Nobody is Perfect

"One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect." - Stephen Hawking

 

 We all make mistakes, even those in music. Andy Greene of Rolling Stone Magazine took a look at 50 of the worst decisions in music history. There are certainly more but these are the most egregious. Many are very interesting and I thought I'd pick some out and give some quick takes on them. Here we go:

44. Justin Timberlake exposes Janet Jacksons' breasts live at Superbowl halftime show in 2004. I wasn't watching the game but was online around the time and remember it going viral. Of course much of the initial reaction was ,to the effect of "Did I see what I just saw?" followed up by "Where can I find a clip of it?". It's still a mystery of how or why it happened. Andy Greene also points out another mystery Justin's career went like nothing happened and Janet's went down the tubes even though it was Justin the exposed her. Gee... not much sexist double standard going there. 

38. Roger Waters dares Pink Floyd to go on without him(1985). So they did, quite well selling out stadiums(I saw them in 1988) and putting out some decent albums despite Roger's absence. They've reconciled a little but not much. 

29. Guns N' Roses Begin Work on 'Chinese Democracy" (1994) They finished? Apparently, they did....in 2008. 

28. Van Halen hires Gary Cherone from Extreme.(1996) I still can't name one song from the album they made. I loved Gary in Extreme but I still can't picture him with Van Halen. 

17. The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton Make 'Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band" film (1979) - As a kid i only remember the soundtrack album being in all the stores and then suddenly, it wasn't. I later saw the film as a video rental and saw why. Cheesy and soulless. A bright spot was Aerosmith covering "Come Together" which fit their image (sort of dark and evil) in the film more so than Frampton and the Gibb brothers. A film so bad it was noticeably absent from any mention (at least I missed it) recent Bee Gees Netflix documentary. 

14. The Beatles 'We're Bigger than Jesus" (1966). This was published in early 1966 by Maureen Cleave in England much of the reaction was like "Eh". Of course, when the American Bible belt heard this later when published in a teen magazine it went viral(at least the 1966 version of it). Protests and record-burning events were staged. The group was already weary of touring. Not only couldn't they be heard they were getting cool receptions not just in the American south but also in the Philippines and Japan and they couldn't play much if any of their newer music live anyway. The Jesus comment just added to the decision to stop touring.

12. Everyone in CCR who wasn't John Fogerty wanted to write and sing too (1972) Creedence had a phenomenal run of hits in the late 60's and the beginning of the 70's. In large part due to John Fogerty's songwriting and production. It seems the rest of the band were a bit jealous of his attention and felt they weren't getting any respect. Perhaps out of weariness John relented and let everyone else contribute in what would be their last album called Mardi Gras.It was so bad John Fogerty doesn't even want to count it as a Creedence album. After recently listening to it I tend to agree it was awful compared to their past albums. It reminds me of after the album Abbey Road The Beatles considered doing something similar with everyone had an allotment of songs per album and the idea was rejected. It seems they knew something the disgruntled CCR members didn't.

10. Billy Squier does cheesy video and disappears(1984) In the early 80's Billy had great success as a hard-rocking guitarist. Then came along MTV and suddenly everyone needed promo videos. For whatever reason when doing something for his song Rock Me Tonight they had him prancing around a bedroom in a pink shirt and grinding away on a bed that looked like it should have been in a Duran Duran video. I didn't think it was that bed but have to admit it didn't quite fit his image up until then which was a grittier look. In hindsight, I think he'd a been better with a more traditional band performance video. He faded afterward, unfortunately.

9. U2 Gives away an album on iTunes, whether you liked them or not. (2014) I remember when the "Songs of Innocence" album suddenly appeared on my iPhone at the time and I was pleasantly surprised and didn't mind much. I've been a fan of theirs for years but as U2 found out not everyone else is. 

4. Eric Clapton goes anti-vax (2020). Eric turns into a wanker. I have great admiration for Eric and his music. His turning coming out as an anti-vax whiner during a pandemic though was extremely disappointing. 

3. Decca says no thanks to The Beatles (1962) In Decca's defense they were still a bit rough around the edges then and who knows how they would have developed without the guidance of producer George Martin at Parlaphone. We'll never know. 

2. Jerry Lee Lewis marries his cousin(1958). Not just a cousin but a 13-year-old cousin. That should be enough said.

1. Rolling Stones hired Hell's Angel's as security at Altamont (1969) It has always baffled me why anyone thought a motorcycle gang would be a great idea for security. Sure the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane were involved but the Stones were the headliners and signed off on it. The event was poorly planned and was marred by a gun-wielding audience member who was murdered, latter deemed self-defense, by a Hell's Angel's security member just 20 feet from the stage during The Rolling Stone's set. Coincidentally George Harrison of The Beatles had let the Hell's Angel's hang around Apple Corp headquarters until they started being a nuisance there. What were these rock stars thinking in the late 60'