10 Masterpiece Albums From Supposedly "Terrible" Bands
The good from the bad and the ugly from Metallica, Kiss and The Kooks...
Deeming a band to be bad is pretty subjective. One man's Nickelback could be another man's Weezer - and here we are, being all subjective again. But trying to find ten bands that lots of people openly proclaim to be irksome on the ears isn't really too difficult.
So, preamble aside, the purpose of this rocking piece of writing is to find a collection of bands that we can all sort of agree are terrible. But somehow, by some stretch of talent, managed to compose a solitary masterpiece album. It's a tricky endeavour, as easy targets like Coldplay, Stereophonics, The Monkees and dozens of others didn't or haven't ever actually gotten around to releasing their opus and are instead relegated to decent greatest hits territory. What we're looking for is a real work of art from bands often cited as being "the worst of the worst".
But fear not, in this article there are a motley crew of Mercury Prize and Grammy nominees, as well as Brit Award botherers and a whole load of others that will forever remain a blot on music history - but by god didn't they release a collection of bangers at one stage in their careers.
10. Hybrid Theory - Linkin Park
The Album
There's no doubting that Chester Bennington was a powerhouse lead singer who had the ability to channel raw emotion and loud wails against the backdrop of some club-thumping riffs. But oh boy are Linkin Park bad, a band that struck big with this debut only to dull with every LP that followed.
Nevertheless, Bennington's abilities were never channelled better than in Linkin Park's debut album, a mega-million dollar-selling collection that wasn't shy of a nu metal banger or two. This was an album released in at a time when the world was sobering up from a Brit pop invasion and gave something teens to edgier to relate to than the masturbation-joking melodies of pop punk. From Crawling's spine-scratching ferocity to the stadium-bound melodies of In The End, this was an album bound for greatness.
What followed, though, was a lacking follow up in Mereora, a ropey mash up album with Jay-Z and a clutch of forgettable studio albums before Bennington's sad demise in 2017.
Best Track
Nothing captures this band better than One Step Closer, a very literal journey to the edge of danger, powered by a screeching, catchy chorus. Raw and brilliant.