The 20 biggest flops of 2008 | Metromix Louisville

The 20 biggest flops of 2008

Albums that made record execs cry, from GNR, R.E.M. and other underachievers

By Andy Hermann, Metromix

(page 20 of 20)

The 20 biggest flops of 2008
(Credit: WireImage.com)

You think you’re feeling the pinch of these troubled economic times? Try working for a record label. U.S. album sales for 2008 were down roughly 15 percent from a year ago, and 2009 looks even bleaker.

Which albums have been leading the charge for this ignominious race to the bottom? Here, based on Metromix’s quasi-scientific number crunching, are the 20 albums that were the best (worst?) representation of the music industry’s dismal year.

R.E.M., 'Accelerate'

pick R.E.M., 'Accelerate'

Critic's Rating:
4 1/2

Billed as the veteran alt-rockers’ “return to form” album after a string of disappointing releases, “Accelerate” was...well, disappointing. Despite a brief flurry of media hype and positive press (including plenty, we must admit, from Metromix), R.E.M.’s 14th studio album only managed sales of 300,000—more than 2004’s anemic “Around the Sun,” but well short of the Athens, Ga., band’s heyday.

 

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