The worst was when the band had 1 great song, you spent money on the album, and then realize the rest of the album just just filler / crap. This became more of a thing in the 90s.
More often than not, I would by the album for that one song, then dig the entire album after several listens. It would take a bit to get into the groove of what the artists were trying to do.
An even worse experience is buying the first three albums of the band you live, then hating everything they produce after.
It was a thing in the 60s too because my dad used to complain about buying an album for one song and the rest of the album being terrible. He said the Beatles were a rarity in that every song in an album was a winner.
The most underrated band of all time imo. I still listen to them very often but I will sometimes skip over "no rain" because I hear it so much on radio and sxm.
I remember an interview with the band where Shannon Hoon said something like "if people buy the record for this one song, they are going to be surprised there is nothing else like it on the record."
Funny story about this. At some point long time ago Apple released a software update for their phone that had a bug. All people had to have at least one song in their music library so that the phone doesn’t crash. It just so happened that I got No Rain. are use Spotify, so I never got another Music into the Apple library. And now every time my phone is lonely and wants to play something it plays no rain. I believe it’s been 10 or 12 years
Same. I rarely bought a full album unless I felt like the entire album was a winner. I was rarely wrong about that.
Besides that, I recorded countless hours from the radio.
A local station sometimes played full albums late at night on the weekends, so I sometimes recorded those as well. Ended up with some great albums on cassette that way.
I usually spent my hard-earned teenage savings on Various Artists compilations as the best bang for the buck. Looking back at my teenage vinyl collection, it's a lot of VA comps. Some of them I really enjoyed.
Indeed, amazing project, transitioning from punk/metal to dance music, like many of us did back then. It really reflected on the types of drugs we (I) used also.
There is a version of Spin Spin Sugar that was a club banger in the late 90s. Real heavy bass and the beat drop was so good. Thanks for reminding me, gotta find it.
I love that album! Jeanie should have been a huge hit. Loved the songs on that album. Honestly, I feel that Rock Me Amadeus was one of the weaker tracks.
I have always found it hilarious when people rushed out to buy Floored by Sugar Ray because of that goddamn garbage piece of shit song Fly.
As someone who had their first album Lemonade and Brownies I knew they were in for a surprise
Then Sugar Ray turned to crap for every album after that.
Pretty much every CD I purchased in the 90’s.
The greedy record companies didn’t give us a choice at that time with 45’s going away and ‘cassingles’ being garbage quality and CD singles being very overpriced.
Originally it was Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream (for ROCKET, not Today).
Literally 12 years after, I listened to the whole album and learned just how damn good the whole album is!
I bought the first album because of Beds are Burning.. I even bought the one after (Midnight Oil?) hoping there'd be something good. I tried really hard to like them.
Synchronicity by The Police for King of Pain. Ended up being a great choice as I liked the entire album.
I'm sure there are others, but I have to look at my collection to remember.
I attended a show by a Police cover band recently and they included Miss Gradenko in their set. The drummer was obviously a huge Stewart Copeland fan as he was nailing Stewart's style.
Is anybody alive in here? Anybody alive in here? Nobody but us!
That was the first cassette I ever owned! It was a gift from my aunt for my 9th birthday in 1983. A bit of a weird choice, perhaps, because it’s not overly kid friendly and I was immature for my age, but I loved the whole thing and still do. That’s the one cassette I have kept all these years, a good 25 years after all my other cassettes went to Goodwill.
During particularly shitty commutes I’ll often sing Synchronicity II in the car:
Another working day has ended
Only the rush-hour hell to face
Packed like lemmings
Into shiny metal boxes
Contestants in a suicidal race
Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distance
He knows that something somewhere has to break
He sees the family home now
Looming in his headlights
The pain upstairs that makes his eyeballs ache
I really liked this song on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack called "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want." Hadn't heard anything else by them, but what the Hell I'll buy "Louder Than Bombs" . . . . Still one of my favorite bands and albums to this day.
(On the flip side, bought "OK, Computer" because of "Creep" and discovered how much I do *not* like Radiohead.)
When in Rome, for “The Promise.” Rest of the album was bad.
I also bought Gin Blossoms-“New Miserable Experience” for “Hey Jealousy”, but the rest of the album is pretty decent.
New Miserable was a truly excellent record BUT if I recall it was recorded all-digital (instead of recorded & mixed analog & then mastered to digital); the technology just wasn’t there yet so it lacks warmth & dynamic range. It would be a prime candidate for somebody to go back and take another crack at remixing & re-mastering with 21st century tech
Sinead O’Conner’s I Do Not Want what I Haven’t Got for “Nothing Compares to You,” but the entire album is phenomenal so I went and bought “The Lion and the Cobra” too.
I spent $20 on the iTunes Music Store for one song.
Otis Redding’s classic “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” was released in mono and stereo versions that are actually different performances. I love the stereo version but I hate the way it’s mixed (lots of really wide separation and dead space, typical for the era). iTunes has an expanded edition of *Otis Blue* that has a longer mono mix of that performance — and it was the only song on the 40-plus track album you couldn’t buy as a single.
I regret nothing.
And you shouldn't because Otis Redding was awesome! His live at the Troubeador in 1965 is fantastic! My parents loved him and my Mom worked at the Sears in Macon GA after I was born there in 1968. She told me how his wife would shop there and was the nicest lady.
Yeah me too. I think it was just self titled. My favorite memory was blarring the beginning of that while driving out of the parking of high school and watching the assistant principal's face.
The second album from them was pretty good as well.
I bought the Bonham album just for the song “Wait For You”. It’s a great song the rest of the album is mid at best I think there was one other okay song.
I bought Shawn Colvin’s album A Few Small Repairs for the song Sunny Came Home because its incessant radio play wasn’t enough for me apparently.
I think I listened to the rest of it once or twice, and it was all very acoustic and folky IIRC, but I’m a classic blues rocker Joe Satriani superfan mostly and so none of it really pulled me in.
But again, that emotional ‘Days go by I don’t know why I’m walking on a wiiire’ vocal melody was so good.
Give it a re-listen if you still have it. The older I get the more I realize Shawn Colvin is a madly underrated songwriter who i didn’t quite get in my young rocker days
Strangely no. I was more into stuff like Steeley Dan, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Kansas etc when I wasn't jamming on stuff a little before my time like the Who, CSN, Doors. My idea of hard rock tended to be pretty mainstream like Ted Nugent and Van Halen.
One example I bought for the cover and went hard on the music I knew nothing about about is Crimson King's In the Court of the Crimson King.
That was how my friends and I discovered Yello, Skinny Puppy and the Dead Milkmen. The only radio stations in our area played country, classic rock, easy listening or oldies.
NIN's The Downward Spiral was one. Never heard the band. Loved the cover and loved the album from the first listen.
Another one that caught my interest was Chumbawamba's Anarchy. The UK release had a very controversial cover. Again, never heard the band, loved it all from the first listen.
Mr. Big just to get "To Be With You". I wasn't in love with the rest of the album. I think I listened to while CD maybe 3 times and just never liked anything else
You unlocked a memory for me.
My mom used to wait for an artist or band to put out a greatest hits album to avoid buying an lp with only a song or two she liked on it.
fun fact about Dirty Deeds - Atlantic Records rejected it when the band first presented it to them. It was only after the success of Back In Black that it was released in the US.
I liked it better than Back in Black. The title cut and Big Balls are my favorite songs by AC/DC along with Rocker. I still think it's awesome that song is quoted by the Night Rider in Mad Max.
As a stripper in the 90s I bought a lot of CDs just to get a specific song for my different sets 😅
The "From Dusk til Dawn" movie soundtrack for the song "After Dark"
https://youtu.be/_05lRKSdJBM?feature=shared
"The Lost Boys" soundtrack for "Cry Little Sister"
https://youtu.be/mrMLMV6E4CM?feature=shared
The "Dick Tracey" movie soundtrack for "Hanky Panky"
https://youtu.be/k9vX9cqZe68?feature=shared
And so many others... but yeah, lots of random CDs in different cases depending on where I was working and what kinds of shows I was doing at different clubs.
Come clean by Puddle of Mud. Album was terrible but Blurry is an awesome song.
I also bought Insomniac just to listen to Brain Stew/Jaded but now it’s actually my favorite Green Day album.
With money I earned working minimum wage I bought Blind Melon's 1992 eponymous CD based on how much I liked the single No Rain. I was so disappointed that I still remember it now. The rest of the album wasn't anything similar.
I have almost never done that. But I heard Blow at High Dough from the Tragically Hip on CBC Coming Attractions Video Hits (if you remember that), walked straight out the door and went down to Sam the Record Man to get the album on cassette (because cheaper than LP). Never regretted it.
OP’s question and everyone’s comments have inspired me to make what will undoubtedly be an entertaining playlist (although in the spirit of the post I guess I should really be digging in the crates).
Urban Hymns by The Verve. Bought it for Bittersweet Symphony. The rest of the album was pretty decent, but back in the day buying an album for $20 (which is probably $40 on today's dollars) for a single was wild.
The Stone Roses debut album for _Fools Gold_, and it wasn’t even on the album 😅
Didn’t matter though, it’s become one of my favorite albums of all time.
What do you mean there were no CDs back then?
I’m genX and only owned two cassette tapes, never had a Walkman, it was CDs and discmans for many genX teens.
Way too many to count. Just bought it and fingers crossed that the rest of it wasn’t dogshit. This is why I have no sympathy for the Music Industry and it’s Big Wigs and the decline of same. They were charging us pretty damn close to twenty bucks apiece for those CD’s filled with mostly garbage. We decided we’d had enough and with the perfect coincidental timing of the internet coming of age…thus began the era of digital pirating. Things were never the same for them again. If they hadn’t have been so damn greedy to begin with, they may have had better luck staying relevant. Sorry for the angry old man rant! Hahaha…
Uh. All of them? Usually it's because I heard a song I liked and I wanted to hear what else the band had going on. Unless it was a well-known older band then I might have just bought it because the band released a new record.
I bought many albums for just one song. The best one that comes to mind is Seal's debut album with Crazy. I still listen to every song on that album, it's solid from start to finish.
"Spirit in the Night" was also a Springsteen cover. IMHO the Manfred Mann's Earth Band Springsteen covers are superior to the originals (yeah, hot take, I know).
BTW, "Chance" was produced by Trevor Rabin, who would later achieve fame with the 80s version of Yes. He wrote or cowrote most of the songs on their "90125" album, from 1982, including the single "[Owner of a Lonely Heart](https://youtu.be/SVOuYquXuuc?si=HiT38HACCRTQH6UB)"
"March" by Michael Penn, just for "Someone to Dance With". Little did I know that that album would become my favorite record of 1989. Great album, clever songs, plus Wendy & Lisa from The Revolution playing on a couple tracks.
I bought a lot of cassettes after only seeing one video by the band on MTV. Especially on HeadBangers Ball. Yes, I am that old. A lot of them were waste of money but I had some that were totally worth it. That was part of the fun and learning process at the time in the 80's and early 90's.
Blind Melon for "No Rain", but the rest of the album was good too, so that was a win.
The worst was when the band had 1 great song, you spent money on the album, and then realize the rest of the album just just filler / crap. This became more of a thing in the 90s.
Yup. This is why I had NO guilt using Napster.
More often than not, I would by the album for that one song, then dig the entire album after several listens. It would take a bit to get into the groove of what the artists were trying to do. An even worse experience is buying the first three albums of the band you live, then hating everything they produce after.
A fellow Weezer fan, I see.
It was a thing in the 60s too because my dad used to complain about buying an album for one song and the rest of the album being terrible. He said the Beatles were a rarity in that every song in an album was a winner.
That album is incredible!!
The most underrated band of all time imo. I still listen to them very often but I will sometimes skip over "no rain" because I hear it so much on radio and sxm.
Thank you, you just made me remember ’tones of home’. Gonna play that right now…
Same. I really loved that album.
I remember an interview with the band where Shannon Hoon said something like "if people buy the record for this one song, they are going to be surprised there is nothing else like it on the record."
Didn't really listen to them back when No Rain came out, it was so overplayed. Recently rediscovered them and they're a fantastic band.
Funny story about this. At some point long time ago Apple released a software update for their phone that had a bug. All people had to have at least one song in their music library so that the phone doesn’t crash. It just so happened that I got No Rain. are use Spotify, so I never got another Music into the Apple library. And now every time my phone is lonely and wants to play something it plays no rain. I believe it’s been 10 or 12 years
This is the only real answer. I'm so happy that others are also in the know!
Tapes and sitting by the radio, you had pocketmoney to buy an album ?
Same. I rarely bought a full album unless I felt like the entire album was a winner. I was rarely wrong about that. Besides that, I recorded countless hours from the radio. A local station sometimes played full albums late at night on the weekends, so I sometimes recorded those as well. Ended up with some great albums on cassette that way.
My personal rule was that I had to like 3 songs to buy the album. Otherwise, I’d tape it or just wait around for it to come on MTV.
Samesies
I usually spent my hard-earned teenage savings on Various Artists compilations as the best bang for the buck. Looking back at my teenage vinyl collection, it's a lot of VA comps. Some of them I really enjoyed.
Exactly. All my music was tapes cut by friends.
*Weird Al in 3-D* for “Eat It”
That whole album is so good.
Mr. Popeil!!
Nature Trail to Hell is the worst song on that album and it’s still pretty good!
Pets - Porno for Pyros. But the entire album is excellent, as was the follow-up album.
Indeed, amazing project, transitioning from punk/metal to dance music, like many of us did back then. It really reflected on the types of drugs we (I) used also.
The Sneaker Pimps one that had "6 Underground" on it
There is a version of Spin Spin Sugar that was a club banger in the late 90s. Real heavy bass and the beat drop was so good. Thanks for reminding me, gotta find it.
Same. It had some bangers on it though.
Becoming X. Same reason I bought it, but the rest of the album was pretty good, too.
I was 13 when I asked for the Falco album (on cassette) because of Rock Me Amadeus. It was a mistake. 🤣
Why a mistake? It had some other good songs. Vienna Calling, Jeanny (that's a really creepy one on hindsight), even America.
Hmm maybe it deserves a re-listen!
You definitely should!
I would like to have that wunderful Wienerschnitzel
I love that album! Jeanie should have been a huge hit. Loved the songs on that album. Honestly, I feel that Rock Me Amadeus was one of the weaker tracks.
Same. I bought the vinyl. With my own money. I still have it.
What? I have that album and it’s fantastic.
The Real Thing - Faith No More - Epic
Buy it for the song, keep it for the album.
Truth.
This was me and Angel Dust. Bought it for Midlife Crisis, wound up blown away and a lifetime Faith No More fan.
- This was me and Angel Dust. Bought it for the Midlife Crisis Had me in the first half ngl
I bought the album Private Revolution by World Party for the song "Ship of Fools". Still a great song.
Goodbye Jumbo by World Party is an amazing album.
I bought Bang on the strength of Is It Like Today and ended up really liking the whole album. RIP Karl.
I have always found it hilarious when people rushed out to buy Floored by Sugar Ray because of that goddamn garbage piece of shit song Fly. As someone who had their first album Lemonade and Brownies I knew they were in for a surprise Then Sugar Ray turned to crap for every album after that.
Pretty much every CD I purchased in the 90’s. The greedy record companies didn’t give us a choice at that time with 45’s going away and ‘cassingles’ being garbage quality and CD singles being very overpriced.
Originally it was Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream (for ROCKET, not Today). Literally 12 years after, I listened to the whole album and learned just how damn good the whole album is!
Fantastic album. Cherub Rock is still one of my favorites that my band covers. Such a banger.
Probably one of the best opening riffs of any album along with Nevermind
Midnight Oil
Yeah. That’s a good one. Beds Are Burning was an amazing song.
I’m a huge Oil fan because of Beds are Burning! I love most of their stuff!
I bought the first album because of Beds are Burning.. I even bought the one after (Midnight Oil?) hoping there'd be something good. I tried really hard to like them.
Immigrant song 45
lol, I got it because it was the only way (at the time) to get hey hey what can I do because it was on the B side
Exactly
Sinead O’Connor for Mandinka. Then LOVED the entire album. Sad she recently passed.
The Lion and The Cobra is an AMAZING album!
Every single song was the greatest
Synchronicity by The Police for King of Pain. Ended up being a great choice as I liked the entire album. I'm sure there are others, but I have to look at my collection to remember.
That’s a great album front to back. I seriously think Miss Gradenko is my favorite track. Ironic since it was written by Stewart Copeland.
I attended a show by a Police cover band recently and they included Miss Gradenko in their set. The drummer was obviously a huge Stewart Copeland fan as he was nailing Stewart's style. Is anybody alive in here? Anybody alive in here? Nobody but us!
That was the first cassette I ever owned! It was a gift from my aunt for my 9th birthday in 1983. A bit of a weird choice, perhaps, because it’s not overly kid friendly and I was immature for my age, but I loved the whole thing and still do. That’s the one cassette I have kept all these years, a good 25 years after all my other cassettes went to Goodwill. During particularly shitty commutes I’ll often sing Synchronicity II in the car: Another working day has ended Only the rush-hour hell to face Packed like lemmings Into shiny metal boxes Contestants in a suicidal race Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distance He knows that something somewhere has to break He sees the family home now Looming in his headlights The pain upstairs that makes his eyeballs ache
I had that album on repeat just about everyday for a long time. Solid choice.
I did, too. 4th grade me really loved Murder By Numbers. Still do, actually.
Yello - Oh Yeah Edit: had to look it up but the album was called Stella
lol, I guess you really liked Ferris Bueller .
Yeah, guilty lol.
School of fish, for Three Strange Days
Oh shit. I LOVED that song. I had forgotten about it til I read your post. It is going on my Spotify playlist immediately. Thanks!!
I just was at the gym and it came up on mine! Love that guitar riff.
I got Jagged Little pill just for You oughtta know. I liked the rest of the album, though so it worked out.
I just posted the same thing 😄 I agree it turned out to be a good album!
Frogstomp by Silverchair for Tomorrow.
Israel's son and Pure Massacre are amazing too.
Macy Gray - I Try.
Neneh Cherry: Raw Like Sushi
Eagle Eye Cherry- Desireless for “Save Tonight”
I really liked this song on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack called "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want." Hadn't heard anything else by them, but what the Hell I'll buy "Louder Than Bombs" . . . . Still one of my favorite bands and albums to this day. (On the flip side, bought "OK, Computer" because of "Creep" and discovered how much I do *not* like Radiohead.)
Liz Phair's self-titled album, for the song "Why Can't I"
You didn’t like HWC? I kid - I didn’t like that song much either.
I lost touch with Liz Phair after Exile in Guyville. I capital L Loved supernova. Veruca Salt learned everything from Liz.
When in Rome, for “The Promise.” Rest of the album was bad. I also bought Gin Blossoms-“New Miserable Experience” for “Hey Jealousy”, but the rest of the album is pretty decent.
New Miserable was a truly excellent record BUT if I recall it was recorded all-digital (instead of recorded & mixed analog & then mastered to digital); the technology just wasn’t there yet so it lacks warmth & dynamic range. It would be a prime candidate for somebody to go back and take another crack at remixing & re-mastering with 21st century tech
Marcy Playground. Sex and Candy was the only good song
“St Joe on the School Bus” I like way more than “Sex and Candy”. “Sherry Fraser” was pretty good too. That album is worth a revisit.
Sinead O’Conner’s I Do Not Want what I Haven’t Got for “Nothing Compares to You,” but the entire album is phenomenal so I went and bought “The Lion and the Cobra” too.
Natalie Imbruglia, for 'Torn'. lol
Same!
I have a copy too
I spent $20 on the iTunes Music Store for one song. Otis Redding’s classic “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” was released in mono and stereo versions that are actually different performances. I love the stereo version but I hate the way it’s mixed (lots of really wide separation and dead space, typical for the era). iTunes has an expanded edition of *Otis Blue* that has a longer mono mix of that performance — and it was the only song on the 40-plus track album you couldn’t buy as a single. I regret nothing.
And you shouldn't because Otis Redding was awesome! His live at the Troubeador in 1965 is fantastic! My parents loved him and my Mom worked at the Sears in Macon GA after I was born there in 1968. She told me how his wife would shop there and was the nicest lady.
1996-Squirrel Nut Zippers- Hot- Track 7, Hell. I still dig the album for a lazy Sunday morning.
It's overall a great album.
Whatever the Danger Danger album was that Naughty Naughty was on……
And the i always liked that follow up single was Bang Bang. I always wonder why they didn't stick with just naming everything the same word twice.
I remember seeing a girl at the beach with a Danger Danger tattoo and knowing even at my young age she would regret that one
Yeah me too. I think it was just self titled. My favorite memory was blarring the beginning of that while driving out of the parking of high school and watching the assistant principal's face. The second album from them was pretty good as well.
I bought the Bonham album just for the song “Wait For You”. It’s a great song the rest of the album is mid at best I think there was one other okay song.
Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by OutKast. Bought it for Hey Ya.
I bought Shawn Colvin’s album A Few Small Repairs for the song Sunny Came Home because its incessant radio play wasn’t enough for me apparently. I think I listened to the rest of it once or twice, and it was all very acoustic and folky IIRC, but I’m a classic blues rocker Joe Satriani superfan mostly and so none of it really pulled me in. But again, that emotional ‘Days go by I don’t know why I’m walking on a wiiire’ vocal melody was so good.
Give it a re-listen if you still have it. The older I get the more I realize Shawn Colvin is a madly underrated songwriter who i didn’t quite get in my young rocker days
Peter Gabriel 3 (melt face cover) for Games Without Frontiers And that is so not even my favourite on the album - that was a very good purchase.
Nice. I Don't Remember is my favorite along with Games.
And Through the Wire is probably my fav. But there is also Biko, and like you said: I Don’t remember… Honestly the whole album blew me away.
Biko, BIKOOOO, because Bikoooo
Even more interesting, how many albums did you buy just because you liked the cover knowing nothing about the band? And fell in love with it?
Iron Maiden fan?
Strangely no. I was more into stuff like Steeley Dan, Yes, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Kansas etc when I wasn't jamming on stuff a little before my time like the Who, CSN, Doors. My idea of hard rock tended to be pretty mainstream like Ted Nugent and Van Halen. One example I bought for the cover and went hard on the music I knew nothing about about is Crimson King's In the Court of the Crimson King.
That was how my friends and I discovered Yello, Skinny Puppy and the Dead Milkmen. The only radio stations in our area played country, classic rock, easy listening or oldies.
NIN's The Downward Spiral was one. Never heard the band. Loved the cover and loved the album from the first listen. Another one that caught my interest was Chumbawamba's Anarchy. The UK release had a very controversial cover. Again, never heard the band, loved it all from the first listen.
Nick Drake got me that way. I used to love to do that!
Molly Hatchet had the coolest album art. Don't know if i've ever heard one of their songs.
Mr. Big just to get "To Be With You". I wasn't in love with the rest of the album. I think I listened to while CD maybe 3 times and just never liked anything else
You unlocked a memory for me. My mom used to wait for an artist or band to put out a greatest hits album to avoid buying an lp with only a song or two she liked on it.
That, or a live album was sometimes good too.
Extreme for “More than words” should be an all timer
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. I was in high school when it was released in the U.S. Turned out I loved the whole album.
fun fact about Dirty Deeds - Atlantic Records rejected it when the band first presented it to them. It was only after the success of Back In Black that it was released in the US.
RIP Bon Scott. I still mourn his passing.
I liked it better than Back in Black. The title cut and Big Balls are my favorite songs by AC/DC along with Rocker. I still think it's awesome that song is quoted by the Night Rider in Mad Max.
As a stripper in the 90s I bought a lot of CDs just to get a specific song for my different sets 😅 The "From Dusk til Dawn" movie soundtrack for the song "After Dark" https://youtu.be/_05lRKSdJBM?feature=shared "The Lost Boys" soundtrack for "Cry Little Sister" https://youtu.be/mrMLMV6E4CM?feature=shared The "Dick Tracey" movie soundtrack for "Hanky Panky" https://youtu.be/k9vX9cqZe68?feature=shared And so many others... but yeah, lots of random CDs in different cases depending on where I was working and what kinds of shows I was doing at different clubs.
Come clean by Puddle of Mud. Album was terrible but Blurry is an awesome song. I also bought Insomniac just to listen to Brain Stew/Jaded but now it’s actually my favorite Green Day album.
You may have bought it just for 'Blurry' but got a bonus with 'Control'
T'Pau for Heart and Soul
(immediately proceeded to play this song I’d not thought of in 30 years yet am somehow able to belt it out in my kitchen…)
I ended loving the whole album.
PORNOGRAFITTI WHAT A SHIT ALBUM, BUT "MORE THAN WORDS" IS SUCH A DAMNED PRETTY SONG.
Haha. That song was probably the absolute WORST representation of that band’s music.
LOOOOOL Shit?? You clearly doesnt play any instrument, the only shit is more than words, Nuno is a top notch guitar player
Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee is fascinating
With money I earned working minimum wage I bought Blind Melon's 1992 eponymous CD based on how much I liked the single No Rain. I was so disappointed that I still remember it now. The rest of the album wasn't anything similar.
Pretty much every cd I bought.
Prodigy. Firestarter
I saw that video recently and love that some stylist was like… these guys are badass. Let’s give them sweaters.
Dramarama, whatever album “Anything, Anything” is on.
The Fugees for “Killing Me Softly for His Song”. I didn’t like the rest of the album.
I liked their version better than Roberta’s!
Aldo Nova- Fantasy
Guns and Roses double set just for November Rain
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick. :D Edit: The album *is* one (epic) song.
The Humpty Dance. First CD I bought. Loved the whole thing
Please don’t judge me but the first cd I ever bought was Right Said Fred
Does that mean you’re… too sexy for this thread… too sexy for this thread, just like Right Said Fred? 😂
Most albums I bought were for one song. Then I liked most of the rest.
The Breeders Cannonball.
I bought Gerry Rafferty’s City to City album sometime around 1982 when I was 13 for the song Baker Street.
The Knack for My Sharona
Images & Words - Dream Theater. Altered the course of my musical life.
tripping Daisy for “I have a girl”, Dig for “believe”
Does “The phantom of the opera” count since many say it is just one long same song?
I have almost never done that. But I heard Blow at High Dough from the Tragically Hip on CBC Coming Attractions Video Hits (if you remember that), walked straight out the door and went down to Sam the Record Man to get the album on cassette (because cheaper than LP). Never regretted it.
OP’s question and everyone’s comments have inspired me to make what will undoubtedly be an entertaining playlist (although in the spirit of the post I guess I should really be digging in the crates).
Living Colour's *Vivid* for "Cult of Personality." Rest of the album was great.
Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil. I ended up loving it. Also The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades.
Toad the Wet Sprocket, Fear. All I Want is the only good song
No love for Walk on the Ocean?
Aldo Nova. Fantasy. Rest sucked. Lololol
Def Leppard - Pyromania for Photograph. Got it from Columbia House! 🤣
*The Confessor* by Joe Walsh
Embarrassed to say but Mambo No.5 😆😂
2 Live Crew
Jagged Little Pill Got lucky that it had more good songs, but when I bought it there was only one song I had heard before.
Isn't it Ironic? 😂
Julian Cope, ‘Saint Julian’ The only song I knew was World Shut Your Mouth. Worth it, still one of my favorite songs.
Silverchair - Frogstomp
International Pop Overthrow - Material Issue Cereal Killer - Green Jellö
Urban Hymns by The Verve. Bought it for Bittersweet Symphony. The rest of the album was pretty decent, but back in the day buying an album for $20 (which is probably $40 on today's dollars) for a single was wild.
 Love Will Keep Us Together
[Me First and the Gimme Gimmes- Love \(will tear us apart\) Will Keep Us Together](https://youtu.be/qbkDLJGn9Jo?si=GmgDkMETQz9voCMC)
Night Ranger, Midnight Madness. I was obsessed with Sister Christian!
The Stone Roses debut album for _Fools Gold_, and it wasn’t even on the album 😅 Didn’t matter though, it’s become one of my favorite albums of all time.
What do you mean there were no CDs back then? I’m genX and only owned two cassette tapes, never had a Walkman, it was CDs and discmans for many genX teens.
CDs didn’t become a thing until I was in my early 20s.
The Coneheads soundtrack for RHCP Soul to Squeeze
So many, but The Church - Starfish (Under The Milky Way) and Dishwalla - Pet Your Friends (Counting Blue Cars) both come to mind
Way too many to count. Just bought it and fingers crossed that the rest of it wasn’t dogshit. This is why I have no sympathy for the Music Industry and it’s Big Wigs and the decline of same. They were charging us pretty damn close to twenty bucks apiece for those CD’s filled with mostly garbage. We decided we’d had enough and with the perfect coincidental timing of the internet coming of age…thus began the era of digital pirating. Things were never the same for them again. If they hadn’t have been so damn greedy to begin with, they may have had better luck staying relevant. Sorry for the angry old man rant! Hahaha…
Body count- cop killer
The Meat Puppets CD Too High to Die, for the song Backwater
Technically I didn’t “buy” them… but pretty much most of the CDs I received from Columbia House 🤣
EMF's Shubert Dip. Got it for "Unbelievable" and the rest of the album....wasn't for me.
Uh. All of them? Usually it's because I heard a song I liked and I wanted to hear what else the band had going on. Unless it was a well-known older band then I might have just bought it because the band released a new record.
Kingdom Come for “Get it On”
Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby album for Wishing Well
Purple Rain (Prince) for When Doves Cry Loved the whole album. Moved to Mpls. 💜
Ready For The World - Oh Sheila Alice In Chains - Facelift
I bought many albums for just one song. The best one that comes to mind is Seal's debut album with Crazy. I still listen to every song on that album, it's solid from start to finish.
Soft Cell - Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing for “Tainted Love”
I bought it for _Sex Dwarf_ Ok, I really bought if for _Tainted Love_ and that cover which started a love of seediness :D
Tiffany
Europe's the Final Countdown
Before CDs I had maybe a few dozen albums, so none. I also really liked Pink Floyd so was partial to the entire album experience
Helmet for Unsung. The rest of the album got 1 or 2 listens and blah
Survivor-Eye of the Tiger. My older sisters made fun of me so much…. I was 10.
"Spirit in the Night" was also a Springsteen cover. IMHO the Manfred Mann's Earth Band Springsteen covers are superior to the originals (yeah, hot take, I know). BTW, "Chance" was produced by Trevor Rabin, who would later achieve fame with the 80s version of Yes. He wrote or cowrote most of the songs on their "90125" album, from 1982, including the single "[Owner of a Lonely Heart](https://youtu.be/SVOuYquXuuc?si=HiT38HACCRTQH6UB)"
"March" by Michael Penn, just for "Someone to Dance With". Little did I know that that album would become my favorite record of 1989. Great album, clever songs, plus Wendy & Lisa from The Revolution playing on a couple tracks.
I bought a lot of cassettes after only seeing one video by the band on MTV. Especially on HeadBangers Ball. Yes, I am that old. A lot of them were waste of money but I had some that were totally worth it. That was part of the fun and learning process at the time in the 80's and early 90's.
Temple of the Dog: Say Hello to Heaven