I feel like the hype was big for Use Your Illusion as well. Personally, I counted down the days. I even skipped school to go buy the tapes as soon as the music store opened. Later that day, I was back at school and our music teacher let me play the first tape during class. Everyone wanted to listen.
Anyone remember when The Offspring trolled them by announcing their next album would be called Chinese Democracy? And they got a Cease and Desist from Guns n Roses for it... apparently Axl was a dick to them at a show, so they decided to fuck with him a little.
This album needs a reevaluation. There's interesting stuff on it but Axl should've probably not named it guns n roses' because it wasn't on brand at all
No, it’s more interesting than that. Smile was going to be The Beach Boys follow up to Pet Sounds. Wilson had grand ambitions for it. He wanted to write pocket symphonies. While writing and recording it, he went crazy (for lack of a more sensitive term). One story is that he believed one of the tracks actually caused fires around town.
Ultimately, the album was never finished. Some of the songs appeared on later Beach Boys records, and Good Vibrations was released as a single -a spectacular song.
Over the years it became the ultimate “what if” lost album. So when Wilson finally said he’d release it in ‘04(?) people were really excited.
I've always assumed that the movie "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" was doing a parody of the Smile sessions about 2/3 of the way through the movie. Love that movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMJvhR6McfI
Ahhhhh ok ok. I remember the story about Brian Wilson making people wearing firefighter helmets/hats while recording. I didnt realize it was an album that never got released
> a spectacular song.
Whatever *Smile* might have been in 1967, if the rest of it was half as good as "Good Vibrations", it might've been the greatest album ever.
Then again, "Heroes and Villains", e.g., is a B+ at best, and "Vega-tables" was actually handed back with "See me after class" written at the top.
But "Good Vibrations" is, as you say, a SPECTACULAR song. One of the GOATs.
Being a teen in the 90s, I remember a lot of hype around Vs and Vitalogy (Pearl Jam), Monster (REM), Pop (U2... and the backlash because if the hype), and The Fragile (NIN).
Those were all cases where we'd be up for midnight release parties (kind of miss those days).
The turn on "Zooropa" (the song) to the upbeat portion ("and I have no compass. . .") is one of the best moments in 90's music.
Whew, I get chills just talking about it.
It's hard to believe now, but U2 was my MOST favorite band, across the board, back in the 90s and 00s.
Zooropa, yes.
Today I hardly ever listen to them.
I saw them at the Sphere and it kind of reignited my fandom of them. I've listened to them quite a bit since I saw that show.
If you have a chance to go see it, I highly recommend it!
> it's got two bad songs on it
Which ones are they, out of curiosity? I love 90s U2 too. Prefer *Achtung Baby* (obviously) and *Zooropa*, but I still love *Pop*. I guess if I had to throw out two, "Miami" would be the first to go, and then maybe "Playboy Mansion". Might give "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" too, if only because it's too damn quiet.
I didnt even know what the Fragile was. People were buying it off a rack at the cash area of Future Shop and I was like huh I like NIN I think? $33 seems expensive but its a double album. I think Im a NIN guy? Now Its in my top 10 albums. Maybe number 1 complete album listen through all songs are good and are made to flow together. Headphones is an experience.
Oh I was definitely on the Vitalogy hype train. PJ was my favorite band, I was in high school- it was just primo 90's teenage white boy stuff.
I loved the album and still do but it's one of the few things from my youth I'm completely unable to separate my nostalgia from my objectivity. I mean I love every second of it but I can certainly understand someone hearing Bugs or whatever now and being like wtf.
Back in the day after David Lee Roth left Van Halen, Van Halen's 5150 album was massively anticipated with new singer Sammy Hagar.
Even David Lee Roth's Eat 'Em and Smile was crazy anticipated.
For me they both were. Great music.
Strangely, they didn't tour much for 5150 but I saw the Eat 'Em tour. Brutal how he could not keep that HOF band together or even keep the heavy music format.
Oh for sure! Both great albums.
I did see the 5150 tour but not Eat ‘em And Smile. I did however see Skyscraper a couple years later.
And to keep this going about that band - I’ve met Steve Vai, and I’ve Instagrammed with Billy Sheehan.
It’s insane to me how they were able to put out 2 albums per year with every album at least having a few songs that would be major bangers.
I’ll always wonder what could have been if they were able to have a modern day release schedule of whenever they feel like it.
They went from ‘she loves you’ in 63 to ‘Lucy in the sky’ in 67. No band will ever replicate what the Beatles did in such a short time frame. It’s phenomenal.
Some of us old-timers actually anticipated Nevermind. Bleach had been in my constant rotation in my car for a couple of years, and I anxiously awaited Nevermind. I can't remember if I was able to get it on release day, but I do remember I got it the same day I saw a Mudhoney show. Was a really good day.
I've always wondered this, what was your first reaction to it? Had you heard much from them since Bleach? Obviously Nevermind has much bigger songs and production, was that a shock at first?
Nice. How did you feel in the aftermath? Nevermind hitting #1 is often cited as the trigger that crushed the independent music scene from the 80s and early 90s. And in some ways it's never really recovered.
I am a little bit older and the Nirvana v. Pearl Jam was a big point of debate in my friend group who had the best album Nevermind or Ten as they came out at basically the same time. I was firmly on Nirvana's side at the time but Pearl Jam has grown on me.
Yeah, it was. It ended up selling a hair less than VS during it's first week of release though. At the time, VS was the record holder for most sales during first week of release (950K) and Vitalogy held the number 2 all-time spot (877K). Garth Brooks knocked them both down a spot a few years later with the release of a double live album (counts for double the sales), but it wasn't until the Nsync Vs Backstreet boys battle of the early 2000s that those two Pearl Jam albums were surpased by a single-disc album.
No kidding! TIL. I wasn’t into Pearl Jam at the time, I was 10 when Vitalogy came out but I remember picking up on the hype just in the culture. I guess I was less aware when Vs. came out
You gotta point out that the retail chain stores Wal-Mart and Kmart refused to sell it; according to The New York Times, Wal-Mart said this was due to lack of consumer demand, while Kmart representatives said the album did not fit with their "merchandise mix".
While maybe not the most accessible song, I love it. Bugs, aye davanita, and Pry,to are often maligned because they are not your typical rock songs, but they are incredible set pieces that give that whole album unmatched nervous/paranoid energy. Vitalogy is one of my favorite albums of all-time and wouldn't want it any other way. Even Stupid Mop is crucial to the artistic concept as a whole, but admittedly I tend to skip it because Immortality is such an amazing song to wrap things up.
I've always been under the impression that Pearl Jam were the biggest band in the US at that time, whilst Nirvana were the biggest band in the world. In Utero was easily more highly anticipated here in the UK and many other countries
Good one! I was only 11 yrs old but I can still remember everyone, especially my dad, expecting Rumors 2.0 and being very confused or worse when Tusk was released.
I got to relive that a little in the 2010s. I loved Rumours so my mum got me Tusk one Christmas. For a while I excited to get round to listening and ended up thinking "why did she think this was as good as Rumours?". It's grown on me now though.
It's their White Album. Sprawling, detached, highly anticipated, kind of unfocused, got some great material... And arguably would be better if whittled down to a single disc (ducks for cover)
These would likely all be the one after a hugely successful album.
Radiohead's Kid A after OK Computer and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here after Dark Side of the Moon for example.
I wrote this in another comment here but Vitalogy came out when I was 10 and not totally aware of music yet. But I remember the hype for that album just being in the air culturally
I wish I’d been around in the 70s to know what the hype was like when it was all word of mouth.
I know MTV played a bunch of teasers in the lead up to the release of Kid A. Radiohead has always had unconventional releases. The in Rainbows one was cool because it was the first major album with a pay what you want download. The king of limbs came out less than a week after it was announced. A moon shaped pool wasn’t announced at all. They just released two music videos for new songs and then dropped the album a few days later on their website.
It wasn't all word of mouth, radio had huge listenership. Eg in the UK in the 60s and 70s the pirate radio stations (Radio Luxembourg/Caroline/London) essentially dictated what people listened to because they defined what was cool and every young hip music fan listened to them. In the 70s-00s legal radio took over but radio remaind more-or-less the only route to massive success, alongside TV show appearences.
You can add Mellancollie and the Infinite Sadness after the success of Siamese Dream to this list. I was at Tower Records along with hundreds of people for the midnight release
In the UK - Be Here Now by Oasis
They were the biggest band in the world at the time, their previous two albums had smashed sales, and they were at the tip of the iceberg of the cultural phenomenon that was Britpop. Their previous album (now regarded as one of the best British albums of the 90s) initially received lukewarm reviews, so critics were keen not to miss the mark on this album. As a result of the anticipation, their management company decided to massively limit exposure prior to release, which further amped up the anticipation. When it released, it was given unanimous initial praise and broke all sorts of records, including being the fastest selling album of all time in the UK. Eventually, after about a year, everyone realised it sounded massively overproduced and poorly mixed, with songs that went on way too long in a cloud of whirling guitars and cocaine.
Retrospectively it’s regarded as their worst album and as the moment that Britpop came crashing down, especially considering that other massive Britpop acts like Blur had moved on to a post-Britpop sound. The final nail in the coffin was the release of OK Computer at around the same time which heralded a paradigm shift in British rock music. Oasis continued to be popular for another decade and, IMO, produce some great stuff, but they never even came close to those heights again.
Definitely not regarded as their worst album. Got some really good tunes on there. It’s just overblown and could have been a classic if the production was more polished, the songs were more refined, and they swapped some of the b sides for some of the filler. A decent album though. Their worst album is probably Heathen Chemistry IMO.
How can Be Here Now be their worst album when every album after it was worse?
I loved them as a kid but never really liked anything past that point
its like Def Maybe > Morning Glory > Masterplan (B sides) > Be Here Now > then everything else
Their B sides album is better than most bands albums however.
Your criticisms of Be Here Now are right on though, its still a good album but to be honest I rarely listen to it.
>Retrospectively it’s regarded as their worst album
I think it's safe to say their worst regarded album is Standing On the Shoulder Of Giants.
They couldn't even get the title right.
> Eventually, after about a year, everyone realised ... songs that went on way too long in a cloud of whirling guitars and cocaine.
Great write up, but I'd disagree with the timing on this part - it was weeks/months at most, my friends and I were massive Oasis fans at the time, and the disappointment with the album was pretty immediate from all of us.
I remember buying this album on the release date from HMV and they gave you some kind of certificate for buying it on the first day.
Though maybe not a classic, Stand By Me, Don’t Go Away and All Around the World make it a good album still.
There’s a lot of albums in their discography considered worse than Be Here Now. Be Here Now was a commercial and critical failure to most listeners, but diehard Oasis fans usually consider it better than a lot of their later discography.
It’s so funny because if they had released their b sides album “The Masterplan” (which was released a year later) instead of Be Here Now, they would definitely be more fondly remembered.
Here’s a weird one - Springsteen Live 75-85. Not one you’d necessarily think of but it came out at the peak of his popularity and I remember media coverage and major lines at the store
It was truly a genius move, at the peak of his popularity instead of doubling down on just his new material he created a live retrospective of his career up to that point which helped cement his entire catalog in the public consciousness
I think it was as a response to all the bootlegs that were around at the time. Live albums were very popular back then, especially after the success of Frampton Comes Alive. Audiences demanded a shorter gap between albums back then, and a live one was a way to do that.
That’s what I was going to say. Idgaf about it’s critical reception either, I really like it even if that opinion did nearly lead to a Manc giving me a good kicking once.
Dr Dre delayed the sequel to The Chronic for 15 years. There was a time when it was highly anticipated, and kept getting scrapped then rerecorded with different rappers.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dr-dres-detox-a-timeline-of-hip-hops-great-unfinished-album-34152/
Then the NWA movie came out and he released the soundtrack album, and they basically shifted into Legacy status for new generations.
Do the kids still care about Dr Dre's Detox release? Maybe they forgot about Dre's next album
Well, his last album *was* the Chronic (2001).
It's funny to think that the original Chronic was 6 or 7 years old when he recorded that verse. Chronic 2001 will be 25 years old in November.
I don’t think you can calculate how important musical releases were before the internet. And anticipation was such an important part. In this day of pop stars casually dropping completed albums like it’s nothing, reading about how your bands were struggling in the studio to top their previous triumphs was serious drama. Billy Corgan has writers block! Nirvana says corporate rock still sucks and hires Albini to record but hands off mixes of the singles to Scott Litt and Abini is pissed! Will Michael Beinhorn ruin Soundgarden? Collaboration between bands and producers was still a thing. And two inch tape was still king. Fuck I miss those days. Having said that, I’ve never looked forward more to an album more than Superunknown.
And no leaks/YouTube footage of new songs from concerts/etc. You could read about upcoming releases in incredible detail for literally months before you heard a single note from the album…
Sometimes literally all you had was a pic of the band in the studio and a quick quote. And you had to imagine what the album sounded like based off that! Not gonna lie, it was fun.
That’s an excellent point about not having any leaks from concerts. A band could play a new song live all they wanted and unless MTV or someone broadcast the performance, only the people in attendance would hear it.
Achtung Baby was a huge anticipation. Rattle and Hum was a movie soundtrack, replete with covers and live versions of their own songs. AB was the first studio album in 4+ years, since The Joshua Tree, their biggest selling album.
Remember the promo they did with MTV? They sent out semi trucks around the country to a handful of lucky winners homes. Inside the trailers they were filled with all sorts of cool Metallica stuff as prizes. One of the trailers though contained Metallica the band and the winner got to have the whole day with them and I think they got a private concert as well. I remember the winner was a hilarious Metallica nerd and the dude nerded out to the fullest. He had the band signing everything in his house. Eventually the band just started signing anything and everything around this dudes house. They couldn’t have picked a better winner for the cameras. It was funny.
Even after it was released, Tool fans were so deeply ingrained in discovering hidden messaging in their music and PR that people STILL didn't believe it was real. It took about a year until the conspiracies about the "real" album release finally died.
10,000 Days hype was honestly a lot bigger.
It's kinda forgotten now, but Tool taking so long to put out the follow up to Lateralus was a meme in itself at the time.
And even after the album was announced, it seemed like it took forever.
But at the time, they were still an active band with growing popularity, their genre of music was at its most relevant, and their fanbase was still in the core age demographic for popular music.
Obnoxiously Fear Inoculum was HIGHLY anticipated because of the time between albums, but by the time it was released, Tool was basically a nostalgia/legacy band.
Weezer’s Green Album, if you can believe it. After Pinkerton was poorly received, there was a real chance that they’d never release another one. Along with that, Pinkerton ended up getting a cult following.
Another one from the same era and genre was Kid A. OK Computer was incredibly popular and widely praised. People were really, really excited to hear what Radiohead would do next.
>Weezer’s Green Album, if you can believe it. After Pinkerton was poorly received, there was a real chance that they’d never release another one. Along with that, Pinkerton ended up getting a cult following.
This is a fun one. Rivers was so fucked up from the failure of Pinkerton that Green was just a overproduced wall of sound. Every guitar solo was just the verse melody played on one string.
It's not even *that* good as it's own album. One of those albums where the teenage memories associated with it elevates it way more than it should.
Hash Pipe was an incredible choice for the lead single though. Sold lots of CD and cassettes (lmao) from that single alone.
I agree. I was one of the folks who grew to love Pinkerton and was incredibly excited for their return. Ultimately I was pretty disappointed that it was half an hour of by the numbers rock tunes, and I’ve only kinda followed them since Maladroit.
On the other hand, Rivers seems happy and he’s carved out a long, successful career. Honestly, good for him.
But I'll say if all Weezer gave us was the Blue album and Pinkerton, they've done enough. Two nearly perfect albums. I haven't followed them religiously since the Green Album, but after those two, I'm fine with any song I might like being a bonus.
> Another one from the same era and genre was Kid A. OK Computer was incredibly popular and widely praised. People were really, really excited to hear what Radiohead would do next.
and boy of fuck did they deliver
Weezer was so weird because people hated pinkerton so much then they loved it and hated the green album.
I dont give a shit what anyone says Hashpipe and Island in the Sun are great songs
I remember it being so hard to wait for the Green album - probably the most hype I can remember. And also probably the biggest musical disappointment of my life. Kind of hard to believe the same band could put out two albums as good as the blue album and Pinkerton, then take god knows how many years to come up with an album as bad as the green album.
Can't believe nobody has mentioned Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP. At the time it was released, the only album to sell more in it's first week was *NSYNC's No Strings Attached (which has been mentioned a few times here). Eminem blew up like crazy with the Slim Shady LP and each of his next three albums had big anticipation, but MMLP was definitely tops on that list.
Nirvana In Utero and Guns N' Roses GNR Lies could have been literally any music and sold five million albums each. That was about the last time multiple generations of rock fans could be interested in the same thing.
Not a fan, but I feel like No Strings Attached by NSYNC has to be up there. Released at the commercial peek of the music industry and the height of the teen pop era. The sales figures were closely watched due to their rivalries with the Backstreet Boys and Korn and it sold 2.5 million copies in its first week.
TRL was MASSIVE at the time, and those three groups spent a lot of time fighting over the top three spots on the daily countdown. Korn was kind of the stand-in for rock music in that context, so a lot of their fans hated teen pop and vice versa. It all seems stupid now, but at the time it was a big deal.
Look, I won’t lie, I wasn’t there to see it. That being said, I cannot imagine what the hype would’ve been like for Bad, coming FIVE YEARS after Thriller.
Here’s a couple lines from the Bad wiki article which corroborates this
>A writer for the Miami Herald reflected back on the anticipation for Bad, describing the album's release as being the "most hotly anticipated album in history.”
>In 2017, Newsweek wrote that following Thriller was "like following up the Bible".
Boston Third Stage.
Amanda was played on the radio ('BCN, most likely) a couple times around '84 and then pulled back. It was two years TWO YEARS before the album was finally released.
I was in college when that album came out. I can remember the hype leading up to the release, and how excited everyone was to get their hands on it.
Once it came out, it seemed like *everyone* was playing it. Myself included.
For me it was Faith No More’s Angel Dust. Next album after the success of The RealTthing. Probably not what a lot of people were expecting but definately broadened my musical taste.
Some great answers so far.
My personal one that popped in my head was American Idiot by Green Day.
I remember a huge crowd when Blink 182's take off your pants and jacket came out too.
Wasn't Britney's Oops I did it again huge too?
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John.
Set absolutely huge records for pre-sales
Not as good as the anticipation IMHO, but not bad nevertheless
RHCP - Californication, featuring the return of John Frusciante. After the disappointing One Hot Minute, I remember the hype being huge to have John's classic guitar sound back.
Similar timeframe - Smashing Pumpkins Machina. It was supposed to be their return to rock after (the great, but very different) A'dore. I thought it largely sucked. Sounded soulless.
I especially remember Dangerous and History being super anticipated as well. Michael Jackson had evolved from biggest pop star in the world to simply the most famous human being on the planet.
For History I remember these giant statues of MJ, like on the album cover, were appearing all over the place - they had one floating down the river Thames in London.
Life of Pablo I thought had a much bigger/better lead up. First album in 3 years, Releasing singles on GOOD Fridays, the whole Tidal fiasco, then selling out MSG on release night. How things have changed lol
Pearl Jam Vs, fall 1993. They were the biggest band on the planet, and this was their follow up to Ten. I was 15 and worked in a record store. We had this cool as shit hippie manager who would let us hang out late on Monday nights and buy new releases at 12:01am (because release dates were always Tuesdays). ~70 classmates gave me cash to pick up copies of Vs with my 10% discount at the end of my Monday shift. Tuesday morning 7:30am I got to play Santa Claus as everyone swarmed my locker to get their copies. Everyone cut 1st and 2nd period to listen to the album in the parking lot. Administration barely slapped anyone on the wrist. They knew.
If you mean "Around the World in a Day," then yes. It's the first vinyl album I ever owned... and kid me was terribly disappointed it wasn't more like Purple Rain.
All of Kanye's albums up until TLOP were a huge deal but I remember the hype for College Dropout and Graduation being super crazy before they dropped. I remember when Kanye debuted the "Through the Wire" music video on Rap City and dropped a freestyle with a verse from Last Call. When "Slow Jamz" hit, nothing else sounded like that on the radio in '04 and I HAD to get that shit day one.
The next Beatles album.
All the other bands of that era (The Who, Stones, Kinks, whoever) were anticipated, and people looked forward to their next releases.
But EVERYBODY looked forward to the next Beatles drop. They had an uncanny ability to both presage what was coming AND set the new trends. A truly remarkable achievement they managed to pull off again and again.
Chinese Democracy
I feel like the hype was big for Use Your Illusion as well. Personally, I counted down the days. I even skipped school to go buy the tapes as soon as the music store opened. Later that day, I was back at school and our music teacher let me play the first tape during class. Everyone wanted to listen.
I too skipped school for Use your illusion!
When the November Rain video released MTV literally played it over and over for like *8 hours straight*, with breaks for MTV news and commercials.
Released today in 1992
I’m a big fan but was way too young during this. I wish i could’ve experienced that.
Anyone remember when The Offspring trolled them by announcing their next album would be called Chinese Democracy? And they got a Cease and Desist from Guns n Roses for it... apparently Axl was a dick to them at a show, so they decided to fuck with him a little.
Apparently the full title was “Chinese Democracy… ya snooze ya lose” 😂😂
Even before that, Use Your Illusion 1 & 2. The hype was insane.
This is the first thing that popped into mg mind. This and In Utero and Vs.
The midnight release for those albums was a full on cultural event. There really isn’t anything like that anymore.
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=we5vekzsyiU) is what happened at one store.
first thing that came to mind,,, fucking years of people going on about it
Remember the free Dr. Pepper?
This album needs a reevaluation. There's interesting stuff on it but Axl should've probably not named it guns n roses' because it wasn't on brand at all
Sad but true. This was my first thought.
That's Metallica. >! /s !<
That was a long wait. Like Tool album long wait. Not a bad album.
Yeah that’s what I was going to say.
Brian Wilson—-Smile
This is the ultimate answer
Can I get a ELIV? I assume because it was Brian Wilson's first solo album and everyone wanted to see what he could do outside the Beach Boys confines?
No, it’s more interesting than that. Smile was going to be The Beach Boys follow up to Pet Sounds. Wilson had grand ambitions for it. He wanted to write pocket symphonies. While writing and recording it, he went crazy (for lack of a more sensitive term). One story is that he believed one of the tracks actually caused fires around town. Ultimately, the album was never finished. Some of the songs appeared on later Beach Boys records, and Good Vibrations was released as a single -a spectacular song. Over the years it became the ultimate “what if” lost album. So when Wilson finally said he’d release it in ‘04(?) people were really excited.
I've always assumed that the movie "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" was doing a parody of the Smile sessions about 2/3 of the way through the movie. Love that movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMJvhR6McfI
Your assumption is correct, and that song was in fact written by Brian Wilson's co-writer for Smile, Van Dyke Parks.
"50000 didgeridoos!" was 100% a parody of Brian Wilson during the *Smile* years. Guy wanted to record everything in a sandbox.
Ahhhhh ok ok. I remember the story about Brian Wilson making people wearing firefighter helmets/hats while recording. I didnt realize it was an album that never got released
> a spectacular song. Whatever *Smile* might have been in 1967, if the rest of it was half as good as "Good Vibrations", it might've been the greatest album ever. Then again, "Heroes and Villains", e.g., is a B+ at best, and "Vega-tables" was actually handed back with "See me after class" written at the top. But "Good Vibrations" is, as you say, a SPECTACULAR song. One of the GOATs.
Nah Bro, Vega-tables goes hard. Heroes and Villains is an A as well.
Being a teen in the 90s, I remember a lot of hype around Vs and Vitalogy (Pearl Jam), Monster (REM), Pop (U2... and the backlash because if the hype), and The Fragile (NIN). Those were all cases where we'd be up for midnight release parties (kind of miss those days).
The Fragile ♡
I know it's a very small party, but Pop is my favorite U2 album.
Greetings, fellow Pop-and-Zooropa-enjoyers
Zooropa is up there with the best U2 albums and I'll fight people over it. Some of their most interesting work, IMO
The turn on "Zooropa" (the song) to the upbeat portion ("and I have no compass. . .") is one of the best moments in 90's music. Whew, I get chills just talking about it.
Yes, definitely. also I enjoy Stay so much more than One. Zooropa has Eno all around it.
Still my favorite U2 song.
90's U2 is best U2. Pop is awesome, it's got two bad songs on it, that's it.
It's hard to believe now, but U2 was my MOST favorite band, across the board, back in the 90s and 00s. Zooropa, yes. Today I hardly ever listen to them.
I saw them at the Sphere and it kind of reignited my fandom of them. I've listened to them quite a bit since I saw that show. If you have a chance to go see it, I highly recommend it!
> it's got two bad songs on it Which ones are they, out of curiosity? I love 90s U2 too. Prefer *Achtung Baby* (obviously) and *Zooropa*, but I still love *Pop*. I guess if I had to throw out two, "Miami" would be the first to go, and then maybe "Playboy Mansion". Might give "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" too, if only because it's too damn quiet.
I love the run from Achtung Baby to Zooropa to Pop.
I didnt even know what the Fragile was. People were buying it off a rack at the cash area of Future Shop and I was like huh I like NIN I think? $33 seems expensive but its a double album. I think Im a NIN guy? Now Its in my top 10 albums. Maybe number 1 complete album listen through all songs are good and are made to flow together. Headphones is an experience.
And In Utero
Really all the 90s REM albums after Green seemed to have a lot of anticipation, at least among my friends
All fine albums, and I'm more of a NIN fan these days, i wore out Monster. Loved it. No regrets.
Oh I was definitely on the Vitalogy hype train. PJ was my favorite band, I was in high school- it was just primo 90's teenage white boy stuff. I loved the album and still do but it's one of the few things from my youth I'm completely unable to separate my nostalgia from my objectivity. I mean I love every second of it but I can certainly understand someone hearing Bugs or whatever now and being like wtf.
Back in the day after David Lee Roth left Van Halen, Van Halen's 5150 album was massively anticipated with new singer Sammy Hagar. Even David Lee Roth's Eat 'Em and Smile was crazy anticipated.
Zibity bop.
Doobity doobity bop.
Hummala bebhuhla zeebuhla boobuhla Hummala bebhuhla zeebuhla bop
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Ain't got nobooooooooodddyyy
I want a glazed donut and a bottle of anything to go
Not in my store you don’t!!
Nice Yankee Rose shout out.
"5150" (the song) still slaps though.
My god. Our soundtrack of 1986.
For me they both were. Great music. Strangely, they didn't tour much for 5150 but I saw the Eat 'Em tour. Brutal how he could not keep that HOF band together or even keep the heavy music format.
Oh for sure! Both great albums. I did see the 5150 tour but not Eat ‘em And Smile. I did however see Skyscraper a couple years later. And to keep this going about that band - I’ve met Steve Vai, and I’ve Instagrammed with Billy Sheehan.
The MAAAT has to be "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" 1967, it was all that fans could talk about
Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields were the teasers. Insane hype
It’s insane to me how they were able to put out 2 albums per year with every album at least having a few songs that would be major bangers. I’ll always wonder what could have been if they were able to have a modern day release schedule of whenever they feel like it.
They worked eight days a week.
They went from ‘she loves you’ in 63 to ‘Lucy in the sky’ in 67. No band will ever replicate what the Beatles did in such a short time frame. It’s phenomenal.
I remember a lot of anticipation for In Utero, Nirvana’s followup to Nevermind
Some of us old-timers actually anticipated Nevermind. Bleach had been in my constant rotation in my car for a couple of years, and I anxiously awaited Nevermind. I can't remember if I was able to get it on release day, but I do remember I got it the same day I saw a Mudhoney show. Was a really good day.
I've always wondered this, what was your first reaction to it? Had you heard much from them since Bleach? Obviously Nevermind has much bigger songs and production, was that a shock at first?
Nice. How did you feel in the aftermath? Nevermind hitting #1 is often cited as the trigger that crushed the independent music scene from the 80s and early 90s. And in some ways it's never really recovered.
Did you see Nirvana live?
Pearl Jam's VS was probably even more hotly anticipated
I was in high school at the time, working on the school paper and I wrote reviews of both In Utero and Vs when they came out. Spoiler: I liked them.
Post the reviews
I am a little bit older and the Nirvana v. Pearl Jam was a big point of debate in my friend group who had the best album Nevermind or Ten as they came out at basically the same time. I was firmly on Nirvana's side at the time but Pearl Jam has grown on me.
I recall Vitalogy being bonkers too
Yeah, it was. It ended up selling a hair less than VS during it's first week of release though. At the time, VS was the record holder for most sales during first week of release (950K) and Vitalogy held the number 2 all-time spot (877K). Garth Brooks knocked them both down a spot a few years later with the release of a double live album (counts for double the sales), but it wasn't until the Nsync Vs Backstreet boys battle of the early 2000s that those two Pearl Jam albums were surpased by a single-disc album.
No kidding! TIL. I wasn’t into Pearl Jam at the time, I was 10 when Vitalogy came out but I remember picking up on the hype just in the culture. I guess I was less aware when Vs. came out
To put it in perspective: In Utero had initial week sales of 180K.
Pearl Jam was also way more accessible/polished/ready for mass consumption than Nirvana was, that's got something to do with it
You gotta point out that the retail chain stores Wal-Mart and Kmart refused to sell it; according to The New York Times, Wal-Mart said this was due to lack of consumer demand, while Kmart representatives said the album did not fit with their "merchandise mix".
I remember trying to convince my friends that Bugs was a good song.
While maybe not the most accessible song, I love it. Bugs, aye davanita, and Pry,to are often maligned because they are not your typical rock songs, but they are incredible set pieces that give that whole album unmatched nervous/paranoid energy. Vitalogy is one of my favorite albums of all-time and wouldn't want it any other way. Even Stupid Mop is crucial to the artistic concept as a whole, but admittedly I tend to skip it because Immortality is such an amazing song to wrap things up.
VS surprised me. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to make a second great album. But they did. Probably my favorite.
I've always been under the impression that Pearl Jam were the biggest band in the US at that time, whilst Nirvana were the biggest band in the world. In Utero was easily more highly anticipated here in the UK and many other countries
Yes, that was crazy.
Tusk, which was Fleetwood Mac’s follow up to Rumours
Good one! I was only 11 yrs old but I can still remember everyone, especially my dad, expecting Rumors 2.0 and being very confused or worse when Tusk was released.
I got to relive that a little in the 2010s. I loved Rumours so my mum got me Tusk one Christmas. For a while I excited to get round to listening and ended up thinking "why did she think this was as good as Rumours?". It's grown on me now though.
It's their White Album. Sprawling, detached, highly anticipated, kind of unfocused, got some great material... And arguably would be better if whittled down to a single disc (ducks for cover)
It wasn’t loved at the time, but IMO, Tusk has aged well.
These would likely all be the one after a hugely successful album. Radiohead's Kid A after OK Computer and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here after Dark Side of the Moon for example.
In Utero would fit that description. I believe Pearl Jam’s Vitalogy was also massive anticipated
Vs. and Vitalogy were both gigantic at the time.
I wrote this in another comment here but Vitalogy came out when I was 10 and not totally aware of music yet. But I remember the hype for that album just being in the air culturally
I wish I’d been around in the 70s to know what the hype was like when it was all word of mouth. I know MTV played a bunch of teasers in the lead up to the release of Kid A. Radiohead has always had unconventional releases. The in Rainbows one was cool because it was the first major album with a pay what you want download. The king of limbs came out less than a week after it was announced. A moon shaped pool wasn’t announced at all. They just released two music videos for new songs and then dropped the album a few days later on their website.
It wasn't all word of mouth, radio had huge listenership. Eg in the UK in the 60s and 70s the pirate radio stations (Radio Luxembourg/Caroline/London) essentially dictated what people listened to because they defined what was cool and every young hip music fan listened to them. In the 70s-00s legal radio took over but radio remaind more-or-less the only route to massive success, alongside TV show appearences.
You can add Mellancollie and the Infinite Sadness after the success of Siamese Dream to this list. I was at Tower Records along with hundreds of people for the midnight release
Excellent examples.
Pearl Jam Vs. has to be up there. It sold a million in a week.
In the UK - Be Here Now by Oasis They were the biggest band in the world at the time, their previous two albums had smashed sales, and they were at the tip of the iceberg of the cultural phenomenon that was Britpop. Their previous album (now regarded as one of the best British albums of the 90s) initially received lukewarm reviews, so critics were keen not to miss the mark on this album. As a result of the anticipation, their management company decided to massively limit exposure prior to release, which further amped up the anticipation. When it released, it was given unanimous initial praise and broke all sorts of records, including being the fastest selling album of all time in the UK. Eventually, after about a year, everyone realised it sounded massively overproduced and poorly mixed, with songs that went on way too long in a cloud of whirling guitars and cocaine. Retrospectively it’s regarded as their worst album and as the moment that Britpop came crashing down, especially considering that other massive Britpop acts like Blur had moved on to a post-Britpop sound. The final nail in the coffin was the release of OK Computer at around the same time which heralded a paradigm shift in British rock music. Oasis continued to be popular for another decade and, IMO, produce some great stuff, but they never even came close to those heights again.
Definitely not regarded as their worst album. Got some really good tunes on there. It’s just overblown and could have been a classic if the production was more polished, the songs were more refined, and they swapped some of the b sides for some of the filler. A decent album though. Their worst album is probably Heathen Chemistry IMO.
How can Be Here Now be their worst album when every album after it was worse? I loved them as a kid but never really liked anything past that point its like Def Maybe > Morning Glory > Masterplan (B sides) > Be Here Now > then everything else Their B sides album is better than most bands albums however. Your criticisms of Be Here Now are right on though, its still a good album but to be honest I rarely listen to it.
>Retrospectively it’s regarded as their worst album I think it's safe to say their worst regarded album is Standing On the Shoulder Of Giants. They couldn't even get the title right.
I remember he was drunk at the time. And then he wrote it down as "a bum title"
> Eventually, after about a year, everyone realised ... songs that went on way too long in a cloud of whirling guitars and cocaine. Great write up, but I'd disagree with the timing on this part - it was weeks/months at most, my friends and I were massive Oasis fans at the time, and the disappointment with the album was pretty immediate from all of us.
FWIW, I will ride for "D'ye Know What I Mean?" But not the remastered version with the strings.
I remember buying this album on the release date from HMV and they gave you some kind of certificate for buying it on the first day. Though maybe not a classic, Stand By Me, Don’t Go Away and All Around the World make it a good album still.
I'd say standing on the Shoulder of Giants is considered worse than Be Here Now.
There’s a lot of albums in their discography considered worse than Be Here Now. Be Here Now was a commercial and critical failure to most listeners, but diehard Oasis fans usually consider it better than a lot of their later discography.
Be Here Now - Oasis The promo single before it was released was fucking great too. Set up a huge buzz for the album.
It’s so funny because if they had released their b sides album “The Masterplan” (which was released a year later) instead of Be Here Now, they would definitely be more fondly remembered.
I said it in another comment Masterplan is their 3rd best album and better than most bands regular albums.
I feel like The Fragile was a big one. It had been years since The Downward Spiral, and new NIN music was a big deal back then.
Here’s a weird one - Springsteen Live 75-85. Not one you’d necessarily think of but it came out at the peak of his popularity and I remember media coverage and major lines at the store
It was truly a genius move, at the peak of his popularity instead of doubling down on just his new material he created a live retrospective of his career up to that point which helped cement his entire catalog in the public consciousness
I think it was as a response to all the bootlegs that were around at the time. Live albums were very popular back then, especially after the success of Frampton Comes Alive. Audiences demanded a shorter gap between albums back then, and a live one was a way to do that.
I had the cassette box set. I wore it out.
All Eyez on Me 2Pac’s first album after his release from prison.
The billboards all over LA were awesome.
Amazing album, too.
Stone Roses - Second Coming
That’s what I was going to say. Idgaf about it’s critical reception either, I really like it even if that opinion did nearly lead to a Manc giving me a good kicking once.
Dr Dre delayed the sequel to The Chronic for 15 years. There was a time when it was highly anticipated, and kept getting scrapped then rerecorded with different rappers. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dr-dres-detox-a-timeline-of-hip-hops-great-unfinished-album-34152/ Then the NWA movie came out and he released the soundtrack album, and they basically shifted into Legacy status for new generations. Do the kids still care about Dr Dre's Detox release? Maybe they forgot about Dre's next album
People say Dre fell off
Well, his last album *was* the Chronic (2001). It's funny to think that the original Chronic was 6 or 7 years old when he recorded that verse. Chronic 2001 will be 25 years old in November.
Dre released Compton in 2015
Why? Cause he's been in the lab with a pen and pad tryna get these damn labels off?
I don’t think you can calculate how important musical releases were before the internet. And anticipation was such an important part. In this day of pop stars casually dropping completed albums like it’s nothing, reading about how your bands were struggling in the studio to top their previous triumphs was serious drama. Billy Corgan has writers block! Nirvana says corporate rock still sucks and hires Albini to record but hands off mixes of the singles to Scott Litt and Abini is pissed! Will Michael Beinhorn ruin Soundgarden? Collaboration between bands and producers was still a thing. And two inch tape was still king. Fuck I miss those days. Having said that, I’ve never looked forward more to an album more than Superunknown.
And no leaks/YouTube footage of new songs from concerts/etc. You could read about upcoming releases in incredible detail for literally months before you heard a single note from the album…
Sometimes literally all you had was a pic of the band in the studio and a quick quote. And you had to imagine what the album sounded like based off that! Not gonna lie, it was fun.
That’s an excellent point about not having any leaks from concerts. A band could play a new song live all they wanted and unless MTV or someone broadcast the performance, only the people in attendance would hear it.
Achtung Baby by U2
Zooropa maybe moreso
Achtung Baby was a huge anticipation. Rattle and Hum was a movie soundtrack, replete with covers and live versions of their own songs. AB was the first studio album in 4+ years, since The Joshua Tree, their biggest selling album.
Back in black. Ac/dc
Yeah, this one for sure. Was a "what will happen?" moment.
Metallica’s S/T album. Guns N’ Roses - Use Your Illusion 1 & 2. Nirvana wrecked that hype train beautifully though.
Even Load was crazy anticipation. After the Black album people were going nuts for the follow up.
Remember the promo they did with MTV? They sent out semi trucks around the country to a handful of lucky winners homes. Inside the trailers they were filled with all sorts of cool Metallica stuff as prizes. One of the trailers though contained Metallica the band and the winner got to have the whole day with them and I think they got a private concert as well. I remember the winner was a hilarious Metallica nerd and the dude nerded out to the fullest. He had the band signing everything in his house. Eventually the band just started signing anything and everything around this dudes house. They couldn’t have picked a better winner for the cameras. It was funny.
Good times. MTV playing music, more good times.
I remember going to the a Hastings day of Use Your Illusions release and getting them back when cds came in long cardboard type sleeves!
Tool's "Fear Inoculum" at least needs a mention. 13 years since 10,000 Days .
The hype around 10000 days was huge too, i remember when it leaked and folks were poissed saying it wasn’t the real album
Even after it was released, Tool fans were so deeply ingrained in discovering hidden messaging in their music and PR that people STILL didn't believe it was real. It took about a year until the conspiracies about the "real" album release finally died.
something something it’ll be 10,000 Days until they release their next one
10,000 Days was actually the first album that came to mind when I read the question.
10,000 Days hype was honestly a lot bigger. It's kinda forgotten now, but Tool taking so long to put out the follow up to Lateralus was a meme in itself at the time. And even after the album was announced, it seemed like it took forever. But at the time, they were still an active band with growing popularity, their genre of music was at its most relevant, and their fanbase was still in the core age demographic for popular music. Obnoxiously Fear Inoculum was HIGHLY anticipated because of the time between albums, but by the time it was released, Tool was basically a nostalgia/legacy band.
Weezer’s Green Album, if you can believe it. After Pinkerton was poorly received, there was a real chance that they’d never release another one. Along with that, Pinkerton ended up getting a cult following. Another one from the same era and genre was Kid A. OK Computer was incredibly popular and widely praised. People were really, really excited to hear what Radiohead would do next.
>Weezer’s Green Album, if you can believe it. After Pinkerton was poorly received, there was a real chance that they’d never release another one. Along with that, Pinkerton ended up getting a cult following. This is a fun one. Rivers was so fucked up from the failure of Pinkerton that Green was just a overproduced wall of sound. Every guitar solo was just the verse melody played on one string. It's not even *that* good as it's own album. One of those albums where the teenage memories associated with it elevates it way more than it should. Hash Pipe was an incredible choice for the lead single though. Sold lots of CD and cassettes (lmao) from that single alone.
I agree. I was one of the folks who grew to love Pinkerton and was incredibly excited for their return. Ultimately I was pretty disappointed that it was half an hour of by the numbers rock tunes, and I’ve only kinda followed them since Maladroit. On the other hand, Rivers seems happy and he’s carved out a long, successful career. Honestly, good for him.
But I'll say if all Weezer gave us was the Blue album and Pinkerton, they've done enough. Two nearly perfect albums. I haven't followed them religiously since the Green Album, but after those two, I'm fine with any song I might like being a bonus.
Kid A definitely lived up to the hype. Not everyone was ready for it because it was such a crazy departure for Radiohead. The Green Album not so much.
> Another one from the same era and genre was Kid A. OK Computer was incredibly popular and widely praised. People were really, really excited to hear what Radiohead would do next. and boy of fuck did they deliver Weezer was so weird because people hated pinkerton so much then they loved it and hated the green album. I dont give a shit what anyone says Hashpipe and Island in the Sun are great songs
I remember it being so hard to wait for the Green album - probably the most hype I can remember. And also probably the biggest musical disappointment of my life. Kind of hard to believe the same band could put out two albums as good as the blue album and Pinkerton, then take god knows how many years to come up with an album as bad as the green album.
Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk.
And because it only sold millions rather than tens of millions it was deemed a disappointment. I actually preferred it to Rumours.
Can't believe nobody has mentioned Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP. At the time it was released, the only album to sell more in it's first week was *NSYNC's No Strings Attached (which has been mentioned a few times here). Eminem blew up like crazy with the Slim Shady LP and each of his next three albums had big anticipation, but MMLP was definitely tops on that list.
Tool 10,000 Day and Fear Inoculum.
I love Tool. I'm 40. But c'mon. Of All time?
Detox by Dr Dre... which will never be released.
Rap's Half-Life 3.
Nirvana In Utero and Guns N' Roses GNR Lies could have been literally any music and sold five million albums each. That was about the last time multiple generations of rock fans could be interested in the same thing.
Kid A lots of high expectations after OK Computer
Not a fan, but I feel like No Strings Attached by NSYNC has to be up there. Released at the commercial peek of the music industry and the height of the teen pop era. The sales figures were closely watched due to their rivalries with the Backstreet Boys and Korn and it sold 2.5 million copies in its first week.
The numbers those albums did were mind boggling. Aside from TRL hype, the "rivalry" between *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys helped push sales even further.
Okay obviously they were rivals with BSB… but Korn? That’s a new one lol
TRL was MASSIVE at the time, and those three groups spent a lot of time fighting over the top three spots on the daily countdown. Korn was kind of the stand-in for rock music in that context, so a lot of their fans hated teen pop and vice versa. It all seems stupid now, but at the time it was a big deal.
Look, I won’t lie, I wasn’t there to see it. That being said, I cannot imagine what the hype would’ve been like for Bad, coming FIVE YEARS after Thriller. Here’s a couple lines from the Bad wiki article which corroborates this >A writer for the Miami Herald reflected back on the anticipation for Bad, describing the album's release as being the "most hotly anticipated album in history.” >In 2017, Newsweek wrote that following Thriller was "like following up the Bible".
Synchronicity by The Police; Murmur by R.E.M.
Sergeant Pepper
PAC’s all eyes on me, I can’t believe that became a movie as well a few years ago
Oasis - Be Here Now, NSYNC - No Strings Attached, Backstreet Boys - Millennium, Adele - 21
Boston Third Stage. Amanda was played on the radio ('BCN, most likely) a couple times around '84 and then pulled back. It was two years TWO YEARS before the album was finally released.
I was in college when that album came out. I can remember the hype leading up to the release, and how excited everyone was to get their hands on it. Once it came out, it seemed like *everyone* was playing it. Myself included.
I came here to say this as well. And then what we got .. basically sucked compared to their first two amazing albums.
For me it was Faith No More’s Angel Dust. Next album after the success of The RealTthing. Probably not what a lot of people were expecting but definately broadened my musical taste.
Wasn’t the first single the cover of Easy like Sunday Morning? Like, ok, but also…wtf?
Metallica- Load was a pretty big deal.
Beck - Odelay.
Tha Carter 3 by Lil Wayne. If you were in high school during the time, you understand.
Some great answers so far. My personal one that popped in my head was American Idiot by Green Day. I remember a huge crowd when Blink 182's take off your pants and jacket came out too. Wasn't Britney's Oops I did it again huge too?
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John. Set absolutely huge records for pre-sales Not as good as the anticipation IMHO, but not bad nevertheless
RHCP - Californication, featuring the return of John Frusciante. After the disappointing One Hot Minute, I remember the hype being huge to have John's classic guitar sound back. Similar timeframe - Smashing Pumpkins Machina. It was supposed to be their return to rock after (the great, but very different) A'dore. I thought it largely sucked. Sounded soulless.
I especially remember Dangerous and History being super anticipated as well. Michael Jackson had evolved from biggest pop star in the world to simply the most famous human being on the planet. For History I remember these giant statues of MJ, like on the album cover, were appearing all over the place - they had one floating down the river Thames in London.
Tool. Fear Innocculum
Donda by Kanye deserves a mention with its over-the-top lead up. Things changed very quickly for Kanye afterwards though obviously.
Life of Pablo I thought had a much bigger/better lead up. First album in 3 years, Releasing singles on GOOD Fridays, the whole Tidal fiasco, then selling out MSG on release night. How things have changed lol
Pretty sure every Beatles album after the first one were very highly anticipated
Pearl Jam Vs, fall 1993. They were the biggest band on the planet, and this was their follow up to Ten. I was 15 and worked in a record store. We had this cool as shit hippie manager who would let us hang out late on Monday nights and buy new releases at 12:01am (because release dates were always Tuesdays). ~70 classmates gave me cash to pick up copies of Vs with my 10% discount at the end of my Monday shift. Tuesday morning 7:30am I got to play Santa Claus as everyone swarmed my locker to get their copies. Everyone cut 1st and 2nd period to listen to the album in the parking lot. Administration barely slapped anyone on the wrist. They knew.
Gaucho and Tusk
Born To Run / Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band
The Avalanches 2nd album "The Wildfire"; 16 years it took. might be all the sample clearances
This is the one for me too. They created lightning in a bottle with Since I Left You, I guess it's hard to follow that up.
Prince - Paisley Park
If you mean "Around the World in a Day," then yes. It's the first vinyl album I ever owned... and kid me was terribly disappointed it wasn't more like Purple Rain.
Breakfast in America, there was a lot of hype about that.
All of Kanye's albums up until TLOP were a huge deal but I remember the hype for College Dropout and Graduation being super crazy before they dropped. I remember when Kanye debuted the "Through the Wire" music video on Rap City and dropped a freestyle with a verse from Last Call. When "Slow Jamz" hit, nothing else sounded like that on the radio in '04 and I HAD to get that shit day one.
I searched Up and no one is talking about Peter Gabriel's followup to Us, Up. Helluva let down tbh.
The next Beatles album. All the other bands of that era (The Who, Stones, Kinks, whoever) were anticipated, and people looked forward to their next releases. But EVERYBODY looked forward to the next Beatles drop. They had an uncanny ability to both presage what was coming AND set the new trends. A truly remarkable achievement they managed to pull off again and again.
Oasis - Be Here Now Many thoughts they would take it to the next level here but it turned out to just be satisfactory.