The Hapless Albums of 1995 and 1996
What is a Hapless Album?ย Itโs an album that has been overlooked or forgotten for whatever reasons.ย It may have followed a monster album.ย Or, it was followed by a monster album.ย Or, it came out during a tumultuous time for the band.
Itโs not the same thing as a Trainwreckord.ย Most Hapless Albums arenโt career-enders.ย Theyโre at least moderately successful and produce a few hit songs.ย And, theyโre often every good albums.ย Theyโve just been forgotten.
I first learned of the term from this very good review of Soundgardenโs Down on the Upside.ย And, that got me thinking about other possible Hapless Albums from alternative rock.
As I started putting a short list together, I started to notice a common denominator with most of these albums.
They came out in 1995 and 1996.
Aside from the aforementioned Down on the Upside (itself a 1996 release), I also came up with Alice in Chainsโ Tripod (1995), Radioheadโs The Bends (1995), Blurโs The Great Escape (1995), Pearl Jamโs No Code (1996), and the Chili Peppersโ One Hot Minute (1995).ย All from the same two year period.
Tripod followed two monsters (Dirt, Jar of Flies) and is overshadowed by Layneโs worsening addiction.ย The Bends didnโt produce a โCreepโ-sized hit and was followed by two monsters (Ok Computer, Kid A).ย The Great Escape was caught in-between two monsters (Parklife, Self-Titled), was overshadowed by the Oasis rivalry, and is disliked by Damon Albarn.ย One Hot Minute was also caught in-between two monsters (Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication) and is overshadowed by the bandโs tumultuous time with Dave Navarro on guitar.ย No Code was a significantly harsher and less accessible album than the previous three (Ten, Vs, Vitalogy) and marked the beginning of Pearl Jam becoming more of a cult band.
Why did 1995 and 1996 produce so many Hapless Albums in alt rock?
Those years were a transitional time for rock music.ย The Alternative Boom of the early 90s had started to fade after Kurt Cobainโs death in 1994, but the plastic pop and nu metal that would eventually take over wouldnโt come to prominence until 1997, at the earliest.
Grunge was very much still a thing, but radio and MTV increasingly started to favor it in the form of bands like Bush, Candlebox, Collective Soul, and Live โ mass-produced butt rock that sounded vaguely similar to the original Seattle bands, but was in a more marketable and radio-friendly package.ย The real grunge bands were too messy and adverse to fame for radio and MTV to continue caring about them.
Meanwhile, Britpop that wasnโt Oasis had a difficult time even getting a foot through the door in the US, while the Smashing Pumpkins sucked up a lot of the oxygen from other American bands.ย (The Mellon Collie singles completely ruled alt rock radio in 1996.)ย
And, there was a big wave of โpop alternativeโ like Hootie, Alanis, Counting Crows, Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews, etc, that had some of the trappings of earlier college rock but was repackaged into lightweight, easily-digestible soft rock.ย The commercialization of alternative was in full-swing.
So, 1995 and 1996 werenโt good years for alt rock.ย The genre was starting to fade from popularity, and a lot of great albums ended up getting lost in the shuffle.ย Undeservedly so.
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