Though an album title shouldn't tell you explicitly what kind of music you're in for (where's the fun in that?), a title does have a subtle influence over how we hear an album, or how we expect it to fit into the artist's career arc. These eight albums, however, went with titles that ended up being misleading for either one of these reasons.
1. Big Star - #1 Record (1972)
Memphis power pop band Big Star is one of the most famous examples of a critically acclaimed band who were pretty much unknown during their time, which makes the title of their debut album #1 Record so painfully ironic, as they never got anywhere near the top of any album chart.
2. Neil Young - On The Beach (1974)
You'd think that an album titled On The Beach would be at least a little bit fun and sunny, but this is a Neil Young album we're talking about. Although Young's music was never exactly upbeat, On The Beach is one of his grimmest and rawest efforts, particularly the title track.
3. The Fall - Live from the Witch Trials (1979)
Though legendary post-punk band The Fall have released 30 live albums over the course of their nearly 40 year career, 1979's Live at the Witch Trials is not one of them. The album is actually the band's full-length studio debut, though seeing as how the entire thing was recorded in just one day in Dec. 1978, the songs were likely recorded live in the studio anyway.
4. Circle Jerks - VI (1987)
When a band chooses to name their album VI, and displays a very prominent "VI" on its cover, it would be fair to assume that it's their sixth studio album. However, Circle Jerks' VI is actually their fifth album, so either they don't understand how Roman numerals work, or they recorded a secret fifth album and decided to never release it. Or maybe they just wanted to mess with us.
5. The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs (1987)
Although the Smiths were champions of guitar-based music in the era of synthpop, they weren't exactly known as being an incredibly loud or aggressive band, so if you knew nothing about them and decided to take the title of their 1987 compilation Louder Than Bombs literally, you'd be shocked to find a collection of jangly, carefully crafted indie pop songs instead of a bunch of riffy, distorted rockers (though some tracks, such as "London" or "Sweet and Tender Hooligan," come pretty close).
6. Björk - Debut (1993)
While Björk's 1993 album Debut was her first solo album following the break-up of her band The Sugarcubes, it's technically not her debut album. Björk's actual debut album Björk was released all the way back in 1977, when she was just 11 years old, though Debut is where the story of her legendary solo career truly begins.
7. Sugar - File Under: Easy Listening (1994)
Anyone familiar with the music of Bob Mould can tell you that he is the furthest thing from easy listening, and that the title of Sugar's second album File Under: Easy Listening is almost definitely sarcastic (though the title's acronym F.U.E.L. is a much more accurate signifier of the album's heavy power pop sound).
8. Dr. Dre - 2001 (1999)
Though plenty of artists have named their albums after years that they weren't released in, what make Dr. Dre's 2001 different is that it was released unusually close to the year it was named after. While this wasn't necessarily confusing or misleading back in 1999 (surely nobody bought the album the week it came out and assumed that it was suddenly 2001), it does lead some in 2015 to reasonably assume that Dr. Dre's last album came out back in 2001, instead of 1999.
What are some other albums with misleading titles? Let us know down in the comments section!
