# Bands that Jumped the Shark **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143 "2004-03-29T19:51:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143/101 "2014-02-10T08:36:20Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > Actually, he was on water skis. > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ZGKI8vpcg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ZGKI8vpcg) Even better! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143/102 "2014-02-10T08:41:30Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > As soon as Billion Dollar Babies was wrapped,\*\* Alice Cooper\*\* started sucking penii. Another one I don’t get. How can you argue that AC jumped the shark before cutting Welcome to My Nightmare? Sure, argue that you don’t like it or whatever, but WtmN is post-shark jumping? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143/103 "2014-02-10T13:58:52Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > :dubious: Seems to me that they came into their stride with their new (and almost universally acknowledged) classic lineup. I mean, “Mother Russia”, “Can You Hear Me?”, “Song of Scheherazade”, “Carpet of the Sun” (which just shuffled on my computer’s player)…? > > [Only posted because **RC** is still an active member.] > > [This Doper was last on on Jan 8 of this year, so he gets some too…] I was using a bit of hyperbole in the OP and have heard more of the Annie Haslam Renaissance in the past decade, but my opinion still stands. The later group is not terrible, but its music is blander and more like the Pentangle and other folk rock groups. It’s pretty, but bland. The Keith Relf Renaissance was melding hard rock (for the time) and classical, something which is rarely attempted, and succeeds brilliantly. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143/104 "2014-02-11T14:42:50Z")
**The Doors** –When Jim Morrison died (and it’s taken almost ten years to post this?) ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143/105 "2014-02-11T15:22:26Z")
Guns N’ Roses - Chinese Democracy ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143/106 "2014-02-24T11:41:25Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Another one I don’t get. How can you argue that AC jumped the shark before cutting Welcome to My Nightmare? Sure, argue that you don’t like it or whatever, but WtmN is post-shark jumping? Oui. Not to get into such a painful era, but, Muscle of Love sure showed that the drug use had gone too far. WtMN may be good, (IIRC, tho, it was tepid, but it was almost 40 years ago when I last heard it, thankfully), which I doubt, but, if we grant that it was good, which I don’t, except for argument’s sake, then it was extremely sub-par for Alice Cooper. Alice himself is moderately cool, but, I think that without Bruce, he is/was quite bland. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2014, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143/107 "2014-02-24T12:31:27Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > **The Doors** –When Jim Morrison died (and it’s taken almost ten years to post this?) I think many would argue that all key components of a band should be present before and after the shark-jumping, for this phenomenon to retain its intended meaning. Although you bring up an interesting point. For example, has anyone mentioned how Jethro Tull started sucking right after Ian Anderson fired John Evan and Barriemore Barlow (I think in 1979 or 1980)? The perennial core of Anderson/Barre was retained, so I _would_ call this “jumping the shark” (although, for me, the phrase should ideally denote not just “descending into suckitude,” but also “with some random absurdity added to the mix”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-jumped-the-shark/237143.md?page=5)