History Main / AlbumFiller

One can hope that due to the advancement of digital sales (e.g. iTunes) and the slow ebbing of the album as the unit of music sales, that creators of the near future could, if they wish, concentrate on putting out quality songs again rather than having to pad out an album.

* '''[[CoverVersion Cover Versions]]''': Particularly common on country albums prior to about the mid-1970s, this was simply artists covering pop or country standards, songs that were major hits for other artists and so forth. These cover versions have ranged from "why didn't that become the hit" to "why did he/she/they even think to record it"? This was more common in an era where an album usually had only one or two songs worthy of being released as singles, and especially when artists who had become proven hit makers/staying-power potential recorded and released new albums every year.

* '''HiddenTrack''': Most hidden tracks tend to be pointless too. They are muffled away somewhere at the start or the end of an album. Some artists leave several minutes of silence between tracks before you finally get to the hidden track. So you always have to skip and wear out your CD to find it. [[note]]Or these can be hangovers from hidden jokes on the original vinyl album, which made sense and worked in the vinyl format but aren't so great on CD. An example might be the message in the run-out groove on ''Album/SergeantPeppers'' - worked beautifully on black vinyl, a WTF? moment on a CD.[[/note]]

[[caption-width-right:349:[[FridgeLogic ...wait]], why is there a side two ''on a CD''? [[labelnote:Answer]][[FridgeBrilliance That's to make it applicable to an LP]] -- [[WhatAreRecords a what?]][[/labelnote]]]]

A side-effect of this was the tendency of bands with [[EpicRocking long songs]], such as Music/BlackSabbath and KingCrimson, to add "subtitles" for different sections of the songs, in order to make it seem like there were more songs and [[MoneyDearBoy they would be paid full royalties]]. (This happened to Music/TheMarsVolta too, who were told that for the original version of ''Amputechture'' they'd only be paid for an EP despite its length, so they were forced to add "subsections" and split songs apart to get full royalties.)

* The 1993 CD reissue of SkinnyPuppy's ''Bites'' included all the interlude/filler tracks from the various vinyl editions of the album, plus some previously unreleased material. Likewise, the reissue of ''Remission'' included alternate versions of "Film" and "Icebreaker" from ''Bites'', plus the previously unreleased track "Incision", to extend the playing time to album length.

This trend continued in TheSixties; a particularly infamous band were Music/TheBeachBoys, who were [[ExecutiveMeddling forced by executives]] to hastily record some filler to make an album out of a hit single. The hit-factory label Creator/{{Motown}} took it even further, re-recording hit singles for an album with a new singer and never releasing the new version as a single. So you could get all the versions of the hit song you wanted, if you didn't mind paying album price for a single with junk added.

* WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows hypothesizes that Music/{{Train}}'s "Hey, Soul Sister", it's bizarre lyricism in particular, is the result of a burned out Pat Monahan throwing the first thing that came to his head on paper in order to fulfill his contract, certain that it would never even make it to radio.

* '''HiddenTrack''': Most hidden tracks tend to be pointless too. They are muffled away somewhere at the start or the end of an album. Some artists leave several minutes of silence between tracks before you finally get to the hidden track. So you always have to skip and wear out your CD to find it.

* '''Overly long tracks''': Since most songs are about three to five minutes long a particularly long track can sometimes get on the nerves of the listener. Guitar solos that just go on, endless jams, entire stories told in one track, unnecessary [[CelebrityCameo celebrity cameo]]'s, continuous [[FakeOutFadeOut fade ins and fade outs]], ...

* '''AWildRapperAppears''': Many pop songs since the 1990s have the annoying tendency to ruin an otherwise good song by having some rapper appear halfway and start bustin' some rhymes. Most of the time his lyrics make no sense, are difficult to make out and add nothing. Often the rapper has an annoying voice too. In many cases it's clear that the main artist just wanted to give one of his friends some media attention.

* '''AWildRapperAppears''': Many pop songs since the 1990s have the annoying tendency to ruin an otherwise good song by having some rapper appear halfway and start bustin' some rhymes . Most of the time his lyrics make no sense, are difficult to make out and add nothing. Often the rapper has an annoying voice too. In many cases it's clear that the main artist just wanted to give one of his friends some media attention.

-->'''Todd (as Monahan):''' Hmm, what rhymes with rug? Drug... Thug? Would a line that uses the word thug make sense here? ''Pfft'', whatever. I mean, who cares? I'm the guy from Music/{{Train}}! I haven't had a hit and seven years and am ''long'' past the point of caring on this one. I'm just doing this because I need to fill the album somehow. [[TemptingFate It's not like I'm ever gonna have to perform this.]] [[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough The record company wouldn't be stupid enough to release this,]] and even if they did, [[LowestCommonDenominator no one would want to listen to it.]] I might as well sing it like I'm doing a Minnie Mouse impression too! I mean, 'cause ''who cares?'' So, you know what? We owe the record company three more songs according to our contract, so let's just can this turd, and we can forget about it forev-

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Finnish artist'' Allekirjoittanut'' in the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin appropriately titled]] ''Really Catchy Filler Song'':

* Similarily lampshaded by the German comedian Hape Kerkeling with the similarily [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin appropriately titled]] ''Auf dieser Platte fehlt ein Lied'' (English ''The album needs one more song''):

** OverlyLongGag: A subtrope. Any joke that just goes on and on should have a real good pay off or be funny in its own way, or otherwise this is again a waste of space for something that won't be repeated more than once.

-->'''Creator/{{Ellen DeGeneres}}:''' [[GilliganCut Our next guests currently have one of the biggest hits of their career, here to perform "Hey, Soul Sister", please welcome Train, everybody!]]

* '''Outdated songs'': Songs written for a very specific occasion or event in time, with even the exact date attached to it. Let's face it: you lose your timelessness when you write a song about the upcoming Olympic Games, a bicentennial, the new millennium or the 10 year existence of your band and specifically name dates. Cashing in on a fad will also make your song an UnintentionalPeriodPiece that will diminish its chances of clicking in with future generations.

* '''Overly long tracks''': Since most songs are about three to five minutes long a particularly long track can sometimes get on the nerves of the listener. Guitar solos that just go on, endless jams, entire stories told in one track, unnecessary [[CelebrityCameo celebrity cameo]]'s, continuous [[FakeOutFadeOut fade ins and fade outs], ...

* '''Overly long tracks''': Since most songs are about three to five minutes long a particularly long track can sometimes get on the nerves of the listener. Guitar solos that just go on, endless jams, entire stories told in one track, unnecessary [[CelebrityCameo celebrity cameo]]'s, continuous [[FakeOutFadeOut fade ins and fade outs]]s, ...

* '''BawdySong''': Comedy songs can be great when done right. But some bawdy comedy may get on one's nerves. Especially on an otherwise serious album. Even the lowest common denominator is bound to find a song about anal sex, turds, barfing or fucking a dog in the ass irritating after hearing it more than two times.

* '''HiddenTrack''': Most hidden tracks tend to be pointless too. They are muffled away somewhere at the start or the end of an album. Some artists leave several blank minutes of silence between tracks before you finally get to the hidden track. So you always have to skip and wear out your CD to find the track.

* '''Introductions''': An introduction at the start of an album can be epic or get you in the mood if done right. If it just goes on the listener will touch the ''skip'' button the next the time the album starts.
* '''ListSong''': Songs that just summarize a bunch of stuff can get this critique too. If the singer really feels the need to summarize or namedrop for the sake of namedropping he might be better off to print a list in the sleeve notes. Even worse are tracks where he just provides [[WriteWhoYouKnow shout-outs to people he knows]] or by having all those people actually take turns saying something in the microphone!

* '''Overly long tracks''': Since most songs are about three to five minutes long a particularly long track can sometimes get on the nerves of the listener. Guitar solos that just go on, endless jams, entire stories told in one track, unneccesary celebrity cameo's,...

* '''ProductPlacement''': Some tracks are basically advertisements for other artists on the label of the musician or to his label himself.
* '''Remixes''': This has been a plague since the end of the 1980s. With the arrival of the CD musicians now had more space on their records that needed to be filled up. So some just let some record producer or rapper take some of the hit material and give it a more peppy arrangement. Most of the time these remixes are novelties that don't surpass the original at all.
* '''RepurposedPopSong''': Cobbling mediocre songs together from previous albums together to fill up your GreatestHitsAlbum. Even worse when about 90 percent of the album is already in the fan's collection and he just needs that particular new song that is unavailable elsewhere.

* '''Spoken word tracks''': Adding huge chunks of monologue or dialogue without musical accompaniment will always get irritating after a minute or so. Reciting a poem, reading from a novel, adding audio soundbites from a movie,... will get about as irritating as hearing the same advertisement message again and again.
* '''StockSoundEffects''': It's not a good idea to have one of your tracks be just one sound effect repeated over and over. A telephone that keeps ringing, car traffic outside, playing children, ... These are all things that will be skipped after being played once.
* '''ThrowItIn''': A bizarre editing mistake, a song done in one take, an unused leftover from a previous album, an early and uninteresting take of a hit song, some musical experimentation,... All stuff that was supposed to end up in the garbage can, but is now thrown on an album.

* '''AWildRapperAppears''': Many pop songs since the 1990s have the annoying tendency to ruin an otherwise good song by having some rapper appear halfway and start bustin' some rhymes . Most of the time his lyrics make no sense, are difficult to make out and add nothing. Often the rapper has an annoying voice too. In many cases it's clear that the main artist just wanted to give one of his friends some media attention.

* '''Joke songs''': Comedy songs can be great when done right. But some BawdyComedy may get on one's nerves. Especially on an otherwise serious album. Even the lowest common denominator is bound to find a song about anal sex, turds, barfing or fucking a dog in the ass irritating after hearing it more than two times.

* '''OdeToIntoxication'': A song recorded while being drunk or high is always embarassing torture to listen to.

As a policy for the music industry, this is a bit of a CyclicTrope as times change and is not entirely consistent across the board. In TheFifties, the single was the primary sales unit and albums were just hit singles thrown together with whatever other crap they didn't have confidence in. It was actually pretty uncommon for artists to enter the studio with the intent of recording an album. Most albums from popular artists of this time were more like [[GreatestHitsAlbum Greatest Hits sets]]. For example, ChuckBerry recorded and released his first hit song ("Maybellene") in 1955, but it wouldn't show up on an album until 1959.

When groups like Music/TheBeatles came about and revolutionized the industry with records like ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', which began a trend of bands putting out albums that made a unified musical statement, this policy took a bit of a backseat (although most bands still had to produce at least some filler to keep up with contractual demands). The ConceptAlbum started to become popular and rock music was mostly "album-oriented" throughout TheSeventies (some bands, like Music/LedZeppelin, even did their best to avoid releasing any singles at all). It seems to be coming back in some sectors. Bands that release an album every one to two years are particularly guilty of this- it's almost unavoidable when they crank out hit singles to engage in pervasive airplay.

A side-effect of this was the tendency of bands with [[EpicRocking long songs]], such as Music/BlackSabbath and KingCrimson, to add "subtitles" for different sections of the songs, in order to make it seem like there were more songs and [[MoneyDearBoy they would be paid full royalties]]. (This happened to TheMarsVolta too, who were told that for the original version of ''Amputechture'' they'd only be paid for an EP despite its length, so they were forced to add "subsections" and split songs apart to get full royalties.)

Due to its status as a [[OmnipresentTropes Omnipresent Trope]] and the subjective nature of what does or doesn't constitute "filler", there shall be no straight examples. Even listing so-called "aversions" would take up too many pages and be way too subjective.

* ToddInTheShadows hypothesizes that Music/{{Train}}'s "Hey, Soul Sister", it's bizarre lyricism in particular, is the result of a burned out Pat Monahan throwing the first thing that came to his head on paper in order to fulfill his contract, certain that it would never even make it to radio.

* HilaryDuff's GreatestHits album contains about four different songs, each with about three remixes each on the album.
* DeltaGoodrem has her third self titled album which has maybe six good honest racks and six bad tracks. It's very divisive.
* ChristinaAguilera album perchasers are known for deleting all the interludes and tracks they don't like, this can range from a meer, 6? tracks to a mass 14 tracks off her albums. Even her fans agree she could make a good EP/10 track album out of any of her 20-24 tracks albums..

* HillaryDuff's GreatestHits album contains about four different songs, each with about three remixes each on the album.

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