• Got_Bent@lemmy.world
    3·
    2 months ago

    That’s a good question. I gotta ponder that for a while.

    I can think of albums like Nothing’s Shocking that didn’t have any top forty hits but was good all the way through, but one hit supported by an entire good album, that’s a challenge.

    • BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee
      2·
      2 months ago

      steve mcqueen by prefab sprout comes to my mind. it only hit in the uk after its 3rd reissue of the single

      also pocketful of kryptonite by spin doctors is solid but i think it had 2 charting singles

      • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        It’s the one hit criteria that makes it tough. I didn’t much listen to anything top forty after 1985, so I can name a bunch of great indie albums that didn’t chart. But if it was a good album that charted, it likely had several hits on it. You’ve really posed a great challenge. It may take me a week to come up with something.

        • BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee
          2·
          2 months ago

          i thought of another but it depends on how much you like frank zappa, but it fits to a tee for me

          Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch had Zappa’s ONLY top 40 hit ever, and is also a great album. But I’m a huge Zappa fan so YMMV

          • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
            2·
            2 months ago

            Zappa has always been tough for me. His stuff is so out there and so complex, you gotta actively listen to it like a hundred times before you can even scratch the surface of understanding it.

            The guy was definitely a generational musical genius.

          • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
            2·
            2 months ago

            Found one that’s close.

            Oingo Boingo had Weird Science chart at 45 on Dead Man’s Party.

            They’re admittedly an acquired taste, but if you were in southern California in the eighties, they were… How do I state this? Foundational.

      • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        I never could get into Paul Simon, especially after he had the gall to go steal Edie Brickell away from me. That bastard!