Didn't age well...

I pulled out a bunch of CDs I hadn't heard in a while today. The first I listened to was XALT - Under the Ruins. This CD seriously didn't age well. Name some CDs you think didn't age well.

Xalt - Under the Ruins
Messiah Prophet - Rock the Flock

Dokken-Tooth and Nail, still like the album but IMO sounds dated

I've found that a lot of the late '90s "Euro Power Metal" bands that I really dug when they were current, haven't aged very well at all. I still listen to Tad Morose quite a bit, but aside from their debuts, I don't listen to Primal Fear, Iron Savior, HammerFall, etc. much anymore.

Allot of the early-mid 80's albums sound dated to me thanks to the overly slick production and keyboard saturation, but 2 that come to mind specifically....

Ozzy - The Ultimate Sin
Cheap Trick - Lap of Luxury

I think allot of bands that were big in the 70's kinda lost their direction (and balls) when they moved into the 80's. New technology and the desire to remain current really neutered their sound. The same way big 80's acts tried to remain relevent in the grunge-era 90's. In both cases, sometimes it worked, most times it didn't.

Much of Aerosmith's PERMANENT VACATION has aged pretty badly. Loved it when it was current, but nowadays... "Rag Doll?" Ugh. "Dude Looks Like A Lady?" Double Ugh.

Quite a few Stryper tracks from "back in the day" are pretty cringe-worthy nowadays too. Off the top of my head, "Together Forever" (with that awful "doo-wop, wop-wah-oooo" bit), "Sing-Along Song," and pretty much any of their ballads.

Keel was one of my fave hair bands years ago but their only album that still holds up (in my book anyway) is THE RIGHT TO ROCK.

...and even as a huge KISS fan I gotta admit I rarely reach for the ANIMALIZE album anymore. It sounded great to me in '84 but nowadays it's aged about as well as a carton of milk left on a hot driveway.

I have to agree with KISS-Animalize, used to love that album as a kid, and still like it somewhat but it has aged.

Same thing with Ozzy Osbourne 'The Ultimate Sin' personally I still love the album but it is dated and Cheap Trick's Lap of Luxury is very very dated.


As much as it pains me to say this, because I am huge Alice fan, 'Trash' to me sounds dated, of course this also happens to be Alice's worst album IMO.

Judas Priest's TURBO (1986) already sounded dated by 1987

Any albums inspired by Hysteria's production style.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Judas Priest's TURBO (1986) already sounded dated by 1987

It actually sounded dated when it came out, at least to me.

Quote :

Much of Aerosmith's PERMANENT VACATION has aged pretty badly. Loved it when it was current, but nowadays... "Rag Doll?" Ugh. "Dude Looks Like A Lady?" Double Ugh.

I don't listen to that one much these days, but I think it's more outta "burn-out" than dated. I played the sh*t outta that tape when I got it. And radio/MTV overkill didn't help.

Funny I say that. Just the phrase "MTV overkill" is dated itself.

Anything by Grim Reaper. Don't get me wrong I still like the band but not as much as I did when I found out about them.

King Kobra - Ready To Strike Still love that album, but it does sound dated like most of the Pop/hair metal from back in my glory days.....

Stuck Mojo - Snappin' Necks
Dearly Beheaded - Temptation

Body Count's S/T (with the infamous "Cop Killer") is another one that has aged badly. At the time that came out, everybody was AFRAID of that record, like it was the most bad-ass, angriest, most hardcore thing ever released on a major label ... now it just sounds cartoonish.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Judas Priest's TURBO (1986) already sounded dated by 1987

I would though in Ram It Down too

Fat Freddy wrote:

Body Count's S/T (with the infamous "Cop Killer") is another one that has aged badly. At the time that came out, everybody was AFRAID of that record, like it was the most bad-ass, angriest, most hardcore thing ever released on a major label ... now it just sounds cartoonish.

I just got my cassette version upgraded to CD ( thank you Joe) and I have to agree with you, I have no idea how anyone took these lyrics seriously, it seems to me more of a parody then a serious social statement of any kind.

I don't think a band that has a song about a black guy who falls in love with a white girl whose father just so happens to be the leader of the KKK is trying to be 100% serious.

I think one thing that seems to age rock music more than anything else is synthesizers. Whilst some tracks might age well despite it (I think we can all agree that Van Halen's 'Jump' remains hugely iconic), I occasionally hear synths replicating real instruments and sounding terrible because of it. A good example is a lot of Angra's early stuff, especially on Holy Land. Clearly, Andre Matos put a lot of work in to making the synths sound like various orchestral instruments but when you hear a 1996 synthesizer attempting to replicate a flute nowadays, it sounds nothing short of wrong.

The only exception to that is Guns N' Roses' 'November Rain'. I still find it difficult to believe all that orchestration is assorted synths.

Dated keyboard sounds, especially 80's era synth sounds, are pretty bad for the most part. Today's technology is different, you can buy a keyboard that can pretty much fool about anyone into believing it's an actual piano. But they weren't that good in the 80's.

Plus it depends on how they were used.

Compare the aforementioned Turbo album (which has guitar synths and sounds cheesy) to Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time, which also uses guitar synths, but to "enhance" the sound of the band, not change it.

The Maiden album still sounds great, Turbo is a laugh riot.

detuned wrote:

Dated keyboard sounds, especially 80's era synth sounds, are pretty bad for the most part. Today's technology is different, you can buy a keyboard that can pretty much fool about anyone into believing it's an actual piano. But they weren't that good in the 80's.

Plus it depends on how they were used.

Compare the aforementioned Turbo album (which has guitar synths and sounds cheesy) to Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time, which also uses guitar synths, but to "enhance" the sound of the band, not change it.

The Maiden album still sounds great, Turbo is a laugh riot.

On the production of Turbo, blame the producer. For the rest of the Turbo's suckage, blame the songwriters. The track on SIT are much, much better then turbo

Hammond organs = 70's
Synths = 80's
Scratching/sampling in rock = 90's

Whenever something new comes along, it gets overused to the point of dating the music. It's not always a bad thing, it just is. Not sure what element has defined the '00s yet, but something will pop-up.

Pro Tools = '00s

Every single crossover band. Especially DRI. None of their albums aged well at all.

Tough question...

Everything by metallica

Seraiah - Carnival World and s/t both sounded dated to me when they were new. I just pulled out Carnival World the other day and it really sounds dated now.