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Top 8 Worst Albums of 2012

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 12.29.2012

From Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded and Chris Brown's Fortune to Ke$ha's Warrior, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Last of a Dyin' Breed and more, 411's Jeremy Thomas concludes his look at the top 16 worst albums of 2012 with #8 - #1!

Welcome, one and all, to the 8 Ball in the Music Zone! I'm your host Jeremy Thomas and as always, I will be tackling a topic and providing you the top eight selections of that particular category. Keep in mind that this list is meant to be my personal opinion and not a definitive list. You're free to disagree; you can even say my list is wrong, but stating that an opinion is "wrong" is just silly. With that in mind, let's get right in to it!


Top 16 Worst Albums of 2012 (#8 - #1)

Last week we kicked off our look at the worst albums of 2012, covering everything from the Dandy Warhols to Rihanna. While that list inspired a lot of discussion, I think the saddest thing about it was how that wasn't truly the worst music of the year. Indeed, there are eight albums actually worse than Unapologetic, and we're about to dive in to take a look. Keep your sanity close, it may well be lost in the oncoming deluge of crap that passed for music in 2012.

Caveat: All you had to do in order to qualify for this list was release an EP or LP in the year 2012 within the United States, and do a poor job at it. Pretty straight-forward.

Just Missing The Cut:

The All-American Rejects - Kids in the Street
Our Lady Peace - Curve
Justin Bieber - Believe
Ed Sheeran - +
Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror


The First Eight

16. The Dandy Warhols - This Machine
15. Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth
14. Train - California 37
13. The Wanted - The Wanted
12. No Doubt - Push & Shove
11. Owl City - The Midsummer Station
10. 2 Chainz - Based on a T.R.U. Story
9. Rihanna - Unapologetic

#8: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Last of a Dyin' Breed

Of all the albums I placed on my "Worst of" list for this year, this one hurts the most. I mean, it seriously cuts deep. I am a big fan of Southern Rock and grew up with a deep love for the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd. "Simple Man," "Gimme Two Steps," "Freebird"...these songs are an inseparable part of the soundtrack of my youth. So when I heard that Skynyrd was releasing an album this year, their first since 2009's Gods and Guns, I was excited. I wanted to get some good, solid classic-sounding Southern rock to listen this year. Instead, I got this album. Now, it goes without saying that Skynyrd hasn't particularly been at the forefront of the music scene for some time. Gods and Guns hit the top 20 on the Billboard 200 but it didn't stay there long and it was the first to have done so since the band's infamous plane crash that claimed the lives of Ronnie Van Zant and Steve and Cassie Gaines in 1977. But barely slipping an LP into the top 15 for a mere week (like Dyin' Breed did) is not worth what they did with their sound. Much of Dyin' Breed just comes off as depressing. Johnny Van Zant is a capable singer and the band is all fantastic, but this album sounds like a vaguely more authentic version of what Nickelback does. Let me say that again: Lynyrd Skynyrd has turned into a Nickelback for the retro-loving crowd. Don't believe me? Just listen to "Homegrown" above and tell me if it sounds more like the legendary act who gave us "That Smell" or the group who got booed in their hometown NFL halftime show because of songs like "Burn it to the Ground." There are moments on Dyin' Breed, such as on the title track or the second track "One Day at a Time," when Skynyrd seems like it is about to break free and show us why they're one of the icons of Southern rock. Unfortunately those moments are few and far between. Nickelback can get away with being Nickelback because no one expects better of them. Lynyrd Skynyrd doesn't get that luxury; they've shown us too much to regress like this.