10 Albums That Killed Artists' Careers
5. Cut the Crap - The Police
In the early days of punk, The Clash were one of the bands that everyone was paying attention to. Whether it was the ratty punks in the underground scene of London or the rock luminaries checking out the newcomers, this quartet had some of the most soul-stirring music of the entire genre, where they combined politically charged lyrics with the tuneful sensibilities of pop music.
Though Joe Strummer tends to get a lot of credit for the band's fantastic sound, co frontman Mick Jones was the one able to turn those political ideologies into songs. Take Jones out of the equation and you get something like Cut the Crap, which is probably the most generic punk album ever released. Completely reassembling the band from scratch, this entire album is Strummer's vision of a career reinvention, which ended causing the downfall of the entire group.
Instead of songs that hit you right in the face with their intensity, these songs tend to be tepid at best, with songs that fluctuate between sloganeering and milquetoast punk jams. Even the one good song on the album "This is England" feels more like a lament at the band's current foundation rather than a war cry. For a genre that is all about wearing your aggression on your sleeve, Cut the Crap is the one album that managed to reduce the Only Band That Matters to rubble.