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thevoid99's 10 Commercially Overlooked AlbumsMar 29 '03 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line These are just some of the best albums that the public overlooked because it wasn't commercial enough.
Through the years of rock and popular music, the competition between bands and artists have intensified over the years and yet, today, it’s gotten more intense as record labels try and push out albums that will make money for their labels while their artist become celebrities. As one major star battles another, it becomes very unbearable to see if there is a record that will standout between those in the major music world. Sometime beneath the competitiveness of the music market, there are several albums that are filled with brilliance but didn’t click with music-buying public. Ladies & Gentlemen, these are some of the greatest pieces of music that got commercially overlooked with the music-buying public. There’s nothing great about having an album being tagged as a “commercially disappointment” and in some respect, it’s always something that music fans have tend to overlook. There is one common factor for the reasons behind albums that didn’t do well on a commercial standpoint and that factor is timing. Sometimes, albums come out and it didn’t do well because it was probably ahead of its time or the fact that an album was released at a period where the music scene was starting to change and one genre of music couldn’t fit in with the current hot trend of the moment. The past few years have seen some albums that haven’t done well on the charts but it’s largely due to time. Korn’s 2002 release “Untouchables” only sold a million copies since its release but it didn’t do as well as previous releases, which proved that their time is up as the nu-metal genre is in decline despite a few bands that are still lurking around in the genre. Even teen-pop princess Britney Spears suffered as well when her 2001 release “Britney” went through sluggish sales and overexposure that turned off the public. Even 90s pop queen Mariah Carey went through a period of sluggish sales that culminated with her 2001 disaturous release “Glitter” which was released to poor reviews and sales topped over half a million copies which is an all-time low for her after her accompanying movie of the same name received negative publicity that led Mariah to have a public breakdown. Carey rebounded briefly with a new deal with Island/Def Jam and her own label for her 2002 release “Charmbraclet” but unfortunately, the album is going through sluggish sales. While these were albums by major artists that didn’t do well commercially, that didn’t mean that they were great recordings. After all, Korn’s nu-metal/rap-metal hybrid has worn thin as the band tries to attain an audience of teenagers as well as their old fans from the beginning but the problem was, they didn’t have the same fan base they used to have and “Untouchables” was given a negative reaction from fans and critics. Spears and Carey both suffered from a bit of overexposure though in Carey’s case, she alienated fans with a more revealing image that overshadowed the music while Spears just got overexposed to the point that people got very tired of her. These albums were not exactly great pieces of art (in Spears’ case, she has no idea of what art is) since music critics and serious music fans always try and find to find something they had not heard before. Throughout all the public failures and everything, there were several albums made by great artists that didn’t click with public largely due to timing. Yet, in the end, they get appreciated later on as people begin to understand why these albums got overlooked in the first place. Now this is not a top ten list or a list of 10 essential albums that people should buy, instead, this is just a list of 10 of many albums that got overlooked by the music-buying public. These 10 great albums were filled with wild imagination, brilliant production, and songs that stood out. Ladies & Gentlemen, here are 10 of some of the best albums the public ignored. 1. The Beach Boys-Pet Sounds One of the greatest pop albums made in history, the Beach Boys took the California surf-rock band out of the surf-rock genre and into a broader world of pop music. Led by mastermind Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys explore different styles of music with ranges of Baroque pop, surf-rock, soul, and the burgeoning experimental rock textures the Beatles were starting to do. The album also went into the depth of Brian Wilson’s fragile mind as each lyrics is filled with sadness, regret, and comfort that helped spawn such classic hits as “God Only Knows”, “Sloop John B”, and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” as “Pet Sounds” became the Beach Boys’ masterpiece. When it was released in 1966, the singles that came out of the album didn’t do as well as previous Beach Boys releases while the album itself got massive reviews from the U.K. and U.S. but the album failed to sell half a million copies in America. Despite being a hit in the U.K., the album’s commercial failure in America put the Beach Boys in a brief decline until they score a monster hit with the non-LP single “Good Vibrations” but it didn’t last as Brian Wilson grew more fragile and paranoid that eventually turn him into a recluse as well as halting the still-unreleased “Smile” album that was supposed to exceed the barriers “Pet Sounds” had made. Now, the album is often put in several music polls as one of the greatest rock albums of all-time and the album has now sold a few million copies since it’s release. http://www.epinions.com/content_44594728580 2. The Velvet Underground-The Velvet Underground & Nico One of the greatest underground-rock releases of all-time, The Velvet Underground’s debut with German singer Nico is one of the most influential debuts of all-time. Led by Lou Reed’s gritty, taboo lyrics of S&M, drugs, homosexuals, and seedy nightlife and the band’s avant-garde rock textures, “The Velvet Underground & Nico” was indeed an album ahead of its time as the album is filled with classic songs like “Heroin”, “Femme Fatale”, “I’m Waiting For The Man”, and other album cuts that took the pop music fan to the inner world of New York City at its darkest setting that was the complete opposite of in 1967, counterculture scene filled with hippies and acid-trips. The reason for its commercial failure was due to the band’s manager and producer Andy Warhol who had put a lot of hype behind the Velvet’s debut as well as a lot of publicity. Unfortunately, it didn’t click with rock fans and some critics who didn’t understand the Velvets’ raucous, avant-garde rock sound. Upon its release at the time, the debut only sold a few thousand copies but the people who brought as ambient-music legend and producer Brian Eno stated, that everyone who bought that album formed a band. Today, the album is a milestone in rock music as helped paved the way for underground and alternative rock music and was recently reissued in a deluxe version from Universal as the album has now become a classic all over the music world. http://www.epinions.com/content_72276086404 3. Lou Reed-Berlin After breaking with the seminal but underrated Velvet Underground, Reed went solo and in 1972, Reed scored the biggest hit of his career with the top ten smash “Walk On The Wild Side” that helped his album “Transformer” become a hit in the U.S. and the U.K. as Reed was becoming a star in the glam rock music who already saw Reed as a rock icon. Reed’s flirtation with glam was brief as he went to work with Alice Cooper’s producer Bob Ezrin to work on his next album. His 1973 album “Berlin” was a dark, depressing album that revealed the decline of Reed’s former past, particularly with references to the Velvet Underground and Nico who was referenced in the song “Caroline Says I” while Ezrin’s sweeping and harrowing production was the centerpiece of the album that captured Reed’s bleak lyrics and musical textures that was captured in its greatest track, “Sad Song”. In comparison to his recent release “Transformer”, “Berlin” didn’t sell as well as “Transformer” in the U.S. since American rock fans considered “Walk On The Wild Side” a fluke hit for Reed (though he would later have a few more in the next ten years) and some critics found the album to be one of the most depressing recordings of all-time and is currently on a British music poll, the most depressing album of all-time behind Leonard Cohen’s greatest hits package from 1975. “Berlin” however in Britain, was a success as Reed followed the album with a tour that amazed fans with re-works on such Velvets classics like “Heroin” and “Sweet Jane”. “Berlin” today is now considered a masterpiece and some people think it’s the best album Lou Reed has ever made. Jordan_Tar’s Review: http://www.epinions.com/musc-review-13A3-29710B5B-3A042502-prod3 4. David Bowie-Low Where Reed sang about Berlin (though he hadn’t been to the city until the early 80s) in 1973, it was his glam-rock counterpart David Bowie who went there four years later to explore the city itself. Influenced by the electronic music of Kraftwerk and the city’s art scene, Bowie, producer Tony Visconti, and friends Iggy Pop and Brian Eno went to work on the first of Bowie’s electronic trilogy. Released in January of 1977, “Low” was an eerie album with its first half filled with complex and abstract songs mixing guitars and synthesizers that broke away from traditional song structures while the second half went into the realm of eerie, dense electronic minimalism that masterminded by Bowie and Eno. Upon its release, “Low” reached the top ten in Britain but didn’t sell as well as all of previous Bowie albums and the album flopped in America. Bowie himself, didn’t care about the sales or the mixed reviews the album was receiving since he wasn’t promoting the album in favor of touring as a keyboardist for Iggy Pop to promote his solo debut, “The Idiot”. “Low” was followed by two more electronic-based albums made in Berlin that had the similar fate “Low” had on sales but to fans and critics who were entranced by the album at the time, knew Bowie’s trilogy was ahead of its time as it helped paved the way for electronic music and 80s synth-pop. Today, “Low” is now a landmark album for alternative and electronic music and it’s also considered one of Bowie’s greatest achievements. http://www.epinions.com/content_67153333892 5. Elvis Costello & the Attractions-Imperial Bedroom After releasing several acclaimed hit albums in the late 70s and early 80s starting with 1977’s “My Aim is True”, Elvis Costello was one of the greatest singer-songwriters in the new wave era. In 1981, Costello released an album of country covers “Almost Blue” to some acclaim and fan fare but the public wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing. Costello decided to go back to pop music, but in the most classical sense, with former Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick to produce his 1982 masterpiece “Imperial Bedroom”. Filled with adult lyrics of deceit, nostalgia, heartbreak, and despair set in a lush, grandiose production filled with sweeping orchestral arrangements from Attractions keyboardist Steve Nieve, “Imperial Bedroom” was Costello’s pop masterpiece as the album spawned such classics like “Almost Blue”, “Man Out Of Time”, “Town Cryer” and several classic album cuts that made “Imperial Bedroom” a pop masterpiece. Unfortunately, in the world of 80s schlock pop of acts like Christopher Cross and Air Supply, Costello’s album didn’t fare well with pop music fans who couldn’t sum up the arrangements and production of the album and it was a commercially disappointing album in the U.S. and U.K. despite topping several critics poll including New York City’s Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. Costello was nearly shaken up by the commercial failure of “Imperial Bedroom” until he overheard a conversation about George Gershwin praising the album. Costello today, thinks “Imperial Bedroom” is one of his greatest work and in late 2002, Rhino Records reissued the album with a second disc filled with 23-tracks of B-sides, outtakes, and unreleased material as Costello’s pop masterpiece is now given a second listen to those who ignored it back in 1982. http://www.epinions.com/content_86782545540 6. The Beastie Boys-Paul’s Boutique After 1987’s blockbuster debut “License to Ill”, the Beastie Boys were already the biggest selling rap-group in the late 80s but some people got tired of their juvenile antics and the band broke away from Def Jam Records to sign a new deal with Capitol Records. Upon moving to California and Capitol, the Beastie Boys decided to grow up a bit and make one of the most daring hip-hop albums of all-time, “Paul’s Boutique”. Collaborating with the Dust Brothers, the Beastie Boys made a groundbreaking album filled with millions and millions of sample bits by taking millions of records and cutting them into tiny squares. The album was filled with sumptuous beats, abstract rhymes, and pop culture references as the band brought out classics like “Hey Ladies”, “Shadrac”, and “Shake Your Rump”. Despite the massive critical acclaim the album received in 1989, in comparison to the mega-selling “License to Ill”, it was a commercial failure. Fans who enjoyed the group’s antics didn’t understand the album while some hip-hop fans that didn’t took them seriously refused to listen to this album. The Beasties shook off the negative public reaction to the album for a while until in 1996 when Beck used the same technique on his 1996 masterpiece “Odelay” with the Dust Brothers that proved that the Beasties were practically ahead of their time and “Paul’s Boutique” is now a hip-hop masterpiece. Jeff_Wilder78’s Review: http://www.epinions.com/content_74517548676 7. Weezer-Pinkerton After making a successful debut in 1994, the nerdy power-pop quartet of Weezer went ahead to make their second album. Unlike the innocent tone of the debut, their 1996 sophomore release “Pinkerton” was much darker, harrowing release. Filled with brooding lyrics and emotional anguish from singer Rivers Cuomo, “Pinkerton” still carried the catchy power-pop sound of the debut but with more angst-ridden emotions that would later pave the way for Emo-punk as Weezer belt out classics like “El Scorcho” and “The Good Life” that showed a new side of Weezer. Despite excellent reviews from most publications, the album was a commercial failure as Weezer, undeservedly, got hit with the sophomore slump in a really bad way, especially after Rolling Stone magazine named “Pinkerton” the worst album of 1996 which some fans have not forgiven the magazine for. After a few years out of the spotlight, “Pinkerton” surprisingly became a cult masterpiece as music fans went through the dense overtones and emotional layers in Weezer’s sound and it helped pave the way for their comeback in 2001 as “Pinkerton” today is now a 90s rock masterpiece that is given new life. PacManY2J’s Review: http://www.epinions.com/content_67543142020 8. R.E.M.-New Adventures in Hi-Fi It was pretty clear that after 1992’s masterpiece “Automatic for the People” that R.E.M. would never top that album but in 1994, the band released the grunge-influenced “Monster” to a brilliant sales but mixed reviews from fans and critics who got turned off by the band’s hard-rocking sound. During the tour for “Monster”, the band recorded several tracks for a new album and in early 1996, recorded more for what many considered to be one of the band’s most underrated recordings, “New Adventures in Hi-Fi”. While it was an inconsistent album filled with experimental tracks, fuzzy rockers, and heartwarming ballads, it was one of the band’s most brilliant recordings as it belt out brilliant singles like “E-Bow The Letter”, “Bittersweet Me”, and “Electrolite” as well as album cuts like the glam-rocking “Wake Up Bomb”, the droning rocker “Leave” and the ballad “Be Mine”. Despite excellent reviews and debuting at number 2 at the album charts selling a million copies overall in late 1996, it was a huge disappointment in comparison to the band’s previous albums. R.E.M. who had previously, signed a new multi-million dollar contract with Warner Brothers got hit with a bad slump as the label itself didn’t know how to market “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” other than the fact that it was a R.E.M. album. Sadly, “New Adventures” marked an end of an era for R.E.M. as it would be the last album to feature the band as a quartet as drummer Bill Berry left the band in late 1997 as the band later reduced themselves to a trio with session musicians in tow. Today, fans considered “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” one of the band’s most adventurous recordings that is right up there with classics like “Automatic for the People”, “Murmur”, and “Document”. http://www.epinions.com/content_48967880324 9. Pearl Jam-Yield One of the biggest bands in the 1990s, Pearl Jam ruled rock music all over the world with their emotional songs and chaotic rock anthems. They were also one of the most daring bands that took on corporations, political issues, and such that proved that they weren’t in it to become rock stars. In 1996, Pearl Jam caught fans by surprise with the release of “No Code” late in the year, which was an album filled with Eastern and Indian influences blended with rock textures that caught some fans off guard as the band later returned to straight ahead rock in early 1998 with “Yield”. “Yield” was the band’s most rocking album since 1993’s “Vs.” but filled with powerful anthems fast-paced rockers like “Do The Evolution” as well as classics like “Wishlist” and the brilliant “Given To Fly” that won back fans who loved Pearl Jam for rocking out. Unfortunately upon its release, the days of alternative and grunge rock was over and Pearl Jam had trouble selling “Yield” to the public who were too busy listening to Celine Dion and the “Titanic” soundtrack as a new wave of rockers led by Korn were starting to break through. Despite a successful tour and a hit video for “Do The Evolution”, “Yield” didn’t help put Pearl Jam back on top despite getting excellent reviews from critics who felt it was one of the best rock recordings in a very under whelming year of music. While Pearl Jam is no longer doing grunge in favor of more bare-bones rock, “Yield” is still considered one of the band’s greatest albums and once rock fans get away from the neo-grunge and nu-metal sound, they’ll realize that they missed one hell of a rock album. MattA75’s Review: http://www.epinions.com/musc-review-4BE5-38FDDCB6-39BCD654-prod5 10. Nine Inch Nails-The Fragile Five years after NIN leader Trent Reznor said “I wanna f*ck you like an animal” to the world, he returned to the music world with a sprawling, introspective double-album titled “The Fragile” in late 1999. “The Fragile” was an filled with bitterness, fragile minds, sadness, and death-laden lyrics as Reznor supported those uncomforting subjects with dense and grandiose production with Alan Moulder as well as imperfect rock structures by adding more string-based instruments and organic textures to provide a sense of imperfection to some songs while only putting a little bit of electronic layers on the album as Reznor and company took rock fans to his troubled mind. Despite winning rave reviews from critics and topping several critics poll including Spin, Alternative Press, and USA Today, “The Fragile” only has so far sold 800,000 copies since it’s September 1999 release. Many felt the album’s commercial failure was not just due to Reznor’s inactivity between 1994’s “The Downward Spiral” and 1999’s “The Fragile” but the fact that releasing a dense, articulate double-album with sprawling arrangements and unorthodox structures was too uncommercial in the era of teen-pop and rap-metal and the album ended up failing on commercial terms in the U.S. despite doing modestly in other markets as Reznor followed the album with a successful U.S. tour in 2000 but the band’s commercial momentum has stumbled as Reznor today is wondering about the fate of “The Fragile” in the years to come which former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters has told him that the album might be appreciated in the years to come where music fans will finally understand what Reznor was trying to say in the year of boy bands, rap-metal mooks, and teen-pop queens. http://www.epinions.com/content_59102891652 While there are more albums that hadn’t gotten the recognition they deserve, it’s always should be noted that art doesn’t come across to the public in an instant. Sometimes, it takes years for art, as difficult as it can be, to be understood once one artist tries to explain that piece of art into something that person is trying to convey. It’s obvious we’ll probably see some more in the future as the music market intensifies. These are just some of the albums that haven’t gotten appreciated when it was released and there are probably some albums you might feel that hasn’t gotten appreciated. If you have an album that you think is great but didn’t get its due upon its release, just try and convince a few people to say hey, this is a great piece of art. That is all.  |
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