10 Rock Albums That Almost Killed Careers

There have been tons of artists who have their career in jeopardy after a bad album. If you have something that reeks of greed and cynicism rather than creativity, any fan will be able to point that out in a millisecond. On the other hand, Rush's journey down the musical hole left diminishing returns for nearly every single person involved.

Fresh off of their mammoth album Fly By Night, the Canadian power trio reconvened to make Caress of Steel an even deeper delve into the prog rock world. With two massive story driven songs, the album became a blueprint for what Rush would become later down the line...only to meet a deaf ear pretty much from day one. Even Rush's colleagues like KISS were a bit skeptical, with no one really understanding what the real meaning behind the project was.

That was nothing in comparison to the tour cycle though, with most of the road crew calling it the "Down the Tubes" tour because of how little people attended the shows. The fallout proved to be so bad that management even had to be called into the label's offices to convince them not to drop the band for underperforming. Though Rush would eventually earn their creative freedom on their next album 2112, things were looking pretty dire at this stage.