Is ‘Attila’ Really the Worst Rock Album of All Time?
Love him or hate him, Billy Joel is one of the most successful artists of that long-ago age lost in the mists, the 20th century.
Much like college, it was a time of radical experimentation, for good or ill. Usually , very, very ill.
Case in point: Attila.
After playing in some cover bands and working as a background musician on a few albums, Joel joined a group called the Hassles. When the band fell apart, he teamed up with the drummer, Jon Small, and the duo formed a psychedelic metal band called Attila.
I'm no rock historian, and certainly no expert when it comes to critiquing music. I stumbled across this bizarre Led Zeppelin-meets-Rainbow bastard of an album while tumbling down a booze-fueled Friday night YouTube clickhole.
Part of the video description reads, "It is considered by many critics to be the worst rock album ever made." The uploader, Cory Johnson, goes on to say he disagrees, but when you open with "worst album ever", I'm already in cynic mode and looking for an easy target to prey upon to boost my own fragile ego.
My impression? The album is bad, but it's midnight movie bad. It's like John Waters hired Joel and Small to compose the soundtrack for a trash movie about the late 60's rock scene that never got made. Everything about it is cheap, tacky, and fake, yet I couldn't stop listening.
Words fail me here. Or I fail them. This whole affair stinks of failure, so I will let the album cover (which looks like a meat market at a Renaissance fair) and the album speak for themselves.
What do you think? Is this the worst rock album ever made, or an underappreciated gem? And do you think Joel and Small were paid in meat?
Here's a video Joel discussing Jon Small and other former bandmates.