It doesn’t matter how many platinum albums they have or how many decades they’ve spent selling out venues — even the biggest and best rockers lose their way sometimes.
Some of the examples on our list of 10 Times Rockers Totally Lost the Plot might surprise you. There are some classic and well-documented duds on here, of course, but we’re not just focusing on traditionally bad albums. (If you want that, you can check out our much more extensive list of Rock’s Most Disappointing Albums.) We’re also looking at musicians who had the world by the tail, but still just couldn’t stop themselves from making head-scratchingly bad decisions that damaged their reputation for years.
That includes bungled album rollouts, disastrous PR campaigns, onstage meltdowns and desperate trend-hopping attempts that fooled absolutely nobody. We’ll revisit Metallica‘s misguided war against their fans, U2‘s unprecedented invasion of privacy and Aerosmith‘s ghastly foray into rap-rock — for the second time.
Some of these artists’ “missteps” still proved to be commercially successful, but it was in spite of their choices, not because of them. Others were flat-out flops, critically and commercially. The good news is that in the music business, you’re only as good (or bad) as your last release. So while some of these tailspins lasted upwards of a decade, in other cases, the artists bounced back fairly quickly.
Steel yourself against the secondhand embarrassment and read on to see 10 Times Rockers Totally Lost the Plot.
10 Times Rockers Totally Lost the Plot
Even the biggest and best lose their way sometimes.
Gallery Credit: Bryan Rolli