A LOT of Rock + Metal Artists Made ‘Rolling Stone’ ‘Most Disappointing’ Albums List

A lot of rock and metal artists made Rolling Stone‘s 50 Most Disappointing Albums of All Time list.

The piece was just published this past Friday (Oct. 11) and it consists of a lot of bands and musicians in the rock and metal world. The publication noted that many of the albums on the list were created by massively successful artists with very long careers and the selections were merely “a tiny speed bump” along the way.

Others, they referred to as duds that were the result of creative exhaustion or the use of too many different substances.

Rolling Stone also affirmed that their staff loves a lot of the albums, despite finding them disappointing initially. So what may not have lived up to their expectations upon release may have grown on them overtime.

Many may also think of Rolling Stone as focusing purely on rock music, but their lists tend to be all-encompassing and cross over all genres popular in the 1900s and 21st century. Their music coverage is also quite broad.

Which Rock + Metal Albums Made the List

After scrolling through the list from worst to best, we noted the rock and metal albums that made the cut (and their respected rankings) below.

49. Radiohead, The King of Limbs
48. Wings, Wild Life
46. Oasis, Be Here Now
44. Aerosmith, Draw the Line
42. U2, Songs of Innocence
36. Fleetwood Mac, Behind the Mask
35. Panic! At the Disco, Pretty.Odd
34. Black Sabbath, Technical Ecstasy
32. Peter Frampton, I’m in You
30. Red Hot Chili Peppers, One Hot Minute
29. Pink Floyd, The Final Cut
28. The Band, Cahoots
27. Van Halen, Balance
25. George Harrison, Dark Horse
24. John Fogerty, Eye of the Zombie
23. The Monkees, Justus
22. Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead, Dylan & the Dead
21. The Stone Roses, Second Coming
20. Journey, Raised on Radio
17. The Byrds, Byrds
16. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough)
14. Neil Young, Hawks & Doves
13. Blondie, The Hunter
12. AC/DC, Flick of the Switch
9. Yes, Tales From Topographic Oceans
6. Bruce Springsteen, Human Touch
5. Guns N’ Roses, Chinese Democracy
3. Bob Dylan, Self Portrait
2. The Rolling Stones, Their Satanic Majesties Request
1. John Lennon, Some Time in New York City

How This List Compares to Some of Rolling Stone’s Album Reviews

We thought it would be fun to dig a bit further and look back on how Rolling Stone reviewed some of these albums upon their release and compare them to how they’re ranked.

Despite calling Chinese Democracy the No. 5 most disappointing album of all time, the publication gave it four stars when it was released in November of 2008.

READ MORE: 10 Hated Albums That Are a Lot Better Than You Remember

“The first Guns N’ Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record. In other words, it sounds a lot like the Guns N’ Roses you know,” their review read.

Their ranking of AC/DC’s Flick of the Switch is a bit more consistent with what they wrote when it came out back in 1983, as they gave it just three stars.

“Produced by the band, ‘Flick of the Switch’ isn’t quite the monster blowout that 1980’s ‘Back in Black’ was, and the Young’s retooling of old riffs for new hits also teeters on self-plagiarism at times,” writer David Fricke wrote.

Van Halen’s Balance received three-and-a-half stars from Rolling Stone when it came out back in ’95. Writer Paul Evans teased that the record featured “a few surprises.”

“‘Balance’ is pro forma pomp rock — but with VH in top form, power aplenty remains in their slick machine,” Evans described.

At the end of the day, you’re allowed to like any bit of music you find enjoyable, regardless of how they’re portrayed in the media.