# Bands which were better in their earlier and less successful incarnations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 11, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915 "2019-03-11T00:04:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/21 "2019-03-11T12:05:19Z")
Bee Gees were better before they went disco. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/22 "2019-03-11T12:13:29Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > Bee Gees were better before they went disco. Lord knows I’m not a big fan of their disco days, but I challenge anyone to listen to “[I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijOn0KTg6Ok)” from their pre-disco days. Yes, this song actually got airplay. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/23 "2019-03-11T12:26:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Blood, Sweat and Tears. The original Al Kooper version put out a great album of blues-based rock that the David Clayton- Thomas group couldn’t match. I bought that album, [Child Is Father to the Man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Is_Father_to_the_Man), as a 16 year old in June 1970, because I liked the BS&T stuff that had been on the radio (all David Clayton-Thomas, of course) and assumed this was more of the same. I took it home, put it on the turntable (remember those? ;)), and found I’d accidentally bought something much more amazing. It’s still one of my favorite albums, nearly a half-century later. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/24 "2019-03-11T12:53:15Z")
Bonnie Raitt. Her early work had a raw quality that I loved. Later, as she gained more mainstream attention, she “cleaned up” which was great for her health, but totally changed her music. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/25 "2019-03-11T12:59:30Z")
In my opinion The Who peaked around the time of the Rolling Stones’ Rock And Roll Circus. They were a powerhouse force of nature then. The longer they went on, the less I needed them. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/26 "2019-03-11T13:34:50Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Bonnie Raitt. Her early work had a raw quality that I loved. Later, as she gained more mainstream attention, she “cleaned up” which was great for her health, but totally changed her music. Since we are now mentioning individuals, I would like to add John Hiatt. His material was very strong until he sobered up. Then he started singing about “going to salad bars” instead of the usual kind. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/27 "2019-03-11T13:34:51Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > [Here?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hour_Party_People) Joy Division’s also in that one, so it’s a wash. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/28 "2019-03-11T14:19:29Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > Since we are now mentioning individuals, I would like to add John Hiatt. His material was very strong until he sobered up. Then he started singing about “going to salad bars” instead of the usual kind. Yes!! He’s the male Bonnie Raitt. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/29 "2019-03-11T15:58:43Z")
If I just said _Pretty Much Everyone_, would I be far wrong? j ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/30 "2019-03-11T16:06:59Z")
> [@Covfefe](#): > > Iron Maiden’s first two albums I thought I was the only one. It causes uproar amongst the traditional fans who’ve tended to become fans from Number of the beast, and hoover up the simplistic band which they became later. Original Iron Maiden was a very interesting metal prog band, a rarity very much back then. Had all the prog symptoms: songs about stuff, high musicianship, long songs. Dickenson came in and took the cartoonish nature of it, and made a straight metal band from it, more like AC/DC. A little enough was left to make Number of Beast a relatively good album, but nothing like the first two, and they just ran the formula into the ground. Songs about fighter pilots. Songs about the devil. Songs about Egypt. Still the same song though. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/31 "2019-03-11T17:21:43Z")
**Aerosmith** had some great shit when they were stoned out of their minds. They cleaned up and started making glurgy soundtrack crap. ☹ Bill Hicks was right. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/32 "2019-03-11T17:38:11Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > I thought I was the only one. It causes uproar amongst the traditional fans who’ve tended to become fans from Number of the beast, and hoover up the simplistic band which they became later. > > Original Iron Maiden was a very interesting metal prog band, a rarity very much back then. Had all the prog symptoms: songs about stuff, high musicianship, long songs. > > Dickenson came in and took the cartoonish nature of it, and made a straight metal band from it, more like AC/DC. A little enough was left to make Number of Beast a relatively good album, but nothing like the first two, and they just ran the formula into the ground. Songs about fighter pilots. Songs about the devil. Songs about Egypt. Still the same song though. Even those who prefer the bombast of the Dickinson era should be able to admit the band had an awfully unique aesthetic going on in '80-'81 and an unconventional vocalist for a progg-ish band being gruff and more limited than those who can be operatic. Sidebar - Iced Earth, one of the biggest American metal bands of all time had one of their early singers get kicked out of the band like Di’Anno was and the funny thing is both basically turned out to be skinheads and both had very similar voices you usually don’t hear in the vein of power or prog metal. So Iced Earth made one album with this singer, _Night of the Stormrider_, that I really love. I won’t nominate them for this topic because they had other quality triumphs later on in spite of the replacement having a terminally obnoxious cadence. Ripper Owens from Judas Priest also fronted the band for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/33 "2019-03-11T17:40:50Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > Genesis, of course. No. Unless you mean Abacab and Duke are better than Invisible Touch, then yeah of course. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/34 "2019-03-11T17:44:35Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > If I just said _Pretty Much Everyone_, would I be far wrong? > > j The only counterexamples I can think of are the aforementioned Pink Floyd, because while their Syd stuff was excellent, nothing will compare to the Waters-Gilmour period, and Jethro Tull, because while I don’t hate their straight up blues rock period (and speaking of which, they were pretty good in Rock and Roll Circus themselves), their later period was better. I think it’s because a lot of bands don’t stick around long enough to have different “incarnations”, and those that do have to have been appealing enough to enough people that they set a high bar for themselves that few surpass. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/35 "2019-03-11T17:47:45Z")
The Blues Brothers with John Belushi. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/36 "2019-03-11T18:07:30Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > … Jethro Tull, … (and speaking of which, they were pretty good in Rock and Roll Circus themselves), … Nice guitar player they had, eh? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/37 "2019-03-11T18:13:15Z")
IMO, most of the best KISS material was from the era where they weren’t very successful ( commercially ) yet. ( 1973 through 1975 ). ‘Death Magnetic’ notwithstanding, I have no use for Metallica post 1988. OK, 1990. Oh, and I agree with **Gatopescado** regarding Aerosmith. Best stuff from the era that critics told us was their worst. Hell, I really like ‘Night in the Ruts’. I do not like the 90’s and up material at all. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/38 "2019-03-11T18:15:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The Blues Brothers with John Belushi. You think they were more successful without Belushi? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/39 "2019-03-11T18:16:16Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > The only counterexamples I can think of are the aforementioned Pink Floyd, because while their Syd stuff was excellent, nothing will compare to the Waters-Gilmour period, and Jethro Tull, because while I don’t hate their straight up blues rock period (and speaking of which, they were pretty good in Rock and Roll Circus themselves), their later period was better. > > I think it’s because a lot of bands don’t stick around long enough to have different “incarnations”, and those that do have to have been appealing enough to enough people that they set a high bar for themselves that few surpass. MY fave bands or musicians usually follow this route: Good-not as good-great-HUGE BREAKOUT-Greatest hits album-ugh-breakup or go on long hiatus-now do more sonic landscape work then tell well identified stories with their songs. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2019, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915/40 "2019-03-11T18:18:11Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > Genesis, of course. Just wanted to chime in that I finally figured out your username after this post :smack:. And yes, Peter Gabriel/Steve Hackett Genesis were miles better than the later trio that devolved more and more into artistic meaninglessness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-which-were-better-in-their-earlier-and-less-successful-incarnations/830915.md?page=3)