10 Great Rock Albums With Terrible Titles
A good title is helpful, but you can succeed without one.
It was William "Party Boy Bill" Shakespeare who came up with the immortal phrase "What's in a name?"
Whether its warring families in fair Verona or hard-hitting rock albums, a name is extremely important, as it's the first thing anybody knows about something before they take a deeper dive.
A great name should catch people's attention and pull them in, but these ten had the complete opposite effect, repelling potential buyers with their vulgarity, randomness, or just plain stupidty.
At least, they should have done.
Instead, these records have all done pretty well for themselves, despite having titles that should have condemned them to a life at the bottom of various bargain bins. Through the sheer quality of the music, these albums sold well and were reviewed favourably, to the point where their dumb names didn't matter anymore.
Some of this is down to the time when they were released, as what was considered edgy and cool back then is now thought of as totally cringe today. Others, well, it's a minor miracle that they succeeded, proving that music really is the most powerful force on the planet.
10. Does This Look Infected? - Sum 41
The era of pop punk might be looked back on fondly by those who experienced it at the time, but on reflection, there was a lot of stupid stuff going around.
The genre's whole gimmick was that it was the youth taking over; immature young men (mostly) bringing teenage toilet humour to the masses, as the nation's parents exploded with rage.
As a result, several pop punk albums came with ridiculous or outright disgusting titles, including this one from flagbearers Sum 41.
Following their hugely successful debut album, All Killer No Filler, Sum 41 put out their sophomore release in 2002, and decided to call it Does This Look Infected? To illustrate their point, the album's cover had a picture of a man with a gaping head wound on it, which is probably the best outcome for that title, to be honest.
In spite of its frankly gross name, Does This Look Infected? scored well with critics and the public, charting in both the US and UK top 40 and getting praise for songs like Still Waiting and Over My Head (Better Off Dead).
Word of advice; if you think something is infected, consult a doctor, not a band.