Lamest albums you've been given as gifts [Archive]

cactusmaac

04-30-2005, 09:48 AM

My best friend got me the OST to Demolition Man and a Right Said Fred album.

But then his favourite bands were Air Supply and Frankie Goes To Hollywood so he didn't have the greatest taste.

E. Spears

04-30-2005, 10:08 AM

POD--Satellite.

I have no idea where it came from, and why my parents thought i'd like it, but there it was.

-ers

DonC

04-30-2005, 10:17 AM

I was given a copy of JC Chasez's solo album for my birthday last year. Here's what that shelf of my CDs looks like:

Anthrax, Anthrax, Anthrax, Anthrax, Anthrax, Anthrax, Anthrax, JC Chasez, Disturbed, Evansecence, Evanescence, Faith No More, Godsmack, Godsmack, Godsmack, Godsmack, Green Day, Guns 'N' Roses, Helloween.

It's like one of those "What's wrong with this picture" puzzles.

Grant

04-30-2005, 10:36 AM

The worst one was probably my brother who bought me two Vincent Gallo CDs. They weren't bad but c'mon it's Vincent Gallo...

Core

04-30-2005, 10:54 AM

Starship--"Knee Deep in the Hoopla"

A gift from my brother. He's now a program manager for a radio station; how scary is that?

howyadoin

04-30-2005, 03:20 PM

When I was 14 and just starting to build my first serious record collection, my aunt gave me a Bay City Rollers album.

Jared H.

04-30-2005, 03:32 PM

My folks got me an Oasis single while they were overseas. "As Long as They Have Cigarettes in Hell." I'd pleaded for an Aphex Twin album. Appreciated the thought, though.

SUPERECWFAN1

04-30-2005, 06:32 PM

The lamest CD I ever got ? Was one my sister didn't take as a birthday gift and left me holdin the bag on It. She had started to like Rap and Hip Hop so my mom suggested I buy her one of those albums as a Birthday present.

I bought her an LL Cool J Album. She hated It and wouldn't take It after opening It. So I was stuck with It. Imagine seein this on your record shelf.

Guns N Rose , Guns n Roses, Guns n Roses, Guns n Roses, AC/DC , AC/DC , Poison , Warrent , Mettalica , Metallica , Metallica , Twisted Sister , Smashing Pumpkins , LL COOL J , Beatles , Beatles , Beatles and Oasis.

I wanted to grit my teeth. I thought of selling It. Then one day she liked It and wanted It. So she took It home a few years after her Birthday. Hows that for Irony ?

Punchy

05-01-2005, 05:48 AM

When I was a kid someone got me the Beverly Hills Cop Soundtrack, wtf?

Valmore

05-01-2005, 10:28 AM

For some reason, I received a cassette of Debbie Gibson's "Electric Youth" for Easter. Back then, my sisters were into Debbie Gibson, I was into R.E.M.

Alex

05-01-2005, 11:55 AM

When I was 14 and just starting to build my first serious record collection, my aunt gave me a Bay City Rollers album.
You mean the greatest band ever?
Thats not lame!

elheffe

05-01-2005, 01:03 PM

One Christmas, I got Ray Parker jr.'s Greatest Hits with, of course, Ghostbusters. Thing is, after listening to it, I kinda liked the other songs.

Knightmare

05-01-2005, 05:39 PM

Mariah Carrie's Butterfly. God I hate my sister. All I wanted was a damn Bone-Thugs CD--and instead I get that.

Spike-X

05-02-2005, 02:14 AM

Ray Parker jr.'s Greatest Hits

You mean he had more than one?

Grant

05-02-2005, 05:43 AM

You mean he had more than one?

Maybe it's just 12 different versions of The Ghostbusters theme song.

Funeral Party

05-02-2005, 08:37 AM

My mom got me a Beach Boys Greatest Hits cd once. Definitely not my type of music.

Sheldon

05-02-2005, 08:54 AM

I got a copy of Bobby Brown's album Bobby on cassette for christmas one year., it had humpin around on it.....it really stunk

Annie get your Rum

05-02-2005, 12:56 PM

I got Shania Twain's Come On Over and Celine Dion's Unison as presents on the SAME YEAR, by the same FRIEND!
(needless to say, our friendship was never the same!) :D

Anthony

05-02-2005, 03:08 PM

1.) To the Extreme -- Vanilla Ice
2.) Stone Cold Rhymin' -- Young MC

I don't remember who gave it to me, nor the circumstances of how i received it. Whether it was a Birthday or Christmas present. But I do remember Stone Cold Rhymin was in the trash the next day. To the Extreme was tossed into the street from my father's car.

SlightlyMad

05-03-2005, 05:07 AM

Eric D.

04-29-2010, 08:01 AM

Pat Boone: In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy

FanboyStranger

04-29-2010, 08:53 AM

Someone gave me that Starbucks Sampler CD with the heart on it last year. It featured Dave Matthews, U2, and I think John Legend. I just stared at her and said, "You've got to be kidding me!" Then I slipped it into one of my metalhead roommates CD cases, hoping to God to get him back for all the late night's I was kept up by growling and long sequences of guitar notes played at high speed.

I think that CD may have been for charity, though. I have no idea why Starbucks would be in the music business, but I did buy a copy of Spoon's Transference there for $9.99, which was nice.

rick

04-29-2010, 03:09 PM

When I got my first stereo, my mother bought me copies of Barry Manilow Live and Rod Stewart: Do Ya Think I'm Sexy

berk

04-29-2010, 06:40 PM

When I got my first stereo, my mother bought me copies of Barry Manilow Live and Rod Stewart: Do Ya Think I'm SexyI can just picture the guy at the record store telling her, "Yeah, this is what all the young people are into now, he'll love it."

The Black Guardian

04-29-2010, 10:03 PM

You mean he had more than one?
"Jack & Jill", "You Can't Change That", "A Woman Needs Love", "The Other Woman", and several others that were more R&B charters. Most were when he was with Raydio.

Anyway, I don't think I've ever been given an lame album as a gift. Everyone knows I'm cool with anything except country... and Streisand.

howyadoin

04-29-2010, 10:32 PM

"Jack & Jill", "You Can't Change That", "A Woman Needs Love", "The Other Woman", and several others that were more R&B charters. Most were when he was with Raydio."The Other Woman" was kinda cool, if I remember correctly.

clayholio

04-29-2010, 11:27 PM

When I was a kid, I won an Amy Grant cassette from a radio station. I guess technically that's a gift, but it didn't need any asterisks to be awful.

Kareem

05-02-2010, 07:10 AM

In about 1993 or '94 a friend of mine gave me a CD called Rave the X-Mass which I thought was so bad (a few seconds from a few tracks was enough) I gave it him back the following Christmas. The Christmas after he gave it back to me again, the I gave it back to him the year after... Basically, we have been exchanging it back & forth for over ten years now!

http://1gabba.com/pics3/rave-the-x-mass.jpglol I dunno why but that's awesome. I love silly friendship traditions like that.

Anyways I always specifically asked for money to but my own music. That doesn't mean that I always came home with quality though. I used to love everything Wu-Tang affiliated and needless to say it got really really bad sometimes.

elbobbo

05-02-2010, 07:22 AM

Pat Boone: In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy

I gave that as a gift one time, of course it was in retaliation for my friend giving me the gift of signing me up for the Air Supply fan club.

Worst I ever got was Deep Blue Something from a girl I was dating because she knew I was a Audrey Hepburn fan and Audrey Hepburn was in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Electric i

05-02-2010, 08:27 AM

My aunt gave me a copy of Bel, Biv, DeVoe's debut album. This at a time when I was listening to Anthrax, Metallica, and Public Enemy.

howyadoin

05-02-2010, 11:03 AM

Anyways I always specifically asked for money to but my own music. That doesn't mean that I always came home with quality though. I used to love everything Wu-Tang affiliated and needless to say it got really really bad sometimes.By the time I was 15 I knew enough to give my parents a list each year. That cut down on a lot of potential problems.

Adam C

05-02-2010, 11:03 AM

It's hard to figure that one out really. I've mostly got as gifts albums that weren't that great or astounding, but weren't bad, and a few really, really good ones. The closet that comes to mind is my brother very naturally getting me The Who's Tommy, but even that doesn't quite It's long been considered a rock touchstone and thus a natural for any serious rock aficionado. And I certainly didn't expect myself to be as disappointed with it as I ended up being.

Pat Boone: In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy

Oddly enough I think that would make a GREAT gag gift for me.

berk

05-06-2010, 09:31 PM

ooh, Tommy isn't lame at all. Never paid much attention to the story, mind you, but musically it's one of the best pop albums ever made.

I keep thinking there must be something I can answer to the thread question, but I've really had pretty good luck with musical gifts over the years. Haven't gotten that many - or maybe I'm forgetting all the bad ones - but everything I can remember has ranged from quite good to very good indeed. Earliest I can recall is Chicago VI, if I have that number right - it was the one with Feelin Stronger Every Day on it. Most recently a Ry Cooder album. I remember my brother giving me Joe Jackson's I'm the Man back when it was out, and the Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies a couple years ago ... I really can't complain, looking back. I imagine some people here might think the Chicago album must have been lame, but it wasn't. Great record, start to finish.

howyadoin

05-06-2010, 10:05 PM

ooh, Tommy isn't lame at all. Never paid much attention to the story, mind you, but musically it's one of the best pop albums ever made.I'm assuming you mean the original who album, and not the movie soundtrack.

The Black Guardian

05-06-2010, 10:07 PM

I just remembered something...

Someone bought me Feel the Need by Leif Garrett. I was not made for dancing.

dupersuper

05-06-2010, 10:21 PM

A collection of songs from movies all by the same lame muzac/synthesizer type band.

J. Robb

05-06-2010, 10:23 PM

"Make It Big" by Wham!

Jitterbug!

Adam C

05-07-2010, 08:35 AM

ooh, Tommy isn't lame at all. Never paid much attention to the story, mind you, but musically it's one of the best pop albums ever made.

Well there's great arrangements and musical ideas on there, but Townshend's attempts to tell the story result in song structures and vocal parts that never make the album's songs cohere...well like pop songs. At least to me, but a lot of it just feels awkward in it's movements with the exception of "Pinball Wizard" which Townshend wrote separate from the rest of the song cycle in response to the comments of music journalist.

But as indicated earlier, this was the closest I could get to a lamest album. I don't consider Tommy lame myself. Just an awkward experiment I was disappointed by.

berk

05-07-2010, 10:37 PM

I'm assuming you mean the original who album, and not the movie soundtrack.But of course. The movie was a good laugh, but I never felt any need ever to hear those renditions of the songs again.

Well there's great arrangements and musical ideas on there, but Townshend's attempts to tell the story result in song structures and vocal parts that never make the album's songs cohere...well like pop songs. At least to me, but a lot of it just feels awkward in it's movements with the exception of "Pinball Wizard" which Townshend wrote separate from the rest of the song cycle in response to the comments of music journalist.

But as indicated earlier, this was the closest I could get to a lamest album. I don't consider Tommy lame myself. Just an awkward experiment I was disappointed by.Well, I never thought the 3-minute pop song structure of verse-chorus-verse-solo-verse was the be-all and end-all anyhow, so I still find it musically appealing. Too bad the story wasn't there, but they made up for that with Quadrophenia.

jessecuster3

05-10-2010, 12:22 PM

I was given cassettes of Cindy Lauper's She's So Unusual and Culture Club's Colour By Numbers when I turned 10 years old.

jesse_custer

05-10-2010, 12:24 PM

For unorthodox pop songwriting, I go to Roy Orbison, not Tommy.

J. Robb

05-10-2010, 02:44 PM

I was given cassettes of Cindy Lauper's She's So Unusual and Culture Club's Colour By Numbers when I turned 10 years old.
She's So Unusual was awesome.

LordEd1976

05-10-2010, 03:27 PM

An ex-girlfriend gave me Celion Dion's "Let's Talk About Love" even after i expressed my dislike of "My Heart Will Go On".

A big sister gave me the soundtrack to Armageddon. The only song I like on that CD is 'La Grange" by ZZ Top. That CD gets special points in my book because she outright said she gave it to me because my taste in music sucks.

DubipR

05-10-2010, 03:59 PM

I'd have to say the 45 of Desert Moon by Dennis DeYoung. When I was 9 I disliked the song, but now...DeYoung's solo songwriting and his vocals are as strong as his Styx era.

Adam C

05-11-2010, 07:43 AM

Well, I never thought the 3-minute pop song structure of verse-chorus-verse-solo-verse was the be-all and end-all anyhow, so I still find it musically appealing. Too bad the story wasn't there, but they made up for that with Quadrophenia.

Hey, I listen to Krautrock and Free-Jazz, so I'm not really married to the structure either. There's just something about Tommy's songs that don't quite click for me.

Funnily enough I could see the story there easily enough.

Karl Cook

05-11-2010, 10:30 AM

Back in 1990 I asked my Aunt for the Lost Boys Soundtrack album.
Instead, she bought me the London Boys album.
I've never asked her for anything since.

howyadoin

05-11-2010, 07:22 PM

I asked for this:

http://www.ephemeron.net/wp-content/uploads/cover-plastic-ono.jpg

But got this instead:

http://gothamist.com/attachments/arts_jen/2007_04_arts_stinyc.jpg

They really aren't comparable.

berk

05-11-2010, 08:12 PM

Hey, I listen to Krautrock and Free-Jazz, so I'm not really married to the structure either. There's just something about Tommy's songs that don't quite click for me.

Funnily enough I could see the story there easily enough.Oh, you can see it, it just isn't all that gripping. Not as awful as it's made out to be, by any means. But I think the album would have worked just as well as a collection of good tracks, without the somewhat flimsy narrative structure that tried to hold it together.

Maybe that's a good way of re-stating your criticism: the missing song structure was replaced by a narrative structure that wasn't up to snuff. For me, the musical ideas on Tommy probably would have worked well even as unfinished fragments, but I can see that not happening for everyone. What do you think of the rest of the Who's output?

Adam C

05-12-2010, 09:07 AM

Maybe that's a good way of re-stating your criticism: the missing song structure was replaced by a narrative structure that wasn't up to snuff.

That might the best way to put it yes. It's been a long time since I listened to it and it's no longer in my collection so I was kind of groping around to put my criticisms into words.

For me, the musical ideas on Tommy probably would have worked well even as unfinished fragments, but I can see that not happening for everyone. What do you think of the rest of the Who's output?

Well most of my familiarity with the band is from their 60s garage-pop phase which I absolutely adore. Who's Next is among the few hard rock albums I really like, though I haven't gotten any further in their 70s output.

rick

05-12-2010, 09:13 AM

I was given cassettes of Cindy Lauper's She's So Unusual and Culture Club's Colour By Numbers when I turned 10 years old.

Both are great albums from their era, especially, "She's So Unusual".

You want really lame 80's, try "Taco".

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8458/tacop.jpg

rick

05-12-2010, 09:16 AM

Hey, I listen to Krautrock and Free-Jazz, so I'm not really married to the structure either. There's just something about Tommy's songs that don't quite click for me.

Funnily enough I could see the story there easily enough.

I personally enjoy Tommy, but it is obviously the work of a young man.

Quadrophenia has always in my opinion been the superior work.

BeastieRunner

05-12-2010, 09:37 AM

Great thread!

I got Limp Bizkit and LFO for my birthday once.

WTF where my friends doing that year?

Richard Bishop

05-12-2010, 09:53 AM

One of my friends got me "Human Clay" by Creed for my birthday one year. He was convinced that they were going to be the "next big rock band" and wanted to share their awesomeness with everyone he knew.

I think I listened to it once, then took it to the local used-CD place and got a couple of bucks credit.

howyadoin

05-12-2010, 11:26 AM

One of my friends got me "Human Clay" by Creed for my birthday one year. He was convinced that they were going to be the "next big rock band"...In all fairness, he was right. They just weren't, y'know, the next good rock band.