10 Hard Rock Albums Everyone Forgets About

Rock and roll was never meant to be a popularity contest. When the idea of rock and roll first came into being, this was the kind of music that you would use to party all night long and also probably annoy your parents with in the process. If we only looked at the most popular albums ever made, we would still be leaving some great stuff in the dust.

For all of the bonafide classics that have been made throughout rock history, there are albums that are just as good that haven’t even seen the light of day. From front to back, each of these records had the potential to set the world on fire, only to not create that much of a spark when it actually came time to reach the big leagues.

That doesn’t make them any less great to look back on. Every one of these artists have been known for making great albums in the past…it’s just that these specific ones never managed to capture the hearts of the fans the way that all of the others have. The hardcore fans remember like the palm of their hand though, and it’s about time that these records get the recognition that these deserve. They may not have raked in the millions, but there is still a bit of magic hidden in between these songs.

No one is going to be coming to a band like Weezer expecting some of the hardest rock out there. Even though the guitars did crunch a fair bit on their first handful of records, these were the guys that you came to so you could get a break from most of the other nasty rock and roll in the wild. The nerd rockers did have a dark side though, and the longer they were in the game, that dark side was bound to come out.

Put together from pieces that Weezer were working with and approved by the fans, Maladroit might be one of the most adventurous records that the band ever made. After already testing the waters and falling fairly flat with fans reception of Pinkerton, this is Weezer dealing with something a lot more aggro this time around, as songs like Take Control and American Gigolo bring an almost metallic crunch to the usual power pop sound that Rivers Cuomo is used to writing in.

Even on the prettier moments of this record, you can still hear them trying to incorporate some new ideas, like Death and Destruction practically sounding like a cut that Radiohead could have made back in the days of OK Computer. Rivers was always a shredder from the beginning though, and him going up and down the scales on some of these songs might be one of the best that he's laid down in his career. So next time you call Weezer nothing but a bunch of pop fluff, listen to the solo in Love Explosion and you'll see what you've been missing.