Bad Albums Are the New Good Albums

A recent feature in Blender asked a handful of contemporary/indie musicians to fess up and declare allegance to a bad album that they've always enjoyed. Sounds like a cool idea at first, except for the fact that most of the musicians don't even name anything embarrassing -- The Carpenter's Greatest Hits, Gin Blossoms' New Miserable Experience (does anyone ever complain about the Gin Blossoms?), STP's Purple, Ween's Chocolate and Cheese, and even Billy Joel's Greatest Hits all, in my estimation, do not qualify as albums to be ashamed of. Singer/songwriter Willy Mason mentions Totally Krossed Out, which is getting warmer, but still under the safety net of acceptible ironic enjoyment. Michael Jackson's Invincible, the Stayin' Alive Soundtrack, and A-ha's Hunting High and Low pretty much suit the bill, but is that really all you got, indie musicians? I was looking forward to some humanizing, gut-spilling shared laughter, not a list of "slightly underrated albums" and pseudo-ironic, fashionably lame choices; I'm surprised they didn't toss Journey in there while they were at it. I'll get the ball rolling. I unashamedly love Billy Joel, Elton John, Randy Newman, Joe Jackson, and Todd Rundgren, but again, I don't really count them as 'bad' musicians. In terms of actually bad/embarrassing albums I love, I'd say Bat Out of Hell (popular, granted, but it's ridiculous), Pop! by Erasure, Songs From the Wood by Jethro Tull, The Pet Shop Boys Singles Collection, and the first Fountains of Wayne Album, plus I probably enjoy The Hives and Junior Senior a little more than is lyrically healthy. Anyone else want to fess up? Leave your lovingly bad/ashamed/awkward albums in the comments!
	Published: 2007-07-30 Provider: Best Week Ever
Keywords: Entertainment