Great Albums Ruined By a Single Terrible Song

No album is perfect and that feeling of listening to it for the first time, only to come across that single terrible song, whether it be in the beginning, middle or the ending, just breaks your heart.

Moonchild - King Crimson

Seriously Robert Fripp, what is up with this song? The first two minutes are okay, then it's nearly ten minutes of fantastic musicians noodling around on their instruments in the most boring manner ever. I have talked to a number of Crimson fans and they all agree that this is that single terrible song on their debut.

Do What You Like - Blind Faith

I'll admit that Ginger Baker is an excellent drummer, but there are just some musicians who should stay away from writing songs.

Thorn Tree in the Garden - Derek and the Dominos

I adore Layla..., but the ending to this album cannot be justified. Forty-five minutes of intense, passionate blues and then we get this quiet acoustic (almost country-like) song sung by Whitlock?

Mood for a Day - Yes

I do like Steve Howe as a guitarist, he's absolutely amazing and his solo guitar piece on the previous album is one of the highlights. His second attempt here is not so amazing. From Roundabout to The Fish, the album is an excellent feat of musicianship and it's just ruined by Mood for a Day.

Originally Posted by Octy

Thorn Tree in the Garden - Derek and the Dominos

I adore Layla..., but the ending to this album cannot be justified. Forty-five minutes of intense, passionate blues and then we get this quiet acoustic (almost country-like) song sung by Whitlock?

I quite like it...

Can't really think of anything at the moment, except for the obvious 'Moonchild'.

EDIT: And 'Revelation' from Love's Da Capo. 19 minutes long... why?

I'm not a fan of Moonchild either

I love Iron Maiden's Number of the beast but I hate the opening track Invaders

I also think Lucifer Sam ruined The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Meh...I rip cds for this very reason. Bad songs never ruin albums in my collection.

Strange Days without Horse Latitudes. (The Doors)
Meddle without San Tropez (Pink Floyd)
A Grand Love Story without Cum On (Kid Loco)
The Doors without Light My Fire (The Doors)
Protection without Light My Fire (Massive Attack)
Ok, some of these aren't bad songs, but they pale against the rest of the album....

Originally Posted by Ummagumma

Strange Days without Horse Latitudes. (The Doors)
Meddle without San Tropez (Pink Floyd)
A Grand Love Story without Cum On (Kid Loco)
The Doors without Light My Fire (The Doors)
Protection without Light My Fire (Massive Attack)
Ok, some of these aren't bad songs, but they pale against the rest of the album....

Light my fire is hardly their best work, but I wouldn't say it ruined the album by any means. That's just me though. Couldn't agree more on Horse Latitudes.

I can't think of any time a single song has ruined an album for me.

I usually just skip the song.

I disagree with most of these decisions, but two in particular: Revelation is a great song, and so is Lucifer Sam. If there was one song off of Piper that would ruin it, it is the middle part of Interstellar Overdrive (the one with all the random experimenting), though the rest of the song is "stellar"

Musical taste is a strange thing. It is natural to thinks in terms of "good" and "bad" songs, but what we are actually judging is not just the song itself, but the result of the interaction of several factors:

• What the composer intended
• What I wanted the composer to intend
• What appeals to me in my current mood
• My understanding of, or sympathy with, the musical genre of the song
• My ability to understand the song
• My ability to hear the song (only teenagers hear the highest frequencies, so songs actually sound different to older people)

It reminds me of Quantum Mechanics in that there is no such thing as an objective observation because the act of observing itself affects the result.

So, anyway, here are some of my own highly subjective judgements...

In Blue Jays by Justin Hayward and John Lodge, I still can't abide "Saved by the Music", and I still skip the track even now after hundreds of playings.

Mike Oldfield also has a particular talent to include something in many albums I just can't stand:

• Piltdown Man in Tubular Bells
• His attempt at singing in Crises
• Sally in Platinum
• 50 (it feels like 50 anyway) repetitions of a very loud short motif towards the end of part 2 of Hergest Ridge (boxed version - the original album has an extra overlaid guitar theme that makes that section just about bearable)
• Janet Brown's Margaret Thatcher impression at the end of Amorok
• Every single second of Heaven's Open (except for the silences between tracks)

Turn On the News (Husker Du's Zen Arcade) is what I thought of immediately. Very mediocre song compared to the rest of the album, sort of a sign of things to come when they eventually signed onto Warners.

Umma, you don't like Light My Fire?!

And while Moonchild was definitely the weakest song on the album, I still quite like it - very calming and soothing. As it is, a fantastic album.

Anyway, I personally don't care for Good Morning Good Morning (Sgt Pepper..)

I would choose Run Riot from Def Leppards Hysteria or Lucky from OK computer

There is one easy, ultimate "winner" for the title... Guns 'n Roses - Use your Illusion 2 : My World.

Originally Posted by Stalins Ghost

There is one easy, ultimate "winner" for the title... Guns 'n Roses - Use your Illusion 2 : My World.

Shotgun blues for me!

I couldn't class My World as a song ,more of a closing rant .

The Virus of Life and Danger - keep away ruin Slipknots Subliminanal verses album.

XKillerX

Lover's Rock - London Calling. A piss weak song in between the classics Train in Vain and I'm Not Down and the lyrically superb Card Cheat

Wait in Vain - Exodus. A song which is no worse than the songs at the start of the album but this looks worse because it is surrounded by Jammin, Three Little Birds and One Love

SOAD's recent albums have been marred by more than just one song, but that terracotta banana pie song (whatever its name was) comes to mind.

are you crazy?! "that banana teracotta song" is the only song I still listen to from that album. it's funny as hell (It's actually called 'vicinity of obscenity').

anyway, the only song I can think of (besides moonchild, which was already mentioned) is 'serenity painted death' by opeth, from the 'still life' album. it's not bad, but just unremarkable and not comparable to the rest of the album.

Vicinity of Obscenity, U-fig and She's Like Heroin utterly obliterated the impact of the great songs on Hypnotize. Radio/Video and This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song ruined Mezmerize but to a lesser extent.

If those songs weren't on those albums they would have been 10000000 times better.

I don't listen to inferior music.

You fools, my entire collection is nothing but pure gold.