The Wrong Single

There is an art to picking the right single to promote an album. It isn't as important these days, with mainstream radio and MTV no longer the primary way people find out about new music, and it isn't important for bands that have already established their name (and can pretty much coast on their notariety), but I think it still says something about a band what they choose to offer as a taste of their collected work. What they choose tells you about how they write, how they think, and what they aim to achieve.

For the most part, I think bands tend to do a good job of picking the right songs to be singles. The idea of what sounds 'mainstream' is apparent enough, and there are plenty of times it is obvious which songs are going to have the widest appeal. That being said, there are also plenty of times when a band makes a decision that, for one reason or another, doesn't make a lick of sense to me. That isn't to say they were always failures, business wise, but they were indications of larger issues that would either immediately or eventually come to pass.

Let's take a look at some singles I find extremely questionable, starting with the most recent example:

Ghost - Hunter's Moon, Call Me Little Sunshine, Twenties

The new Ghost album, "Impera", is still fresh in our minds, and is the inspiration for this particular exercise. I had little excitement about the album, and it was entirely because of these three singles. Ghost has almost always put out fantastic singles that showcase their pop meets Satan schtick, but this time around they put out three rather dull and tuneless songs. "Twenties", in particular, is the worst thing they've ever done, and I think it says something important. Ghost was reacting to the criticism of how pop "Prequelle" was, so they wanted to show their heavier and more sinister side, but it failed. They sucked the fun out of the band, even if these songs did still do well at radio, and the album still came out of the gates as a huge success. It's a harbinger of issues I think we're going to see going forward.

They should have released "Spillways" instead, even if it was the expected choice. You don't need to mess with what works.

Blues Traveler - Carolina Blues

After the massive success of "Four", where would Blues Traveler go? They would wind up going in practically every direction, but the first we heard about their experimenting was "Carolina Blues", a truly awful choice for a single. I knew they didn't want to be thought of as a pop band, but they went too far down the blues rabbit hole. This song is not only repetitive in an annoying way, but it was completely out of touch with the times, and doesn't even have a chorus you can remember. As a song, it was fine to fill out the record. As a single, it was a statement that Blues Traveler wasn't going to pander for more hits.... until they absolutely would start to do that. The failure of this song set off the rest of the band's career.

They should have released "Canadian Rose" first instead. It is a bit fluffy, but it has the same tone and charm of their prior hits. It would not have scared people off the way "Carolina Blues" did.

Weezer - El Scorcho

Have you ever wanted to listen to a single with a main riff that sounds like the guitarists don't know how to play properly? A song that talks about watching underground hardcore wrestling? Yeah, I didn't think you did. I didn't either. "El Scorcho" is a weird song, on a weird album, and it's the sort of song that basically tells you if you aren't a loser, you have no business listening to "Pinkerton". That isn't wrong, mind you, but as a single, holding people at arm's length is not productive.

The big problem is there is no better single for them to have chosen. Every song on the record has serious issues.

The Offspring - Hit That, We Don't Have Sex Anymore

Oh, The Offspring, how they fell so hard from grace. "Pretty Fly For A White Guy" was the turning point, but I understand why they released that song as a single. It was a time of snark, and they were taking the piss out of the pop stars of the time. The problem was once they became pop stars, they couldn't give it up. The albums that followed needed a song to fit the same mold, and they kept going to the well of releasing novelty songs as singles. "Hit That" was one attempt too many, a song completely out of place on the darker and heavier "Splinter", as well as being the band's least funny attempt to that point. It would get even worse when "We Don't Have Sex Anymore" eventually happened, as the band had fully rotted away into a husk of dad jokes and man-child whining. It's no wonder neither record was well-received or successful.

They should have put out anything that wasn't pathetic pandering. Or anything that didn't make them sound so damn old and out-of-touch.

Foo Fighters - White Limo

Of anything after "One By One", "Wasting Light" is the only Foo Fighters album I think is worth listening to in full. The band was energized, excited, and it comes through in songs that Dave Grohl described as having a chorus, then an even bigger chorus. But to introduce the record, we got to hear "White Limo", where Dave screamed for three minutes over a thrashy riff neither he nor the Foos are known for. It was the most tuneless song on the record, and was there simply to prove the band had made a real 'rock' album. When bands are trying so hard to prove something, it shows through, and it probably highlighted how soft and middle-aged they would sound forever after. We were warned, if we were listening.

They should have released "Dear Rosemary" first, but if they didn't want a duet with a guy most of their audience wouldn't know, "Alandria" would have been fantastic too. There were plenty of songs that would fit in their greatest hits package snugly, and instead they chose something they did so poorly to represent them. They were lucky people really wanted a good Foo Fighters album, otherwise that choice could have sunk them.