In my answer to this thread, I rezlized I was listing a bunch of bands that started out well, but turned bad as time went on. It occurred to me to start a thread to identify when goods bands went bad.
My starter:
Rod Stewart – When he left Jeff Beck. Steve Miller Band – When Boz Scaggs quit the band Renaissance – after Keith Relf quit. Blood Sweat and Tears – when Al Kooper left Chicago – after “Chicago II” King Crimson – after Macdonald and Giles left. Pink Floyd – after “Wish You Were Here.”
Tragically Hip - “Phantom Power” wasn’t my favorite. It had its moments, but this was the beginning of the end. I’m going to buy their next CD since Gord Downie’s slipping into a Michael Stipean egomania is enjoyable, if not painful, to watch.
Aerosmith - their comeback in 1986–they should’ve stayed on the drugs
Elton John - “Sad Songs Say So Much” – pretty much all of the 1984 and after Disney-fied suckage.
Billy Joel - “The Bridge” – “Modern Woman”, enough said.
Duran Duran - after Roger and Andy left. I’m a purist, what can I say?
Obviously, Metallica jumped the shark. The question is when. Some possibilities:
[ul]
[li]when they released St. Anger[/li][li]when they started suing their fans[/li][li]when they cut their hair[/li][li]when Cliff Burton died[/li][/ul]
Take your pick. I go for the fourth option personally.
I dunno, I thought their first few post-1986 albums were great! Permanent Vacation and Pump rocked! Course, I was a wee lad back then and I was just discovering them. For me, they jumped the shark with that wretched “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” song from the even worse movie Armageddon. I was a huge fan of theirs up until that point.
RealityChuck - completely agree with the Rod Stewart JtS - Let Me Love You (track #2 on Truth) contains some of the best vocal-guitar interplay I have ever heard, but even with his strummy Maggie May stuff - its more simply singing and not nearly as explosively new sounding. Nutty Bunny - I disagree with U2 - I was never a big fan with the exception of The Joshua Tree - it’s where they stepped outside of the patented U2 style and did great music, like One and Even Better than the Real Thing…
and with REM - I would basically say it happened when Michael Stipe became intelligible - I guess with “This One Goes Out to the One I Love”…
Peter Gabriel - Security. I Love So’s Sledgehammer and Big Time, but the music had gotten more commercial by then, and not nearly as transcendent as Peter Gabriel 3’s Biko or the Intruder - the fact that he had both songs on the same album - woah.
Prince - Sign O’ the Times. One of the best double albums of truly creative, catchy songs…
AC/DC - Highway to Hell. Bon died and the band went with him. Back in Black isn’t bad, but unfortunately Brian Johnson will never write lyrics like Bon’s - and by then, the set of AC/DC song recipes got standardized.
Aerosmith - I hear where you’re going, Nutty - but would Draw the Line earlier - at Rocks. After that - with DtL and Night in the Ruts - too much suckage.
Rolling Stones - Some Girls - but, after shooting so high for so long, they had no choice but to either break up or produce mediocre materials.
Offspring - As soon as Pretty Fly for a White Guy became huge. Now they’re just a novelty act. The Smashing Pumpkins - Firing Jimmy Chamberlain. Our Lady Peace - Probably when Raine started going out with Chantal, now they’ve gone all wishy-washy.
And I’ll say **the Hip ** are halfway to jumping, they’re newer stuff isn’t that good. They’ve got a new album coming out soon, so I’ll wait for that to completely judge. Even though they are still great live, same with OLP.
I am inclined to agree - Master of Puppets is pretty much the epitome of metal, as far as I am concerned. However, I think …and Justice for All is great, just not as good as MoP. And the Black Album, while it shortened the songs and brought them mainstream, it has some stuff on it that just rocks - Sad but True has one of the best riffs I have ever heard…
So I guess I vote for right after the Black album…
Oh yeah. I’d still see them live, in a heartbeat. The last time I saw them was on their “An Evening with the Tragically Hip” tour about 2 or 3 years ago. I need another fix. The only problem with the later live shows (with the exception of the above-mentioned show) is that they tend to stay away from the early stuff. They are still the best live band around.
Maybe I’m misreading you, but it sounds like you’re saying “One” and “Even Better Than the Real Thing” are from Joshua Tree. They’re from Achtung Baby.
As an aside, I think that Joshua Tree is a beautifully crafted album from start to finish, and even the weakest tracks on it (“Trip Through Your Wires” comes to mind) are better than the best release on some of their other albums (something like Zooropa that left me pretty cold).
As per the Metallica note. I believe they are the epitome of a band who has jumped the shark. After the black album I will agree is when they started their downhill turn. But all came to a screeching halt when they shaved their heads and decided to name an album LOAD. Tho I saw them at red rocks when they were on the load tour and they kicked ass…that was mainly because they played a 30 minute Master of Puppets and I was rivited with excitment for the rest of the week.
I loved being in highschool in the mid 80’s
Hey, I still love “I Was Made for Loving You.” That whip-cracking sound is priceless!
Now, to Aerosmith. I of course love their earliest work the best, but I do see value in some of their later albums - more so than I do in “Draw the Line” or “Night in the Ruts.” As much as I love my beloved 'Smith, they’re kinda hit and miss on their albums. I love “Pump,” mainly because that was my first introduction to Aerosmith. I also happen to love almost every song on “Nine Lives.” That CD, to me, was the freshest thing Aerosmith had put out in a long, long time. “Just Push Play” was mostly crap, though.
I agree on Metallica as well. They totally fell off after the black album, with the exception of a couple good songs here and there.
Can you jump the shark in reverse? How about before David Clayton-Thomas joined BS&T (“Child is Father to the Man” album). It had Kooper, but wasn’t yet the magic combination, IMHO.
Queen - I think the rut started with the phenomenal success of “Night at the Opera” and Bohemian Rhapsody - but “We will rock you/We are the champions” was a bad sign. Then the end came with
Certainly not musically but for me, Metallica appearing before Congress to talk about illegal downloading of songs seriously hurt their image (IMHO).
I’ve said many times that rock and roll usually conveys a “don’t-give-a-damn, screw-you, drop dead” type of attitude. So, by 1) going to the ultimate establishment figure (Congress) and 2) whining and complaining about lost roaylties - yeah whining is another rock and roll “no-no” - I’d say Metallica jumped a blue whale with those actions.
YES! I read the OP and immediately thought of REM, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly caused the downfall.
Although I think they remained decent until Bill Berry left, I know for a fact that they will never come near the greatness of the first…eh…Murmur and Reckoning are absolutely amazing. Most of the allure…to me…came from the fact that I could not understand any of the lyrics. I liked Michael Stipe’s quiet/strange persona…once he started to become the media whore he is now, I lost interest…and that began with him enunciating better. I do think that Document and Green had some good songs…but after that…blah.
