The most average albums ever made

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I've always maintained that if Coldplay switched singers with Keane, I would like the former so much more.

That, and I have a soft spot for Is It Any Wonder. So yeah, they're bland, but just above the hurdle of mediocrity IMO.
 
LemonMelon said:
The only DM album I own is Violator, so I guess this album wouldn't be a good pseudo-starting point for me. I haven't read anything overwhelmingly positive about it.
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Violator is such an awesome album that you should fan out chronologically and reverse chronologically from there. Get Music for the Masses and Songs of Faith and Devotion next
 
elevated_u2_fan said:
Dave Mathews Band comes to mind and I'm sure someone will mention Coldplay...
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Dave Matthews Band has the unfortunate distinction of getting progressively weaker with each album. As much as I love "Under the Table & Dreaming," "Stand Up" is about as mediocre an album as I have heard. "Emotional Rescue" by the Rolling Stones is another worthy nominee for the Most Average award. R.E.M.'s "Around the Sun" is another...and I am sure that there are plenty more.
 
u2popmofo said:
I'm sure Robby still has a few good albums left in him.
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I'm curious what leads you to believe in this statements, seeing as how they haven't put out anything good in many years.

:scratch:

Robby peaked in 1989, had a couple decent albums in the 90's and that was it. He's done as far as I'm concerned. Not quite to Billy Corgan "Smashing Pumpkins" lows, but I sure don't see The Cure improving anytime soon.
 
FitzChivalry said:
I'm curious what leads you to believe in this statements, seeing as how they haven't put out anything good in many years.

:scratch:
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Bloodflowers was fantastic and the self-titled album was quite solid as well.

They only released 2 albums in the '90's, so saying they "only released a couple decent albums" then really isn't a bad thing in my opinion.
 
u2popmofo said:
Bloodflowers was fantastic and the self-titled album was quite solid as well.

They only released 2 albums in the '90's, so saying they "only released a couple decent albums" then really isn't a bad thing in my opinion.
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Bloodflowers was very good, but the last two were easily their worst. About Depeche Mode, Music For the Masses and Songs of Faith and Devotion are definitely their best ones, along with Violator.

Another one that comes to mind as the most average is Around the Sun by R.E.M.
 
The Fray makes me want to hurt myself...

Coldplay's X&Y was pretty mediocre, but I think Viva La Vida is good (less falsetto, thank God), except it wasn't exactly the band's Achtung Baby like they kept promoting it.
 
God, the Red Hot Chili Peppers suck. I would consider Blood Sugar Sex Magik quite mediocre, and that's supposedly one of their very best albums. There are a handful of solid songs, but the rest is passable funk with a talentless jackass rapping over the top.

I would have included X&Y, but that album is far below mediocrity. It wishes it was mediocre.
 
phanan said:
DMB is a good choice. I thought their first couple of albums were pretty good, but they got boring real quick.
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I'll never listen to them again because there's just so many turds in their proverbial punch bowl, but I used to absolutely love Before These Crowded Streets and still contend it's a nice album.

phillyfan26 said:
That game had a fantastic soundtrack. 2005's was pretty good, too.
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Definitely. I think the next year was the one with the Trail of Dead tune. MVP was the last great baseball game.

LemonMelon said:
I have a soft spot for Is It Any Wonder.
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I'm the same way for "Bedshaped," for one reason or another.

Fitz's post about RHCP that I'm not even about to quote said:
.
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Yep.
 
impy13 said:
Definitely. I think the next year was the one with the Trail of Dead tune. MVP was the last great baseball game.
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Totally agree. In fact, I'd argue it was the only great baseball video game. A two year run did not do it justice.
 
I really don't hear how The Cure's self-titled album is worse than Japanese Whispers, The Top, or Wild Mood Swings personally. Everyone on this forum loved the self-titled album when it came out, it was on numerous people's year end lists. It's still super weird to now see people acting like it's one of the worst things they've ever done. To each their own.
 
LemonMelon said:
I've always maintained that if Coldplay switched singers with Keane, I would like the former so much more.

That, and I have a soft spot for Is It Any Wonder. So yeah, they're bland, but just above the hurdle of mediocrity IMO.
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I was just talking to The Lady Friend about this the other day.

"Is It Any Wonder?" apes so heavily from '90s U2 that it's almost as awesome as it is pathetic.

The chubby lead singer is like Win Butler's more earnest, but kind of uglier brother.
 
u2popmofo said:
I really don't hear how the self-titled album is worse than Japanese Whispers, The Top, or Wild Mood Swings personally. Everyone on this forum loved the self-titled album when it came out, it was on numerous people's year end lists. It's still super weird to now see people acting like it's one of the worst things they've ever done. To each their own.
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:shrug: The same thing happened to HTDAAB. Some albums just age poorly.

Of course, I don't have much to add on this topic, as I have yet to hear the self-titled, largely because of said unfortunate aging and corresponding criticisms. I've only heard Seventeen Seconds, The Head On The Door, Disintegration, and Bloodflowers.
 
u2popmofo said:
I really don't hear how The Cure's self-titled album is worse than Japanese Whispers, The Top, or Wild Mood Swings personally. Everyone on this forum loved the self-titled album when it came out, it was on numerous people's year end lists. It's still super weird to now see people acting like it's one of the worst things they've ever done. To each their own.
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I liked "Labyrinth" and "Anniversary." That's all I can remember.
 
LemonMelon said:
:shrug: The same thing happened to HTDAAB. Some albums just age poorly.
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Good point.

I admittedly don't like most of the "poppy" songs on it as much as I did when it came out, but 'Lost' is straight up one of the best things they've done since the '80's. I'd dare say it's one of my favorite Cure songs. Labyrinth was pretty damn great too. Maybe I still partially lean towards it as it was the "new album" when I finally saw them live for the first time (Curiosa Festival). It was a huge concert for me (Mogwai, Cursive, The Rapture, Interpol, Cooper Temple Clause) and then finished off by seeing one of my all time favorites live for the first time. :up:
 
LemonMacPhisto said:
I was just talking to The Lady Friend about this the other day.

"Is It Any Wonder?" apes so heavily from '90s U2 that it's almost as awesome as it is pathetic.

The chubby lead singer is like Win Butler's more earnest, but kind of uglier brother.
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I had never heard that song, and after hearing that I decided to look it up.

It sounds like a mish-mash of about five tracks on Achtung Baby. You could not have pegged that better. I immediately thought of EBTTRT.
 
phillyfan26 said:
I had never heard that song, and after hearing that I decided to look it up.

It sounds like a mish-mash of about five tracks on Achtung Baby. You could not have pegged that better. I immediately thought of EBTTRT.
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Even Better Than the Real Thing meets Zoo Station, mostly. You can almost sing the latter track over the whole thing.
 
A timelessly, yet so wonderfully average album from the most breathtakingly average band. God, I love 'em, and what a comeback after 10 years this album was...


ginblossomsmajor.jpg


Even the tracklisting delightfully reeks of average.

"Learning the Hard Way"
"Come on Hard"
"Someday Soon"
"Heart Shaped Locket"
"End of the World"
"Long Time Gone"
"Super Girl"
"Let's Play Two"
"Curious Thing"
"Jet Black Sunrise"
"Fool for the Taking"
"California Sun"
 
I used "Follow You Down" for a video project a week or so ago, and it worked pretty well. Everyone asked about what band it was, then looked it up. They hated every other track they heard from them.

Glad I'm not alone.
 
LemonMelon said:
Reminds me of a hobbit doing U2 karaoke at a SoCal gathering.
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I saw them open for U2..I think at the NYC Vertigo show...I found myself being really irritated by him. The way he walks around the stage and strikes the 'appropriate' cliche rockstar pose (clench fist, point out to audience, swoosh non mic arm infront of body like a backstreet boy, etc) before moving on to the next is incredibly annoying. Worst frontman ever
 
Jive Turkey said:
I saw them open for U2..I think at the NYC Vertigo show...I found myself being really irritated by him. The way he walks around the stage and strikes the 'appropriate' cliche rockstar pose (clench fist, point out to audience, swoosh non mic arm infront of body like a backstreet boy) before moving on to the next is incredibly annoying. Worst frontman ever
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So my karaoke singer comparison was apt? :wink:
 
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