One bad track...

(1) The dreadfully whinge-drenched faux-rock track "Not Me" (featuring Robbie Grey of Modern English on vocals) prevents IT'LL END IN TEARS, the debut album by 4AD hip studio collective, This Mortal Coil from being virtually flawless.

(2) Sort've a mainstreamy answer, but Andy Summers' histrionic "Mother" taints an otherwise impressive SYNCHRONICITY by the Police.

(3) The pointless and uninspired cover of "Light My Fire" that closes PROTECTION, the othewise brilliant (to these ears) second album by Massive Attack is unfortunate.

(4) Always thought they could have left "Revolution #9" off THE WHITE ALBUM (oops, sorry purists, THE BEATLES) and it still would've been a fine collection.

(5) I don't doubt that the song is irritating by design, but "Fodderstompf" off FIRST ISSUE by Public Image Ltd. generally has me scrambling for the remote.

"Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts". Fucker.

(Also, good call on "Light My Fire", Alex.)

Thanks to this thread, I've been unable to get "Archie the Red Nosed Reindeer" out of my head: it is the low point on Tapper Zukie's otherwise excellent 'Man Ah Warrior' LP. Cheers.

And the Great Escape has worse criminals than E.Same - the one about ooh he's a naughty boy is unendurable. But I wouldnt call it a great album in the first place.

"Too Long" off Discovery, anyone?

* FYI, I haven't heard 15 Big Ones or M.I.U, nor do I want to.

As you say Tom, 'The Great Escape' is also not great, although it gets air time regularly in my house just to hear the fantastic 'Yuko and Hiro'.

Actually to find more examples is quite hard - I keep coming back to The Byrds. I can't decide which is a worse crime against humanity than 'Take a Whiff On Me' or 'Yesterday's Train' from 'Untitled'. Strictly it's disqualified from this thread though, by having more than one awful track. No doubt someone will challenge me to name any GOOD tracks from 'Untitled';).

The mention of Tricky brings to mind that abomination "I Like The Girls" from 'Juxtapose' (not a great record by any means, but it has its moments); for some reason Mad Dog's reference to his cruising chum Scrappy Love in the midst of his cringeworthy patter makes me think of cartoon irritant Scrappy Doo *performing the whole rap*. This is something I cannot get out of my head.

1. I agree with Steady Mike that that Tricky song truly is an abomination.

2. I think 'Electioneering' probably the best thing on OKC, and 'Some Girls' an outstanding track on TQID. Nor is 'Vicar' bad at all. No, no, no: the track that spoils this most vital of all albums has to be 'Never Had No-One Ever'! I am inclined to mention 'Miserable Lie' in despatches too. Or on 'Despatches', if they ever hire me as an investigative journalist.

3. Fair point about Rosemary / Lily etc - by the way, has it ever struck anyone that Costello's 'Starting To Come To Me' (1996) is like a sort of musical tribute to this track?

4. Magnetic Fields: 'Tokyo-A-Go-Go' is cheese, and that's official. And there are some duds on Holiday and Get Lost too, but maybe multiple duds are disqualified. Oh, and on Wasps' Nests, 'Heaven In A Black Leather Jacket' is a just dismal vocal.

5. Oh, and has nobody mentioned 'Before The Sunrise'?

Best ofs - there was a cracking Four Tops best of a decade or so ago which shoved a dance mix of Reach Out I'll Be There on the end. Aaaargh.

Agreed on "Never Had No-One Ever". A drag, but hardly bona. And on "Death At One's Elbow" come to think of it. The first half of "Miserable Lie" works, and saves the rest, for me.

Orange Juice's Rip It Up has a lot of flaws, but few as big as "Hokoyo" (I think that's what it's called). That kind of tips the album for me from the acceptable pastures of an OK record into being a bit of a dodgy one, but at least you get "Tenterhook" afterwards. Sigh. I miss my turntable.

NO! NO! NO! If O+O has a blemish it's the The Butcher's Tale (is that the correct title - I don't have the album to hand). Anyway,it's the First World War one where the Zombies get unnecessarily and self- consciously 'experimental' over a wheezing squeeze box. For me that distracts from the summer-pop genius of the rest of the album. And that includes 'Time of the Season'! ;)

Anyhow, some random examples: 1) "Dear Jessie" off Madonna's Like a Prayer 2) "Repeat" (either version) off the Manic's Generation Terrorists 3) "Things That You Do" off Jay-Z's Vol. 3 4) "Digsy's Diner" off Oasis's Definitely Maybe

At least it's at the end of the album, I suppose.

1) Al Jardine's "Take a Load Off Your Feet" from "Surf's Up" (This is much, much worse than "Student Demonstration Time". Much worse.)

2) 808 State's mix of UB40's "One in Ten" on 808:88:98

"Up!" from M83's Saturdays=Youth. The first album in a long time (maybe ever) whose integrity I've violated by deleting one of its songs from my itunes.

"sweaters" on big science by laurie anderson

not even sure it's bad but it's definitely way more difficult to listen to

"annie christian" on controvery, imo

"The Song is Over" on Who's Next. They coulda put "Pure and Easy," there instead and it woulda been fucking killer.

And "Song for Europe" on Roxy Music's Stranded...not a huge blemish, but noticeably below the (granted, impossibly high) standard of the rest of the album.

"Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" off Todd Rundgren's Todd...

Wow, Nick, that's kind of my favorite song on that record! I guess it all depends on your gut response to that keening violin tone, but I've always thought of "Sweaters" as one of the most accessible/likable tracks.

'bubblegum' on sonic youth's EVOL

'the baby song' on husker du's 'flip your wig' is the first thing that came to my mind.

"one day like this" on elbow's seldom seen kid.

"Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" off Todd Rundgren's Todd...

So OTM. There are a few on "Todd" I could do without, but that one has me running to the turntable in a matter of seconds.

surprised no one's called Jazz Police. Though I actually take perverse pleasure in it, and it always reminded me of the Star Trek theme when I was a small child... very small child. I used to find Take This Waltz unbearable by comparison. I point to Jazz Police specifically because I remember someone using the phrase Jazz Police syndrome to refer but exactly to OP's stipulation.

"Sweaters" is what got me to buy Big Science!

"Eagle" on ABBA's The Album is a big skipper for me, and it's the first song - always makes me feel like I'm cheating somehow, but god it's a drag.

"Perfect Circle" on Murmur is a huge snooze that a lot of people love - never have been able to get that. My god does it suck the life out of the room.

Can't stand "Disarm" on Siamese Dream but that might just be overexposure.

I guess basically this is one of those "serious ballads in midst of rock albums" type lists.

bubblegum wasn't on Evol. It was tacked onto the CD. The actual album ends in the best way an album can end. A locked groove of Expressway....

'the baby song' on husker du's 'flip your wig' is the first thing that came to my mind.

Totally agree - wtf. Not funny, not clever. BORING. Did I miss the joke;the point?

"Hudson Line" on Deserters Songs one of the most horrendous saxophonic cacophonies ever to insult my eardrums.

lyrics and singing also woeful

W.M.C Blob 59. Grotesque by the Fall.

A few I've found...

Burial - Spaceape

When I came to rip this it was removed. Awful - and I enjoyed the Hyperdub 12", Sign of the Dub before then

Boards of Canada - Kaleidescope

The beat! It's just too jarring. They're not ae and this fails.

Burger/Ink - Swiss Made

Why go trip hop after an album of perfect minimalism? I suppose it breaks the spell but it's so sad that it has to end this way

Orbital - Are We Here?

OK, my problem with this is the album edit. The single version fixed it and I should make a version of the album with this but it just comes across as someone who doesn't know what they're doing with drum and bass breakbeats - which I'm guessing they weren't.

Brian Eno - Shadow

Again, it breaks the spell. I can't help thinking if this was somewhere else - like on a John Hassell album I'd like but here it really doesn't work. Another that got skipped when I ripped it.

ooops. It's called Gyroscope, not Kaleidescope.

One more tho'... Hot Chip - Tchaparian

Way too try hard.

Yeah, I have had similar thoughts re "Gyroscope."

Sloop John B

I'm really surprised this thread could make it 7 years without someone mentioning "Changes" from Black Sabbath Volume 4.

Of course, I like that song... but most do not.

And yeah... Sloop John B fucking rules!

Sugartooth's self-titled album sounds better to me than anything Soundgarden did after Screaming Life. E

xcept for the one track "Shine Boy" where they let the wrong guy sing. God I hate that song.

The same is true of Social Unrest's "Now and Forever". Quit letting the bass player (or whoever) have their moment in the spotlight! He doesn't deserve it.

Art of Noise - In No Sense? Nonsense! - Roundabout 727
Paul McCartney - Driving Rain - Freedom
XTC - Rag & Bone Buffet - Thanks for Christmas
Fatboy Slim - Gutter & Stars - both Macy Gray tracks

I can't remember the others because I've deleted them from history.

Oh and Bohemian Rhapsody from Night at the Opera, but only because it's been hammered to death by AOR radio everywhere.

Ride My Llama on Neil Young Rust Never Sleeps

The Other Window on Wire 154

Goon Squad on Elvis Costello Armed Forces

"(1) The dreadfully whinge-drenched faux-rock track "Not Me" (featuring Robbie Grey of Modern English on vocals) prevents IT'LL END IN TEARS, the debut album by 4AD hip studio collective, This Mortal Coil from being virtually flawless."

this is so fuckin' wrong. what a great song.

whenever i see this thread i think of the horrible rap song on that otherwise wonderful style council album.

"Fat Lady of Limbourg" (Brian Eno - Taking Tiger Mountain)

Skipping this track turns it from a 4.5 star album to a 5 star album.

I always thought of "Put a Straw Under Baby" as the weak link on that record. "Fat Lady" is I guess the worst on the first side.

Wow, this is crazy talk. I absolutely love "Fat Lady of Limbourg".

"Put a Straw" is an effective palate cleanser after one of the more typically abrasive tracks, and I've always liked the line: "And they all live in Jesus / It's a family affair". To me "Fat Lady" just kind of drags on to no perceptible purpose.

The Andy Mackay sax arrangement is the centrepiece of the track for me. And the verse about the black egg always brings up vivid mental imagery.

yea I agree it's the worst track and the album would still be 43 minutes without it

someone upthread mentioned husker du's baby song which is a real vibe and momentum killer on that album and along the similar lines there's "how to skin a cat" which is musically charmless and conceptually anti-cat and just uncalled for

Had to give a listen to Josh Rouse's _1972_ again, and yeah, "Slaveship" still tanks the album's vibe for me. Skip it every listen.

To me "Fat Lady" just kind of drags on to no perceptible purpose.

Heheh, "drags on to no perceptible purpose" is how very many people would describe the bulk of Eno's oeuvre! (Not me, I hasten to add.)

Yeah, Mackay's brass arrangement is great. What's also delightfully clever is the way that it prefigures Eno's sarcastic conclusion, "That's what we're paid for here."

"I Got the Blues"

This is the opposite of a bad track.

I just made an enjoyable playlist of a lot of the tracks mentioned here, reminding myself what a funny thing is musical taste!

"Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" off Todd Rundgren's Todd...

I don't want to hear that song all the time, but I'd say "In and Out the Chakras We Go" is a greater test of my patience, and I like "Spark of Life".

Metallica: Not once, not twice, but four times in a row they reserved Side 2/Track 2 for the worst song!

This is a pretty good policy if you want to save up your better song for a big finish.

conceptually anti-cat

Agree the "song" is unlistenable but the lyrics are from a satyrical article:

"“How to Skin a Cat” is based off a 100+ year urban legend. The legend’s roots are unknown, but it first gained fame in a prank by the Lacon, Illinois newspaper in 1875. Willis Powell, the newspaper editor, published a classified ad of a cat-and-rat farm looking for investors. The ad gained national prominence, and the cat-and-rat hoax has prevailed until today. The lyrics to this song are copied from the original, 1875 advertisement.

I'd nominate the title track from Tim Buckley's Goodbye and Hello. It's an ambitious composition where each verse has a different melody and chord progression, but the lyrics are terribly overblown generation-gap stuff and the orchestral arrangement drowns out everything else. I don't think he ever played it live which probably shows he didn't think he pulled it off.

Maybe this doesn’t count since it’s last so there’s no actual skipping, but I don’t really ever play “Relevation” off Love’s Da Capo.

I really fucking hate "Sea of Madness" on Iron Maiden's Somewhere in Time. it just lumbers along awkwardly due to the tempo of the chorus and the closeness of the harmonies and utter boredom of the track. I like the rest.

Deicide's "Satan Spawn, the Caco-Demon" is probably the worst song on their first two albums, and it BEGINS Legion, I often just skip it and go right to "Dead But Dreaming". it's just a dissonant mess, it is a bit percussive, but even though this is one of their least hooky albums, there's little to like about the song.

Pain of Salvation's "Remedy Lane" is almost perfect, and builds to a thunderous conclusion with "Beyond the Pale", preceding that is the amazing "Waking Every God", and sandwiched in the middle is some boring, generic AOR-sounding ballad called "Second Love", that is just so divorced in quality from the rest of the songs on the album.

xps I stand corrected I assumed it was some stoned bullshit they made up

Surprised nobody's mentioned Seamus on Meddle. The fake blues with dog howling noises in the mix... um, no thanks.

Can't believe there was all that Smiths talk at the beginning of the thread and no one brought up the title track on Meat is Murder

There are no bad tracks on "Taking Tiger Mountain", to suggest otherwise is madness.

I always thought “Nothing Like You” on Miles Davis’s Sorcerer was the nadir of the One Bad Track. In addition to sucking, it was recorded five years before everything else on the record, with a different lineup, and it’s not even necessary as filler: the album would be 38 minutes without it, a perfectly acceptable length for the time.

That is a bizarre one, wonder what the thinking was

"Nothing Like You" was exhumed as a romantic tribute to girlfriend and cover model Cicely Tyson.

there’s no actual skipping, but I don’t really ever play “Relevation”

Well, you skip turning the record over!

There are no bad tracks on "Taking Tiger Mountain"

Sure, but "Put a Straw" is 7/10.

"Meat is Murder" is a great example... I rarely ever listened to the second side of the album because of that track and the length of "Barbarism".