Career Killers

Gary Barlow was supposed to be the next George Michael. Compared to Robbie Williams, he might as well have been Andrew Ridgeley. What happened?

How an iconic, generation-defining song helped break up the band that recorded it.

Garth Brooks conquered country. Then he tried to cross over into pop-rock. Kind of. It’s still really confusing — even 22 years later.

R.E.M.’s “Three-Legged Dog” Era produced some good music. It also gave us this terrible album.

The Cars tried to go back-to-basics with Door to Door. Instead, they broke up for decades.

Sugar Ray was, perhaps, the ultimate party band of the late 90s/early 00s. Then the party ended.

Limp Bizkit were everywhere in the late 90s/early 00s. Then they fell off the face of the earth.

When is a hit album not a hit album? When it is Adore.

When done right, concept albums can be career enhancing. Or they can be disasters.

One of the few times Mike Love and not Brian Wilson helmed a Beach Boys album. Let’s just say it didn’t go well.