Artists Who Only Made Consistently Mediocre Records

[tragabigzanda]

[Birds in Hell]

That first album and its b-sides are fantastic but everything after sucks (to a greater or lesser degree).

Maybe Dave should go back to writing and recording everything himself.

I agree the debut is the best one by a long mile, but no love for The Colour and The Shape from you?

It's better than the later, duller records (not that I'm hugely familiar with them) but I think there's already a big swing towards boring radio rock on TCATS.

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[LoathedVermin72]

Foo Fighters are a very nothing band and the definition of bland rock for aging Gen Xers but I will say that "Low" is a fantastic song and I've never found anything else that scratches quite the same sonic itch

[tragabigzanda]

[knee tunes]

Flapjack '62

[Bammer]

I hate these threads so much

I’ve never felt so close to you

[liebzz]

I am pretty sure Foo Fighters might be one of those bands that subsequent records ruin the first ones. I mean I was into probably half the first record and most of the second one, but once they became a band that nails 2-3 songs per album, releases them as singles and sort of plays on a weird self-indulgent “we rock” as the token rock band thing with no interest in spreading wings, it has an effect on what came before it. They’re pretty much Spinal Tap, but Spinal Tap a lot of people take seriously.

[Kevin Davis]

I know RM has some loud supporters of My Morning Jacket and The Black Crowes, but these artists fit this concept for me. I haven't heard everything these artists have done, but I've heard enough to leave with that impression. Just a lot of not-great-not-terrible music that never rises above a certain level.

And Audioslave was a disappointing hot take, I feel like most people think they're a pretty average band.

[liebzz]

I would say not the Black Crowes or MMJ, who both have some great records. MMJ has at least Z and It Still Moves. I think you can add At Dawn and Circuital for sure. Evil Urges is dependent on your taste and exposure (it’s a grower for sure, but once it has grown it is really much better than it got credit). The Tennessee Fire and The Waterfall at their worst I would consider better than average albums.

The Black Crowes have at least 3 or 4 albums that would take them out of this category as well.

[spike]

Black Crowes is a solid choice. I spent some time with a couple of their more acclaimed records not too long ago, and it all just kinda blends together into okayness.

[Simple Torture]

And Audioslave was a disappointing hot take, I feel like most people think they're a pretty average band.

I was expecting more people to jump up and defend them. I know a number of people personally in the Cult of Cornell who saw them every time they played locally and swore by them. I guess it was neither a hot take nor a bad take, just a fact.

[JuanHamm]

And Audioslave was a disappointing hot take, I feel like most people think they're a pretty average band.

I was expecting more people to jump up and defend them. I know a number of people personally in the Cult of Cornell who saw them every time they played locally and swore by them. I guess it was neither a hot take nor a bad take, just a fact.

I saw them on their first tour and it was a great show, but I never listen to their albums.

[tragabigzanda]

[E.H. Ruddock]

Interpol, maybe? I really enjoy them, and they are fantastic live. But I'm not sure if any album is "excellent"?

[washing machine]

Interpol, maybe? I really enjoy them, and they are fantastic live. But I'm not sure if any album is "excellent"?

I think TOTBL is something a lot of people would score a Kevin Davis capital G great, and more (including myself) would score a KD lower case g great.

[JuanHamm]

Turn on the bright lights is a 5 star classic. One of my all time favorite albums.

[washing machine]

Turn on the bright lights is a 5 star classic. One of my all time favorite albums.

There were a lot of groups that your posts on RM1 led me to and Interpol is one of them.

[Kevin Davis]

That first album and its b-sides are fantastic but everything after sucks (to a greater or lesser degree).

Maybe Dave should go back to writing and recording everything himself.

I agree the debut is the best one by a long mile, but no love for The Colour and The Shape from you?

It's better than the later, duller records (not that I'm hugely familiar with them) but I think there's already a big swing towards boring radio rock on TCATS.

I think there is a vaguely Cobain-esque element of humor to the first album that is missing from all their later releases -- lyrics about fingernails and cows, songs like "Big Me" and "Weenie Beenie" that just shamelessly go all in on an aesthetic in an almost tongue-in-cheek fashion, etc. It blends Grohl's hardcore background, goofy sugary pop gestures, and a lot of residual Nirvana-isms, in a cohesive but at the same time very compartmentalized fashion, and pits them against what 20 years of boring albums has made it easy to forget really was a pretty good underdog story.

For as bland as their music has become, I've always admired Grohl for how he has been able to carve out an identity that is completely separate from his affiliation with arguably the most famous rock musician of the last 30 years. In 1995 it seemed crazy that anyone could ever think of the Foo Fighters as anything other than "Nirvana's drummer's new band."

[Chris_H_2]

guys, turn on the bright lights was one of the best albums of that decade.

and whoever said wilco should be taken back behind the shed . . .