THE TOP TEN WORST ALBUMS OF 2024

It might seem a bit early to post this list two weeks before Halloween, but I'm calling my shot.  2024 has been the much-needed break year I thought 2023 was going to be.  A lot of important, noteworthy things happened in the sphere of music, but not a whole lot of albums stood out to me.  I'm actually tempted to write my Best Of list already too, but I feel like that wouldn't quite be fair; there may be some surprise gems left in the next six weeks.

So what's different about the worst list?  I don't go seeking out terrible albums (for the most part), so if there' something obviously bad that drops between now and December 1st, I'm not going to listen to it anyway.  We can call it here.  And calling it here feels good because I think this is my most solid list of bad albums to date.  All of them belong here.  All ten of these went above and beyond in sucking and in how they sucked.

No Dishonorable mentions, no "Meh" section (because I'm still looking for stuff for the Best Of list; need to keep that pile open), no Gods, no masters.  Eat trash.  Be free.  This is the Bottom Ten for 2024:

 

10. Jacob Collier “Djesse, Vol. 4”

I actually really liked "100,000 Voices" (though I see why others might despise it; it does everything wrong that Djesse, Vol. 3 did to make me plop it at #6 on the list in 2020, but for some reason it rules this time?).  The first...five (?) tracks weren't even that bad.  But this album falls into the Mariana's Trench of boredom after that and only the sonar ping of the Chris Martin Gospel Reggaeton abomination that is "Over You" sticks its head out of that pit of despair.  It's like a negative relief of Djesse, Vol. 3 because it sucks for the opposite reasons.

9. Eminem “The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup de Grace)”

The conceit of this album is Slim Shady is Eminem's dark side who is so evil he must be stopped.  How is he evil?  He's trying to get Eminem CANCELLED OOOOOooooo, SPOOOKYYYY.

Two things.  One: Slim Shady is Bart Simpson and Tom MacDonald is Eric Cartman.  We've seen this episode of South Park before; what are we even doing here?

Second: Why would it even be worth wasting a brain cell on offensive music when Donald Trump exists?  He wins that arms race.  In that metaphor Slim Shady's a guy who occasionally does target practice with his low caliber handgun and Trump has a nuclear arsenal.  (Shit, he used to literally have one.)

It could have been interesting 20 years ago, but The Death Of Slim Shady no longer has a reason to exist.  

 

8. Morta Skuld "Creation Undone"

I liked the first song, thought it was decent.  Then they played it ten more times without changing a goddam thing.  There's samey, then there's this.  I ended up hating the first song by the end because I ended up hating it's ninth and tenth identical twins even more.

7. Green Day "Saviors"

Aside from the opener, this is the most milquetoast, corporate, boring, safe thing Green Day has ever done, and it winds up drawing my ire not just for that (let's be real, everything after American Idiot falls into one or more of those descriptors), but for doing it all so poorly.  This is the most nothing-ass thing they've ever made.  Father Of All... may have had an off-putting personality, but at least it had one.

6. Oliver Anthony Music “Hymnal Of A Troubled Man’s Mind”

I was curious to see if this guy had anything to actually say, since I do believe his music is earnest, but eh, not really.  None of it's offensive, but none of it's profound.  It's just poorly played, poorly recorded music.  You know you don't have to play poorly to be the voice of the poor, right?

5. Jax “Dear Joe,”

Again, an artist that I believe is 100% sincere with what they do.  They're just really, REALLY cringe about it.  (The sincerity isn't the cringe part; it's the...what's less cool than a dad joke?  A teacher joke?  Yeah, we'll go with teacher joke.  It's the teacher joke levels of trying to be clever and entertaining with the message that put it on this list.)

4. Lil Dicky "Penith"

Do I even need to say anything?

3. Falling In Reverse "Popular Monster"

Again, what else is there to say.  Ronnie Radke.  That's it.  That's the tweet.

2. Camilla Cabello "C, XOXO"

The most interesting (and honestly best) album on this list.  It sucks in spectacular, unique ways.  Out of all ten of these albums, this is the only one that's worth listening to all the way through at least once just for the experience.  (And at 33 minutes, it's one of the shortest!)  I knew I was in for a ride when "I Love It" (the opener) is probably the worst single I've heard all year, and it was one of the best songs on the project.  OOH does this get terrible.  But in such fun ways!  I give Camilla all the credit in the world for trying to expand her sound, maybe even get experimental, but DAMN did she get the hookup from exactly the wrong people at every single turn.

1. MGK & Trippie Redd “genre:sadboy”

Camilla Cabello is Number Two on this list because C, XOXO is the most spectacular failure.  It is quite literally a spectacle how far the distance between the goal and the landed shot was.  In doing so, it hindered its own chances at claiming the Number One.  It gave itself value.

genre:sadboy is fucking worthless.

If it's a grift, it's not convincing (at all), and if it's sincere it's noxious beyond all tolerance.  genre:sadboy trades off depression like it's a trend, like dude migrated from "pop punk" to "depression" as a genre, and the results are the most flaccid, apathetic music I've heard all year.  Even when they're saying something provocative the delivery and word choice make it sound like nothing at all.  Like they're going down a checklist rather than bearing any part of their soul.  Like they can't possibly mean it.

And to top it all off, it's not even the most worthless album of the year.  I didn't listen to it (because I love myself too much to ever bother with this fuckstick again), but Onision dropped an album in July.  No one's gonna put something out more worthless than that.  So if the mission was to suck the worst, you guys failed at that too.


And that's all that needs to be said.  If there's an album on here that should have obviously made it but didn't, it's because I didn't hear it.  Is there an album you thought belonged?  What's your Bottom list?  Drop a comment below, or hit me up on Bluesky (@nicholasnutter.bsky.social) or Mastodon (kind.social/@nicholasnutter).  I don't know yet if the next blog is more reviews or if it'll be the Winter Hit Mix, but it's most likely one of those.  Check back in to see what's happening.  And stay safe out there.

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