Choosing an album's lead single can be tricky. It should be a great song (but not the album's best) that accurately represents the sound of the album as a whole. However, these five artists chose lead singles for their albums that didn't quite sound like the album's other songs. Here are five lead singles that misrepresent their albums.
1. The Beatles - "Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby" (1966)
Even though I'm a huge fan of "Yellow Submarine," (a simple melody over acoustic guitar chords? I'm in), there are plenty of Beatles fans who consider it one of the band's worst, and feel that it's a stain on the otherwise perfect Revolver. While I wouldn't say it ruins the album, it does come off as soft and relatively lightweight when compared to "Taxman" or "Tomorrow Never Knows." The single's B-side (technically it's a double A-side) is "Eleanor Rigby," which is more in tune with Revolver's adventurous spirit, though there's not a guitar anywhere to be found.
2. Bruce Springsteen - "Dancing in the Dark" (1984)
Born in the U.S.A. may have been Bruce Springsteen's most blatant foray into pop music by that point in his career, but the album wasn't nearly as upbeat or downright danceable as the lead single "Dancing in the Dark" suggested. Anyone who bought the album expecting 11 more synth-pop tracks must have been confused by the anger and desperation of "Downbound Train," "I'm On Fire," and the album's title track.
3. The Smiths - "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore" (1985)
For its second album Meat is Murder, the Smiths released just one single, the heartbreaking ballad "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore." Though it's a beautiful song, it would suggest that the rest of Meat is Murder is a continuation of the post-punk gloom established by the band on its debut, when that certainly isn't the case. Instead, Meat is Murder is the angriest and most rock-influenced album of the Smiths' career, with songs like "Nowhere Fast" and "Rusholme Ruffians" even taking cues from rockabilly.
4. Blur - "Girls & Boys" (1994)
With the release of the "Girls & Boys" single, it sounded as if Blur was returning to its early, dance-inspired roots for its third album Parklife. However, this wasn't the case: Parklife is actually one of the most eclectic albums of the Britpop era, with songs ranging from punk, psychedelic, and baroque pop, along with the brief embrace of dance music with "Girls & Boys."
5. Pixies - "Gigantic" (1988)
To say that "Gigantic" misrepresents the entirety of Surfer Rosa might be an exaggeration. It follows the album's noisy punk template, but it's more sweetly melodic than the album's other tracks, and the only track written and sung by bassist Kim Deal. Anyone who bought Surfer Rosa based solely on the strength of "Gigantic" must have been very surprised to find that all of the album's other tracks were sung by a terrifying maniac named Black Francis instead.
