One-album wonders

[YGBFKM]

For those of us who truly enjoy the value of music (sorry, rap fans :D), we've all had those albums that were memorable and/or transcendent in our younger days, but the artist/band never did anything worth a **** again.

Tops on my list would be Silverchair's Frogstomp. I LOVED that album when it came out. It's still a great listen (the first 6 songs are perfectly suited for a 30-minute workout), but who knows what happened to those kids? After Frogstomp, there was that douchey song about anorexia that sucked, but for all I know, they're all dead now (and if they are, it's a great loss).

Anyway, what are some of your one-album wonders?

 

[BYH]

For those of us who truly enjoy the value of music (sorry, rap fans :D), we've all had those albums that were memorable and/or transcendent in our younger days, but the artist/band never did anything worth a **** again.

Tops on my list would be Silverchair's Frogstomp. I LOVED that album when it came out.

Thank you for this gift. It will continue giving as long as there is an SportsJournalists.com.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

So few probably know them, they're not even considered a "wonder," but they are in the Dangerously house, and have been ever since I discovered this many years ago:

 

[BYH]

We do wonder who the hell they are! :D

 

[cyclingwriter]

Television's "Marquee Moon"

Sex Pistol's "Never Mind the Bollocks"

Hootie and the Blowfish "Cracked Rearview"

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

We do wonder who the hell they are! :D

Available in eight-track or LP!

http://www.discogs.com/Stillwater-Stillwater/release/2913227

(And on CD, actually, from another source. :) )

Oh, and ...



and ...



and ...



and ...



and ...

 

[Cosmo]

Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience. Incredible record all the way through.

Follow up was mediocre, then one of the band members killed himself, and it was over.

 

[JRoyal]

Buckshot LeFonque's "Buckshot LeFonque"
Mother Love Bone's "Apple"
Spacehog's "Resident Alien"
The Nixon's "Foma"
Toadies' "Rubberneck"
Reel Big Fish's "Turn the Radio Off"

 

[I Should Coco]

Let's see ... off the top of my head:

Urge Overkill, "Saturation" -- Not just a one-hit wonder; plenty of good songs on there besides "Sister Havana." But the follow up (Exit the Dragon) sucked, and they pretty much disappeared after that.

Liz Phair, "Exile in Guyville" -- Actually listened to this a few weeks ago, and it still sounds good. Her follow up, other than the one about a dude who f&#@*s like a volcano, wasn't too good, and she's turned into an older version of Avril Lavigne since.

The Darkness, "Permission to Land" -- Great album from the 2000s, and then the brothers went on a "One Way Ticket to Hell ... and Back" and pretty much imploded.

And anyone who's thinking about "I Should Coco" by Supergrass being on this list can STFU! :D

 

[BYH]

Soul Asylum, Grave Dancers Union

 

[Dyno]

Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience. Incredible record all the way through.

Follow up was mediocre, then one of the band members killed himself, and it was over.

They played at a street fair down the street from my house two summers ago. If there were 75 people watching, I'd be surprised. It made me really sad.

Two of mine:
ESG - ESG
Luscious Jackson - Fever In, Fever Out

 

[Cosmo]

Soul Asylum, Grave Dancers Union

Yes. Every other album they put out was ****. Second the Toadies nod.

Matchbox 20's first album probably fits as well. The second record was OK. But that first one was really good.

 

[BYH]

Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience. Incredible record all the way through.

Follow up was mediocre, then one of the band members killed himself, and it was over.

Didn't the main songwriter kill himself as New Miserable Experience was breaking? Then they went back into the studio and....yeah, it was over.

 

[MankyJimy]

Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience. Incredible record all the way through.

Follow up was mediocre, then one of the band members killed himself, and it was over.

Didn't the main songwriter kill himself as New Miserable Experience was breaking? Then they went back into the studio and....yeah, it was over.

They fired him and then he killed himself.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Blind Faith, self-titled.

Aztec Two Step, self-titled

It's a Beautiful Day, self-titled

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience. Incredible record all the way through.

Follow up was mediocre, then one of the band members killed himself, and it was over.

Didn't the main songwriter kill himself as New Miserable Experience was breaking? Then they went back into the studio and....yeah, it was over.

Pretty much, yeah. That's why the second album was called "Congratulations, I'm Sorry" -- that's what everyone said to them about the first album.

To be fair, "'Til I Hear it From You" is a great song that wasn't on the first album, and "Follow You Down" is good too, but overall there was a huge dropoff after "New Miserable Experience."

 

[old_tony]

Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience. Incredible record all the way through.

Follow up was mediocre, then one of the band members killed himself, and it was over.

Didn't the main songwriter kill himself as New Miserable Experience was breaking? Then they went back into the studio and....yeah, it was over.

That's what I was going to post. Doug Hopkins was his name. He'd already been booted out of the band because he was a hopeless alcoholic who was missing recording sessions and things like that.

Honestly, I thought their second album was pretty damn good, too. But that was an era where people moved on after a band's first big album. Same thing happened with Counting Crows after their first album and then it happened with -- as previously mentioned -- Hootie and the Blowfish.

 

[Brian]

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is up there for me.

 

[albert77]

Blind Faith, self-titled.

Aztec Two Step, self-titled

It's a Beautiful Day, self-titled

Not sure Blind Faith qualifies. I really don't think they were ever intended to be more than a side project, especially for Steve Winwood, who was still pretty committed to Traffic.

I was going to mention It's A Beautiful Day. White Bird is absolutely one of the greatest songs to come out of the late 60s, and Hot Summer Day was pretty good as well. I think they had one mediocre follow-up and that was it.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

"Hot Fuss" by The Killers was pretty damn good.

The subsequent albums... not so much.