100 songs that killed careers - Go!

1. Jewel - "Intuition"
2. Sum 41 - "We're All to Blame"
3. Eminem - "Ass Like That"

4. Cleopatra's Cat - The Spin Doctors

5. Daysleeper - REM

6.The Boo Radleys-Free Huey
7.U2-Put on Your Boots
8.Suede-Positivity
9.Robbie Williams-Rudebox
10.George Michael-Shoot the Dog

_____ [What came after "D'You Know What I Mean?"]

11. Billy Squier - Rock Me Tonite

12. Rihanna - Russian Roulette

12. Rihanna - Russian Roulette

Er, not quite.

xpost: k k, I keed. It was a general dissapointment though to people like me who were expecting something a little more upbeat after the series of great singles from the first album. She sort of redeemed with Rude Boy but only time will tell.

The next one, on the other hand is most definitely a deal breaker:

13. MGMT - Flash Delirium

Thread title should be 100 singles that killed careers imho.

The next one, on the other hand is most definitely a deal breaker:

13. MGMT - Flash Delirium

I guess if you consider debuting at Billboard #2 and selling 66,000 in the first week a deal breaker, then... why not?!

Won't argue that "Roulette" and "Flash Delirium" were disappointments to most people (myself included) but there's gotta be a big difference between "general disappointment" and "song that killed career."

14. Blur: "Song 2"

um that song was huge

Well maybe then I don't understand the basis and rules for this thread. Most of the suggestions upthread did pretty good on international charts. I was thinking along the lines of: singles that marked a before and after, a mark that establishes a pattern of diminishing returns for the artist... a single which sort of ruins the earned public opinion of the artist which I think is true for both MGMT and Rihanna... but I'll concede I'm being too severe as their careers are barely starting.

xpost

"killed career" a.k.a. "making ppl in the u.s. actually give a fuck about blur for the first time"

5. Daysleeper - REM

I would have thought the single that saw off REM was "What's The Frequency Kenneth".

I mean people most definitely stopped caring about Robbie Williams after Rudebox yet the single peaked at #1 on several countries. MGMT selling tons of copies of their first single has more to do with the hype earned from their past efforts rather than on the quality of the song itself... which is when people stop caring. Once the spell vanishes most people feel misguided and they stop paying attention.

^ I meant copies of 'flash delirium'. First single (of new album).

I would have thought the single that saw off REM was "What's The Frequency Kenneth".

I can see this thinking, but all of the Monster singles did really really well on MTV and alt-rock radio through the middle part of the 90s, while New Adventures in Hi-fi got tons of critical love. I'd agree with "Daysleeper" marking a huge turning point.

I can't stand Blur, but even I know that isn't even vaguely right. (Coffee & TV, MOR, Crazy Beat, No Distance, at least two others)

Wait, I can even think of some others - Tender, On Your Own, Out Of Time...

WAIT, WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING

15. Happy Mondays - "judge fudge"
16. Pet Shop Boys - "Liberation"
17. Eminem - "Just Lose It"
18. The Strokes - "12:51"

19. Primal Scream - "Country Girl"

it's hard to pin down which song killed the Beach Boys, but I'll nominate

20. Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
21. Beatles - A Day in the Life
22. Beach Boys - Heroes & Villains

PSB had 14 UK singles after "Liberation" that charted as high or higher than it did

Some of these songs aren't so much career killers as they are the final hit.

23. Underworld - "Crocodile"
24. Goldie - "Mother"

Unless I'm wrong, this thread is about momentum killers, big flop singles that instantly turned a band/singer into yesterday's news. Not quite sure how the international smash Song 2 does that, but whateverdude.

Here are some that most definitely fit the bill:

25. Nothing As It Seems - Pearl Jam
26. Walk Idiot Walk - The Hives
27. Alphabet Street - Prince
28. Day In Day Out - David Bowie
29. Do You Remember Rock n' Roll Radio - The Ramones

a career-killing song should be something the artist wishes he could have back, had never released etc.

Alphabet Street - Prince

waht

Ooh, this thread could lead to a good spin-off thread (if it hasn't been done before)

Great follow-up singles to One Hit Wonders.

It failed to do well, but it should have, or it was even better than the OHW that preceded it etc.

30. Dave Matthews - "I Did It"
31. Public Enemy and Anthrax - "Bring the Noise"

32. Culture Club: The War Song
33. Limahl: Love In Your Eyes
34. Paul Young: Tomb Of Memories
35. Nik Kershaw: When a Heart Beats

um that song was huge

"Song 2" may have been their biggest hit in the US, which still didn't make it more than a minor hit there. And, at the same time, it completely killed them for the Britpop audiences.

I mean, "Letitgo" yes, "Alphabet St" (particularly when he would have ANOTHER NUMBER ONE SINGLE after its release)... come the fuck on

I would have thought the single that saw off REM was "What's The Frequency Kenneth".

nah.

Some of these songs aren't so much career killers as they are the final hit.

That is often the same thing. "The War Song" by Culture Club is a typical example. Sure, it reached UK #2 on the back of, well, being Culture Club. But everyone thought it was horrible, and when followup "The Medal Song" bombed completely, it was just as much because of "The War Song".

36. Elvis Presley: One Broken Heart For Sale

whereas after "Song 2", BLur had 9 more charting UK singles, 4 of which were top 10s, so wtf are you on

it completely killed them for the Britpop audiences

No it didn't Geir, shut up. What you mean is: you don't like it

"Song 2" may have been their biggest hit in the US, which still didn't make it more than a minor hit there. And, at the same time, it completely killed them for the Britpop audiences.

― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Thursday, May 13, 2010 5:37 PM (14 seconds ago)

um maybe you're thinking about "crazy beat."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blur_discography#Singles

I mean really, even a tiny bit of due diligence to back up your assertions would be nice

Some days it's not even worth posting comedy irritant answers to ILM threads any more.

And, at the same time, it completely killed them for the Britpop audiences.

^ god forbid you piss off those Britpop audiences.

These career killing songs sure get people's panties in a bunch.

"Alphabet St" ... come the fuck on

Maybe Batdance. But sometime in the late 80s after Sign O The Times, Prince lost momentum.

Send One Your Love - Stevie Wonder

38. Babylon Zoo - Spaceman. Everyone bought it after the intro featured in the Levi's ad, then realised it sucked after the first 30 seconds. Instant nascent career death for Jaz Mann!

39. Ebenezer Goode - The Shamen.

Even my most dedicated crusty raving pals at the time abandoned them after this.

Prince lost momentum.

the turning point was The Most Beautiful Girl in the World. A hit, but it was terrible, and he wouldn't chart again for a looooong time

41. ABC - That Was Then but This Is Now
42. Human League - The Lebanon

― Paul in Santa Cruz, Thursday, May 13, 2010 11:36 PM (Yesterday)

OTM. I do quite like The Lebanon but that was a disaster and they've spent 25 years trying to regain that popularity. I still them though.

You can pinpoint exactly when ABC's career was killed with that song, when he sings
"Can't complain, mustn't grumble
Help yourself to another peace of apple crumble"

I read that ABC were originally going to work with trevor Horn again for the second album again but he was too busy at the time. I always wonder how their career would have turned out if that had worked out, maybe Trevor Horn could have rescued that album.

You can pinpoint exactly when ABC's career was killed with that song, when he sings
"Can't complain, mustn't grumble
Help yourself to another peace of apple crumble"

I agree the song killed them, but I love that couplet.

btw, "Song 2" is just madness - - - might as well say "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was a career killer!

They'd never hit UK #1 afterwards. Blur peaked with "Country House" and "The Great Escape", commercially and artistically. Non-Britpop fans may not acknowledge this, but they'd never have the same success again after abandoning Britpop.

Otherwise
63. Howard Jones: All I Want
64. Thompson Twins: Revolution

The latter is probably very archetypical because
a) It sucked and everyone hated it.
b) It was their first single in years that bombed completely, hardly even hitting the UK top 75
c) They never had any hits to speak of later on.

Surely this didn't help the Twins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI6WUkK3Ggg

Rub, geir:

"Tender" just missed out thanks to Britney's first single.

If "Fool's day" had been pressed unlimitedly, it'd have made number one, right?

Springsteen - "Human Touch" (not career-kiling, but momentum-killing)

65. ^^

66. Mansun - Fool

67.that one with the kazoo...

"Tender" just missed out thanks to Britney's first single.

"Tender" missed because it was a horrible song, and in turn the other singles from the "13" album even struggled to hit the top 10.

"Out of Time" was not a horrible song...

39. Ebenezer Goode - The Shamen.

May have killed them for club audiences, but it made them bigger than ever among pop audiences, and they were much larger in numbers.

The song that killed their career was "Destination Eschaton" or "Transamazonia" even though you could easily argue they were actually better songs.

Watch it, guys: one curt dismissal from Geir will kill your careers.

"Out of Time" was not a horrible song...

Not horrible, but by no means as great as "Country House", "Stereotypes", "Charmless Man" or "End Of a Century".

"achin' to be" is a pretty song

62. "A Good Heart," Feargal Sharkey. Not that he had much of a "career" beforehand, but he was part of a fantastic band.

"End of a Century" I'll give you, but the rest are bad by comparison.

See, with Blur, I don't think any particular single killed their career, it was "The Great Escape" which people bought, played, liked, but 6 months later people didn't play anymore, whereas "Parklife" was still being played.

The next album, and lots of people went "Hey, I don't need another one at the mo"...

Can I just add that "The War Song" Culture Club is the definition of the thread title... A big hit, but people got it home and went "wha?"

69. Perfect World - Huey Lewis & The News

70. The Heinrich Maneuver - Interpol

71. We Are All Made Of Stars - Moby

Another for Moby:
Without Me - Eminem

72. Dashboard - Modest Mouse

18. The Strokes - "12:51"

This was a great single, and "Room on Fire" was a fairly big success, it was "Juicebox" that killed their career.

Another one that temporarily killed a career:

58. Discotheque - U2

But "Staring at the Sun" was a hit and is the only song from "Pop" that gets played on the radio these days.

Yes, but the Pop album was definitely U2's biggest flop, and that song didn't help.

Pop is my favorite U2 album!

"achin' to be" is a pretty song

it's pretty bad, i'll give you that!

(but i don't think it had anything to do with killing their career.)

I'm thinking of the songs ("The War Song" definitely one) where all eyes were on the band for WORLD PREMIERE VIDEO and BIG FIRST SINGLE AFTER ZILLION-SELLING PREVIOUS ALBUM and all the hype and streeteams are followed by wha or uh or ugh.

What was Michael Jackson's? "Bad" felt like it was, until "The Way You Make Me Feel" made up for it.

(Same way REM almost did it with "Stand" and "Pop Song '89", but then recovered the fumble.)

Everyone on Earth went apeshit over the song "Bad" so I don't see how that could even come close to being considered as a career killer (which in all honesty was being accused of being a child molester and cutting off most of his face)

"Smells Like Teen Spirit"

"Eight Miles High"-Byrds (got banned and derailed them as a singles band, had a few more low end top 40 entries, but they never sold as well again).

"Ohio" - It helped kill Nixon's career. :-)

Veruca Salt "Volcano Girls"

72. Dashboard - Modest Mouse

― kornrulez6969, Friday, May 14, 2010 12:08 PM Bookmark

#5 on the Modern Rock chart, and the followup ("Missed the Boat") hit #24 on the Hot 100 and seems to have found a permanent home on adult-alternative satellite radio stations. So definitely not giant hits but not a dead career - - - I think you could argue that they were an unlikely one-hit-wonder band that subsequently market-corrected back to basically where they were before, see also, I dunno, Fountains of Wayne? If there IS such a thing as a career-killer single, it's gotta be distinct from "whatever they put out right after they had a massive hit out of nowhere."

73 - Truck on Tyke - T. Rex. I still remember the crushing realisation that Marc could be ordinary - peaked at no. 12 in the UK? first one not to get to go top 5 and he didn't have a big hit after that. (released in '73 as well!)

What was Michael Jackson's? "Bad" felt like it was, until "The Way You Make Me Feel" made up for it.

In the U.S. every single from Bad hit #1 except "Smooth Criminal" and "Another Part of Me."

74 - Kool Thing - Sonic Youth. As in we all ruched out to buy it (and Goo) but never played it after few weeks, and we much less excited about the next one. or the one after that and so on..

rushed..

"Kool Thing" was my Sonic Youth gateway -- totally loved it.

74 - Kool Thing - Sonic Youth. As in we all ruched out to buy it (and Goo) but never played it after few weeks, and we much less excited about the next one. or the one after that and so on..

Sounds about right.

This was a great single, and "Room on Fire" was a fairly big success, it was "Juicebox" that killed their career.

The truth.

75. Metallica - "Enter Sandman"

If there IS such a thing as a career-killer single

Most of the songs on this thread are definitely more momentum killers than career killers. True career killers are very rare....but they do exist. See below for a textbook example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuDgvbpVQD4&feature=PlayList&p=11883225E00D15AD&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=28

what?! If you'd said "King Nothin'," I'd agree.

xpost

Yeah, such a bummer Sonic Youth never recovered. What happened to them?

Babybird's 'Your Gorgeous', despite being a massive hit single, arguably killed Stephen Jones' career and credibility in one go.

Yes, but the Pop album was definitely U2's biggest flop, and that song didn't help.

However, the next album assured they were by no means dead, at least commercially.

What was Michael Jackson's?

If it was a song, rather than the child molestation cases:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlEHbKaC9bQ

However, the next album assured they were by no means dead, at least commercially.

Great transition on "Behind The Music."