influence and ridiculously memorable songs. Why this one fell through the cracks I do not know, but it has a fan in me.
In response to the discussion on ZZ Top, in my neck of the woods (won't say where) I never hear ZZ Top songs like "Pearl Necklace" on the classic rock radio station. It's always the same three songs from "Eliminator," as well as "Tush" and "La Grange" and that's it. There is a "deep cut" day sometime on the weekends but I never listen the radio much on those days.
I think I listened to Promised Land years ago. I'll have to revisit it. Love Mindcrime and Empire. Have Hear In The Now Frontier too. I didn't hate it.
Had KISS had Doc McGhee back in the 80's like Motley Crue and Bon Jovi did, this would have been a successful tour because he would have had them on tour in all the places where they could draw a crowd and then pull them back into the states for the choice spots there and see if that noise but build interest in slower markets. They had lousy management back then. Aucoin was gone and they were pretty lost on where to be in the music business. Doc would not have let them take their makeup off during the birth of the video age. He likely would have made them more extreme looking. Put that edge back on them.
I think KISS would've rejected Doc back then. Paul wanted to take the makeup off for COTN but Gene didn't. Gene relented when COTN flopped. The other problem at the time was Gene going Hollywood. Doc would have demanded Gene being a full contributing member. When Doc did come on as manager for Revenge it was under the condition that the first song be a Gene song. "The kids want Gene", he said.
Click of the switch is my favorite AC/DC 80s album, midnight dynamite is a great pick, knockers is just a fun song from the darkness second lp. And Tangier is just great !🤘
Oddly, I'd pick Fly on the Wall, and Zipper Catches Skin. Other great flops are Adam Ants Viva Le Rock, and BTK's only and only album, Saigon Kick's Water, and Life Sex Death's only album. Midnight Dynamite definetly, Hot Wire too.
When Dan Peek departed the band America, the remaining two guys, Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Buckley, carried on as a duo. Their first studio album they released as a duo was an album called Silent Letter. Nobody even noticed this album but I really dug it. Everyone I played this album for loved it, as did I.never could figure out why it flopped so badly. Dan
Great show ! A suggestion for a future episode : Bad music videos , I mean HORRIBLE videos ! Here's a few gems : RUSH - Time Stand's Still Judas Priest - Hot Rockin Dokken - Breaking the Chains Candlemass - Bewitched 😂
I have a theory about the Darkness. Every now and again the British public will take to a band, whatever the genre and they'll be the band of the moment and the band seemingly can't go wrong, until the fickle fly by night public then move on to something else. The true rock fans remain loyal as usual but the public in general have disposable tastes. It's a like when AC/DC returned with Black Ice, it was difficult to get tickets to their shows for the loyal average rock fan, because they too were a band of the moment, that the public just seemed to latch on to at the right time, it was like a trend, none rock fans decided to buy tickets, because that was the latest IN thing to do.
Have lots of favourite records that occupy this place, but the first one that came to mind: Wendy James - “Now Ain’t The Time For Your Tears” (despite all Elvis Costello/Cait O’Riordan compositions, it may not have even charted in UK.). Also, Let’s Active’s “Big Plans For Everybody” (their following - and more middling & bland sounding “Every Dog Has Its Day” did far better on commercial alternative/edge oriented radio), The Unintended - self-titled (Canadian sort of folk rock supergroup with Elevator, The Sadies, Blue Rodeo members, though perhaps a more cult niche thing with little expectations), Lisa Germano’s “Geek The Girl,” Virginia Astley’s “Hope In A Darkened Heart”- beautiful, albeit flawed (the tracks produced by her brother work better than Ryuchi Sakamoto ones) and really all of her records fall under this assessment (she also appeared on another record that arguably fall into this list - her brother in law at the time Pete Townshend’s “All The Best Cowboys…”).
Always thought the debut Zeno album should have got more attention. I remember a lot of hype about them at the time. Definitely an acquired taste, the singer made early Geddy Lee sound like a baritone at times. Also difficult to describe the album, some pure hard rock mixed with proggy songs (the guitar solo on 'Don't tell the Wind' is sublime). They made other albums but in my opinion is their best.
Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu (2011) Metallica fans tend to be completist collectors & i thought hardcore fans would still pick this up. As of March 2023 the album has sold only 280.000+ copies. For Reed that's normal, for Metallica it's their lowest selling album.
Fantastic episode. So much great stuff to check out. Some records I love that I dont understand got bigger. Crawley : Supersonic from 1992 (Sounds like a mix between hardrock & grunge. Almost like the swedish Alice in Chains. Never understand why it never get mentioned anywhere. They changed their style on the record after this. More similar to Pantera) and Equinox : Auf Wiedersehen fra 1989 (Great thrash metal debut from these norwegians. They have some kind of cult status here in Norway after some success here back then. They never get any fame outside of Norway) So check em out
Eric Carmen Tonight You're Mine. My fave solo album of his. 3 songs on the album that should have been big hits. Davey Johnstone and Carmine Appice also played on the album
Having listened to Aviary, I can concur with Grant it’s a great album. Elements of Queen, ELO & Supertramp (particularly the vocals). Definitely worth a listen.
Michael Jackson’s history the studio side with new songs has some amazing songs on it but it was put together with another CD of a greatest hits so it’s kind of overlooked
Fantastic show and selections! I will add another ZZ Top album in Rhythmeen. A few tracks hit AOR but in my opinion, this is an easy top 5 ZZ Top album. It blows the Afterburner, Recycler, and Antenna albums out of the water. All of them sold millions in the States but Rhythmeen didn't even go gold. Way to bring it Nick! I co-sign on Midnight Dynamite but great to see Tangier's Four Winds! Still have the cassette. Very good album.
Did you know they played a free show in Scranton at Nay Aug Park the summer of 89? I thought I was watching the next big band. 107 sponsored as I recall and they played the album quite a bit.
Problem is in the U.S. "Suckerpunch", one of the lesser songs on "Earth vs. the Wildhearts", was pushed as the single. One of my biggies is the Ramones' "Halfway to Sanity". Everyone hates that one, but I've always thought it's one of their best of the '80s.
Never understood why almost the ENTIRE Ramones discography flopped! If I'm not mistaken, their only gold album was the Ramones Mania collection from 1988 (and while End of the Century charted fairly high for a Ramones album---think it peaked at around #45--it still flopped). One of the best bands of all time!
I guess many albums flop because of people being disappointed with the previous album. That's propably the case with Kiss' "Creatures of he night" and could also be the case with Blondie, but poor reviews and no hit singles from "The Hunter" also didn't help the sales. "Autoamerican" had two no 1 singles in the US after all... ZZ Top's "El Loco" was released 1981, the same year as MTV was launched. MTV was of course a big factor behind the success of "Eliminator" two years later.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the Flowerhead album too! Bought it back then. “Everything Is Beautiful”! Not a weak song on it. Right now I even have the record store promo poster hanging in my music room. And saying that, I’ve tried for 30 years to get into their next one and still CANNOT!
My vote is Pist.On a band that I actually saw live randomly opening for Type O Negative back in the 90's. I remember going straight to their merch guy and buying the album after their set. They were more like 'groove metal' with heavy drop D riffs almost bordering on Fuzz rock at times. This was after Grunge but before Nu Metal, so the music landscape was wide open. I think Pist.On could have made a splash with more radio support. Songs like 8 Sides were heavy enough to be rock but had a softer upbeat chorus that would have been good for radio play. Other songs like Parole are heavy enough to appeal to any metalhead. Songs like Shoplifters of the World Unite are a perfect combination of toe tapping riff stuck in your head and a title and chorus strange enough to stand out in peoples' memory. Rob Zombie was blowing up doing groove metal at the time too so I think Pist.On would have been a hit with the more commercially oriented Zombie fans.
Based on my own opinion, I can think of hundreds of albums that ‘flopped’. But I do know why. However, if I approach this idea with the supposition that my taste reflects the vast majority of listeners, then a few ‘flops’ on my list would be; Badlands: debut and Voodoo Highway Steve Via: Sex And Religion Black Sabbath: Born Again Splendor: Halfway Down The Sky Starz: debut, Violation, Coliseum Rock Angel: On Earth As It Is In Heaven Shooting Star: Silent Scream Coroner: Grin My Sister’s Machine: Wallflower Widowmaker: Blood And Bullets My list could go on and on, I’m just grateful that I was there when these albums came out, and I had the opportunity to experience the music these artists put out at the time! (That’s what I get for commenting before the show is over: Love Martin’s shout out for Starz!)
I feel I got ripped off since Alice wasn’t even mentioned, especially since that was the image to click on
Yeah, I was looking forward to hearing people talking about 'Raise Your Fist and Yell' as it's a great album that falls off the radar a lot.
I'm grateful for this comment, it saved me from having to watch this video
Raise your fist is definitely an album that deserves a lot more acclaim. My favorite Alice Cooper. Really heavy and dark.
I love that album. Totally agree.
Love it. I saw him for this tour (and many other times). "Roses On White Lace" is one of his best songs, in my opinion.
I'm not a fan (Poison and stuff), but the early 70s were pretty great
I’ve never understood why Queen II is Queen’s least selling album. It’s a friggin’ masterpiece!
Black Side too Proggy. No major hit single until Killer Queen.
And the worst part is that because of the flop they abandoned the 'metal' approach to music. Much as I love sheer and subsequent albums
It's the 1st lp of theirs I heard and remains my favorite
Queen was not well known then. Queen II happened before they had first hit single. If Queen II had been released after Night At The Opera...it would have sold better.
@@JohnnyRecently At the time, yes, but in the long run it’s still their least selling album, arguably because it might be the least accessible album.
Yes, I love Flick of the Switch. Nice dry production, awesome riffs, powerhouse drumming.
😃👍
Agree 100%.
Absolutely, great album.
Yes. It’s great. Hard driving rock. A remix would be incredible. Bring up the bass and drums a touch.
@@acdcboogieman Why?The sound is perfect
Earth vs The Wildhearts is an absolute classic and they have plenty of other great albums too. Fantastic band.
Listening to it for the first time. Varied tempos, interesting chord changes, thoughtful lyrics. The songs are good, but with one or two exceptions (tv tan and shame on me) I’m still not 100% yet. I’ll keep listening though : )
Rush's "Test for Echo" routinely finishes at the bottom of fan polls, but I don't see why. Yes, it's nowhere near classic Rush and there are some cringey lyrics, but I find it much more listenable and engaging than the three albums that preceded it.
Certainly FAR better than the lousy Roll the Bones!
Neil Young - Mirror Ball (1995) I'm surprised this album sold approx. 740,000 copies worldwide. Pearl Jam was the backing band & in 1995 still the hottest band in the world & Young had great success with his 1992 Harvest Moon album which sold 2+ million. I thought this collaboration would sell millions too.
And it's a solid album, too.
I am NEIL YOUNG fan,especially with THE CRAZY HORSE. And i respect PEARL JAM, but that album just don't work,it's not bad, but i expected more.
I hope Neil Young will remember..........we dont need him around anyhow.
@@anfrankogezamartincic1161Mirror Ball works in spades. Great album.
@@jeffswanson3740 i will relisten, i love Neil, but he misses sometimes
I gave a girl a pearl necklace on our second date. There wasn't a third.
El Loco was the first ZZ Top record I bought. I heard the two mentioned singles all the time. on the radio. As a kid, I had no idea that the album tanked. Saw ZZ Top over the Labor Day weekend in Maryland. They played Pearl Necklace and Tube Snake Boogie, while the classic Tush was left off the set list - though I know why.
A few random thoughts ...
Flick Of The Switch - Burnout. They finally exploded in '79 with Highway To Hell and rock radio could no longer ignore them. After the tragedy in early '80, they roar back with Back In Black and we spend the rest of the year and all of '81 with it. '82 rolls in and they give us the anthemic For Those About To Rock ... As Martin said, the "marketplace" in '83 was booming with incredible stuff and I think we all just needed a break.
The Darkness - I could be wrong but in America I think most people thought I Believe In A Thing Called Love was a novelty song. Justins' over the top vocals and their looks made it tough to figure out if they were a serious band or just bustin' on 70s pomp rock ... which a lot of us loved. Don't think they were ever going to be given the chance to redeem themselves.
Aviary & New England - Every decade ends and a new one begins and if you really take a look, 60s-70s, 70s-80s, 80s-90s, so do the sounds. Why a record company would sign, invest in and then NOT promote a band is beyond me. In 79-80-81 rock radio was in a tizzy trying to figure out if they could actually play Olivers Army or Is She Really Going Out With Him next to Black Dog or Life In The Fast Lane. Why would they jump on a new band that sounded like the last decade? Even the established bands were adjusting .... J Geils (Love Stinks), Foghat (Tight Shoes), Foreigner (4) and ZZ Top El Loco really didn't sound much like anything they did before, did it?
Good show, guys 👍
A few random responses…
Dirty Deeds’ international version also was released in 1981 on the back of BIB, so people probably got tired of AC/DC at the time.
And from Elvis Costello Trust would’ve been a good pick for the show. Maybe not a sales disaster, but it’s overlooked.
As a (sort of/not that) younger viewer, this is cool to learn about forgotten bands. Like hanging out with older brother types; learning about the forgotten history of rock. 🤘🏼
Clicked on this for the Alice Cooper raise your fist review, and it isn't there?!
It was sort of a comeback success for him with the "Freedom" single, overall though not a good record. Odd time for Alice, the late '80s metal era.
I’ll have to give it a listen. Who’s in the band?
@jcollins1305 Great live show, Kane was a metal guy, the arrangement of the songs live was way better than the LP.
Kansas - In The Spirit of Things, Kerry Livgren AD - Timeline, Alice Cooper - Brutal Planet, Journey - Arrival, Stryper - Against The Law, Styx - Brave New World, Most Frontiers Records Releases
Great shout out for The Wildhearts, their last album '21st Century Love Songs' released in 2021 is a classic.
...and the one before that 'The Renaissance Men' is a bonafide BANGER too.
1. Y&T-Earthshaker, 2. Vain-No Respect 3. Judas Priest Point of Entry.
One album I was SHOCKED to see that didn’t even certify was the Porno for Pyros 1996 follow up album to that s/t album. Not that I was ever a fan (To the contrary I never liked them or Janes Addiction) but I do remember the video for Tahitian Moon getting alot of airplay from April-June 1996 on MTV. At the time it seemed huge. But in hindsight it probably seemed bigger than it was lol. I thought it at least would’ve gone platinum based on the amount of airplay that video got. Or at the very least gold (a status which the previous album had attained) but not only did it not go gold it never even certified! lol. I was also surprised to see that album went no higher than #20 on the billboard charts. I guess it sorta makes a little bit of sense maybe because no one remembers that song or that album. Even in those days an album typically had to have a 2 or 3 big singles to go platinum or more or at least one big single to go platinum and continue selling over the years. They did play the video in regular rotation during the spring months of 96’ but by summer there were no follow up singles. Or if there were videos were never aired for them. Maybe it just missed the 500,00 mark? It’s hard to say for sure how it never was certified. Anyone who remembers that song/album I’d appreciate your input.
I do agree 100% with The Darkness' second album (which i prefer to the first)... the first one was huge here in Canada and the second one, not even close... was quite ignored here... I did see The Darkness in Montreal on their first tour with opening act: The Wildhearts! Which brings me to your other choice... i had NO idea who they were... one of the best opening bands i ever saw and became a MUCH bigger fan of The Wildhearts than i did of The Darkness...
Re: The Darkness… My take at the time… Their first album was treated as a fun, ironic, sort of gimmicky throwback to hair metal excesses. Hate to say it, but it was a flash in the pan. This was a time of heavy irony from the hipsters for old school heavy rock, and it didn’t last. I had “One Way Ticket…” and at the time found it kind of boring and lacking the immediacy of the predecessor.
Pat Benetar Seven the Hard Way is another album that comes to mind. Invincible was a big hit as well as Sex as a Weapon. It only went gold which for her was considered a flop. I would have thought it’d gone platinum at least based on the strength of those two hits alone
Hi Contrarians.
Love the channel. Long time viewer...first time commentator.
Relating to the video’s theme, here’s a small list of albums that failed to chart in the UK upon first release. Makes for some interesting reading;
Velvet Underground & Nico ‘s/t’ (didn’t chart until 2002, a whopping 35 years after release, and then only in the chart for 2 weeks!)
Marvin Gaye ‘What’s Goin On’(didn’t chart until 1998, 27 years after release)
The Doors debut ‘The Doors’ (didn’t chart until 1991, 24 years after release)
David Bowie ‘Hunky Dory’ (didn’t chart until after Ziggy Startdust LP became a hit)
Genesis ‘Nursey Cryme’ (took nearly 3 years before making the chart)
Nirvana ‘Bleach’ (didn’t chart until after ‘Nevermind’)
And to finish some albums that have still never made the official chart;
Lynyrd Skynyrd debut ‘Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd’
Rush neither ‘Fly By Night’ & ‘2112’
ZZ Top neither ‘Tres Hombres’ or ‘Deguello’
Scorpions no albums prior to ‘Lovedrive’.
If I think of anymore, I'll add 'em.
addendum: Forgot about Aerosmith (shamefully, just like the rest of the UK at the time) with no albums before 'Permanent Vacation' making it.
Thanks for the info!
Loved New England's debut, but rock in '79 was all over the place and by the time the mainstream took hold in 81-82, they were forgotten.
Re: Flick of the Switch: other albums released in 1983
Motley Crue- Shout At the Devil
Metallica - Kill em' All
Slayer - Show No Mercy
Dio - Holy Diver
Accept - Balls to the Wall
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Quiet Riot - Metal Health
Twisted Sister - You Can't Stop Rock...
Ozzy - Bark at the Moon
Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
Mercyful Fate - Melissa
...and so many other, newer bands
There was a lot of new music coming out in 1983 and Flick was just more of the same, and not thier best. So many other LPs were spun on my turntable.
Great to see Kix mentioned. I'll go one step further with Kix than just one album; Why weren't these guys huge overall? I've always ranked them as the best of the "hair metal" groups even if they don't really belong in that category. They're really sort of a mix between new wave and glam metal (especially the first two albums), but in a way that should have fit right in on 80s radio if they ever got an ounce of support from Atlantic. They're just a fun band with great songs from the start to finish of their catalogue. Not to mention they've always been a great live act.
BLOW MY FUSE and HOT WIRE were played a lot for me as a young kid who loved hard rock.
They still hold up real well.
As usual, perhaps it was a marketability issue? Unfortunately, a lot of the bands back then were based on having " cute" members to flaunt on an Mtv video, pull out poster material.
There were exceptions to that, but unfortunately not too many.
CINDERELLA was a comparatively good rockin band to KIX, but for the above aforementioned reason they got a lot more " push" from the industry.
Maryland loved them. They rocked Hammerjacks when they played there.
Hotwire and midnight dynamite are solid ! Kix is quite popular on the east coast , I just seen Ronnie youkins and his band last weekend , great original stuff there too , live show review on my channel tomorrow🤘
Motley Crue-S/T
Skid Row- Subhuman Race
Kings X- Dogman
Kiss- Carnival of Souls
Dokken- Dysfunctional
Poison- Crack a Smile
Galactic Cowboys- Space in your Face
King's X. Dogman A+
Where AC/DC's 1983 release Flick Of The Switch is concerned there is nothing inherently wrong with the songwriting or production, save the dropping of Angus' rhythm guitar a dB or two, that would hold this album back. Rather, I believe you have to look at the complete landscape of the music industry at that time. The market was flooded with Def Leppard's Pyromania, Journey's Frontiers, Kiss' Lick It Up, Metallica's Kill 'Em All, Dio's Holy Diver, Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, and Slayer's Show No Mercy all came appearing in 1983. AC/DC still manage to sell a million in the US, 3x Platinum in Australia, and go Gold in France, Germany and the UK. The market was flooded and they didn't have their unofficial sixth member working with them because he was on loan to Def Leppard. All these albums are great. Keep up the good work, guys!
Great episode! From the ones I know, all panelists choices are great and the ones I’m not familiar with, really peaked my interest.
Some of my choices:
1. No Respect - Vain
2. Power Metal - Pantera
3. Against The Law - Stryper
I also strongly believe that Love/Hate’s first album should have been a very successful album but it just wasn’t.
No Respect by Vain is a really good album.
Quiet Riot QR III is also an album that should have gone multi platinum imo. The Wild and the Young was only a minor hit sadly but I think between that and the deep cut “Rise or Fall” had that been released as a single it could have been a much bigger album. Unfortunately Kevin Dubrow’s frustration with the label sabotaged their chances for success after Metal Health
I went water skiing with that cassette in my pocket. I put it in my player a few days later and it worked perfectly fine. i always really liked the song Twilight Hotel.
Zebra - No Tellin' Lies
That Tangier album is so good! If you like melodic hard rock from the 80’s era, check out the Four Winds LP by them! The single, On the Line is such a powerful vocal hook. Love it.
I 💯 agree , fours winds is very good , Philly boys representing 🤘
'Raise Your Fist and Yell' literally only had one memorable song on it, 'Freedom' and I saw that show in '88 at the same place I saw my first rock concert in '77, KISS on the Love Gun tour. Alice' show was full-macabre cabaret and fantastic but the album never gelled with fans, especially after the better Constrictor album. I've never been a fan of KISS Carnival of Souls, Aerosmith Music From Another Dimension and Honkin' on Bobo. Cheap Trick's 'Busted' was my exit out from that band and Starz Attention Shoppers ended my affinity for that group. Sweet Tubes poster behind you Grant. The New England album is a classic and still on my turntable to this day.
Just found Starz on vinyl. Like Prism, the magic faded.
Had Cherry Baby on my Seeburg.
Violation....
Special Forces- Alice Cooper
Pop Art- Transvision Vamp
Midnight Dynamite- Kix
Social Intercourse- Smashed Gladys
Hit and Run- Girlschool
Flaunt It- Sigue Sigue Sputnik
I love that first Flowerhead album! And that Kinks EP is great. Some of my own picks:
1) I Love You released a self-titled album that I really liked.
2) T-Ride (self-titled) is one of my favorite albums of the 90s'.
3) Maggie's Dream (self-titled, as well) is a great album of soulful, funky hard rock. Lenny Kravitz originally auditioned to be the singer, but they went with a different guy. They toured with Faith No More and Fishbone and have been compared to Living Colour.
4) Danny Spanos' whole catalog is really good AOR.
Never heard any of these, i will check them out
'Creatures of the Night' flopped because they made the change over to Mercury Records from Casablanca, and Mercury wouldn't fund the album's PR, partly because they were newcomers, then the two missing original members, and lastly because they didn't make the numbers of the 70'es anymore.
I distinctly remember how surprised I was at finding the album at the record store, because there had been no mention of it coming out. And I read most heavy rock music magazines at the time, as a musician myself. Not a word anywhere, so there..
1. Jellyfish-Spilt milk the most underrated band and one of my favorite bands.
2. Black Sabbath-Sabotage
3. Matthew Sweet-Girlfriend
nice ...jellyfish are incredibly underrated!!!
Jellyfish -yes!
Girlfriend either went gold or platinum---it was his most successful album. None of his followups were as successful.
The Tubes were on The Fishin' Musician from SCTV so they definitely can't be all bad. I'm going to check out a few of these. Thanks for upload.
Steely Dan: Countdown To Ecstasy. Their 3rd best album, IMHO.
Kansas: Monolith. It sold fairly well, but is viewed as a failure by many Kansas fans(and for a long while, so did the band)This Kansas fan says otherwise
Dire Straits: Love Over Gold. This is their best album, it says here, but is sometimes overshadowed by Making Movies and Brothers In Arms
Supertramp: Crisis What Crisis. Overshadowed by Crime Of The Century, Even In The Quietest Moments, and Breakfast In America, it is as much a masterpiece as the others mentioned
Almost anything from King Crimson
Monolith is a great album! People of the South Wind, Reason to Be and On The Other Side all got pretty heavy play at my college station.
LOVE Monolith! Will go so far as to say it's even better than the great Leftoverture and Point of Know Return.
Both albums by Detective
What a great video. I also love discovering music that may have passed me by. I’ll be busy looking into some of these bands. Thank you!
Screaming Trees - Dust
I never got, how this album wasn't as big as Nirvana or Smashing Pumpkins. 134 in the USA? That's insane.
ZZ Top - Rhytmeen
A tremendous return to form after the terrible Recycler and the ok Antenna. Antenna got Platinum, Rhythmeen got nothing.
Dust is a top tier classic, their best. Yup a head scratcher that.
One of my favorite albums of the nineties, but Screaming Trees weren't big enough to wait four years for a follow up. R.I.P. Mark Lanegan.
Kudos to Grant for the Aviary mention. Had NEVER heard of this band but the fact there was a mention of Queen made me curious; went on YT to check some of the songs and was blown away. Have been playing the full album daily since this episode was posted; excellent from start to finish. Don't hear the Loverboy angle but if anyone likes Queen, ELO, Sweet and/or Jellyfish you will be in heaven.
Loverboy just probably popped out... haha! Queen, ELO, Sweet and/or Jellyfish nails it!
@@thecontrarians2438 We all hear things differently, so maybe I need to listen more attentively for a Loverboy influence. Also, don't remember if it was here or somewhere else but there was a mention of Styx as well; while i didn't catch it initially, there is a tiny Styx influence in their music.
How about Blue Oyster Cult - Cultosaurus Erectus? Great BOC record. Probably my #1 or #2 going back and forth with Spectres. Cultosaurus flopped, pretty much. Only sold about 250,000 units, and maybe hasn't even gone gold. It still mystifies me to this day how it sold so poorly. I always thought it was a kick ass hard rock album that came after a disappointing Mirrors (although, I should say that I really do like Mirrors a lot). The album cover for Cultosaurus is awesome. One of my faves.
My favorite BOC. Fantastic group of songs!
I’m a fairly casual BOC fan, but I love mirrors!
Love the Tubes talk, underrated band they don't get enough love those Foster albums are great and pretty hard rocking in sports too, I actually thought they sold much better than they apparently did. Then they released one more, Love Bomb (1985) which Todd Rundgren produced and it flopped even bigger.
For me:
1. Riot- Fire Down Under
2. Raging Slab- Dynamite Monster Boogie Concert
3. Jimmie's Chicken Shack - Pushing the Salmonella Envelope
Riot, fire down under was a great album
I’m gonna name two albums - Blue Murder and Slip of the Tongue - both released in 1989. I believe these two albums are completely underrated. I think Slip of the Tongue didn’t do as well as the previous album because Whitesnake 1987 was so gigantic (and in all fairness a better album). At the time, I was a huge Whitesnake fan because of 1987 and both of these albums really hit me at the right time.
Cool that you guys mentioned The Hunter by Blondie...
I would add the 2 Piper records. I also think some of the Alice early 80's records are great and never like Raise Your Fist too much myself, but I appreciate the perspective.
THANK YOU FOR THE KINKS REVIEW! I didn't know this EP existed and now I'll go buy it.
SHES A BEAUTY was a fantastic song!
Leatherwolf - Street Ready - 1989
Beautiful Creatures - S/T - 2001
Asia - XXX - 2012 (best album since the debut)
HM:
Artch - Another Return to Church Hill - 1988
Junkyard - S/T - 1989
Uriah Heep - Wake the Sleeper - 2008
Bang Tango- Dancin on Coals, great bang and album. Dee Snyders band Widowmaker, album Blood and Bullets. The whole album is great , never got the success it deserved. The band WASTED, album Save Your Prayers, so many good tunes like Hell Comes Home and Heros Die Young, TYKETTO's album Don't Come Easy. I could list so many more.
Good choices here especially Widowmaker and Waysted. I think Widowmaker suffered from being on an independent record company as well as timing with radio running from this type of hard rock. Saw them play at a Howard Stern book signing in Philly and they were great.
Great topic.. great show!! I always wondered why ROUGH CUTT's debut album didnt get more recognition. Paul Shortinos voice on the record is in top form!!! He holds a note on a track there that would have RJD and RH step back and say "wow!!"
Excellent choice and it was in my stack of stuff. Nick S Etc.
I am in love with a band called "Sister Sparrow and the dirty birds" they have four albums out and I like them all. They just never broke big. They have horns and sound like Chicago but with a woman lead. It is great stuff.
My novice take on why that Wildhearts album didn’t hit big… too bluesy. By 1993, hair metal was waning and grunge/alternative was rising. The later was more influenced by punk, so so anything that sounded too “bluesy” and accomplished was ignored. The kids were hungry for more immediacy, rawness and uniqueness (being slightly off-kilter). Just my humble 2 cents. 🤷♂️
My three choices:
1. Meatloaf > Blind Before I Stop
2. Kiss > Carnival of Souls
3. Foreigner > Can't Slow Down
because they all suck
I love Raise yr fist and yell!
So where was it mentioned?
Kings of the Sun - Full Frontal Attack
Wire "The First Letter" from 1991 (as "WIR"). I got it at a pawn shop in the 1990s and it is one of the most listened to albums I own. Very high-tech pop/rock with a strong beat poetry influence and ridiculously memorable songs. Why this one fell through the cracks I do not know, but it has a fan in me.
WIRE were ignored after first 3 albums, but they go still on, no matter what. And they don't record shit, all their records are,at least-decent
The Wildhearts was an outstanding pull! Great band
Creatures of the Night is one of my favorite Kiss albums! Great choice!
Thanks Grant for mentioning New England. I bought that album upon release due to Dont Ever Wanna Lose Ya. Very underrated album
Robbie Robertson's first solo album. Released in 1987. Peak chart position 38 in the USA. Critics loved it. I like it more than any The Band album.
In response to the discussion on ZZ Top, in my neck of the woods (won't say where) I never hear ZZ Top songs like "Pearl Necklace" on the classic rock radio station. It's always the same three songs from "Eliminator," as well as "Tush" and "La Grange" and that's it. There is a "deep cut" day sometime on the weekends but I never listen the radio much on those days.
Promised Land by Queensryche is an album that should have been huge on the back of Mindcrime and Empire
It was a letdown compared to empire
I think I listened to Promised Land years ago. I'll have to revisit it. Love Mindcrime and Empire. Have Hear In The Now Frontier too. I didn't hate it.
Great album! Rest of the world was listening to other Seattle bands at that time.
Had KISS had Doc McGhee back in the 80's like Motley Crue and Bon Jovi did, this would have been a successful tour because he would have had them on tour in all the places where they could draw a crowd and then pull them back into the states for the choice spots there and see if that noise but build interest in slower markets. They had lousy management back then. Aucoin was gone and they were pretty lost on where to be in the music business. Doc would not have let them take their makeup off during the birth of the video age. He likely would have made them more extreme looking. Put that edge back on them.
I think KISS would've rejected Doc back then. Paul wanted to take the makeup off for COTN but Gene didn't. Gene relented when COTN flopped. The other problem at the time was Gene going Hollywood. Doc would have demanded Gene being a full contributing member. When Doc did come on as manager for Revenge it was under the condition that the first song be a Gene song. "The kids want Gene", he said.
By Your Side by The Black Crowes
Shelter by Lone Justice, mid 80's with the phenomenal Maria McKee.
King's X - Ear Candy
Letters To Cleo - Wholesale Meats and Fish
God Lives Underwater - Empty
Great call on Ear Candy! One of King's X's great albums and "Mississippi Moon" should have been the big hit they so richly deserved in 1996.
Love King's X! I have Ear Candy but haven't listened to it in awhile. Will have to revisit.
Click of the switch is my favorite AC/DC 80s album, midnight dynamite is a great pick, knockers is just a fun song from the darkness second lp. And Tangier is just great !🤘
Oddly, I'd pick Fly on the Wall, and Zipper Catches Skin. Other great flops are Adam Ants Viva Le Rock, and BTK's only and only album, Saigon Kick's Water, and Life Sex Death's only album. Midnight Dynamite definetly, Hot Wire too.
BLACK SABBATH - SABOTAGE
KANSAS - MONOLITH
IRON MAIDEN - KILLERS
KING CRIMSON - BEAT
BADFINGER - STRAIGHT UP
totally agree om New England.....bought the first two back in the day and could never understand why they missed
why is Alice Cooper Raise Your Fist And Yell in thumbnail but not in the video?
That's the same thing I was wondering 🤔 💭
Nazareth's Close Enough for Rock 'n' Roll, Rampant, Loud and Proud and No Mean City are all killer albums
Anthrax Stomp 442 Love It!!!!
When Dan Peek departed the band America, the remaining two guys, Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Buckley, carried on as a duo. Their first studio album they released as a duo was an album called Silent Letter. Nobody even noticed this album but I really dug it. Everyone I played this album for loved it, as did I.never could figure out why it flopped so badly. Dan
Great show ! A suggestion for a future episode : Bad music videos , I mean HORRIBLE videos !
Here's a few gems :
RUSH - Time Stand's Still
Judas Priest - Hot Rockin
Dokken - Breaking the Chains
Candlemass - Bewitched
😂
Martin, count me in as one of those Americans that has Back in Black and Flick of the Switch.
Capital Records dropped RIOT immediately after they released 'Fire Down Under' so the album flopped
I have a theory about the Darkness. Every now and again the British public will take to a band, whatever the genre and they'll be the band of the moment and the band seemingly can't go wrong, until the fickle fly by night public then move on to something else. The true rock fans remain loyal as usual but the public in general have disposable tastes. It's a like when AC/DC returned with Black Ice, it was difficult to get tickets to their shows for the loyal average rock fan, because they too were a band of the moment, that the public just seemed to latch on to at the right time, it was like a trend, none rock fans decided to buy tickets, because that was the latest IN thing to do.
Have lots of favourite records that occupy this place, but the first one that came to mind: Wendy James - “Now Ain’t The Time For Your Tears” (despite all Elvis Costello/Cait O’Riordan compositions, it may not have even charted in UK.). Also, Let’s Active’s “Big Plans For Everybody” (their following - and more middling & bland sounding “Every Dog Has Its Day” did far better on commercial alternative/edge oriented radio), The Unintended - self-titled (Canadian sort of folk rock supergroup with Elevator, The Sadies, Blue Rodeo members, though perhaps a more cult niche thing with little expectations), Lisa Germano’s “Geek The Girl,” Virginia Astley’s “Hope In A Darkened Heart”- beautiful, albeit flawed (the tracks produced by her brother work better than Ryuchi Sakamoto ones) and really all of her records fall under this assessment (she also appeared on another record that arguably fall into this list - her brother in law at the time Pete Townshend’s “All The Best Cowboys…”).
That Wendy James album got lots a play at my place. London's Brilliant, Basement Kiss ... the whole 9 yards!
Always thought the debut Zeno album should have got more attention. I remember a lot of hype about them at the time. Definitely an acquired taste, the singer made early Geddy Lee sound like a baritone at times. Also difficult to describe the album, some pure hard rock mixed with proggy songs (the guitar solo on 'Don't tell the Wind' is sublime). They made other albums but in my opinion is their best.
I love The Wildhearts so much that I named my UA-cam handle after them 😎
Great show !
Martin loves showing off all the records he has with autographs. Show and tell.
Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu (2011) Metallica fans tend to be completist collectors & i thought hardcore fans would still pick this up. As of March 2023 the album has sold only 280.000+ copies. For Reed that's normal, for Metallica it's their lowest selling album.
Feels like every Magnum album fits in this category, dammit 😞
Fantastic episode. So much great stuff to check out. Some records I love that I dont understand got bigger. Crawley : Supersonic from 1992 (Sounds like a mix between hardrock & grunge. Almost like the swedish Alice in Chains. Never understand why it never get mentioned anywhere. They changed their style on the record after this. More similar to Pantera) and Equinox : Auf Wiedersehen fra 1989 (Great thrash metal debut from these norwegians. They have some kind of cult status here in Norway after some success here back then. They never get any fame outside of Norway) So check em out
Eric Carmen Tonight You're Mine. My fave solo album of his. 3 songs on the album that should have been big hits. Davey Johnstone and Carmine Appice also played on the album
Completely agree - Starz / Violation should have done better.
VAN HALEN -DIFFERENT KIND OF TRUTH
PINK FLOYD - ANIMALS
THE WHO - I'TS HARD
Having listened to Aviary, I can concur with Grant it’s a great album. Elements of Queen, ELO & Supertramp (particularly the vocals). Definitely worth a listen.
Extreme’s 3rd album Three Sides to Every Story. Masterpiece!! PLAY LOUD!!
Toto - Isolation should've been huge. with songs like Carmen and Endless in my world it's a AOR masterpiece.
Michael Jackson’s history the studio side with new songs has some amazing songs on it but it was put together with another CD of a greatest hits so it’s kind of overlooked
Fantastic show and selections! I will add another ZZ Top album in Rhythmeen. A few tracks hit AOR but in my opinion, this is an easy top 5 ZZ Top album. It blows the Afterburner, Recycler, and Antenna albums out of the water. All of them sold millions in the States but Rhythmeen didn't even go gold.
Way to bring it Nick! I co-sign on Midnight Dynamite but great to see Tangier's Four Winds! Still have the cassette. Very good album.
Did you know they played a free show in Scranton at Nay Aug Park the summer of 89? I thought I was watching the next big band. 107 sponsored as I recall and they played the album quite a bit.
@@czarevich I did not! Cool that you saw that and yes, I recall they played "On the Line" a lot and "Mississippi" some too.
Chocolate & Cheese by Ween did for alternative in general what Nevermind did for grunge, but no one wants to get brown.
Problem is in the U.S. "Suckerpunch", one of the lesser songs on "Earth vs. the Wildhearts", was pushed as the single. One of my biggies is the Ramones' "Halfway to Sanity". Everyone hates that one, but I've always thought it's one of their best of the '80s.
Never understood why almost the ENTIRE Ramones discography flopped! If I'm not mistaken, their only gold album was the Ramones Mania collection from 1988 (and while End of the Century charted fairly high for a Ramones album---think it peaked at around #45--it still flopped). One of the best bands of all time!
I guess many albums flop because of people being disappointed with the previous album. That's propably the case with Kiss' "Creatures of he night" and could also be the case with Blondie, but poor reviews and no hit singles from "The Hunter" also didn't help the sales. "Autoamerican" had two no 1 singles in the US after all... ZZ Top's "El Loco" was released 1981, the same year as MTV was launched. MTV was of course a big factor behind the success of "Eliminator" two years later.
YES! I had that Marriott solo album and it's GREAT! And it's produced much better than the two re-tooled Pie albums that follow it.
Good point on the production and his voice was so strong on that solo album! Nick S Etc.
Wow. 3 people have heard of Marriott
I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the Flowerhead album too! Bought it back then. “Everything Is Beautiful”! Not a weak song on it. Right now I even have the record store promo poster hanging in my music room. And saying that, I’ve tried for 30 years to get into their next one and still CANNOT!
My vote is Pist.On a band that I actually saw live randomly opening for Type O Negative back in the 90's. I remember going straight to their merch guy and buying the album after their set.
They were more like 'groove metal' with heavy drop D riffs almost bordering on Fuzz rock at times. This was after Grunge but before Nu Metal, so the music landscape was wide open. I think Pist.On could have made a splash with more radio support. Songs like 8 Sides were heavy enough to be rock but had a softer upbeat chorus that would have been good for radio play. Other songs like Parole are heavy enough to appeal to any metalhead. Songs like Shoplifters of the World Unite are a perfect combination of toe tapping riff stuck in your head and a title and chorus strange enough to stand out in peoples' memory.
Rob Zombie was blowing up doing groove metal at the time too so I think Pist.On would have been a hit with the more commercially oriented Zombie fans.
Terrible name though. Another good band with a terrible name was Horslips from Ireland. wtf were they thinking?!
Based on my own opinion, I can think of hundreds of albums that ‘flopped’. But I do know why.
However, if I approach this idea with the supposition that my taste reflects the vast majority of listeners, then a few ‘flops’ on my list would be;
Badlands: debut and Voodoo Highway
Steve Via: Sex And Religion
Black Sabbath: Born Again
Splendor: Halfway Down The Sky
Starz: debut, Violation, Coliseum Rock
Angel: On Earth As It Is In Heaven
Shooting Star: Silent Scream
Coroner: Grin
My Sister’s Machine: Wallflower
Widowmaker: Blood And Bullets
My list could go on and on, I’m just grateful that I was there when these albums came out, and I had the opportunity to experience the music these artists put out at the time!
(That’s what I get for commenting before the show is over: Love Martin’s shout out for Starz!)