Ten albums the critics rated as the worst ever in history

Billy Idol - Cyberpunk 

The words concept album are again a warning. There are probably more bad than good concept albums. In terms of Cyberpunk, many people struggled to understand what the concept or linking themes was about. 

Highly experimental, it drew on Idol’s love of technology. He adopted new digital techniques to create the album. Idol was also an early advocate of using the internet and digital media to promote the album. That may not sound ground-breaking now but was at that time. 

The album was heavily criticized, and the concept was questioned heavily. Perhaps the backdrop and cyber themes detracted and the musical style was too much of a move from his punk rock roots as a solo artist and with Generation X. Not one of his best moments. One more point to the critics.

Black Sabbath – Forbidden

A common feature at times is where some great and essential band members are missing. Although Cozy Powell and Neil Murray were back in Black Sabbath there was a huge hole caused by the absence of Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler. The band nevertheless pumped out Forbidden as studio album number 18.

It’s one for devout fans and collectors. Much less so for anyone else. The songs are a bit tame for the band, bland, drab in places, and lacking a spark, or an Ozzy! It’s not a good album, it’s one to avoid. The critics have a point here in more ways than one. 

Do the critics get their worst ever albums in history right?

That’s ten albums from the bestsellingalbums list of worst albums in music history. In some cases, the critics have been very harsh. They’ve recognized a poor album, but it’s not always been worthy of a worst ever tag. On the other hand, taking all ten of those into account, their assessment seems correct on at least seven of the albums and questionable on just three.

Of course, there are many more albums in people’s minds and record library that could qualify and be listed, potentially many worse than these. So once again personal opinion will always play a part.

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