I had an asshole neighbor complain that I was playing music too loud. All I had to say was, “It’s FUCKING MILES DAVIS!! How could it possibly be TOO LOUD???”
Back bring come when…
Another one - Rhiannon Giddens/Carolina Chocolate Drops.
First learned of Prince with his 2d album. Big fan of Dirty Mind and Controversy. A 1979 concert blew my mind. When 1999 came out, I thought it a little long. My buddy and I taped a 1-album length version, which was amazing.
Couldn’t keep my interest after Purple Rain.
Guess I’m loyal to a fault. When I like a band, I usually make it a point to obtain everything they release. I haven’t done this with every band I like, but most of them.
Heck, I even liked St. Anger from Metallica because it was really different from their other stuff. I know people complained about the sound and lack of guitar solos, but I thought the songs were pretty interesting and also much heavier than Load and Re-Load.
Quick list of band’s I’ve “gone the distance” with : Kiss, Metallica, Motley Crue, The Black Keys, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Primus, Alabama Shakes, Extreme, Heart, Godsmack, Jackyl, Stone Temple Pilots.
I’m sure there’s more that I just can’t recall at the momemnt.
Similarly, I was a huge fan of Bonnie Raitt’s early work. I saw her in a number of small venues, always having a great time.
Then she began seeing some more mainstream success and she “cleaned up”. It was a good move as far as her health was concerned, but IMO it ruined her as a performer.
Same with Aerosmith. Off the dope, they suck!
Classic example of this would be Hanson. They released Mmmbop when I was in 5th grade, and at first I was such a fan I was buying all their merchandise: fan club membership, posters, calendars, unauthorized biographies, tour video, you name it. While I’ve dialed back the fandom, I still have every album they’ve ever released, along with some songs never released to a full-length album, and I’ve seen them in concert five times.
Only other example that comes to mind is Andrew McMahon. He’s undergone several reincarnations as an artist: started out as Something Corporate, then moved on to Jack’s Mannequin and currently releases music under the name Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. Kept buying the music under all the different monikers. Though to be truthful, I found his latest album pretty awful, and I could tell just from listening to the previews on iTunes that I wouldn’t like it much. I bought it solely because of the whole “going the distance” mindset.
Thanks for the earworm. :mad: And I’m old, that song came out when I was in college.
How are we defining going the distance with? Are we talking about after we found out about them or from the time they started?
There are a number of bands I still listen to and buy their stuff, but I can’t think of any that I started out with on their first album and still listen to.
I used to listen to a lot of Dire Straits/Knopfler, but haven’t bought one of his albums in years. I still listen to Iron Maiden, but their stuff from the last few years has not been that good. I do still pick up stuff from Europe, Anthrax, Motorhead, Golden Earring, Judas Priest and I’m sure a number of other bands I’ve forgotten.
Gave up on Buffett. After seeing him 12 or so times, I just don’t care for any of his new stuff. One of us got older.
It takes a lot for me to give up an a band I formerly loved. It has to be more than just putting out a few less than stellar albums—they have to actively turned their back on what made me love them in the first place. It’s a personal sort of betrayal.
Bands Who Have Wronged Me:
REM: One of the best bands on the planet up through Automatic for the People. Then they decided to provide the main filler for the Gen-X landfill with Monster, a shitty faux-grunge/glam record (which, had he heard it, might have inspired Kurt Cobain to point the gun in the other direction). Everything after that was even worse.
Belle & Sebastian: Exquisitely observed twee with indelible melodies for their first three albums. Then Stuart Murdoch got bored and started letting the less talented members of the band write the songs.
They Might Be Giants: I stuck with these guys for so long, but a series of concerts in which they clearly could not give a crap, and several unnecessary children’s albums started to try my patience. Haven’t bothered with them since Factory Showroom.
Of Montreal: Skeletal Lamping was all over the place, and False Priest managed to both suck and blow at the same time. Kevin Barnes managed to crawl up his own ass, and has yet to emerge.
Poi Dog Pondering: Delightful hippy folk up through Volo Volo, then managed to masterfully integrate electronic dance music on Pomegranate. Everything after that sounds like dentist’s waiting room muzak.
Gone the distance:
The Cure: They haven’t released anything essential since Wish, but I will always, always love them.
Pink Floyd: I even found Endless River to be rather moving.
Flaming Lips: It’s been rocky lately, but I can’t imagine breaking up with them.
Acid Mother’s Temple: They have approximately 497 albums, and I love them all.
The Feelies: Broke up, came back, felt like they never left.
Yo La Tengo: the modern Feelies
Landing: Ambient psych-rock. Never disappoints.
Windy and Carl: Music as brownian motion.
Sleater-Kinney: Fuck yeah! Fuck. Yeah.
Some of these mentions shouldn’t really count. I went the distance with bands like Nirvana too, but the career was short and album output was low, so therefore it’s pretty easy to say “you stuck it out until the bitter end”.
I have many, but the one that most sticks out for me is Elton John.
Loved pretty much everything through Captain Fantastic.
mmm
Raise your hand if you aren’t Canadian and have heard of Jane Siberry. :o
My fandom of her overlapped that of King’s X, and faded around the same time for comparable reasons; in her case, she decided to call herself “Issa” and her music kinda sorta went off the rails, and I lost interest.
I was delighted to see her on a PBS special a few years ago. She sounded as good as ever. 
The Beatles - gave up on them around the mid-60s when they flushed themselves down the toilet on drugs and their music reflected it.
Al Stewart - still going strong. One of the greatest singer-songwriters in the English language.
Went the distance:
Chumbawamba - Yep, every album. I was a big fan before Tumbthumping, I was at the tour when they admitted that they had to sign with EMI given their record company had dumped them when they had a fully recorded album and all the associated costs. One Little Indian basically dumped all their artists except their moneymaker, Bjork. I’ve even got Chumba’s bootlegged (you could buy it at their gigs) Jesus H. Christ album. It did help that they played mostly small venues around the UK regularly until 2012 and rarely played much from Tubthumping too. That was very much their worst album…
Pink Floyd - I only recently discovered Endless River, and now giving it a try. I was pretty much done at the Gilmour solo album touring on the bands name (Momentary Lapse of Reason), but eventually got to like that one, I had skipped Division Bell, but prog radio stations got me to buy it, and it is much more like a Floyd album than the previous effort. I did fall on the side of Waters in the breakup, but I don’t think Kaos or Amused held their charms over the years, Pros and cons of hitchiking perhaps, but I had that on Vinyl in the dying days and I think it took ages to make it CD. Maybe I can’t be counted for this, because I still don’t like the nursery rhymes era of Barret at the beginning.
Still trying:
Rush - Right up till Roll the Bones, but that rapping, while kind of well done, just was, erm wrong in the end… Recently went back and revisited Presto, Hold your fire and Power windows, and yes, I do love those. I own the rest but need to put the time in necessary to start liking, then get into each album, like you have to do with Rush. I’ve dipped into the likes of Vapour Trails and Clockwork Angels but if anything its the lack of synth which has put me off…
Tull - Never sure I was really a fan of their early work. I seemed to skip every second album until Broadsword, and became a big fan then until after Crest of a Knave. I guess I missed the last two albums existence due to life intervening…
Won’t be joining then:
Metallica - Got into them at And Justice… got out at Load. I did listen to Reload, but it seemed like the B sides of Load. I’m not even sure I actually like the black album. Too overproduced and souless, perhaps it was Cliff Burton which was the glue I needed from the band. And as for that San Francisco Orchestra album… One of the worst things I’ve heard in modern rock. Every recent album is always claiming to be a return to “old metallica” but nowaday I do wonder is it the “old metallica” I’m talking about Master of Puppets, rather than the Black album… Some kind of monster documentary exposed their utter dickishness, especially Hetfield, and their treatment of Newsted was pretty appalling.
Yes - Can you really call this the same band all across the eras? Loved them even through the Trevor Horn album (could be their best album), and the Trevor Rabin period too. I did like the Union stuff, but in the end it seemed a souless overproduced retread of their classic style, and it appears I’ve missed eight albums since then. Oh yes, I skipped the horror show which was Tales from Topographic oceans, no matter how many times my friends played it to me, it always sounded like one riff extended to 25 minutes song, repeated over six sides. Tormato was half dodgy too.
Van Halen - Never owned a Montrose/Eddie bought a keyboard!/post Dave album, but can you count having his solo albums? I missed the DLR band album, but own the Diamond Dave one, not given it the time. I do own A different kind of truth, and even attended a reformed VH concert in New York City, having flown from the UK. Won’t ever be visiting the “HOHO Eddies making a joke about initials HOHO” era.
Oh, yeah, should’ve mentioned the Beatles.
Hope you’re joking. Even the best music can annoy or deafen when it’s cranked up too high. As I tell people in court from time to time when they’re charged with overly-loud music, “It’s fine to enjoy your music… just don’t force others to ‘enjoy’ it with you.”
Went the distance with:
Porcupine Tree
Steven Wilson
Pink Floyd
Japan
Kate Bush
Tori Amos
David Bowie
David Sylvian
Peter Gabriel
Dire Straits
and probably a lot of others that I can’t think of right now.
Missing in this list is one of my all-time favourite bans, Genesis. I did not get their last album, was then given it, and gave it away.
I went the distance with Bryan Adams. Each of his albums is great, but the early hits are the best ones. Was very lucky to catch his concert in California last summer.
Went the distance with The Beatles, David Bowie, Warren Zevon, and I think also The Kinks.
For current bands that have been around more than a decade, I’m still with Gorillaz and Perfume.
Gave up on:
Freddie forgive me, but Queen. I loved their 70s stuff, kinda liked The Works, but their other 80s albums never quite did anything for me. After Freddie died, I didn’t see much point.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Their first few albums are unreal. I liked Works Vol. 2, but Vol. 1 had enough cringeworthy material that it was drifting more into ‘guilty pleasure’ territory. I was really excited when Black Moon came out, but it (and The Hot Seat) was more miss than hit.
The Rolling Stones. ‘Sucking In The Seventies’ was aptly titled.
Looks like nobody’s mentioned Led Zeppelin. One of the few groups I followed to the end, although with a late start, after the release of “Presence.” Some of my friends didn’t care for “In Through the Out Door” when it was released. I was hoping for something different, too, but I accepted it, liver spots and all.
I gave up on Pink Floyd after “The Wall.” It’s not the same for me without the original post-Barrett line-up. I haven’t been all that impressed by any of the solo efforts, either, although I used to like “Profiles” by Mason+Penn.
In the late 70s, I was very impressed by some of Elton John’s albums: “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Capitan Fantastic…” and the outstanding “11-17-70.” (Hey, look at that: it’s coming up on 47 years!!!). So I eagerly bought “A Single Man” and was greatly disappointed to find that I didn’t care for it. Nothing specific, either, other than “meh.”
Annnd just found out yesterday that they have a new LP out. Tried it on Youtube-and was bored out of my bloody mind. Here, give a quick listen (the 1st minute of each should be sufficient), and try to conceive of this being the same band (1st from the 80’s):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7q6oLvHOwU