4. AC/DC - Flick Of The Switch
AlbertYou might be asking yourself, How can a band whove pretty-much made the same album over and over for 40 years possibly have one which ranks among the most disappointing? A fair question since, if nothing else, AC/DC have been poster boys of consistency. The answer is producer Robert John Mutt Lange. Until he came along, AC/DCs albums were fun but very raw. With Highway to Hell, Black In Black and For Those About To Rock, Lange truly gave the band sonic balls with a reverb-heavy sound where the drums, bass and vocals slammed into you as hard as the guitar riffs. Hes arguably the chief reason Back In Black is the one AC/DC album everybody owns. Despite their massive success working with Lange, AC/DC chose to produce their next record themselves, stating a desire to go back to the raw sound of their early albums (essentially taking a big step backwards). While no one was expecting another Back In Black, Flick Of The Switch was a commercial and creative disappointment. Not only was it a criminally-short 37 minutes long and totally devoid of any memorable songs, the album was sonically anemic compared to recent releases. Today, it remains one of the poorest selling albums in their entire catalogue (though it still eventually went platinum).