10 Albums That Were Supposed To Be Great (But Fell Apart)

The Most Ambitious Duds.

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Every so often, an artist comes up with an idea that almost seems bigger than themselves. Whether it's a grand conceptual piece or just a different way of getting your music to the people, no artist takes those inspired moments for granted. You always have to run with that kind of spark...even if it doesn't take you very far.

Ever since Chuck Berry first plugged in his guitar or the Beatles experimented in the studio, there are those albums that get talked up as being one of the greatest of their generation. While there have been plenty that have lived up to the hype, not every album with a good idea actually makes it to the top of the musical food chain. As opposed to redefining the next generation of musicians going forward, a lot of these records ended up falling on deaf ears more often than not. These don't just come in one shape or size either, with these ranging from new kids on the music scene to old dogs trying (and failing) to stay relevant.

That's not to say these records don't have their fans either, with a lot of these songs having a healthy shelf life after their initial roll out. However, when you stack these up against the greatest of all time, these were the ones who reached for the stars and came up way too short.

10. Cut the Crap - The Clash

After coming off of Combat Rock, the Clash were dealt a heavy blow when Mick Jones and Topper Headon were sent packing from the group. This was not just a minor replacement either, with Jones practically being the co-frontman of the group alongside Joe Strummer. It wasn't that much of a worry though when Strummer guaranteed to have something even more punk coming down the pipeline.

What we ended up getting though was Cut the Crap, which turned into one of the most pedestrian releases to come from the supposed "Only Band That Matters". Instead of leading the punk charge like they had done in the past, most of these tracks are cheap attempts to jump on the new wave band wagon, which culminates in songs that sound like the main antithesis of what you normally come to the Clash for.

Complete with a gang vocal on practically every song, it's as if you're hearing Strummer trying to make up for the loss of song power by just drilling the melody into your head until something ends up sticking. Though This Is England does still get celebrated in some circles, it's normally looked at as a shroud around the last era of the group rather than a rallying cry. For an album that was supposed to be bigger and better than anything the Clash had taken on before, this is the sad final whimper from what used to be one of the greatest bands in history.

 
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