I wish I’d said that - too damn funny!
It almost makes up for your POV on REM and U2! 
The only Phil album to not go platinum (a non live or hits album) was Dance Into the Light. Notice how you don’t get a closeup of his gigantic head.
Apparently, Phil noticed this and his new album, Testify returns to his face-on-cover thing. Will it go platinum?
Probably not. His time as a solo superstar has come and gone.
I would place the album locations differently for a couple of these bands.
Chicago is very interesting and relevent through Chicago V, after that they start to get very ballady. There is still some good material after that but all hope is lost when guitarist Terry Kath dies around Chicago XI. The band becomes an easy listening cheese factory.
Pink Floyd goes down hill on The Final Cut. This was a Roger Waters solo album disguised as Pink Floyd. The band is just not the same without Roger. If you place the “Jump the Shark” location after *Wish You Were Here * you disrespect Animals which is a clever, viseral and dark album.
I don’t think King Crimson ever jumped the shark. They continue to make interesting music even though they never duplicated the popularity they had during the releases of *The Court of the Crimson King * and Wake of Poseidon. “Starless” off of Red in 1974 is a very soulful tune. “Thela Hun Ginjeet” from Discipline 1981 is incredible live and a lot of fun.
Some other bands that “jumped the shark”:
Van Halen reinvented themselves with Sammy Hagar and as long as you think of them as two bands, Van Halen (Dave) and Van Hagar (Sammy) I can respect music during both eras. However the music with Dave as the lead vocalist is more creative and funny. So you could argue that they jumped the shark after 1984.
Yes jumped the shark after 90125. That album is a pretty good pop album but *Big Generator * is awful.
Rush becomes a pale imitation of itself on *Hold Your Fire * and never really recovers. They perform a few interesting songs after this but Neil’s lyrics really begin to drag them down. Geddy Lee’s solo album surprisingly is pretty good, but he wrote the lyrics and not Neil.
Metallica begins their fall on the Black Album with the song “Nothing Else Matters” and proceeds to become a hugely popular though uninspired pop/metal band. They recently release *St. Anger * after becoming clean and sober with drums that sound like the drummer is playing the Sears $80 drum set or his mommy’s pots and pans.
Bare in mind that I like all of these bands, so I am not being critical to be mean.
Mike
“I’ll also make a controversial (and perhaps sacreligious) supposition and suggest that the Grateful Dead jumped when Brent died.”
Controversial? Its taken for gospel as far as any Deadhead I’ve ever known is concerned. VInce was just too cheesy for words. They had started to make a few inroads (breaking out a bunch of new covers and working up an arrangement of “Unbroken Chain” that would work), but it was too little too late.
“The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You (btw, is that David Bowie on the cover?)”
Hmmm…given that all of the material on that album was much older (some going back to 1972), did they jump the shark when they put out the album (1980) or when they produced the material?
Well, definitely the loss of Alan Wilder ruined the group. I look at it this way, Music For the Masses is their very best album, with eternally wonderful songs like Strangelove and Never Let Me Down Again, and Violator does not have ONE SONG that I skip over when listening to it. I can listen to that album three times in succession without skipping songs. Songs of Faith And Devotion has some AWESOME music including I Feel You and Rush, but there are also songs on there I skip. It’s hit or miss for me, and after that, I sort of liked the singles It’s No Good and Home, but I’m not even driven to seek out Depeche Mode albums anymore.
All true, but then, after many many years, they released the absolutely flat The ConstruKction of Light, and that’s where they jumped the shark. Live releases are okayish, apart from the horrid Thrakattak, but all the subsequent studio recording are boooring.
Time to quit, Bob?
Not quite true, IMHO.
Don’t get me wrong, “Cut the Crap” is a third-rate album that will forever be a blemish on the otherwise stellar legacy of The Clash. But that album was re-worked by manager-turned-clueless-producer Bernie Rhodes, who put in cheesy drum machines and off-key choruses in almost every song.
But really, you should check out what The Clash II (as they are now commonly called) sounded like live. Those same dismal songs on “Cut the Crap” really rocked when performed on stage.
I’ve heard that there are some deep, dark places on the Internet where you can freely download some MP3s of these live performances, but Google help me, I just don’t know where they might be … (coff, coff) If Music Could Talk (coff, coff)
I agree with Wordman. The Black Album marks a pivotal point in Metallica’s history, the beginning of the band’s downfall. They still rocked on the Black album but by then they had become more mainstream. Load and Re-Load were big disappointments, but still forgivable. I still held onto my hopes that they’d recover, but Garage Days Revisited and S&M were harbingers of the band’s inevitable demise. Suing their fans for downloading MP3s was the final straw, so I thought, but then they went on to release the pile of shit known as St. Anger. I don’t think Metallica stands a chance in hell of ever making a comeback at this point. I never thought I would say Metallica sucks, but when comparing pre-aBlack album material to post-Black album material, there’s a huge difference.
Other bands:
Styx- Paradise Theatre.
Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti.
Van Halen- Once Diamond Dave bailed it was over as far as I’m concerned.
Yes- I agree,90125 is remarkably different but still good. I listened to Big Generator once. Big disappointment indeed.
Rush- I stopped buying their CDs when they released Presto.
I agree with you. I have everything they’ve ever done up to and including Violator. After that, it’s just…meh. Music for the Masses is their best album.
Alan Wilder was Depeche Mode, as far as I’m concerned.
Same here! I never cease to be amazed by the amount of vitriol these guys seem to get. It’s like, I know they’ve released more power ballads than any band has a right to, I know they did a Super Bowl medley with Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. None of this changes the fact that they still make great hard rock when they want to. (Important qualifier, that.)
Honkin’ On Bobo comes out today, btw. Heard two cuts from it that are flat-out great (“You Gotta Move” and “I’m Ready”) and a few that sounded like standard snooze blues. Undecided.
I immediatly thought of OLP. Damn what the hell happened? Their early stuff ws good, got them airplay and they were cool and the buggered it up with this mainstream garbage they churn out. Funnily enough Chantal is still listenable.
As for REM…I disagree I don’t think they’ve jumped the shark, I think they’ve been having an identity crisis followed by a mid-life crisis. They are trying to do something taht is rarely done, stay vital in their not-so-hip yrs while remaining on their own terms. I loved NAIHF and Up and enjoyed Reveal though it’s not a fave. Go back and listen to them, really listen there are some damn good songs in there. I can’t wait to hear the new stuff and how many bands that have been together for that long can give you that feeling?
While I agree that Alan was what made DM, I gotta say that my favorite album is definitely Black Celebration. Love it. Violator comes in a close second with SOFAD nipping at its heels. Then we get to Music for the Masses. I love it, but I don’t love it as much as the others. But it DOES have Never Let Me Down Again and To Have and To Hold, two complete classics in my opinion.
I’ve always said that. If that album would have been built differently, it could have been a great punk album in the vein of classic Sham 69 or something. It’s still better than the unlistenable (IMHO) and lame Combat Rock (Ugh…I hate hate HATE that album)
Nobody has mentioned Butthole Surfers yet. Piough’d was the long head start , Independant Worm Saloon was the ramp, and when they jumped, they jumped so high that they ain’t never coming back down.
Since I’m a front to back Depeche Mode maniac, it’s always been hard to pick my favorite. Of COURSE I love Black Celebration featuring one of my favorites It Doesn’t Matter II and Question of Time, oh god, Question of Time…but I’m still sticking with MFTM as their best. Frankly, I even love Speak and Spell, if only for Photographic. Still, I’m missing the appeal of Songs Of Faith and Devotion.
Their last “good” albums…
Ramones - Subterranean Jungle
Black Flag - Damaged
Replacements - Tim
Husker Du - New Day Rising
The Clash - Sandinista
REM - Document
I never really liked U2… but starting at Joshua Tree they became entirely unlistenable.
Depeche Mode jumped the shark when Vince Clarke left. Speak and Spell is their only really good album. They did manage some nice songs afterwards, but they never came close to making a better record than Speak and Spell.
Thanks Spiff. I discovered that website recently…and I shall partake.
My problem with Cut the Crap was not just the fact that it was a…um…crappy record. If they would have called themselves anything but The Clash I would have bought the record…just for my collection if nothing else. “The Clash” should not exist without Mick Jones. To amend my analogy from earlier: If McCartney kicked Lennon out and continued calling the band The Beatles. That is just wrongwrongwrong.
vl_mungo: I think Flip Your Wig was an amazing record, and Candy Apple Grey also is really really good (with the exception of “Too Far Down” which I find entirely too depressing). I strongly suggest you give these two another chance.
Cher.
She just won’t go away.
I beg to differ. Pre-Annie Haslam Renaissance was a whole different band. Total personnel change. The Annie Haslam Renaissance jumped the shark with Timeline."
Everybody knows the only good song they ever did was What’s Your Name?
And jarbabyj, how come we’ve never talked Mode before?