I preferred their early stuff

blue note

What a tosspot thing to say, however..... it's an anonymous forum, so you can get away with saying it here. Obviously this is not for bands who started well and then waned. If you preferred the first 3 smashing pumpkins albums, well that's just normal - everyone did!

For me the one that stands out is Fleetwood Mac. They were a very different band with Peter Green and in my view much better! I just don't love the rumours / tusk / etc stuff. I do like it, but compared to the Peter Green years they went from being truly great to decent but interesting.

How the question started was actually talking about Coldplay where I defended the first album. It's actually an excellent album. But while their popularity only grew, I doubt many would say that they got better after that first release. Trying to think of others, I think more and more that bands tend to bring out their best stuff in their first few albums and the recognition goes with them. But do many here think the early Nick Cave years were his finest? That those first Chilli Pepper albums had an energy to them that the later albums lacked? Or that Pink Floyd under Syd Barrett were the best version of them?

NewbridgeIR

All IMHO but

My favourite Pink Floyd album is Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

Coldplay - think the second album is better than the first.

Roxy Music - their debut is better than all their subsequent records although Avalon comes close.

Fleetwood Mac - have distinct eras so difficult to compare. Tusk is my favourite album of all time by anyone.

Early Nick Cave - no. Don't think he hit his stride until Your Funeral, My Trial.

Red Hot Chili Peppers early albums are full of filler. They didn't click until Mother's Milk.

The Smiths' debut album is significantly weaker than the other three.

New Order's Movement is one of the worst records I have ever heard.

iamstop

GnFnR fell off at Spaghetti Incident. I didn't get into Chinese Democracy when it first came out but a relisting and it's not so bad.

rpirl

The Cardigans might be a good example... stuff like 'My Favourite Game' and 'Erase / Rewind' were okay at the time but would only really listen to the earlier stuff these days

Seems Americans only know the later stuff...

Max H

U2, early stuff brilliant, late stuff awful

Beatles the same

Spandau Ballet the same

and definitely The Human League

suvigirl

Well smashing pumpkins, obvs!

Aerosmith, love their 70s stuff, nowadays? Meh

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121611314#Comment_121611314

Heard Hanging Around on a Forgotten '90s playlist recently and was surprised how good it was.

callaway92

Kendrick Lamar - Has completely sold out now - OD and Section 80 were unbelievable

Eminem - No explanation needed. When things like Love The Way You Lie started coming out it fell apart

Arctic Monkeys - In fairness they’ve changed things up and I’m just not into them anymore

SmallTeapot

Kings of Leon come to mind. Their early stuff was excellent... then when they became trendy, not so much.

Same can be said for Muse

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121611357#Comment_121611357

All IMHO

U2 - not sure. Peaked with The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby & Zooropa. Pop was the last classic. Mixed returns after 2000.

Beatles - my favourite four Beatles albums are Sgt Pepper, Let It Be, White Album & Abbey Road - so definitely think later was better

Spandau Ballet - agree, first two albums were best

Human League - last good album was Hysteria, hit and miss after that although 1990's Heart Like A Wheel and 1995's One Man In My Heart are bangers.

nachouser

The Rolling Stones could have stopped after Exile on Main St.

Royale with Cheese

The Beatles? They are an incredibly rare example of a band that got better as they went and arguably split up at their peak, Abbey Road was the last album they recorded and imo the best. Their very early stuff is actually a bit rubbish for the most part.

blade1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121611522#Comment_121611522

I'd pick Rubber Soul over a lot of their stuff.

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121611497#Comment_121611497

my #2 Stones album. Beaten by Some Girls.

gigantic09

Never got into Radiohead's post ok computer output.

maccored

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121611357#Comment_121611357

completely agree about U2. Its like adam clayton forgot how to play the bass.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121611450#Comment_121611450

First band I thought about when I read the original post. Seen them live twice during the first 3 albums. Unreal live.

Totally gone off them.

magicbastarder

it wasn't clayton who was to blame for u2's slump. the songwriting got cliched and bono basically ran out of things to say.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852539#Comment_121852539

"bono basically ran out of things to say"

Hasn't stopped him talking sadly.

Man Vs ManUre

Oasis, first 3 albums are classics, what followed is total horse sh1t bar 1 or 2 songs eg ‘Stop crying your heart out’.

Ash.J.Williams

It's the human brain , that's how it works , you cannot write in your 50s like you can in your 20s

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852618#Comment_121852618

Unless your Leonard Cohen.

Man Vs ManUre

The Killers went very downhill after ‘Day and Age’. Again 3 very good albums what follows is mostly turtle turds.

antfin

Green Day have never hit the same heights as their first few albums.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852647#Comment_121852647

In fairness to lenny, the newer music is fairly basic and isn't pushing musical boundaries like a band such as radiohead

More of a vehicle to carry his words, his early stuff however was more musical and did push boundaries which proves my point

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852848#Comment_121852848

Depends what you mean by newer stuff. You said "in their 50s" which is when he is releasing Various Positions, I'm Your Man and The Future which have some of his best work.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852857#Comment_121852857

My time line is off relating to lenny , and I'm specifically talking about bands that have high expectations after their first few albums but cannot keep it up because the hunger isn't there and cannot return

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121611923#Comment_121611923

Kid A blew me away when it came out. It's what started me into the world of electronic music, was exclusively listening to rock before that.

BalboBiggins

This is case for almost every band, no? Off the top of my head, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are the only band I can think of that have maintained the same quality of songwriting for 30 years.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852972#Comment_121852972

I suppose the thing is, what's their 'new' stuff today is their 'early stuff' tomorrow if they go on long enough. 😁

I absolutely love Rush with their peak for me being the period of albums from 2112 through to Permanent Waves. In my mind I've always considered that their 'earlier stuff', but they've three albums before 2112.

I'm a huge Nine Inch Nails fan from their first album up to The Fragile. Some of my favourite music ever. Then it drops off an absolute cliff for me and I can't listen to a lot albums that came after.

I went to one of their gigs in The Netherlands a few years back and it was mostly 'new' stuff to me. But my missus didn't start listening to them until some of that new stuff, so to her the new stuff was 'old stuff'.

All very confusing :D

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121611497#Comment_121611497

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852594#Comment_121852594

Yeah stones released some great songs after exile but couldn’t cobble them together to make any more great albums…

Oasis first two are great and thought at the time Be Here Now didn’t deserve the flack but in fairness it hasn’t aged well, not terrible but I think the biggest fûck up of that release are some of the stone cold brilliant tracks that ended up as b-sides that the didn’t put on that album…

Step Out, Going Nowhere, The Fame, Angel Child, I got The Fever…..

They had the songs but not the leadership, focus, decision making or whatever else to cobble together the best 10/11 songs on the one record…. Girl In the Dirty shirt is a dogshît track…I Hope I Think I Know, Magic Pie all could have been lost….

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852864#Comment_121852864

actually, last night i had been thinking of starting a thread comparing bands who had started as fresh faced youngsters vs. bands started by musicians who already had some experience in the business.

e.g. beatles/stones/U2 being bands which were started by kids basically, and bands like zep being formed mainly from experienced musicians?

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853187#Comment_121853187

Cream too, supergroup !

A nice addition to this conversation is the police, 2 fresh faced innovative youngsters and Andy summers who's of a similar pedigree as Clapton and page

rpirl

Levellers became fairly famous from about '93 onwards, were on a lot of the mid-'90s compilations but I couldn't get into anything by them - heard a bit of their earlier stuff in recent years, some of that is very good

Electric Nitwit

In terms of quality dropping just as popularity hit, I always think of Elbow

I love their first three albums but Seldom Seen Kid fell flat for me, but they won the Mercury prize for it and One Day Like This blew up. I was glad they got recognition but they pretty much dropped the first few albums from the live setlist after SSK, I (selfishly) felt like the band I loved had been taken away from me

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121856660#Comment_121856660

Yeah, I remember The Levellers appearing on two Now albums

Now 26 This Garden

Now 33 Just The One

Their earlier LP Levelling The Land was a firm favourite at Dublin house parties of the early 90s.

rpirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121901685#Comment_121901685

Also were regulars on the 'Shine' ones and other guitar band comps of the period

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121901978#Comment_121901978

That's right. Think they were on 5 or 6 volumes. Great series.

One Way is on Telstar's Indie Hits which is a great snapshot of late 91 / early 92 nights at McGonagles (Panic and Sonic Boom) https://www.discogs.com/release/635103-Various-IndieHits

waynescales1

Above & Beyond

rpirl

The first Reef album, 'Replenish'… essentially a Stoner Rock album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30k2KrKuRLE

forumdedum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121852505#Comment_121852505

Not sure he ever knew

Dreamweapon

Spiritualized magnificent for first three albums, only a few songs per album after that (although the latest album is great tbf).

Mercury Rev post-David Baker era lost the thrill for me.

Stereolab up to Emperor Tomato Ketchup were fantastic then dropped off considerably.

Whipping Boy pre-Heartworm much better imo. Tiny discography i know but it bugs the hell out of me that the earlier material is always completely disregarded when they're talked about.

Not a fan myself but i know plenty who would put Flaming Lips firmly in this conversation, jumping off at Clouds Taste Metallic.

quodec

Early Bon Scott era AC/DC. BIB was good but most subsequent albums were at best repetitive.

NewbridgeIR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122316089#Comment_122316089

Agree re Stereolab, serious fall off in quality from Dots and Loops onwards.

Whipping Boy early stuff is great especially the first two 12"s. Submarine production lets it down a bit but they were savage live 1989-1992. Heartworm is very good but the 2022 reissue wasn't as comprehensive as it should have been. Primarily because the label insisted on the vinyl running time dictating the content. Great for all those who ignored the vinyl in 1995, not so good for those of us who did buy the LP back then and who now just wanted everything from the era on two CDs.

pgj2015

50 cents first album (get rich or die trying) was great, every track a banger, but he fell off big time after that.

BaywatchHQ

Avril Lavigne is an interesting example of this. The record label made her play into the pop punk trend of the early 2000s and when that went out of fashion she gradually became a generic pop star. She never really made it as a pop star but she still has a large fan base based upon those first 2 albums. I saw her live recently and she doesn't seem to sing those old songs the same as in the concerts 20 years ago.

Acosta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122316089#Comment_122316089

Re: Flaming Lips. They only started getting really good around then IMO. Their last album, 'American Head', is one of the best things they've ever done