New series! In this show, we'll be looking at the records that ended thriving careers, and we're starting with the album that turned Jewel Kilcher from folksinger poet to poor man's Britney Spears.
Domo Arigato, Cheese-rock Roboto!
MC Hammer goes gangsta. You can't touch this. Nor should you.
Today is gonna be the day that we look at the album that killed Britpop and made Oasis has-beens overnight!
Van Halen's third incarnation! Featuring new singer Gary Cherone, the guy from Extreme! And it was Extremely bad.
There was a bad moon rising over Creedence in 1972, when John Fogerty made the rest of the band do the writing, and the result ain't no fortunate one.
1993 was not such a nice day to start again for Billy Idol, when he released his bizarre concept album about cyborgs and virtual reality!
Lauryn Hill was miseducated even worse than we realized, as she demonstrated with her legendary public breakdown disguised as an Unplugged special.
The Material Girl becomes... The Political Girl?? Madonna brought one of the longest winning streaks in pop music to a sudden, ignominious end in 2003 with her little-loved dip into politics.
I know you want it? No, no one wanted it, Robin Thicke's desperate attempt to save his marriage instead sends his personal and professional life plummeting into disaster.
Here's a tip, if you're going to make one of the worst-sounding albums of all time, don't make it easy for the critics by putting the word "Crap" in the title, like The Clash did with their career-ending final album.
Sometimes they wondered if it would ever end, and whoa buddy did it ever. Hootie & the Blowfish's rushed second album ended Hootiemania just as suddenly as it started.
The Beach Boys' endless summer had an ending after all, when they tried to capitalize on "Kokomo" and instead brought their comeback to a crashing halt.
Gangsta rap is so violent! Why can't all those rappers just sing about nice things?? Arrested Development showed why in 1994, when their weirdly-named follow-up to their acclaimed debut took a shot to the dome.
Doomed couple Cher and Gregg Allman made a doomed collaboration album, a teamup that went about as well as mixing toothpaste and orange juice.
Oof, this one is nuts. Indie rock royalty Liz Phair made a pop album and got called a sellout left and right, so instead she made a baffling, bizarre shitpost of an album to destroy her image once and for all.
It's one of the most legendary bombs of all time -- the biggest rock band in the world turning in a tuneless blast of cacophonous trash-can banging. How did the much-maligned "St. Anger" turn Metallica from gods of metal to rock-and-roll punchlines?
The Human League recruit Janet Jackson's producers and try to get funky. Yes, the "Don't You Want Me" band. Yes, it's as awkward as it sounds.
If you want to destroy your career with a obnoxious terrible second album, just go ahead now. The Spin Doctors kicked off the '90s jam band explosion but fell behind when they decided tunelessness was their path to cred.
Calling occupants of interplanetary what? Faced with falling sales and a sinking profile, '70s soft rock superstars the Carpenters tried everything to revive their careers: jazz, country, showtunes, and... aliens. Seriously, aliens.
This is what Scientologists actually believe. Just kidding, even they didn't want '70s rocker Edgar Winter's musical adaptation of L. Ron Hubbard's best-selling (?) sci-fi book series.
How could Katy Perry's woke period have collapsed her career so quickly?
Almost 20 years ago, Will Smith warned you not to mess with him, and it didn't go well then either.
CSNY almost cut a triumphant comeback record, but then their wooden ship got wrecked by the '80s.
Can Mötley Crüe, the defining hair metal band, remake themselves for the '90s? The answer will not shock you!
Can Fred Durst, Kid Rock and the guy from Third Eye Blind save Run-DMC's career? It's tricky...
What does Ringo sound like without a little help from his friends? What does he sound like attempting to get a little night fever in his boogie shoes??
How can the most hated rock band in the world turn it around when the world has turned against rock?
The queen of country music Faith Hill can go pop and still keep all her fans! Right?
I swear, there was a time when we liked Justin Timberlake. Here's how sexy left and never came back.