# When good bands go bad... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879 "2005-07-17T17:03:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/41 "2005-07-20T18:42:39Z")
I’d say the Stones’ _Emotional Rescue_ marked their true nadir, from which they’ve never really recovered. Even more so than the eponymous track, “She’s So Cold” is a positively nails-on-the-blackboard listening experience. Oddly, I liked Yes’ _90210_ more than any other they’ve produced…mostly because I can’t stand the very things about them the proggers love. Speaking of prog (or something like it), I’d say Pink Floyd hit the crapper hard with _The Final Cut_. Oy yoi-yoi, a couple good tracks, but a turgid, gaseous mess overall. Post-Waters Floyd is…well, it’s something else entirely, so I won’t even bring it up. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/42 "2005-07-21T08:07:32Z")
:smack: I meant derivative. I swear, I’m really not that dumb. > [@initech](#): > > Actually, the Goo Goo Dolls are probably a pretty good simulator for what might have been, had the Replacements ever started to suck. No need, we have Paul Westerberg’s solo career to accomplish that. Paul Westerberg contributed lyrics to We Are the Normal? I never liked that song, but I’ll have to look up the lyrics. > [@TwoTrouts](#): > > David Bowie tanked when he jumped on the disco bandwagon with Fame. He seemed to have lost his edge, his hunger. > Same with the Stones and Miss You, or Blondie with Heart of Glass. I think you got Bowie’s tanking misplaced. The album right after Young Americans, Station to Station, was one of his best. I think it was after Scary Monsters and through the rest of the 80’s and early 90’s when he sucked. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/43 "2005-07-21T09:25:25Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > **Yes** : “Owner of a Lonely Heart”–Yes had already dropped the ball three years earlier by making an album without Jon Anderson, whose voice defines the Yes sound. But then they got him back, only to release this…_thing_ Bad song GREAT album. They went bad with _Tales from Topographic Oceans_, _Tormado_ and _Relayer_. ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/44 "2005-07-21T09:41:47Z")
Hardly anyone agrees with me on this, but _ **Idlewild** _ when they came out with their ‘_The Remote Part_’ album. From balls-out punk and songs like ‘_When I Argue I See Shapes_’ to chart chasing stadium friendly modern indie tedium like ‘_American English_’ in one album. ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/45 "2005-07-21T15:00:18Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Bad song GREAT album. > > They went bad with _Tales from Topographic Oceans_, _Tormado_ and _Relayer_. Although those three albums are not for the faint of heart (I love them), I don’t think that is when YES went bad in the sense of the OP. He is referring to when the band _sold out_. You can’t get much further from selling out than YES’s TFTO, and that was the problem… ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/46 "2005-07-21T18:02:20Z")
Red Hot Chili Peppers - _Blood Sugar Sex Magik_, and not just because of “Under The Bridge”. I remember hearing “Give It Away” for the first time and thinking, “What is this crap?” It’s too bad, because _Mother’s Milk_ was so friggin’ good, too. ---
**Author:** ![big\_dogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f1d935/32.png) [@big\_dogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_dogs)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/47 "2005-07-21T18:21:47Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Aerosmith - “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing.” Some will say that they sold out before this song Way before. Like with “Dude Looks Like A Lady”. Anything after Draw The Line is dreck. ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/48 "2005-07-21T18:31:05Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Jewel - “Intuition.” Jewel had always had my respect as an artist in her older stuff. I thought that _Pieces of You_ was a brilliant album, but when she veered away from the acoustic guitar for a techno track, I tuned out. Funny, the first thing I thought of when I saw your OP title was Jewel/Intuition. I’ll add though: Saw the video for the first time a couple weeks ago wherein she satirizes selling out/image is everything. Sorta (but not completely) restores some faith (yeah, I have a little faith in her) Still have little interest in her latest album though. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/49 "2005-07-21T18:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew **Genesis** : “Follow You, Follow Me”–the rest of the _And Then There Were Three_ album was merely turgid. This dreadful ditty topped off the album by removing the “gi” from that description. The band never recovered.[/QUOTE] Have to respectfully disagree here. Although FYFM is the weakest cut on this album, this was by no means a sell-out album. This was the band frantically trying to make up for the loss of Steve Hackett. The REAL sell-out came when they let Phil Collins actually have a real-say in the song-writing. The first horrible sign came in DUKE, with the god-awful “Please Don’t Ask”. And then they dispensed with an indespensible part of their team, producer David Hentschel, and opted for the home-grown shit sound that allowed dreck like ‘abacab’ to spring forth. It’s been 24 years and I can still remember the blow to my stomach when I first heard “No Reply At All”. That’s the real end of Genesis. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/50 "2005-07-21T18:49:57Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I may be in the minority here, but I always thought “We Didn’t Start The Fire” was a pretty good song. I used to call this song “The End of Billy Joel as We Know Him”; a rather cheap joke on REM’s also god-awful “The End of the World as We Know It”. Both those songs deserve to be forgotten. The horrible “stream-of-consciousness” lyric style that Dylan may have created (and thankfully) abandonned, has never worked for anyone else. Even INXS tried it (title escapes me) and their song also sucked ass. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/51 "2005-07-21T18:58:06Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > Have to respectfully disagree here. Although FYFM is the weakest cut on this album, this was by no means a sell-out album. This was the band frantically trying to make up for the loss of Steve Hackett. I don’t think we disagree that much at all. While I find the album as a whole rather bloated and lacking in energy, it’s still at least a halfway decent record made, as you point out, under difficult circumstances. It’s just that one song that really began the process of stinking up the Genesis legacy. (A lot of people would point to “Your Own Special Way” on the previous album, but I don’t have a problem with that one.) ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/52 "2005-07-21T19:46:28Z")
> [@mamboman](#): > > The Doobie Brothers - I couldn’t agree with you more. Michael McDonald is a hack. Along the same lines, **Blood, Sweat, and Tears** put out one good album, picked up the awful David Clayton Thomas, and sucked ever afterwards. Interestingly, Al Kooper, the main talent on the first album, was the arranger for “You Made Me So Very Happy,” the precursor of the horror to come. **Jethro Tull** pretty much lost it after “Thick as a Brick,” although they made a brief comeback (to good stuff, that is) with “Songs from the Wood.” After “Play It Again, Rod” (a hits compilation), **Rod Stewart** never did a thing worth listening to. Up to that point, I thought he was fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/53 "2005-07-21T19:51:41Z")
Once U2 released _Pop_, everything went downhill. Terrible album and I don’t think they recovered. They’ve had a few good songs here and there, but they’re too old to play the rockstar game anymore. It is my firm belief that U2 needs to go away. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/54 "2005-07-21T23:42:28Z")
Wow…I’ve never seen such a collection of music snobs in one thread… 😃 Seriously, I like most of the songs you seem to hate. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879/55 "2005-07-22T01:46:55Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > The horrible “stream-of-consciousness” lyric style that Dylan may have created (and thankfully) abandonned, has never worked for anyone else. I dunno; what about Billy Joel’s terrific _We Didn’t Start The Fire_ or R.E.M.'s classic _It’s The End Of The World As We Know It_? Oh wait, you didn’t like those, never mind 🙂 Seriously, we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I think the REM song in particular is one of their best. Same for **Hung Mung** burying U2 after _Pop_. I didn’t care so much for that album either, but I was totally blown away by _All That You Can’t Leave Behind_. I thought it was as good, possibly better all around than _Joshua Tree_, and that’s saying a lot. And the guy who didn’t like RHCP’s _Blood Sugar Sex Magik_ needs to find his medication… That’s like, one of my favorite listen-to-the-whole-thing-through albums of all time. Go on, dump on _Abbey Road_, _Electric Ladyland_ or _The Wall_ while you’re at it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-good-bands-go-bad/312879.md?page=2)