List your top 5 bands who got better after their debut album and your top 5 bands who have never done anything better than their debut album.


Since I have no taste in music and will be flamed for my list I won't post anything. I am interested to see what other people post, though.

6/19/2007 2:40:51 PM

this thread begins and ends with weezer

6/19/2007 2:42:47 PM

On my list of bands who got worse, I'd have to say No Doubt. I really enjoyed their original sound but I think they really sold out.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 2:45 PM. Reason : ]

6/19/2007 2:45:45 PM

^^ Pinkerton was there best album, but they definitely went to trash from there. I can't believe how lame Rivers is...

Most of the bands that I really like I think hit their prime (best albums) towards the middle of their careers and then just go down hill.

6/19/2007 3:08:13 PM

bands that got better with age

-radiohead
-explosions in the sky


i can't think of anything else

6/19/2007 3:23:58 PM

Black Sheep

first album was IMO the greatest debut rap album ever (maybe best ever period), second album was fucking horrible

6/19/2007 3:35:38 PM

PEARL JAM. some will of course disagree but some of their newer stuff is just embarassing

6/19/2007 3:40:09 PM

Five bands who never got better:

GNR
B-52's
The Modern Lovers
Starlight Mints (sadly, I don't see them turning around)
Liz Phair

6/19/2007 3:49:06 PM

Quote :

"Starlight Mints (sadly, I don't see them turning around)"

i thought built on squares was far better than their earlier stuff. but i haven't really cared much about them since that came out.

oh yeah and i liked explosions in the sky's first album (well first proper album -- how strange, innocence was practically unavailable back then) the most

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 3:59 PM. Reason : .]

6/19/2007 3:58:12 PM

Gotten worse:
Badly Drawn Boy

6/19/2007 3:59:24 PM

^couldn't agree more.

oh yeah and add U2 to the gotten way worse list.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 4:00 PM. Reason : .]

6/19/2007 4:00:04 PM

Something about Built on Squares just didn't sit right with me. There are some excellent songs, but I just don't go back to it very often. For me, The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of is a perfect little psychpop capsule.

Five bands who got better with age:

The Clash
The Beach Boys
Flaming Lips
Radiohead
My Bloody Valentine

6/19/2007 4:06:44 PM

i think mostly with me, they really nailed the attacks on the strings on "built on squares". on the other hand, "the dream that stuff was made of" seems pretty elementary in comparison.

6/19/2007 4:09:14 PM

I call unfair pop music criticism based on intimate knowledge of stringed instruments!

6/19/2007 4:11:52 PM

Quote :

"Gotten worse: Badly Drawn Boy"

winnar.

6/19/2007 4:25:00 PM

pretty much every band is a bell curve

better with age

beatles
beach boys

worse:

primus
nirvana
led zeppelin

6/19/2007 4:27:03 PM

B-52's, I'd have to argue you on that one.

Cosmic Thing
Wild Planet
The B-52's (self titled)

Three solid, solid albums...a few ep's that were great too. I'd argue that Wild Planet was as good at their debut self titled. Cosmic Thing produced the monster single Love Shack, no minor feat.

addition: Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One Is One was good IMO.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 4:34 PM. Reason : asdf]

6/19/2007 4:29:20 PM

Metallica

6/19/2007 4:29:20 PM

^ they were a bell curve. kill em all is definitely not their best.

6/19/2007 4:32:59 PM

Quote :

"led zeppelin"

haha, right

meh, i guess you could say LZ was their best album, but II through HotH are too damn good to say they've gotten worse.

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 4:35 PM. Reason : jfhds]

6/19/2007 4:33:09 PM

Quote :

"nirvana "

honestly i thought In Utero was their best album

6/19/2007 4:40:28 PM

Eagles continued to get better...now one or two are dead, but they're still good


**and supposedly new album comes out this summer?!**

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 4:41 PM. Reason : fd]

6/19/2007 4:41:03 PM

Quote :

"Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One Is One was good IMO."

but what about Born in the U.K.?

because ugh

6/19/2007 4:43:39 PM

how in the hell did i forget death cab for cutie?!?

though i like "we have the facts and we're voting yes" a little more than "something about airplanes"

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 4:46 PM. Reason : for the got worse list]

6/19/2007 4:45:30 PM

I picked up both "facts" and "something about airplanes" a little over 8 years ago at the suggestion of a good friend. (my freshman year in HS, right after facts came out ~may 2000 i think?).

Since then I've enjoyed every album they have put out. Tho, transatlanticism is by far their weakest album at least they have continued to put out good music imo. I thought Plans was a very good record overall minus a song or 2. something about airplanes isnt bad, but i definitely dont consider it their best album by any means altho do enjoy hearing songs like president of what and champaigne from a paper cup live - then all the 15 year old girls finally stop singing all the lyrics along in my ear ;P

as far as favorite album facts/photo album are tied for me tho. cant wait to them live again

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 4:52 PM. Reason : ]

6/19/2007 4:50:31 PM

Quote :

"meh, i guess you could say LZ was their best album, but II through HotH are too damn good to say they've gotten worse. "

i was thinking 1-4 were pretty much level playing field, h of h a slight step down and pg a slight step down, and then not so good after that

6/19/2007 4:53:07 PM

for me unfortunately the deftones. adrenaline >= around the fur >= white pony >= saturday night wrist >= deftones.

the last album at least was better than s/t

6/19/2007 4:57:55 PM

^^ah, I thought you were saying they "have never done anything better than their debut album."

6/19/2007 5:12:41 PM

1. King Crimson
2. Frank Zappa
3. Peter Gabriel
4. The Beach Boys
5. The Beatles

6/19/2007 5:25:21 PM

beck has really fallen off in the past few years.

6/19/2007 5:30:56 PM

Quote :

"Quote : "Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One Is One was good IMO." "

Quote :

"but what about Born in the U.K.? because ugh"

Exactly what I thought. Hour of the Bewilderbeast was good (as was One Plus One Is One), hell, even the About A Boy soundtrack/album wasn't bad, but Born in the U.K. and Have You Fed the Fish? were terrible... especially the former.

6/19/2007 5:38:33 PM

i think john vanderslice keeps getting better.
the mountain goats have sort of let me down lately though.

6/19/2007 5:38:38 PM

Nirvana improved with each album.

6/19/2007 6:47:11 PM

^^ absolutely on JV

Pixel Revolt <3

[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 7:11 PM. Reason : somebody should leak Emerald City]

6/19/2007 7:09:25 PM

Blink 182...their stuff when they first came out was chill ...then they sold out like a mother

6/19/2007 7:32:05 PM

Quote :

"for me unfortunately the deftones. adrenaline >= around the fur >= white pony >= saturday night wrist >= deftones. the last album at least was better than s/t"

amen jamie


better with age:
RHCP

worse with age:
stone temple pilots
KORN
foo fighters

6/19/2007 7:38:47 PM

Quote :

"better with age: RHCP"

You can't be serious. It's all been downhill since Blood Sugar Sex Magik

6/19/2007 7:45:22 PM

i am a RHCP enthusiast, and yes, Blood Sugar Sex Magic is one of my all-time favs, but to not consider Californication and Stadium Arcadium as great records seems silly to me

they have evolved musically from funk-rap to modern rock with still some older elements to it (ex. Hump de Bump)

i think the ability for them to evolve over 25 years says something about their abilities...

(kinda like Madonna...i think she kicks ass)

6/19/2007 7:49:37 PM

One Hot Minute is great, I dont see why it is always fucking neglected. ALWAYS

6/19/2007 8:32:59 PM

i think the peppers chose to neglect it...though i like it too

frusciante >>>>>>> navarro

6/19/2007 9:04:03 PM

I really wish people gave more credit to the stones and their earliest stuff (before the hair-stylists)

THey rocked a full fucking 10 at first

Then hunkered down in the bottom of the barrel for a good two hundred albums, none of which ranked over a 3

THEN they got much better in the early nineties, still only ranking a 7 IMO

certainly the best band ever to need the mic stand emergency guitar picks replaced with nitro-pills

6/19/2007 9:10:15 PM

bands like Nirvana and Guns N Roses are different

imagine if those bands had kept going and the shit they could have made had they kept going

6/19/2007 10:25:24 PM

got worse:
Mase
DMX
Ja Rule
NORE

and a lot may not agree, but I think Outkast

6/19/2007 10:27:51 PM

^^
That was my thinking. How can anyone make the claim Nirvana got worse with age after only three studio albums, and Cobain was only 27 years old when he died?

SEX PISTOLS AND JEFF BUCKLEY GOT WORSE WITH AGE!

Ridiculous claim.



[Edited on June 19, 2007 at 10:32 PM. Reason : ]

6/19/2007 10:29:28 PM

oh, i almost forgot...

NOFX got bad....talk about a DECLINE (baaazzzzziiinnngg!)

6/19/2007 10:31:52 PM

i havent read any of this thread, but wouldnt every band get better with age, i mean most albums are not a bands first album when it goes mainstream

6/19/2007 10:41:38 PM

Quote :

"but wouldnt every band get better with age"

over time bands forget why they became a band in the first place

then they just start churning out records because their record company tells them to

they start not caring about the music and start writing/playing the same shit over and over again

this is how nickelback stays popular

though i can't figure out who thought they were ever good to begin with...

6/19/2007 10:44:53 PM

i really liked nickelback before they got big, How You Remind Me was a good song before it became the first of about 8000 to be overplayed. the music straight pussed out after that

6/20/2007 12:25:06 AM

also a lot of songwriters have only so many good songs in them and once they run out they start churning out crap

[Edited on June 20, 2007 at 12:29 AM. Reason : also i wanna withdraw my nirvana comment and replace it with ratm]

6/20/2007 12:28:17 AM

bands that got better are definitely Flaming Lips and Radiohead.

when I think of getting worse I think RHCP. Sorry!

6/20/2007 1:07:06 AM