10 Worst Albums of 2010

A qualifier first: When I say "worst," I mean "the worst I've heard." When I say "the worst I've heard," that doesn't include some obvious offenders I may have listened to once out of curiosity or for a review, so you won't see entries from folks like Kid Rock or Rascal Flatts on here. My 10 worst albums of 2010 is comprised of albums I listened to 3 or more times with the expectation that I would or possibly might enjoy said albums. It was not to be with these 10.

Santana - Guitar Heaven

The melding of one of the greatest guitarists of all time with popular rock singers performing eternal rock classics… sounds good on paper right? Wrong! So wrong. This turd features a grand total of zero songs that were worth the effort. In fact, most of it is flat-out unlistenable. The worst of the bunch? Predictable names hated by the critics ….Gavin Rossdale turns in a cardboard performance of "Bang a Gong" and Scott Stapp destroys "Fortunate Son." Guitar Heaven isn't just a bad album, it's an affront to classic rock and a black mark on Santana's legacy. Somebody stop him, please.

Sugarland - The Incredible Machine

This is a frickin' mess, but as Levar Burton used to say, you don't have to take my word for it.

Country Universe review

The 9513 review

Washington Post review

Saving Country Music write-up

Slant review

Rolling Stone review

Lil Wayne - Rebirth

This album doesn't prove rock and rap can't coexist. It merely proves Lil Wayne and rock don't work well together. Wayne sounds okay here, and the music isn't horrible… the songs are just so haphazardly thrown together. Hip-hop may not always depend on focused songwriting, but rock does and nothing here comes together the way it should. No big deal; Wayne has already put out another album since, and has the highly anticipated Tha Carter 4 on the way.

"Drop the World" ft. Eminem

Shooter Jennings and Hierophant - Black Ribbons

Shooter's big concept album falls flat after about 2 listens. There are a couple of good songs in the mix, God Bless Alabama in particular, but they do little to bring this mess together. I'm not a Shooter fan, but I keep checking out his new material hoping some of his birthright talent shines through. Aside from a few good songs, not yet.

John Mellencamp - No Better Than This

Some will feature this album on their best of lists; not me. While the concept is strong: Mellencamp with an ensemble, recording stripped down folk, rock and country-ish tunes in mono, the final product is listless and flat. John sounds disinterested and the songs run together. This coming from someone who has no problem listening to Sun Kil Moon perform an entire album of slow fingerpicked acoustic songs with no harmonies.

Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns

Most people who read this are saying "well duh!" right now, but Linkin Park is a pretty talented band who've proven they can exist beyond the rightfully dead genre of rap-rock. They've put out several songs I'd count as guilty pleasures and they continue to change up their sound in an intelligent and inspired manner. However, with A Thousand Suns, they completely lost the fire of previous recordings, diving headlong in a sea of slow electronically driven art rock. As if to fully distance themselves from the meathead Limp Bizkit fans and the like, Linkin Park put out a boring pile of sleep-inducing tracks, with few cuts worthy of repeated listens.

Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2

Perhaps Rob needs to stick to directing. He's still as fiery and weird as ever, but this collection of songs is poorly written with lyrics so bad that they distract from the rocking.

OK Go - Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky

They still make great videos, but their songs lack the pure pop rock fun of previous releases. Nothing to hang your hat on here.

Ratt - Infestation

Why did I have any illusions that this would be good? I guess it's because I keep hanging on to my junior high love of hair metal, hoping for a return of rock that's actually fun. If this album is any indication, hair metal won't be returning to the mainstream anytime soon. Stephen Pearcy can't sing for shit and the lyrics are insipid. Maybe they were always this bad?

"Eat Me Up Alive"

Turley - Anger Management

Besides "My Soul Bleeds Black and Gold," an anthemic ode to Turley's favorite former NFL employer, the Super Bowl Champion Saints (Who Dat!), I deleted most of this album from my iTunes. He sings in the same monotone growl the whole album and the songs are mostly just plain bad. There's hope for Kyle Turley in the country business, if he can only find the right songs to fit his attitude driven delivery, but few of these songs fit that description. Please don't beat me up, Kyle.

"Another Whiskey"