5 Albums Disowned By the Bands That Made Them
It’s not uncommon for bands to speak out against certain aspects of past albums — sections they’d tweak or songs they’d leave off if given a second chance — but it’s rare for an entire album to be straight-up disowned. But that’s exactly what happened to the following discs, all of which are hated by at least one member of the bands responsible for them. “Hate” may seem like a strong word, but after reading our list of 5 Albums Disowned by the Bands That Made Them, you’ll see why it applies.
Big Brother / Epic
‘Standing on the Shoulder of Giants’
Oasis (2000)
Noel Gallagher was a big fan of this album when it came out, and he went so far as to rave that lead single ‘Go Let It Out’ was “up there with some of the best things that I’ve done.” His tune would eventually change, and last year, he told the NME, “We should have never made ‘Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.’ I’d come to the end. At the time, I had no reason or desire to make music. I had no drive.”
Arista
‘With Sympathy’
Ministry (1983)
Nearly 30 years after Ministry’s debut came out, it’s no surprise that the synth-pop-flavored album is looked down on by both the industrial metal band’s mastermind, Al Jourgensen, and its hardcore fans. Jourgensen has famously called ‘With Sympathy’ “an abortion of an album” and blamed meddling executives at Arista for its soft-core sound, which was almost entirely gone by Ministry’s sophomore release, ‘Twitch.’
RCA
‘Angles’
The Strokes (2011)
Five years stood between the Strokes’ third album, ‘First Impressions of Earth,’ and their latest, ‘Angles’ — but did they spend a half-decade making an album that they didn’t like? It sure sounds like it. “I won’t do the next album we make like this,” guitarist Nick Valensi bitched to Pitchfork. “No way. It was awful.” Added singer Julian Casablancas: “There’s a bunch of stuff [on the record] I wouldn’t have done.”
Epitaph
‘Into the Unknown’
Bad Religion (1983)
Explaining that “not much thought” was put into the sound of Bad Religion’s second album because nobody thought the band would actually last, guitarist Brett Gurewitz characterizes ’Into the Unknown’ as a “terrible misstep.” The disc’s swirling keyboards and slow tempos alienated their hardcore punk fan base, and Gurewitz has since joked about “sending out 10,000 copies [to stores] and [getting] 11,000 sent back.”
Food Records
‘Leisure’
Blur (1991)
Most old-school Blur fans still adore the band’s debut album, the Madchester-tinged ‘Leisure,’ but don’t count frontman Damon Albarn among them. “I’ve made hundreds of mistakes [and] I’ve made two bad records,” Albarn later told Digital Spy, adding that “the first record is awful.” ‘Nuff said.
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