10 Dumbest Decisions Rock Bands Have Ever Made
Reaching a New Level of Idiocy.
The world of rock and roll has never been known for its intellectual side all that often. Though you do have some more cerebral-scratching material from the likes of acts like Radiohead and The Beatles, 99% of what actually gets on the radio tends to cater to something that's fairly easy to take in.
Then again, even the dumbest of musicians should have known better than to do something like this.
Disasters like this can come in a lot of different ways though. Compared to the usual bad album or lackluster single, these bands went the extra mile to hammer these bad ideas into your skull. Whether it was a mismanaged album or letting go of an integral part of the band, there were more than a few fans tugging at their collars once these bold new reinventions were announced.
While some managed to beat the odds, a lot of these boneheaded moves went about as bad as you'd expect.
From subtle misfire to outright dumpster fire, these rollouts left most fans either underwhelmed or rightfully pissed off, leaving the artists to either do massive course correction or (in the worst case) double down on their bad idea. It's one thing to know you made a mistake....it's another thing entirely to try and convince your audience that it'll work.
10. Lulu - Metallica and Lou Reed
In the grand scheme of metal artists, Metallica has had a pretty checkered track record for being one of the biggest names in music. Despite setting the benchmark for what heavy music should be in both the '80s and the '90s, fans have not let them forget some of the more flagrant missteps like the production on And Justice for All and the massive haircuts going down during the Load era. Even in their elder statesmen phase though, these guys should have really known better than to make Lulu.
Granted, it's not like you couldn't see what they were at least trying to do on here, that being work with one of the founders of heavy music Lou Reed. Although Lou's pedigree with the Velvet Underground is already intact, his move in a more art rock direction is really not a good fit from the guys who made Enter Sandman.
As such, most of this album runs less like a creative force unto itself and more like two genres happening at the same time, none of which compliment each other in the slightest. Lou Reed fans are probably disappointed at the massive metal riffs in the background and the Metallica fans are pissed that some droning rock fossil is getting in the way of some pretty good instrumentals. We may have gotten some good memes out of the experience, but there's only a few apologists willing to write home about the genius behind this thing.