Back in June, I asked a question on Twitter that was “What was the best rock/metal band that only released one album?” To many people, this kind of band is deemed to be a one-hit wonder. But as someone who has never released any kind of album—or EP for that matter—this question really got me thinking.
What if these bands made one album so good, they felt like they had nothing left to prove?
As I consider putting together an EP—which will no doubt take me the next ten years—I find myself wondering if I will put together the best I’ll ever have to contribute and then never try again. It’s likely. It’s also likely that I will never release an album like anything in this short list I’ve compiled called Nailed it with a single album release.
Enjoy.
Before I share my list. Let me share the Twitter conversation that started this all for me.
Best rock/metal band that only released one album.
— Scarebear (@Scarebear) June 1, 2016
Twitter limits your poll’s capabilities through its character count, but that suited me fine. I wanted to see what other bands my friends considered to be list-worthy. I was pleased to discover that my friends and I had similar thoughts. So, here’s the list.
We Are The Fallen
We Are The Fallen is/was a band that featured Carly Smithson—an American Idol contestant—on vocals and several members from the original Evanescence lineup. To be honest, I am in love with this entire album of theirs—Tear The World Down. There is not a song on this album that I do not love. The title track is one of those tracks I could listen to on repeat for days. Sadly, it doesn’t appear to be an officially released single. Bury Me Alive was though. Also an amazing song.
The Damned Things
This is another band that came together from multiple previous band lineups. The Damned Things features band members from Anthrax, Fallout Boy and Every Time I Die. Their single album from 2010 is an awesome collection of hard rocking tunes that showed how three different styles can come together to pretty-much nail it. They also produced one of my all-time favourite videos with the following piece for We’ve Got A Situation Here.
Them Crooked Vultures
Speaking of the combination of bands—often referred to as Superbands—it would be hard to top Them Crooked Vultures. When you have members from Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stoneage and Led Zeppelin, you’ve created a damn high bar to aim for. Understandably, when it came to the music, that was epic as well. With one album they created a collection of music that brought music fans from multiple generations together in the most positive of ways.
Temple Of The Dog
Strangely enough, Temple Of The Dog have recently announced a reunion tour of the USA to allow fans to once again experience the brilliance of this solitary album release. The combined vocal stylings of Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) and Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) on tracks like Hunger Strike is sheer brilliance. This band, with this sole album, highlighted some of the best music the Seattle grunge scene had to offer.
Mad Season
Another Supergroup from the Seattle grunge era. Mad Season featured members from Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees and Alice In Chains. To be quite honest, I’m mostly grateful for this album because it gave me another opportunity to hear the amazing vocals of Layne Staley. Such an amazing talent taken too early.
Other suggested options
They were the bands I could think of from my own music library. My Twitter friends also suggested the following.
- Sex Pistols
- Morbid Saint
- T-Ride
- Powermad
- Mother Love Bone.
If you had to pick the best one-hit wonder from the rock/metal realm, who would you choose?