No, I get that, but 24 Hour Party People isn’t a New Order biopic, it features both bands with equal weight (if not equal time, but that’s understandable).
You aren’t the only one, labdad. I love Lord’s organ solo on “Kentucky Woman.” That lad had listened to some Bach and Vivaldi.
I think it fair to say that Joy Division and New Order are actually very different bands. The loss of Ian Curtis caused more than just a minor shift in musical direction and they weren’t trying to do the same stuff with only a slightly different line-up.
Anyhow, the point was made about the correct answer being “everyone” and I think there is some truth in that. I don’t think it is actually possible to maintain a consistent output throughout a lengthy career so It is probably true, more often than not, that the height of any groups powers are more likely to come earlier rather than later. They will probably empty out their “inspiration tank” in an earlier incarnation rather than a later one.
I’ve always loved ZZ Top’s first album. You know, they used to be dirty all the time, but back then they were just a downright mean and dirty blues band. Not because of any gimmicks like later, just by the music. Rio Grande Mud was just as good.
I know that’s a popular opinion, but I could not disagree more. Even when Johnson covers a Scott era song, I’ll take that version any day.
Also regarding the Scott era it’s really a stretch to say it was “less successful” unless you just count sheer number of years active. You’d have to go back to the original Dale Evans version for it to be “unsuccessful”.
it might be me but I’ve listened to Bon Scott and Brian Johnson and think they sound a lot alike…
According to hook joy division, wouldn’t have lasted much longer style wise even if Ian hadn’t died because of the club scene changing from gothic stuff to new wave electronica
there’s a brand new (ha!)new order/joy division 4 part thing bio on youtube the first part was on the 7th I wanna check it out…
There are times I think the main purpose of R.E.O. Speedwagon’s existence is to be cited in discussions like these.
I bought The Essential R.E.O. Speedwagon some years ago, and damn, the difference between the first 12 tracks of disk 1 (early period) and the rest of it (the popular stuff) is…heck, “night and day” hardly seems stark enough, more like “a black hole and the heart of a sun”. The former is at times meaningful, at times poignant, at times evocative, at times powerful, and occasionally just plain fun. (First American Idol or The Voice contestant who does Sophisticated Lady gets 10 votes from me every episode, no questions asked!) Great rock from a great band. And then it gets to Roll With The Changes, and you can see very bitter winds of change forming. And then it gets to Time For Me to Fly, and things look really bad…and then, in due time, Keep On Loving You rolls around and all hope plunges into a nuclear blast crater.
I eventually got the first-two-albums-on-CD collection (R.E.O. Speedwagon and R.E.O. T.W.O.) and thought it was fantastic. I’m getting Ridin’ The Storm and Lost In a Dream pretty soon. Once I have them, I’m going to copy over the live tracks from The Essential R.E.O. Speedwagon and maybe…JUST MAYBE…Roll With The Changes, and then I’m deleting the rest of that pile of sappy, mushy dreck forever and adding it to my “I can’t believe I was ever stupid enough to like this” list.
If we can include solo artists, I nominate Robert Palmer, whose early collaborations with members of Little Feat and The Meters were terrific. The later MTV ‘models with guitars’ era was–well, I guess still pretty good, he remained a great singer. But the early stuff was special!
I opened this thread to say Genesis. I agree that they’re the biggest “of course” in here. Everything from Nursery Cryme through Wind and Wuthering was ace. These happen to be all the albums that Steve Hackett played on. (Spot the Pigeon was an EP rather than an album, so we may pass over it in silence.) Trespass may come in for an honorable mention, but really, good Genesis is synonymous with Steve Hackett’s presence. Peter Gabriel got all the attention, not without reason, but Hackett was the real secret sauce. When they lost Steve is when they lost everything.
Hang on… are we talking about bands that were better before some kind of lineup change without drastically changing their musical style and subsequent popularity, or are we talking about bands who underwent a sort of musical sea change and subsequent popularity without a lineup change? Or bands that had both- a lineup change and associated style change?
Seems like two different things to me. For example, Metallica had a lineup change after Cliff Burton’s death and the introduction of Jason Newsted, but the overall style and popularity didn’t change for at least 5 years, an album and an EP later, which is arguably when they really became popular.
On the flip side, bands like Queen or ZZ Top never had lineup changes, but had stylistic changes that made differences to their popularity.
IIUC, the OP’s examples were cases of two different bands (different names, different styles) where one was the direct descendant of the other (key members of Band A went on to form Band B).
Another example in this vein that hasn’t been mentioned yet is Semisonic, the 90s pop/rock trio that had a big hit with “Closing Time.” Their lead singer/guitarist and bass player were earlier in the far more interesting/quirky/wonderful band Trip Shakespeare.
But people have also been posting examples of when one band has evolved from one style, approach, and/or lineup to a significantly different one, which IMHO is also worth discussing. The word “incarnations” in the thread title can legitimately be interpreted in different ways.
Catherine Wheel.
I was/am a huge CW fan and was really pumped to hear Wishville but it was F-ing horrendous compared to all previous output.
In 2000, Catherine Wheel re-emerged with a new record label, a new bassist (Ben Ellis in for Dave Hawes); a modified name (The Catherine Wheel); and a new album, Wishville. After mixed reviews, record company turmoil and lacklustre sales, the band went on a still-continuing hiatus.
Doobie Brothers. I thought The Captain and Me was their best album by far, but they sold a lot more records during the Michael McDonald era.
Also just about every pop song writer or team ever has run out of gas in creating really original work on their original level eventually, sometimes really fast. But sooner or later it’s only die hard fans who like ‘the new stuff’. That might be mixed in with lineup changes and style changes in some of the answers.
By the time Gin Blossoms released a full LP they had gotten rid of Doug Hopkins (or their record company forced them to). But some people still find his songs to be their best ones.
I’ll agree with ZZ Top. Also, I much preferred Heart of the 70’s when they did Led Zeppelin covers and songs like ‘Barracuda’ and ‘Crazy on You’ to the 80’s era Heart of ‘These Dreams’ and ‘Alone’.
Jefferson Starship was but a shadow of the greatness of Jefferson Airplane.
The Beatles were better when they were the Quarrymen.