Everyone makes mistakes, right? Pobodys nerfect! Even the greatest musicians have the occasional slip-ups, and that is what I am going to be chronicling here.

I want to quickly lay out some of the rules I set for myself to make the list a bit more concise. The first rule is that I only put one song per artist. The second rule is that I wanted to avoid joke songs and transition songs. For example, “Stop” by Pink Floyd and “Iron Gland” by Alice in Chains are both songs I would consider to be transitions and I don’t think it’s fair to judge them on the same level as their other songs. An example of a joke song that I nearly put on the list would be “All by Myself” by Green Day. It’s a bit hard to tell the difference between a serious song telling an unfunny joke and a song that is a joke, so I used my best discretion.

Also, for the record, I used the internet to research and refresh my brain, but all the songs are songs I don’t like off albums I do like. I’m not just regurgitating other people’s opinions. For example, I saw a lot of people bring up the songs “Mother” by the Police and “Mamacita” by OutKast, and I don’t mind these songs. I think “Mother” is an interesting experiment that I can appreciate, and “Mamacita” has a chill and relaxed beat that I can groove with, even if the song goes on for a bit too long. With that out of the way here is part one of my ranking for the worst songs from good albums.

“Lonely Day” by System of a Down – Hypnotize:

Admittedly I’m starting the list off on a bit of a controversial pick, but I just never liked this song. SOAD is one of my favorite bands, and every album that they put out is a banger, but I just never understood the admiration for this song. It was even nominated for a Grammy for best hard rock performance, so obviously I am in the minority.I think my main issue is the lyrics. They are just way too on the nose. That combined with Daron’s nasally whine makes the song sound sarcastic, and that’s the last thing you want from a heartfelt ballad about loneliness. Maybe they intentionally wrote the lyrics “The most loneliest day of my life” to be ironic, but it just doesn’t land for me. It feels awkward and armature. The reason this song is so high on the list is because I think the bridge is nice and that guitar solo is undeniably killer, but it isn’t worth listening to the rest of the song to get to it. Daron, when you go, I don’t want to go with you. This song sucks. I’m sorry.

“Welcome to the Machine” by Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here:

I am a little obsessed with this record. I have the album art as my phone lock screen and tried to recreate it in a high school photography class, I learned the tragic story of Syd Barrett inside and out, and “Have a Cigar” is one of my top three Pink Floyd songs. There is just one blemish on this nearly perfect record, and I was in denial about this for a long time, but I hate “Welcome to the Machine”. Waters’ overwrought vocals bring the band as close to pretentious as they have ever come, and that’s coming from a guy who’s listened to Ummagumma. It just drones on and on, and the subject matter just makes it worse. Songs about the music business just don’t really land for me. The reason I love “Have a Cigar” so much even though it’s about the same subject is because the lyrics are extremely witty and ruthless. On top of that the groove in that song is undeniable. “Welcome to the Machine” just sounds like noise to me. It’s loud and obnoxious for no reason and never seems to go anywhere. I appreciate the welcome, but I’ll show myself out.

Tattered & Torn by Slipknot – Slipknot:

I was debating putting this on here not because I don’t think that the song is bad, but because I wasn’t sure if I thought the album was good. I am a huge Slipknot fan, but even I can acknowledge that their debut album is the definition of frontloaded. The first five songs (six if you count the intro) are some of the best songs the band put out and might be some of the best metal ever recorded. “Eyeless,” “Wait and Bleed,” “Surfacing” are all absolute bangers, but past that there isn’t a lot to write home about, or so I thought for a long time. Upon thoroughly listening to the second half, I can say there is some good stuff there. A lot of the tracks on the second half sound like they were sowing the seeds for what would become their sophomore album, IOWA, which is, in my opinion, their best and most consistent. Even songs like “Me Inside” are good on their own and make the second half of the album worth listening to… except for one track.

True story: I was driving my mom somewhere and had my music on shuffle. When this song came on my mom immediately thought there was something wrong with the car. It’s that kind of song. This song sounds like what people who hate Slipknot think they sound like. Just random abrasive noise for no good reason. It’s structureless and messy, and not endearing in a way like some of their other songs. I was torn on whether I should include this song, but it’s so tattered that I had to.