4. The Doors - The Doors
It's not that The Doors necessarily got
worse following their debut album, it's just that they set the bar incredibly high for themselves. From the moment "Light My Fire" popped onto airwaves, it was clear that The Doors sounded like no one else making music at the time, but their unusual brand of psychedelic rock would only become more passé with time. Even as the band became more consistent in their ability to generate weird rock and roll, it felt like the gold medal had already been won, and they were constantly running for silver. That's just how perfect their eponymous debut was. Who can blame them for failing to deliver something as distinctly brash as "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" or as rousing as "Back Door Man"? The Doors began their career as a rock and roll band who promised poetry and mysticism along with their surreal melodies, and would spend every subsequent album trying to chase down exactly what that meant. But here they allowed it to just be whatever they thought it was in the moment. And it's better because of it.