Biggest one album nosedive

Sometimes a band or artist makes a great album, or several great albums, in a row.

Then there's that one album...

One that derails their career for a while. Or forever.

So who are some of the bands/artists who made a great album, or a few of them, then had their Waterloo moment that sunk their battle ship (I love a good mixed metaphor)?

I'll start.....

Van Halen - Balance. #1 album, top grossing tour.

Van Halen - 3. Pretty much turned the band into an oldies act

 

Hootie & The Blowfish's second album (whatever it was.)

 

@billnunan Fairweather Johnson!

 

Radiohead - Hail to the Thief

 

I LOVED the first two albums by The Knack. Never even played their third album, although I bought it when it came out.

 

Terence Trent D'Arby - Neither Fish nor Flesh

 

Men At Work 3rd album "Two Hearts" 1985. After two successful albums Business As Usual & Cargo the third album failed miserably though I liked a few tracks on it.

 

ABC - The Beauty Stab

 

The Clash. Combat Rock ---> Cut the Crap.

 

Hahahaha!!

 

Oasis - Be Here Now
They were the biggest band in the world and then they ruined it all with this preposterous mess of an album.

 

Duffy's Rockferry got huge international exposure and her next album, Endlessly, seemed to be a career stopper.

 

I agree, and yet over time I have come to appreciate Beauty Stab more than any other ABC release since Lexicon of Love...

 

And Adele and Amy Winehouse 'happened'!

 

I dont think changing frontman like that should qualify. If so Motley has Balance beat. Dr. Feelgood #1 record with 7 million in sales and multiple same city dates in arenas to self titled with new vocalist and it doesn't 250,000 and playing theaters.

 

Spin Doctors - Turn It Upside Down
Their first album sold millions, but their 2nd album was the biggest flop I've ever loved. You couldn't walk into a CD store in the mid to late 90s without seeing at least 10 copies of Turn It Upside Down in the cutout bin. I enjoy the album to this day, but it ruined the band for years. Their original guitarist left, various lineups made a few terrible excuses for albums for the next few years, and the world forgot the Spin Doctors. Luckily they redeemed themselves with their Nice Talking to Me album in 2005, and the original lineup still tours I think.

 

How about a guy whose first album brought him immediate and huge success, only to have that same album tank his career forever?

Vaughn Meader

 

but the momentum came back right away with In Rainbows though. Hail To The Thief was more of a non-event than a career-destroying disaster.

 

Blank Generation ------> Destiny Street

 

Bon Jovi...a debut album that got great reviews and made them 'one to watch' and support slots with big name bands to '7800 Fahrenheit', which was turgid slop and prompted an emergency call to Desmond Child to rescue their career virtually before it had started.

 

What about Fleetwood Mac's Behind The Mask? Tango In The Night was a massive hit, especially in the UK, that provided numerous hits that you still hear today, then Behind The Mask barely went gold in the US and while it went #1 in the UK, only on the back of Tango, and contained only one minor US top 40 single and was largely a disaster that most people have forgotten in their discography. Took them to bring Lindsey back into the fold to get people to actually care again.

 

Cheap Trick - Standing On The Edge made the top 40,
but then they released The Doctor...
ach!

 

Wasn't 7800 actually a bigger seller than the s/t? Not by much, but I think it looked like they were a band on the rise anyways, then Slippery exploded their popularity.

 

Megadeth: from the peerless heights of Rust in Peace to the pandering radio-friendly dross of Countdown to Extinction. Ironically, Countdown remains their biggest seller.

 

Peter Frampton im in you has to be a contender for this title