By The Grace of God, You Are Absolved...

Hmmmmmm. I go back to seventh grade for this one, but I realized how mediocre to bad Oasis was when I heard any other album they did besides Whats the Story Morning Glory. They made some catchy tunes, but are a one time band to the extreme. However, the songs from that album including Wonderwall and Morning Glory are absolutely superb. I still get goosebumps listening to Wonderwall these days. And for that song, to a lesser extent that album, Oasis is absolved of all their musical disasters.

'The Summer of 69' by Bryan Adams and 'The Boys of Summer' by Don Henley both fit this mould, IMHO.

"Fantasy"-Mariah Carey....."Fine time"-Cast....."Romeo and Juliet"- Dire Straights....."The end"-The Doors....."Shape of my heart"- Backstreet Boys....."Bitter sweet symphony"-The Verve..."Genie in a bottle"-Christina Aguilera...."I can hear your heart beat"-Chris Rea..."Slight return"-The Bluetones..I'm sure theres plenty more I can think of but I've got to go eat my dinner.

cheap trick with the song surrender..

and the admirals go on..to powerplay!

Yes "Roundabout", Motley Crue "Don't Go Away Mad", Cher "Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves", Jane's Addiction "Been Caught Stealing", The Knack "My Sharona", Bob Seger "2+2=?", Geto Boys "Mind Playin' Tricks On Me", Loverboy "Turn Me Loose", Genesis "That's All", Lita Ford "Kiss Me Deadly", Stevie Nicks "Edge Of Seventeen", dozens of others, I'm sure. Never mind, scrap Bob Seger - the words to "Ol' Time Rock'n'Roll" condemn the old boob to burn in hell for all eternity. If I have to choose only one, I'll take that Motley Crue song. Usually I have a hard time thinking of them as humans, but on "Don't Go Away Mad" the melodies are so pretty and the words make me feel all sappy... Motley Crue, by the grace of God, you are absolved.

To answer my own question:

1) "Laid" by James. But really, this is a song that should've come up by now, as it's scientifically proven that every person in the world sings along with this song when it comes on the pub jukebox. It's one of the best singles of the 90s. Yet somehow every other song they ever did was rubbish.

2) "Kung Fu" by Ash. Ash are terrible in that they aren't BAD. They're just...there. There is no worse offense in pop music than being boring. However, the existance of "Kung Fu" makes up for all that. I can never truly badmouth Ash when I know they are capable of that song.

And yes, "Summer of 69" and "Boys of Summer" certainly qualify, for me at least, except "Boys" does NOT excuse the Eagles.

"Tears" by the Stone Roses.

Hmmn. There's a list of damn fine singles (Angel, Walk This Way, etc.) that absolve Aerosmith of several sins (i.e. staying around after Pump and the unfortunate discovery of Alicia Silverstone...)

Boys of Summer does NOT absolve Don Henley. He needs some serious help. An old priest and a young priest.

Stayin' Alive and To Love Somebody absolve the Bee Gees from Sgt. Pepper.

Let My Love Open The Door (and Slit Skirts) saves PT from his morose and bleak solo career.

'Lucky Man' - The Verve

'Run to You' - Bryan Adams

'Rockafella Skank' - Fatboy Slim

'Go'- Moby

pure shores - all saints

Regulate -- Warren G

1. I don't agree about the James track. I have yet to see any evidence of anyone in a pub singing along with it. If anything absolves James - who I think have often been truly woeful - then for me it's probably 'Born Of Frustration'.

2. Alex T - 'Summer of 69' and 'Boys of Summer' are *great* calls. Spot on.

3. Contradicting my last paragraph, perhaps, I'm not quite sure that I can make the question cohere - because it seems to presuppose an antipathy to the artist. But if your antipathy is *that* great, then one song won't absolve them ('Sweet Child of Mine' does not, for me, absolve G&R from all their other trash), and if it's not, then will they require absolution?

i don't know that the question presupposes a general antipathy to the artist so much as that you're willing to forgive the crap they may also do for one song.

third eye blind -- "never let you go"

pulp -- "the fear"

prince -- "when doves cry"

jimi hendrix -- "the star-spangled banner"

black sabbath -- "paranoid"

journey -- "don't stop believin'"

poison -- "talk dirty to me"

on the fence: bjork -- "army of me" (_dancer in the dark_ was pretty hard to excuse.)

"roundabout" mars _fragile_. "the end" is the doors' worst song.

rites of spring -- "for want of"

yo la tengo -- "deeper into movies" (another on the fence)

"Question" by the Moody Blues.

I think that if you think that most of an artist's output is 'crap', then you probably have some brand of antipathy towards them, however passive.