A bands expiry date
 

There comes a time when many bands pass their creative peak, and despite continually releasing new music, its the old stuff the fans long to hear at concerts.

So this got me thinking, to ask the question when did one of your favourite bands reach their expiry date. Example

Massive Attack:

From Blue Lines to Mezzanine, Massive Attack was at their peak, but after Andy Vowles left over creative differences, Robert Del Naja began steering the group in his own direction, a direction that didn't capture their earlier magic, thus

Massive Attack = expiry date - after the Mezzanine album.

I kind of find most of my favorite bands are ones that adapt their sound with time and don't tend to stale... this might take some thought.

Ok, probably Make Do and Mend. Bodies of Water and End Measured Mile, whie they did constantly give you reminders of Hot Water Music and Small Brown Bike, were extremely good. It was fresh enough with what new sounds they brought to the plate that their influences just didn't offer, that everyone didn't care how much they sounded like them.

The problem after EMM, was that they couldn't do much else. They re-hashed the same formula and made it increasingly more radio-friendly sounding, to the point where it was a tedious listen. Granted, it's not bad music. I actually enjoyed at least a few songs from their next album, but it just couldn't strike a chord like their original work could.

Made Do and Mend = expiry date = some point after End Measured Mile

One that comes to mind immediately: The Cars reached their absolute expiration date after Heartbeat City but should have given it up after Candy-O.

If they had, they could have been another Big Star--release a couple near-perfect albums, then disappear. But then we would never have had the song "Drive"....

A couple off the top of my head...

Bob Dylan expired as soon as he converted to Christianity and proceeded to produce the most uninspired shite imaginable.

David Bowie has yet to expire, despite going for almost fifty years.

With a couple exceptions, Iggy Pop expired after the Stooges.

I've never heard of this band, but then again I am now too old and irrelevant for to be a young hipster, so I'll have to check them out.

Agreed.

The Cars = Expiry Date = after Heartbreak City.


Agreed on David Bowie, he remained relevant throughout the 90's with his work with Trent Reznor, and has made another comeback. He just may be one of those artists who's RIP is their expiry date.

Disagree with Iggy, though Lust for Life was a big deal and he did seem to stay relevant in the 80's with the Repo Man soundtrack and the 90's with the trainspotting soundtrack...but yes after Lust for Life he goes into a notable decline.

I've never been a Bob Dylan fan, so I'll take your word for it.

Most of the bands I like exist for a few albums, before the members try different stuff with different collaborators, so no expiry there.
As for long running bands, none come to mind. They all are still awesome.
Pere Ubu got a little lame towards the nineties, but they became great again after a few albums.
The last King Crimson live album with the new line-up was pretty lame, but I'll wait for the studio album to be sure.

The Cult

The Cult started off as a great goth rock act but slowly moved towards hair metal to become more accessible to the American market. As a result, they sell out and have their most successful record with the Bob Rock produced album Sonic Temple.

They than release Ceremony but the landscape has changed with outbreak of Nirvana and the album bombs. They try to recapture their magic with the alternative single The Witch, but aren't able to recapture their earlier magic.

The Cult: Expiry Date: After Sonic Temple.

AC/DC - For Those About to Rock
Van Halen- 1984
Godflesh- Street Cleaner
Ozzy- Bark at the Moon
Yes- Big Generator

I don't agree with this at all. These are all of the albums from his weak period. The bolded ones are the ones that I would say I like, italicized are the ones that I would say I dislike.

Slow Train Coming
Saved
Shot of Love (can I just bold "Every Grain of Sand"? It's one of his best songs IMO)
Infidels
Empire Burlesque
Knocked Out Loaded
Down in the Groove
Oh Mercy
Under the Red Sky
Good as I Been to You
World Gone Wrong

That's, like, pretty okay! And even if you hate all of those, he's made Time Out of Mind, Love & Theft, Modern Times, and Tempest since then - four albums ranging from "very solid" to "great". I don't think it makes sense to say he's ever been "past his expiration date".

Ah. That reminds me of the similar fate Discharge came to. After their second album they started playing glam metal. It really isn't my thing, but it's comparable to when Celtic Frost did a similar album. I've heard people call it more Megadeth than Poison, but it's still an undesirable depature from their proto-crust that most can't deal with it.

Can't speak for Yes or Godflesh but both AC/DC and Ozzy remained popular until the 90's. The Razor's Edge & No More Tears were huge albums. After that they expired.


Yes Tony Bones left to form Broken Bones and Discharge more or less sold out & died under Tezz's leadership. Strange, as he was the socially conscious one of the group.

Discharge: Expiry Date: After Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing

Popular or not, the thrill was gone.

Asia

Had some great albums in the eighties, changed lineup and released some exceptional albums in the nineties, but I believe that Aura (2000) was their last great one. Even though John Payne remained for one more album (2004's Silent Nation) I felt that was a bit of a damp squib and the albums that came later, despite being okay, were not up to scratch for what I had come to expect from this band. They reached their nadir with XXX I believe, and I have yet to hear their most recent, but for me the glory days are well and truly over.

Fun fact: as soon as they stopped releasing albums whose titles began and ended with A (Aria, Astra, Arena etc) the quality of the music just plummeted. Coincidence?

Asia: Expiry date: after Aura

You're right, those are "pretty okay", but I'm not a fan of the four you mentioned, except Tempest. Even that I rarely find myself wanting to hear.

I think I might consider him "expired" because his earlier work is so exceptional, and I hold him to a higher standard.

Underworld

Like Massive Attack Underworld declines after the departure of a key member; Darren Emerson. Emerson joins for the alubm dubnobasswithmyheadman and they begin to take off peaking sometime around the release of Born Slippy on the Trainspotting soundtrack. They continue to have success with the release of Beaucoup Fish in 1999, shortly after that Emerson leaves, the band returns to being a duo, but never achieves the success they had in the 90's.

Underworld Expiry Date: Sometimes after Beaucoup Fish

Another that comes to mind is Bad Religion.

Most in the scene would agree with me when I say that they lost a great deal of steam after Against the Grain, while they did have a few good songs on Empire Strikes Back and various other releases. For the most part, however, it had all been done before, and better, by the band.

Some bands get worse after they get successful.
I think it was Dee Snider that said it's tough to write songs full of angst when you are sitting by the pool at your huge house.

I certainly acknowledge (as any fan will) that Darren Emerson's exit from the group in 2000 marked the end of the Underworld Mk II sound. Dubnobass, Second Toughest, Beaucoup, and the Everything Everything Live albums were a critical period that defined and popularized the band's signature sound with stadium-packing tracks and floor-stomping anthems.

But from A Hundred Days Off onward (the period known as Underworld Mk III), Rick and Karl traded four on the floor anthemic progressive house for more cerebral experimental territory. Meditative pieces like "Ess Gee" and "To Heal" worked quite well in this environment alongside steadier uptempo selections like "Dinosaur Adventure 3D" and "Scribble."

But the duo's most important works are the non-album selections like their art installation work and web releases like I'm A Big Sister, And I'm A Girl, And I'm A Princess And This Is My Horse, Pizza For Eggs, and Lovely Broken Thing give listeners a taste of the more contemplative material that they'll find if they dig deeper than the hits.

Perhaps my favorite track from the nearly 400 Underworld albums, EPs and singles in my catalog is the 2005 "Always Loved a Film" (working title: "Silver Boots") edit broadcast once on 05-19-06 from Lemonworld. The cut is an ambient spoken-word poetry piece combining lyrical fragments from what would become the I'm a Big Sister... web release, the "Silver Boots" demo and musical elements of what would become "Always Loved a Film" on their next record, Barking.

Tracks like these, and Karl's recent collaborations with Brian Eno are far more interesting and artful than the "Lager lager lager..." material from their days with Emerson.

Just my take on it, but the ~300 albums, mixes, singles, and soundtracks that followed Mk II have been arguably their best work to date.

Then just work indoors. Problem solved. :thumb:

I don't really agree with the premise of the thread.

I want all of the bands I'm a fan of to keep regularly releasing new material, even decades after their first album. That doesn't always happen.

I agree but that doesn't always mean the albums will be any good. Some artists lose steam after their third or fourth effort, while others continue to make good music (Bowie, Melvins, The Sonics) long after their debut, sometimes getting better and developing more as artists along the line.

Well, if I don't feel they keep making good music, they're not going to be a favorite artist in the first place.

At any rate, I can't offhand think of anyone where I liked their first few (or couple or whatever) albums a lot, but then felt that their subsequent work wasn't worthwhile. There are cases where I don't like subsequent work as much as earlier stuff, but in every case I can think of offhand, I still think it's worthwhile and would like more of it if I was a fan of their first few albums.

You're lucky or maybe just extra forgiving. The vast majority of my favorite artists have made a lot of worthless stuff. Doesn't make me love them any less. Anyway..



A Tribe Called Quest

They made three of the most important and enjoyable albums in hip hop history. That was 1990 - 1993. Then they released a fourth album in 1996 that was worthwhile but markedly worse, and the magic was clearly gone. Then they made some other bull**** after that.

Expiry date: 1995

De La Soul was pretty much the same way.

I think plenty of artists get better with age. I can think of bands that kind of dropped off in quality after a certain point, but not much when it comes to bands I actually really like a lot. Many even make their (to my mind) best music now, 10-30 years down the line.
Bryan Ferry is the big exception. He's been boring since around 1990.

Most bands had good songs here and there after these albums, but these are the last truly great albums from these bands IHMO.

Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty
The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Clark - Totems Flare (I'm open to being proven wrong with future albums though)
The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies
Ministry - ΚΕΦΑΛΗΞΘ [Psalm 69]
Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica
Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
The Rolling Stones - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away
Smashing Pumpkins - Adore
Spirit - Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
Squarepusher - Hello Everything
Suicidal Tendencies - Lights Camera Revolution
Ween - Quebec
Weezer - Pinkerton (even though I never liked it as much as blue album)

This.
And that's sad