in your opinion, what's a single bad song that ruins an otherwise great album?

Pretty fly for a white guy. It's not really a bad song, but it was really overused in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Americana is a great album, but every time Pretty fly starts playing it ruins it for me.
- Original Prankster was similar on the next album. Like their label at the time forced one commercial track for a single on them.
- I came here to say the same. It isn't bad but it doesn't mix up well with the rest...

Escape from Metallica's Ride The Lightning. It doesn't ruin the album but it stains a masterpiece for sure. The band hates that song as well because they wrote it last minute to appease their record label.
- That's interesting, I never knew the story behind that song. Personally I always liked it but I like just about every Metallica song.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer on Abbey Road. One of the few songs I skip while listening to an album!
- I like Maxwell's Silverhammer :)
  
  The world is full of things more bizarre and inexplicbale than we could ever imagine, and I thank you for reminding me of that this morning.

Ticks and Leeches off of Lateralus by Tool. It's not even a bad song but the aggression ruins the flow of the album and sticks out like a sore toe.
- I disliked it for a long time. Now I kinda like it. Reminds me of Jambi.

I usually just skip that song. Album is no longer ruined 😉
- Although Twilight by Anderson Paak is particularly annoying.

Revolution 9, as was often joked about on beatlescirclejerk in the other place.
- i love that song
  
  Number 9, number 9, number 9!

Good Riddance (The Time of Your Life) is a blemish on an otherwise perfect Nimrod

Any Chvrches song where one of the other members is singing (not sure who it is).
I think there's at least one on every album they've made, and it's always an immediate skip for me.
- It's Martin. I like 'em but I get it. He's singing in their latest single Manhattan, and except his song on Screen Violence (or love is dead lol I forget) I mostly skip them as well.

There's a pair of Beatles albums in this list. I don't mind "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" or "Revolution 9," but "Tomorrow Never Knows" on Revolver counts for me. Frankly, it's the worst Beatles song. I prefer the Daniel Johnston and Jad Fair cover of it on It's Spooky to the Beatles version. It's just that bad.

The song Yoko Ono sings on the first Bleachers album. Luckily it’s the last song.

I don't think it ruins the album, but Oh, Daddy on Fleetwood Mac's Rumors is kind of the only stinker on there. It would have been better with Silver Springs instead I think.

Off the top of my head, "Benny the Bouncer" on Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery. It should have been a B-Side of a single or something like that but it does not work on that album at all. For me, it's just a goofy unneeded intermission before "Karn Evil 9" that I always skip.

I love Dragonforce's entire discography, with one massive exception in that Evil Dead is horrible beyond words.
- TIL Dragonforce did a cover of Death

Friends is one of my favorite Beach Boys albums, but Anna Lee the Healer just rubs me the wrong way. Instant skip

I almost never skip songs on albums, but Panda Eyes & DatPhoria - Keep Going ruins Panda Eyes' KIKO album IMO. The verses and drops were clearly written by two different people, but it sounds like they never heard each other's parts. Like they were glued together from separate songs.

the song astrud gilberto does with her kid on beach samba ruins what is otherwise a perfect album
- Couldn't agree more, that tune is cringe-inducing. A perfect example of the rule that your kids are always cuter to you than to anyone else.
  To me, "Parade" on that album is also a turkey.
  
  parade grew on me. i love the marching drums and its such a fun little ditty

Jeff Buckley’s Grace is one of my favorites, but Eternal Life is always kind of a drag imho. It has the makings of a good song but very unlike the rest of the tracks on the album it doesn’t feel quite complete.
- thats actually my favorite song, on an album that is also one of my favorites. it definitely hits different than the rest of the album so i can see that its not for all fans of grace. i like that its a kick after the emotional rollercoaster that is the first 8 songs and then gets followed by 1 more subdued song to end it.
  my dad would play grace a lot in the house when it came out and I think i may have latched on to it as it was the most similar to what i was listening to on my own at the time, eventually the whole album became a warm comforting blanket
  
  It’s not a bad song at all, I think it’s just a bit rough in a few of the transitions and that’s probably just because this was his first solo album. The entire album is a testament to how skilled of a songwriter he was.

Turnstile - Blue By You from the album Nonstop Feeling. It's such a good hardcore album with a little bit of alt feel to it but that song sounds like a bop from the 60s in the worst possible way lol it's like if the Beatles tried to make a hardcore song with clean vocals

Wouldn't go so far as to say it "ruins" the album, but "Shakermaker" is quite a letdown compared to the rest of "Definitely Maybe".