Bands who just ran out of ideas and at what stage in their careers ?

Neill

I don't know about running out of ideas, but I can think of examples where a band went too mainstream instead of progressing their original concept.  

When the first Roxy Music LP came out in 1972 it was almost literally breathtaking.  I remember it being played almost constantly in the 6th form common room. They followed it up with For Your Pleasure which was even better, I can remember vividly hearing the the opening track "There's a new sensation..."  what compares to that today I don't know.  And what an album cover too.

Then Eno left and it was downhill from then on IMHO.  And they wanted to break into the US market and to do that involved a more "conventional", dare I say less British, approach.  

I always think to be really different a band needs a non-musician in the mix, Roxy had two.

Philly_Q

EricTheWeary said:
Vivian Campbell never seems to have fulfilled his early promise. No doubt he cries himself to sleep every night over this on top of his mattress stuffed with the money Def Leppard gave him. 

He could have done more, I'm sure, but I really like the first Riverdogs album (the new one sounds OK too) and I absolutely love the one and only Shadow King album with Lou Gramm.  OK, it's AOR/melodic hard rock rather than metal, but it's got some balls and every single song is a killer.

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

EricTheWeary said:
Vivian Campbell never seems to have fulfilled his early promise. No doubt he cries himself to sleep every night over this on top of his mattress stuffed with the money Def Leppard gave him. 

He could have done more, I'm sure, but I really like the first Riverdogs album (the new one sounds OK too) and I absolutely love the one and only Shadow King album with Lou Gramm.  OK, it's AOR/melodic hard rock rather than metal, but it's got some balls and every single song is a killer.

I'll stick then them on my decorating listening list! 

ICBM

Neill said:

I don't know about running out of ideas, but I can think of examples where a band went too mainstream instead of progressing their original concept.

The classic example is Spandau Ballet after their first album.

Neill said:

When the first Roxy Music LP came out in 1972 it was almost literally breathtaking.  I remember it being played almost constantly in the 6th form common room. They followed it up with For Your Pleasure which was even better, I can remember vividly hearing the the opening track "There's a new sensation..."  what compares to that today I don't know.  And what an album cover too.

Then Eno left and it was downhill from then on IMHO.  And they wanted to break into the US market and to do that involved a more "conventional", dare I say less British, approach.  

I always think to be really different a band needs a non-musician in the mix, Roxy had two.

I think they got different rather than worse. You wouldn't even recognise the band that made Flesh + Blood and Avalon as the same one which did the first two albums, apart from Ferry's voice - but they're both masterpieces too. It may be different for me though, because I discovered them at the time of Avalon and then worked backwards.

Phil_aka_Pip

Lindisfarne. Nicely Out Of Tune and Fog On The Tyne were excellent. Dingly Dell was a bit disappointing. Then came Back and Fourth. Oh dear what a disaster. The only good songs on it were "produced" by Lindisfarne and the rest were "produced" by a "producer" who put string sections behind the band. I ask you! A string section behind a raw & raucous folk/rock band, FFS what was he thinking of?? Marshal Riley's Army was the high point of that album and it's probably the only one that makes any sense to anyone who liked the firts wto albums

fields5069

munckee said:

fields5069 said:

Oasis. Ran out of ideas around 1990.

Not a fan then, first album was brilliant, second good, third meh.

I'd say REM half way through Monster.  RHCP half way through Stadium Arcadium.  Foo fighters after colour and the shape.  Pixies after Bossa Nova.

I really like a lot of Clapton solo stuff, some is a mixed bag but that's most artists.

I was just joshing. But I mean, there was a formula and they stuck to it, adding some faux-beatles stylings along the way.

Cols

Led Zeppelin after Physical Graffiti, and RHCP after One Hot Minute.

Dave_Vader

Cols said:

Led Zeppelin halfway through Physical Graffiti, and RHCP after One Hot Minute.

FTFY

keithf

queensryche- after empire it went to shite. loads of reasons which you'll all know.

Telejester

would you say the short spell where all the hard rock bands went acoustic was a wile coyote going over a cliff with resulting fwumph moment ? i think it just plainly didnt work. Yngwie murdering classical music with an orchestra was another.

richardhomer

ICBM said:
I think they got different rather than worse. You wouldn't even recognise the band that made Flesh + Blood and Avalon as the same one which did the first two albums, apart from Ferry's voice - but they're both masterpieces too. It may be different for me though, because I discovered them at the time of Avalon and then worked backwards.

I agree with you - late period Roxy Music albums are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. ‘More Than This’ and ‘Oh Yeah’ are pure class....

MagicPigDetective

Stereophonics after Performance and Cocktails 

Neill

ICBM said:

Neill said:

I don't know about running out of ideas, but I can think of examples where a band went too mainstream instead of progressing their original concept.

The classic example is Spandau Ballet after their first album.

Neill said:

When the first Roxy Music LP came out in 1972 it was almost literally breathtaking.  I remember it being played almost constantly in the 6th form common room. They followed it up with For Your Pleasure which was even better, I can remember vividly hearing the the opening track "There's a new sensation..."  what compares to that today I don't know.  And what an album cover too.

Then Eno left and it was downhill from then on IMHO.  And they wanted to break into the US market and to do that involved a more "conventional", dare I say less British, approach.  

I always think to be really different a band needs a non-musician in the mix, Roxy had two.

I think they got different rather than worse. You wouldn't even recognise the band that made Flesh + Blood and Avalon as the same one which did the first two albums, apart from Ferry's voice - but they're both masterpieces too. It may be different for me though, because I discovered them at the time of Avalon and then worked backwards.

Agreed - I don't think Ferry ran out of ideas but I bet there are an awful lot of ex Roxy Music fans like me who wished Brian Eno had stuck with them and they had progressed in the same vein. 

OTOH my wife is a lifelong fan, she met Bryan Ferry when she was working in a posh hotel, just after he had teamed up with Jerry Hall.  According to Mrs Neill Ferry was a really nice down to earth bloke, what she said about Jerry Hall I wouldn't repeat. 

Neill

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Lindisfarne. Nicely Out Of Tune and Fog On The Tyne were excellent. Dingly Dell was a bit disappointing. Then came Back and Fourth. Oh dear what a disaster. The only good songs on it were "produced" by Lindisfarne and the rest were "produced" by a "producer" who put string sections behind the band. I ask you! A string section behind a raw & raucous folk/rock band, FFS what was he thinking of?? Marshal Riley's Army was the high point of that album and it's probably the only one that makes any sense to anyone who liked the firts wto albums

I agree with that but TBH I think if there was ever a classic example of a two album band it was Lindisfarne.

eSully

Surprised Foo Fighters haven't been mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I do like the Foo Fighters overall but if U2 are guilty of creating pretty much the same album for the last 15 years then so are the Foos

Philly_Q

Telejester said:

would you say the short spell where all the hard rock bands went acoustic was a wile coyote going over a cliff with resulting fwumph moment ? i think it just plainly didnt work. Yngwie murdering classical music with an orchestra was another.

I don't really remember the acoustic stuff, except Alice In Chains' Jar of Flies and Sap (which were brilliant) and the Scorpions' Acoustica (which wasn't really).  Oh, and Tesla's Five Man Acoustical Jam, which was pretty good.

I do remember that post-Nirvana period when bands like Trixter, Firehouse and Lillian Axe were rushing out to buy flannel shirts and replacing their day-glo Superstrats with Les Pauls and Jazzmasters...

AlexC

For me, Dylan’s last decent album was Time Of Mind which was 97. His voice now sounds like someone doing a bad Dylan impression and all these covers of old standards stuff is just dull imo.
Neil Young went a bit crap in the 80s and then picked up in the 90s and seems to be a bit crap again for the last decade or so.
Deep Purple mk2 and mk3 were great, but anything after Stormbringer just sounds like every other hard rock band. Not dissing Morse as a player, I just don’t think the material or spark is there.
And Whitesnake... great blues rock band and then that 1987 change of image American junk. Which Mr Coverdale is still peddling to this day. Enough already, period... as they say Stateside.

AlexC

Oh yeah - and any Rod Stewart post 1975.

fandango

Madness.

First three albums were ace, if you like that kind of thing.

It all went mainstream with Our House/4th album, and they became too refined as they lost that “nutty nutty sound”.

equalsql

Kasabian and Cold Play, literally after the first song..