Albums flop all the time; it’s an unfortunate hazard of the music industry. A few objectively great classic rock albums that were released decades ago surprisingly flopped; only to become legendary records several years later. Let’s look into six classic rock albums that flopped at first before becoming some of the most iconic records in music history!
1. ‘The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society’ by The Kinks
This 1968 gem has been applauded by fans and contemporaries alike. The Who’s Pete Townshend even said it was a “masterwork”. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society is a gleeful and nostalgic classic rock album. And shockingly, it flopped when it first came out. In fact, it only sold around 100,000 copies and failed to chart at all.
Some say the commercial failure was due to the fact that it was released on the same day as The Beatles’ famed White Album. Despite being a disappointment initially, it eventually became The Kinks’ best-selling album.
2. ‘Pet Sounds’ by The Beach Boys
It’s quite hard to imagine the legendary 1966 album Pet Sounds doing badly in any universe. That album influenced countless rock bands that followed. Many consider it to be the rock album.
Unfortunately, a lot of fans of The Beach Boys’ earlier works just wanted to hear about the beach and surfing and girls. This album was highly experimental and a little too deep for some; nothing was more ahead of its time than Pet Sounds.
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3. ‘Sweetheart Of The Rodeo’ by The Byrds
This 1968 album from The Byrds did okay upon its release, but it didn’t crash the charts like its predecessors. It’s a real shame. Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is a lovely little country venture by the iconic rock band. Fortunately, years later, it became the band’s most influential and hailed release.
4. ‘Head’ by The Monkees
This 1968 album is a pretty unique one. It’s basically a parody of a parody, while also being a soundtrack. Head is the soundtrack to the film of the same name and features a number of dialogue pieces from the film. The almost Broadway vibe of the dialogue, coupled with psychedelic and acid-rock tunes, resulted in a piece of work that was unique for its time.
The film, along with the album, was a commercial flop. However, Head has gained a bit of a cult following in the years since.
5. ‘The Stooges’ by The Stooges
Some say that The Stooges’ 1969 debut was the very first punk rock album. Who knows for sure? Either way, the album was a commercial failure when it was released. Maybe it was just too ahead of its time.
Eventually, though, it became an important part of music history. And the feral energy of the band eventually converted a lot of people into diehard fans.
6. ‘Tusk’ by Fleetwood Mac
The 1977 album Rumours is a hard one to beat. Unfortunately, the 1979 effort Tusk didn’t do well at all when it first came out, much to the chagrin of producers who shelled out over $1,000,000 to produce the rock album. Lindsey Buckingham even said that the album was “an undermining of what was expected of us.”
The band eventually returned to the charts, and Tusk is widely considered to be a solid album among fans today.
Photo courtesy of Capitol/UMe
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