Rolling Stone have newly published a list they’ve dubbed ’50 Genuinely Horrible Albums by Brilliant Artists’. With that title pretty much summing it up, the veteran publication took a deep dive into the duds, selecting the least-admired releases from the likes of Metallica, KISS, Aerosmith and more.
Metallica‘s much-maligned 2003 outing “St. Anger” placed at a generous #43 on the list, with the publication offering:
“When Metallica were at their absolute low point as a band thanks to James Hetfield’s chronic alcoholism, the defection of bassist Jason Newsted, and uncertainty about where they stood in a post-Napster music universe, they brought in a camera crew to chronicle the making of their LP St. Anger. This led to the stellar documentary Some Kind of Monster, and a deeply disappointing album.
Fans rightly fixate on the decision to mic Lars Ulrich’s snare drum so it sounds like he’s banging on a tin can throughout the entire album, but there are deeper issues with St. Anger. The songs are unfocused and seemingly unfinished, and the straight-from-rehab lyrics (“I want my anger to be healthy”) could have used more thought.
The band gets very defensive whenever fans or journalists raise these issues, but their set lists tell a different story. They’ve played fewer St. Anger songs in concert than any of their other albums.”
The early hair metal days of Pantera got it much worse, taking home the #4 spot with their 1983 debut album “Metal Magic“. The publication stated of that:
“Pantera are undoubtedly one of the greatest metal bands of their era. What a lot of people don’t realize, however, is that they were one of the worst metal bands of an earlier era. If you need to be convinced, check out their 1983 debut, LP Metal Magic, where they sound like a generic, B-list hair band.
To be fair, Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul were still teenagers when they made this album, and it was produced by their father, country singer Jerry Abbott. They also hadn’t joined forces with frontman Phil Anselmo.
His predecessor, Terry Glaze, is a hopeless Paul Stanley wannabe. This is Pantera in name only, but it still counts as a genuine Pantera album. And it’s absolutely horrid.”
You can read the complete list over at this location. Among some of the notable ranks on the list for rock fans were:
- #43 Metallic – “St. Anger“
- #36 Kiss – “Music From The Elder“
- #34 Aerosmith – “Nine Lives“
- #31 Weezer – “Raditude“
- #27 RUN-DMC – “Crown Royal“
- #22 The Doors – “Full Circle“
- #20 Queen – “The Cosmos Rocks“
- #06 Black Sabbath – “Forbidden“
- #04 Pantera – “Metal Magic“
In case you were wondering, Kanye West‘s 2008 outing “Ye” took home the top spot on the list.
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