10 Awesome Rock Bands With Terrible Debut Albums

You can't really blame Green Day for not really fitting into their scene back in the day. Since Dookie was the record that practically invented the idea of pop punk, how the hell were the band supposed to find an audience when their genre hadn't even been made yet? In any case, you work with what you have, and Green Day at least had something respectable on 39/Smooth.

From the opening tracks, you can see why the band would become the biggest band in the world just a few years later, with Billie Joe Armstrong having some strong hooks on songs like At the Library and I Was There. The biggest hinderance to this album though has to be John Kiffmeyer, who's drumming skills are a lot more chaotic and not in the old school punk way. Even on some of the best tracks, you can hear his drums getting in the way of some of the hooks, almost like he's racing along to get to the next part of the track.

This was also the days of DIY punk as well, and the lofi production of these songs just makes the whole thing a bit too rough around the edges. While there wasn't much to write home about on this record, you can still see the building blocks of the band that would eventually become one of the giants of rock music.