10 Musicians Whose Careers Were Destroyed By Just One Album
The ill-fated genre shifts, too-ambitious follow up flops, and misjudged classics...
A lot of causes can contribute to the untimely demise of a musician's career.
Whether they're break out solo artists or bands enjoying recognition and fame for their recent records, sometimes artists can spend years after years cranking out progressively less impressive efforts after their initial hit.
Some are lucky enough to throw out a classic or two and live off the royalties and touring fees for the rest of their days, whilst still further artists are fortunate enough to have many missteps in their storied careers, but always manage to win back the crowd in the end (looking at you, Bruce Springsteen/ David Bowie/ Kate Bush).
However, in some rare cases, one bad album is all it takes to end an entire promising career in a matter of over-produced, underwritten minutes.
Whether it's a pretentious piece of laughably over-ambitious rock, a tragic slice of late-career pop, or a bit of hip hop which leaves listeners cringing at its inauthenticity, the ten albums here have one thing in common with one another: each of them was widely derided enough to end the promise of their creators.
10. Summer In Paradise — The Beach Boys
Pop legends the Beach Boys have a long, storied history which is unfortunately nowhere near as sunny as their famously smooth harmonies.
Between troubled star Dennis' friendship with cult leader/ minor Tarantino villain Charles Manson, his later death by drowning, and brother Brian's publicized issues with mental illness and drug addiction, the story of the influential American pop group is one pockmarked by tragedy at every turn.
One of the most unfortunate spectacles in their late career comes in the form of the flop Summer in Paradise, the album whose failure led to the group's unofficial dissolution.
The only Beach Boys record (in a twenty seven album career) which was created without any involvement from mercurial genius/ troubled songwriter Brian Wilson, Summer In Paradise was an unheralded catastrophe.
Universally maligned upon its release, the album failed to make the US Pop chart, a feat their preceding twenty-six had all pulled off. Released in 1992, it was a disastrous blow to the band when this record couldn’t even shift a meagre one thousand copies upon release.