When I talk about "bandwagon records", I’m talking about albums that are so blatantly following modern tastes and trends that it’s laughable. It’s not a phenomenon you see in its most unabashed form anymore (although if you look, it’s still there). But 30-40 years ago, you could find records like these EVERYWHERE.
For example, one of the more famous of these shameless delights is the Rolling Stones’ Satanic Majesties Request. Lambasted by critics and fans as "amorphous", "aimless" and "insecure" (Jon Landau, 2/10/68, Rolling Stone magazine), it was clearly an exploitation of the psychedelic music being made immensely popular by the Stones’ arch rivals, the Beatles. The fact that it was so clearly suffering from Pepper-itis however does not make it awful, and the album has since been re-evaluated as an odd piece of decent psychedelia by a band who never really understood the whole “peace and love” thing.
Most of my favorite bandwagon records come from the psychedelic period of the late ‘60’s music scene. Albums such as:
The Hollies-Evolution
Paul Jones-Love Me, Love My Friends
Johnny Rivers-Realizations
Beau Brummels-Triangle
The Temptations-Puzzle People
The Monkees-Head
Howlin Wolf-the Howlin’ Wolf album
Dave Clark Five-Inside and Out (not an album, but a song that nevertheless was a thinly veiled stab at psychedelia)
Paul Revere and the Raiders-Peace of Mind (again, not an album but a song)
Not all of these records are bad. Most of them are actually great. The worst of them are at the very least interesting to listen to as period pieces. Perhaps thats why I like them. Bandwagon records are in many ways a better summation of the times in which they were created than the "good" records which were their inspiration.
Or maybe I just like looking at people's dirty laundry.
Like this:
