10 Most Disappointing Hard Rock Albums Ever Made

For a brief moment in time, it looked like Billy Corgan was going to be the face of rock going forward. After coming off of amazing albums with the Smashing Pumpkins like Siamese Dream and the grunge wave starting to die out, it felt like Corgan was going to step up to the plate to lead the rock world into the next generation. Instead, Adore turned into the one Pumpkins record that actively felt like it was trying to be uncommercial.

With drum superstar Jimmy Chamberlain AWOL throughout most of the recording, this album is Corgan trying to shake off the shackles of his public persona, delving into electronic soundscapes that you would normally find on a Depeche Mode record. Aside from some tracks like the demented Ava Adore and the 1979 antecedent Perfect, most of this record just ends up making Corgan look even more complicated than he already is, with songs that feel more like ideas than actual compositions.

Little did we know that this was just the beginning of the turmoil though, as the next few years would show almost every single member of the Pumpkins dropping out of the lineup before Corgan just abandoned ship altogether to form Zwan. Corgan may not have been trying to make the next rock opus, but this is the sound of alt rock having somewhat of an identity crisis.