5 Bands Who Lost The Plot Chasing A New Sound

By now we are all well acquainted with the precarious nature of artistic success. There's plenty of creative and business mishaps that can stagger the careers of even the most successful musical artists. We all know the infamous stories of albums that almost destroyed classic rock legends or musicians that tanked their careers with one regrettable flop song. But through it all, there are always interesting tales about unusual albums that sit outside the bounds of a band's expected sound.

We wanted to take a look at some of those hard rocking curiosities — the career-threatening misadventures that have become the stuff of legend. Some of these albums were misguided attempts at courting a mainstream audience, while others were attempts at artistic evolution. Whatever the case, they are the oddball speedbumps in the careers of otherwise massively successful bands. Here is a look at five such albums and the rationale behind them.

By the time Metallica partnered with former Velvet Underground frontman Lou Reed for 2011's "Lulu," both had tarnished their reputations with perplexing albums. For Metallica, that came in the form of 2003's "St. Anger," a chaotic temper tantrum that served as therapy for a band awash in internal struggles. Lou Reed's musical aberration had been 1975's "Metal Machine Music," an album made up entirely of guitar feedback. 

Both artists had course corrected with well-received subsequent albums (2008's "Death Magnetic" for Metallica and 1976's "Coney Island Baby" for Reed) but neither had fully restored their reputations, making "Lulu" a gamble. A concept album built around two plays by Frank Wedekind, "Lulu" is a dark foray into the life of a manipulative woman murdered by Jack the Ripper. The album ended up landing badly with fans and critics alike. Phil Mongredien of The Guardian commented, "... the songs are too close to aimless, unfinished jams, Reed sounds as if he's trying too hard to be controversial." Even more favorable reviews were forced to conclude that it was fundamentally divisive. Classic Rock noted, "Does it, in a word, rock? The answer there would be, well, yes and no. Traditionalist metal fans will be disappointed."

The album peaked at No. 36 on the Billboard 200, a paltry showing for Metallica, who by that point was accustomed to their albums hitting No. 1. From Lou Reed's standpoint, however, it was an accomplishment as it ended his recording career with his highest charting album since 1972's "Transformer." The album would be reevaluated in subsequent years with no less than David Bowie calling it Reed's greatest album and the YouTube music review channel Cactus Malpractice offering a largely positive analysis.

Hair metal rockers Dokken may have faced off against Freddy Krueger in the music video for 1987's "Dream Warriors," but they were no match for the cultural juggernaut that was coming their way. When Nirvana kicked off the '90s grunge revolution with the reality-bending success of 1991's "Nevermind," the once-dominant hair metal bands were forced to scramble for relevance. 

Some bands, such as Poison with "Native Tongue" or Bon Jovi with "Keep the Faith," weathered the storm with albums that moved in a more mature, sophisticated direction. Other once-dominant '80s monoliths didn't fare as well, turning in ham-fisted attempts at grunge and alternative rock stylings.

Dokken's 1997 LP "Shadowlife" unquestionably falls into that latter category. Gone are the singalong choruses of songs like "In My Dreams" or the aggressive thrash-adjacent rush of "Tooth and Nail." In their place is a lethargic slog through grunge rock cliches. Songs like "Puppet on a String" traffic in guttural guitar riffs and disinterested vocals while "Convenience Store Messiah" plays into grunge's world-weary love of the common man.

The album was met with a shrug from critics with AllMusic writing, "... the group still has trouble writing memorable hooks and songs ... the lack of real songs makes 'Shadowlife' a chore." Guitarist George Lynch left the band following its release. He would be replaced by Winger guitarist Reb Beach for 1999's "Erase the Slate," an album that returned to Dokken's '80s metal roots.

The history of '80s metal is awash in stories of hair bands that try to veer out of their glam trappings and into more serious artistry and, alternately, bands with tremendous underground, art-house credibility vying for mainstream hair metal success. Celtic Frost fell squarely into the latter category with 1988's "Cold Lake," an album that saw the avant-garde extremists making an ill-fated attempt at entering the ranks of Poison and Motley Crüe. 

By the time of "Cold Lake," Celtic Frost had been a pioneering force in the extreme metal world with a sound that would have an indelible influence on European black metal. The possibility of compromising that kind of scene credibility alone would make "Cold Lake" seem ill-advised, but it's compacted by the simple fact that vocalist/guitarist Thomas Gabriel Fischer has absolutely no melodic capacity. His atonal snarls and banshee wails work with material that is meant to sound like a descent into an underworld of fire and brimstone, not the listener-friendly realm of radio friendly hard rock. 

Celtic Frost was back on track with 1989's "Vanity/Nemesis," a groove heavy thrash album that plays to the band's strengths as a guitar riff-oriented powerhouse. The band would then enter a prolonged hiatus, returning for 2006's "Monotheist," their final recording to date. Both albums, thankfully, abandon any pretentions of mainstream appeal. 

Throughout the 1970s, the Kiss formula was as simple as it was lucrative: an other-worldly, sci-fi glam image coupled with hook-oriented arena rock. It was as much an accomplishment of marketing as musicianship, and the makeup-shrouded quartet was reaping the rewards of success. That didn't stop them from experimenting with albums like the disco-influenced "Dynasty," but 1981's "Music From 'The Elder'" took the musical tinkering to an alarming new level.

The reigning kings of theatrical sleaze rock had decided to get cerebral with a progressive rock concept album full of epic fantasy battles between forces of good and evil. It's music that begs to be channeled through the intellectual stylings of Rush or the operatic pomposity of Queen, not the lowbrow fun of Gene Simmons and company. While the album is not a total loss — Paul Stanley has some inspired vocal performances and Ace Frehley turns in some soulful lead guitar work reminiscent of Pink Floyd's David Gilmore — it's just not what fans of "Love Gun" and "Detroit Rock City" were expecting.

The band's vision was so grand that they saw the album becoming a motion picture, hence the "Music From" in the title. The adaptation actually did enter the early conceptual stages of production with actor Christopher Makepeace attached to play the lead, but a lackluster response from fans and critics alike led to the project being scrapped. Kiss made a quick return to their winning formula with 1982's "Creatures of the Night" and never looked back.

Like so many '80s metal bands, Megadeth spent the '90s refining their sound for mainstream acceptance. In their case, it worked: 1992's "Countdown to Extinction" and 1994's "Youthanasia"were both certified platinum. With 1997's "Cryptic Writings" doing gold sales and receiving a Grammy nomination for the single "Trust," the band forged further into radio friendly fare with 1999's "Risk." 

While the album entered the Billboard Top 200 at No. 16 and eventually went gold, it failed to generate the same critical and fan enthusiasm of their previous '90s efforts. That's a shame because there's plenty of strong material on "Risk." The anthemic "Crush 'Em," (which was featured on the soundtrack to "Universal Soldier: The Return") and the up-tempo ballad "Breadline" are hard-driving and well-crafted, while other songs explore country, industrial, and alternative directions with earnest enthusiasm.

Still, critics registered the album as a blatant attempt by a thrash metal powerhouse to find relevance in the world of nu-metal post-grunge. Writing for Metal Forces Magazine, critic Neil Arnold said, "I find myself having to harp on about how poor the mid-to-late '90s are for metal, especially with some of the genre's hardest bands watering down their sound to seemingly carve out a career. I'm guessing that's what happened with Megadeth because 'Risk' leaves me unfulfilled and gasping for those hazy days of crunching thrash which Dave Mustaine and company became the masters of."