Usually when an artist releases a new album, he or she will assault the press with the message that the new release is the best thing the artist has ever done, and will undoubtedly be something the fans will adore and newcomers will get into. Such is not the case with the new (and long-awaited) Lupe Fiasco album L.A.S.E.R.S.. The process of creating the album was such a struggle that he could really take it or leave it at this point, and in interviews he has been honest about his ambivalence.
"I hate this record, the process of making this record, and I love this record," Fiasco told the Chicago Tribune. "What I had to go through was not fun, the ugliness I saw in people. But I love the manifesto." Fiasco went even deeper in the pages of Complex. "A lot of the songs that are on the album, I'm kinda neutral to. Not that I don't like them, or that I hate them, it's just I know the process that went behind it. I know the sneaky business deal that went down behind this song, or the artist or singer or songwriter who wrote this hook and didn't want to give me this song in the first place," he said. "So when I have that kind of knowledge behind it, I'm just kind of neutral to it like, 'Another day, another dollar.' As opposed something like The Cool, which is more of my own blood, sweat, and tears, and my own control."
Of course, Fiasco isn't the first artist to have mixed feelings about his own work (though in most cases, artists tend to bury their own stuff in retrospect, not in real time). Here are some of the more notable groups who have thrown their own work under a bus.
Foo Fighters, One By One
While Foo Fighters' fourth album was a commercial and critical hit, it left a bad taste in the mouth of frontman Dave Grohl. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 2005, Grohl said of the album, "Four of the songs were good, and the other seven I never played again in my life. We rushed into it, and we rushed out of it." He has been true to his word, as recent Foo Fighters set lists have only included One By One tracks "Times Like These" and "All My Life."
U2, Pop
When U2 released Pop in 1997, it was hailed as the album that was supposed to bridge the gap between rock music and electronica. That particular marriage was not successful, and the songs from Pop have mostly been retired in favor of the rest of the band's extensive catalog. The quality of Pop remains a sticking point between the members of the band (Bono still defends it, though).
Weezer, Pinkerton
While Rivers Cuomo never formally buried his band's second album, it did drive him away from making music for a while. It wasn't so much that the songs were bad (in fact, they represent some of his best songwriting) but that they were far too personal for Cuomo to handle. The band disappeared for a few years and didn't play Pinkerton songs live for a while, though they eventually made their way back into the fabric of Weezer.
Eminem, Relapse
Eminem had been gone for a minute when Relapse came out, and though that album was greeted with excitement and enthusiasm, it ultimately left a lot of people wanting more. Apparently, those people included Eminem himself, who dissed the album on his next release Recovery.
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