Reggie Jacksons of Rock'n Roll

[Jesse]

I've had this topic on my mind for quite awhile now, but I didn't know how to word it. A baseball analogy with Reggie Jackson seems to explain it best: Reggie Jackson is a well-known, power-hitter. "Mr October" he's been called for his clutch home runs in the playoffs. His 563 home runs was the most of any ball player of his time. The guy is rightfully considered one of the best hitters in major league history. HOWEVER, he has struck out 2597 times! Easily the all-time leader in that catagory at over 200 more times than second place. Yet, despite this alarming stat, ol' Reggie is still considered one of the all-time greats.

Ok, back to Rock'n Roll: Who among our favorites had as many or more turds in their catalog as they did classics? Who, no matter how much crap they release, will always be near and dear to our hearts because of the "home runs" they've hit over their careers?

For me, a couple come to mind:

Heart. You know, even back in their day, they never released an album that I could listen to in it's entirety. For every "Barracuda" there was a "Sylvan Song", for every "If Looks Could Kill" there was a "The Wolf". Put all their great songs together and they were/are a force to be reckoned with. Grab 15-20 of their songs at random and they are as likely to be crap as they are to be Classics.

Billy Joel. I used to tell everybody that I HATED Billy Joel. But slowly, I began to concede that, yes, "Piano Man" was pretty cool. As was "Captain Jack". Oh and "Ballad Of Billy The Kid" is pretty awesome. Hell, the whole "Piano Man" album was pretty good. As was "Glass Houses". And I liked that song he did for "Bosom Buddies". "Pressure" was pretty cool. Next thing I know, I came to realization that I, for the most part, actually LIKED Billy Joel! Still, the mountain of crap he's released over his career can't be denied. Even my 2 favorite albums of his, "Storm Front" and "River Of Dreams", were fronted by lead tracks that totally sucked. "We Didn't Start The Fire" and "River Of Dreams" are reason enough to justify my trashing of Joel in the late '80's and early 90's. Like Heart, put his best stuff together and he is one of my favs, but you certainly can't put all his stuff on your iPod and use the "shuffle mode", you'll be turning it off pretty quickly.

Yes. You know what? Let's throw out the last 15 years of worthless releases from these guys. They were still hit or miss. Even during the vanilla, hit making 80's era of Yes, there were still 3 or 4 songs per album that I just couldn't listen to. And of course the Howe/Wakeman era of the 70's produced just as much God-awful throwaway exercises in how well they could play as they did songs featuring catchy hooks and arrangements. They are still one of my favorites and I think Steve Howe is a better guitar player everytime I see or hear him play, but man, they can suck sometimes.

Any others? I got a few more, but I'll someone else come up with them.

[spacel0rd]

Well...
I forgive Elton John for all the late 70's to late 80's crap he did. I am gald to see his last 4 CDs (or so) were good..with each one getting a little better than the last. "Union" with Leon Russell is freakin GREAT...and I will tell you now---Knowing how the voters think, it WILL win the Grammy for best album.

Bob Seger's last three CDs were nothing great (three in the last 18(ish) years!), but I bought each one.

Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young) haven't put out a great CD since 1982's "Daylight Again"...but i keep buying them. 1999's "Looking Forward" wasn't too, too bad....it had it's moments.

I have all of Dio's CDs, even though everything was average, begining with "Lock Up the Wolves."

It took me a while to kinda give up on Mary-Chapin Carpenter. For (at least) the last decade, her CDs are very, very slow and boring. Her first four were classics, in my world.

I know there are a lot of people who keep uying Metallica CDs, even though they haven't liked one since the Black Album. I've liked a few since, though. I can also see a lot of Kiss ,Ozzy, Queensryche and Phish fans fall into this catagory.

[rtbuck]

Awesome Topic!!

For Me leading the way would be Rush. The first 4 or 5 albums were great with only a few(if even) stinkers for my tastes & then came Hemispheres which I was kind of psyched for especially with the continuation of Cygnus X1 but side one ended up just boring the hell out of me. Side 2 was decent enough. Then came Permanent Waves which I liked better than Hemispheres but I was beginning to lose interest in the band. Moving Pictures was it for me & from then on if I liked 3 songs on each of their albums in the 80's & 90's it was a lot which puts there overall batting average for me well under average

Great choices so far with Billy Joel, Heart, Bob Seger, Elton, & Metallica

[Trexx]

These bands hide gems throughout their catalogs. Wade through the junk and the unlistenable:

Judas Priest
Black Sabbath
MSG
Rush ---> Yep, Bucky said it well.
Monster Magnet

These come to mind instantly for me.

[Frank]

As much as I love the band....... Kiss

[DrJJones]

First off the block for me would be Aerosmith. Up until 1985 every new album was like a birthday. Their first nine or so albums were excellent, then Geffen got a hold of them, John Kalodner decided along with Steven Tyler to piss all over their legacy & they still haven't recovered.

Status Quo. Many of their albums prior to 'Rockin' All Over The World' was chock full of excellence, then Pip Williams decided to blow the band out of the water with his crap production (on no less than NINE albums) & Rossi's insistance at writing crap like 'Marguerita Time'.

Luckily their assorted gems make up for the shit & they were still the best live band on the planet

[Jesse]

Some good mentions. I'm glad this topic took off like it did, I don't usually come up with many good threads . I had Aerosmith and Metallica in mind early on, but I figured someone else would get 'em and you did .

I'll add another personal favorite:

Hank Williams Jr. Even if we only count his hey day years (1975- about 1991), one had to wade through piles of buffalo dung to get to classics like "All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight" or "Man Of Steel". Even his cover songs were erratic. I love his takes on "Lawyers, Guns And Money", "La Grange" and "Midnight Rider", but Skynyrd's "Made In The Shade" is produced way too slickly and has none of the rough charm of the original and "Blue Jean Blues" is done way too serious to be enjoyed as much as ZZ Top's tongue-in-cheek original. Some of Hank's originals during this period just plain sucked.

[blackers45]

Deep Purple
Whitesnake
Robin Trower

[spacel0rd]

Nov 18, 2010 8:41:19 GMT -5 Jesse said:

Hank Williams Jr. Even if we only count his hey day years (1975- about 1991), one had to wade through piles of buffalo dung to get to classics like "All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight" or "Man Of Steel". Even his cover songs were erratic. I love his takes on "Lawyers, Guns And Money", "La Grange" and "Midnight Rider", but Skynyrd's "Made In The Shade" is produced way too slickly and has none of the rough charm of the original and "Blue Jean Blues" is done way too serious to be enjoyed as much as ZZ Top's tongue-in-cheek original. Some of Hank's originals during this period just plain sucked.

A few that suck:
We Can Work It All Out
Paying On time
Tennessee Stud
Everytime I Hear That Song
If You Don’t like Hank Williams
This Ain't Dallas
All of "Out of Left Field except Hide and Seek

Hidden Gems:
Outlaw Women
O.D’d in Denver
Weatherman
Hide and Seek
Man to Man (All of that album…IMO, his most solid)
Dinosaur
Last Pork Chop
I Like it When It's Stormy

[kim]

Nov 18, 2010 8:41:19 GMT -5 Jesse said:

Some good mentions. I'm glad this topic took off like it did, I don't usually come up with many good threads . I had Aerosmith and Metallica in mind early on, but I figured someone else would get 'em and you did .

I'll add another personal favorite:

Hank Williams Jr. Even if we only count his hey day years (1975- about 1991), one had to wade through piles of buffalo dung to get to classics like "All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight" or "Man Of Steel". Even his cover songs were erratic. I love his takes on "Lawyers, Guns And Money", "La Grange" and "Midnight Rider", but Skynyrd's "Made In The Shade" is produced way too slickly and has none of the rough charm of the original and "Blue Jean Blues" is done way too serious to be enjoyed as much as ZZ Top's tongue-in-cheek original. Some of Hank's originals during this period just plain sucked.

Hey! I take offense to that opening remark Jesse!
I totally disagree with you saying that "you don't usually come
up with good threads". Totally disagree and I'll bet my next pay
that the vast majority here would agree that YOUR threads are
at the top of the list.

Maybe it's just me, and even though I may not respond to each
and every one, (simply because I don't have anything worthy enough to add at times), I still read them, in their entirety!

Trust me when I say that you have the floor with the threads
that you post and all of them are thought provoking and inspiring regardless of the topic.

In regards to the point at hand, one constant that comes
to mind first, is Springsteen. This guy can play ball in terms
of music and hit the proverbial ball out of the park when
feels like it...of course that's just a humble opinion of mine...

Thanks
Kim

[Jesse]

Nov 18, 2010 12:47:00 GMT -5 spacel0rd said:

Nov 18, 2010 8:41:19 GMT -5 Jesse said:

Hank Williams Jr. Even if we only count his hey day years (1975- about 1991), one had to wade through piles of buffalo dung to get to classics like "All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight" or "Man Of Steel". Even his cover songs were erratic. I love his takes on "Lawyers, Guns And Money", "La Grange" and "Midnight Rider", but Skynyrd's "Made In The Shade" is produced way too slickly and has none of the rough charm of the original and "Blue Jean Blues" is done way too serious to be enjoyed as much as ZZ Top's tongue-in-cheek original. Some of Hank's originals during this period just plain sucked.

A few that suck:
We Can Work It All Out
Paying On time
Tennessee Stud
Everytime I Hear That Song
If You Don’t like Hank Williams
This Ain't Dallas
All of "Out of Left Field except Hide and Seek

Hidden Gems:
Outlaw Women
O.D’d in Denver
Weatherman
Hide and Seek
Man to Man (All of that album…IMO, his most solid)
Dinosaur
Last Pork Chop
I Like it When It's Stormy

I was specifically looking for this thread just to see what I wrote. I left this comment unanswered because I didn't notice it at the time, but Hank Williams Jr's "Out of Left Field", having listened to it fairly recently, I feel is maybe his best album!

This is my review
-Out Of Left Field ***** (c)
By 1993, Hank had fallen from the peak of his successes in the late 80's and early 90's, largely due to self-inflicted wounds. The 3 time "Entertainer Of The Year" had several instances in a short period of time where he showed up drunk (or drugged) to shows, slurred through a handful of songs and left his fans thoroughly pissed off. Record sales fell off as did radio airplay. Of course, it also should be noted that a guy named Garth Brooks ushered in a new era of Country music hits-makers which included Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Travis Tritt, Clint Black and many others. Hank's music was now "old hat" even if he hadn't done anything to destroy his reputation. I gotta admit, after Pure Hank, even I decided I had enough Hank Jr albums in my collection.
Perhaps as an effort to stop the bleeding, Hank comes out with his best album yet! I totally missed out on it because I didn't get this until seeing him in concert and hearing the title song to Hog Wild made me think Hank might have some more music worthy of my collection. Now keep in mind Southern Rock fans, this is a 5 star Country album, Southern Rock has nothing to do with this one. Maybe I should have left it out of my reviews, but this is an excellent representation of what Country music and Hank Williams Jr music is all about......even if there weren't any big hits here. "Everything Comes Down To Money And Love", "Hold What You've Got", and "Both Sides Of Goodbye" are outstanding Country ballads. Political commentary song "Hide And Seek", while name-dropping people and events of the day, effectively takes shots at both sides of the political aisle and, other than the names and events, is as true today as it ever was. "I'm Tired" is a bit of a novelty song, but a fun ride if you don't take his bitching about women too seriously. Hank, as a songwriter, only contributes 3 songs here: the aformentioned "Hide And Seek", very good "Warm In Dallas" and novelty tune "Dirty Mind". "Dirty Mind" is the weak spot of this album, probably dragging this down to a 4 or 4 1/2 star album in reality. However, Hank has made so many records, I think he deserves one 5 starrer, so this is it! So, yeah, it's a rather weak 5 stars and it's only 5 stars in the context of being a Country record, but it's definitely worth picking up if you can find it.

[duojett71]

I think you nailed Heart in your original post....I love their early albums but usually their were only 2-4 real rockers on those early albums. I did like their melodic stuff but I just wished they would have rocked more stuff like "Magic Man", "Mistral Wind", "Even it Up", "Barracuda", etc....Their 80's stuff is very hit and miss....I am surprised you mentioned the song "The Wolf" off of the self titled album....I thought that was one of the better songs along with "If Looks Could Kill", "Shell Shock" and "What About Love"( I thought that was a really good ballad)...Speaking of Heart I might add that Mike Derosier is one of the most underrated drummers of all time.....then again Roger Fischer and Howard Leese were fairly underrated and a great guitar team in the 70's. Derosier never gets talked about though and that dude was John Bonham good....

[Jesse]

Jun 18, 2018 23:24:35 GMT -5 duojett71 said:

I think you nailed Heart in your original post....I love their early albums but usually their were only 2-4 real rockers on those early albums. I did like their melodic stuff but I just wished they would have rocked more stuff like "Magic Man", "Mistral Wind", "Even it Up", "Barracuda", etc....Their 80's stuff is very hit and miss....I am surprised you mentioned the song "The Wolf" off of the self titled album....I thought that was one of the better songs along with "If Looks Could Kill", "Shell Shock" and "What About Love"( I thought that was a really good ballad)...Speaking of Heart I might add that Mike Derosier is one of the most underrated drummers of all time.....then again Roger Fischer and Howard Leese were fairly underrated and a great guitar team in the 70's. Derosier never gets talked about though and that dude was John Bonham good....

Derosier, along with Fischer and Fossen (and on occasion Leese) has been popping up on random shows on youtube. You are right, I never realized what a great drummer he truly was and still is. Denny Carmassi was also surprisingly good. They must've dressed him in oversized clothes for all of their photo shoots because he always looked like a little imp, but I've come across some 80's concert footage where Carmassi is beating the shit outta the drums and looks like a much bigger guy than on the album jackets.