History MagnumOpusDissonance / Music

* Music/DinosaurJr's J Mascis was interviewed as part of the aforementioned "Rank Your Records" series, and while his favorite Dinosaur Jr. album is ''You're Living All Over Me'', which most critics and fans would agree with, his ''second'' favorite (and favorite out of their major label albums) is ''Hand It Over''; the latter album sold poorly, had mixed critical reception, and was generally dismissed by fans due to coming from a lineup of the band [[IAmTheBand where Mascis was largely playing all the instruments himself]].

* Music/TheHollies' recording of Graham Nash's big ''[[Music/TheBeatles Sgt.]] [[Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand Pepper]]''-style production, "King Midas in Reverse", made only a small dent on the UK singles charts. Their next single, "Jennifer Eccles", a lightweight pop number they pretty much wrote as a joke, became a huge hit. Nash wasn't pleased.

* Rivers Cuomo of Music/{{Weezer}} stated for a long time that he was embarrassed by ''Music/{{Pinkerton}}'', typically considered to be the band's finest moment. However, as with Morrison and ''Music/AstralWeeks'', he warmed to it in later years.

* When Music/TheWho were in the process of recording ''Music/{{Tommy}}'', Pete Townshend slapped together a PowerPop ballad with no real relation to the story in order to get the attention of New York Times music critic Nik Cohn, who was known to be a fan of certain arcade novelties. That song was "Pinball Wizard", which easily became the most recognizable song on the album. And while ''Tommy'' came to be considered The Who's finest work to date, Townshend's aspirations were pegged on its ambitious follow-up, ''Lifehouse'' - which ultimately fell apart due to miscommunication and the Who parting ways with their manager, and stayed dead until Townshend revived it as a solo album and radio play nearly 30 years later, by which time his work was no longer receiving notice on the pop charts. (The album which resulted of the failed ''Lifehouse'' sessions, ''Music/WhosNext'', competes with ''Tommy'' as the band's most acclaimed.)

* In many interviews, Music/PinkFloyd guitarist David Gilmour mentions that his favorite Floyd album was neither ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'', nor ''Music/TheWall'', but ''Music/WishYouWereHere1975''. Drummer Nick Mason has stated his favorite album was ''Music/ASaucerfulOfSecrets''.

* Robert Plant did not believe "Stairway To Heaven" from ''Music/LedZeppelinIV'' was the definitive Music/LedZeppelin song; he believes that honor should go to "Kashmir" from ''Music/PhysicalGraffiti'' (still likely their second best-known song). It is rumored that the fact that he would have been forced to perform it repeatedly on tour is one reason that Zeppelin's reunion was short-lived.

* Brazilian indie band Los Hermanos is best known to the public at large for "Anna Julia", the lead single of their debut album, in 1999. It was a bubblegum pop composition about an ex-girlfriend of their producer, and it became such a huge hit that even Music/GeorgeHarrison recorded an English version penned by [[Music/{{Traffic|Band}} Jim Capaldi]]. The band themselves, however, soon grew tired of being overexposed because of one song that did not reflect their style, and even though their next two albums were very praised by critics, they never got another hit like "Anna Julia" again - not that they care, considering how the song was excised from their live setlists not long after its heyday passed.

* Music/{{REM}}: R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe said his favorite album is ''Music/NewAdventuresInHiFi'', later changing his answer to ''Music/{{Reveal}}'' in 2021. Many fans, however, tend to pick either ''Music/AutomaticForThePeople'', ''Music/LifesRichPageant'', or ''Music/{{Document}}'' as the best R.E.M. album.

* Music/KurtCobain of Music/{{Nirvana}} didn't think much of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", describing it as "my attempt at writing a [[Music/ThePixies Pixies]] song." In fact, he didn't like ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' in general, thinking the whole album sounded too polished. One exception, however, was "Drain You", which he always thought was one of Nirvana's best songs, and couldn't understand why it was never the hit he thought it should have been.

** Various comments Jackson made about "Heal the World" from ''Music/{{Dangerous}}'' and "Earth Song" from ''Music/HistoryPastPresentAndFutureBookI'' suggest he intended them as magnum opuses that would become international anthems. To the general public, they mean little compared to most other songs on those albums, or even the similarly-themed "Man in the Mirror" (one of the major hits from the album it's on, ''Bad'') and "Music/WeAreTheWorld" (a proper charity song that Jackson was one of the main collaborators of, which was successful not only in terms of commercial revenue and humanitarian funding, but also critically).

** [[Music/ANightAtTheOpera "Bohemian Rhapsody"]] is usually recognized by listeners and critics as the band's SignatureSong and Music/FreddieMercury's greatest, but Freddie was actually more proud of [[Music/ADayAtTheRaces "Somebody to Love"]], which he considered his favorite Queen song.

* Being their most well-known one, the Music/FooFighters' second studio album, ''The Colour and the Shape'', is usually considered to be the band's best work. However, the band members are critical of it, feeling they've got a lot better since then, but critics take no notice of that. This is illustrated in Nate Mendel's comments in the liner notes of the album's 10th Anniversary Edition.