Acts whose entire album output has always been on the decline, with no exception

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Dudes! Manic Street Preachers!

Come off it, no way was Gold Against the Soul better than the Holy Bible.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 20 May 2005 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

ailsa OTM.

Muse, who whilst making increasingly poor albums, have become more and more popular

No way, 'Showbiz' is easily their weakest, though I'll give you 'Origin Of Symmetry' > 'Absolution'.

My suggestion: Foo Fighters.

― Si Carter (Si Carter), Friday, 20 May 2005 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

perhaps every mainstream indie type band signed in the last 5 years...

― elwisty (elwisty), Friday, 20 May 2005 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

You've got your arrows back to front.

Noodle vague otm re: VU

― deej., Friday, 20 May 2005 23:57 (twenty-one years ago)

FATBOY SLIM.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Saturday, 21 May 2005 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Especially if you include the Housemartins, heh.

― brittle-lemon, Saturday, 21 May 2005 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

The Police? Or, surely, at least solo Sting?

In the case of solo Sting, #2 > #1. Otherwise, OTM about Sting, but certainly not about The Police, who ended their career with their one and only masterpiece.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 21 May 2005 02:10 (twenty-one years ago)

A bit too early to tell yet, but I expect The Strokes to be OTM here in an album or two.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 21 May 2005 02:11 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't include the Housemartins. Long story short: Better Living = constant ownage; Long Way = good singles, variably-likable filler, great closer; Halfway Between = autopilot but the videos and "Song For Shelter" were fab; Palookaville = shit on a Triscuit.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Saturday, 21 May 2005 02:39 (twenty-one years ago)

"Supergrass might indeed work (though everything they've done since the debut has struck me as completely forgettable, and I have no idea if they kept getting worse or just stayed in one forgettable place.)"

Their second album did include "Richard III" (which I'll readily admit I thought was pants when I first heard it, but which did eventually grow on me), "In It For The Money" and best of all "Sun Meets The Sky"; their third one at least had "Moving" and "Pumping On Your Stereo" in it's favour; and the fourth one contained absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever at all as far as I can recall.

The more I think about this the more convinced I am that this Supergrass the best example yet.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Saturday, 21 May 2005 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

oops, i just remembered that metallica's best album ever is neither *kill em all* nor *ride the lightning,* but rather *garage inc*! so cross them off the list.

― xhuxk, Saturday, 21 May 2005 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Supergrass are the opposite. Improved with every single album so far.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 21 May 2005 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

three months pass...

Echo & the Bunnymen?

― late adopter, Wednesday, 24 August 2005 06:21 (twenty years ago)

Nurse With Wound!

-- Dadaismus (dadaismu...), May 20th, 2005 8:25 PM.

There must be at least 15 NWW albums that invalidate that, but at the very least: Shipwreck Radio is one of the best releases in years.

I'll submit A Certain Ratio.

― Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 07:05 (twenty years ago)

I think that it should be made explicit that the reason no-one responded to the suggestion of Massive Attack is that no-one felt they had to. Mezzanine>Protection by a mile.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 11:36 (twenty years ago)

Prince

― shookout (shookout), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 11:42 (twenty years ago)

Prince might work if Sign O' The Times was his debut.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 12:15 (twenty years ago)

pet shop boys

I was going to mention this as a possibility, though I see that Xhuxk got there first. I can't say with certainty though, since I haven't heard their later albums.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 12:52 (twenty years ago)

>the replacements came dangerously close to fitting this model. and there's probably 1 or 2 days out of any given week when i could convincingly make the argument<

This morning I am actually thinking they might be one of the best examples of it.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 25 August 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

And I am more sure than ever that the Meat Puppets belong here (maybe even starting with their little *In a Car* EP).

And Prince might work if he started with his third album, as far as I'm concerned.

― xhuxk, Thursday, 25 August 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

A friend suggests Godspeed! You Black Emperor

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 25 August 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

PSB's output oscillates, although I have to say "Release" was an all time low.

― ryansf (ryansf), Thursday, 25 August 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

I can't take the Red Kross comments up above. They had a long slow climb to reach the peaks of "Third Eye" and "Phaseshifter". Am I wrong or do they not urinate on "Teen Babes" and "Neurotica"?

― everything, Thursday, 25 August 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

The Raincoats
Xiu Xiu (who probably were never all that good in the first place, but still).

― xhuxk, Saturday, 3 September 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

I think Xiu Xiu's kept improving, personally, although I haven't heard their latest yet.

Echo & the Bunnymen?
Sorry, I prefer Heaven Up Here over Crocodiles.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: Let this bastard out, and you'll get whiplash! (Eastern Mantr, Saturday, 3 September 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

nah, *Crocodiles* was definitely their peak, no contest. They never came close to "Rescue" or "Villier's Terrace" again. But whether they continued to decline steadily after that is for somebody else besides me to decide. (Actually, I really liked this greatest hits EP that came out in the mid/late '80s called, I think, *Echo and the Bunnymen.* Doubt it came out in the UK,though, and I also doubt it counts.)

― xhuxk, Saturday, 3 September 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

Papas Fritas, though it was a thoroughly enjoyable decline.
Archers of Loaf. Not so enjoyable.
Freedy Johnston, I think.
De Artsen. That's cheating, and stupid, but I just like to mention them whenever I can. Or can't, I guess.

― marc(drums) (marcdrums), Saturday, 3 September 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

Wire might fit here too I just realized (though there are I guess those who'll say that recent stuff might be better than their stuff from the late '80s, and maybe they're right)

― xhuxk, Saturday, 3 September 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

Tunak Tunak.

― PB, Saturday, 3 September 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Animal Collective, maybe

― xhuxk, Saturday, 3 September 2005 18:59 (twenty years ago)

Nobody would claim "Ummagumma" was better than anything that followed, would they?

Well, you sure wouldn't, Geir, but I've got no trouble ranking that higher than Momentary Lapse of Reason, say, and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone.

Redd Kross seems wrong to me too, though admittedly I know songs more than albums. But I definitely think the stuff I know from Teen Babes and Neurotica slays what I know from Born Innocent.

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 3 September 2005 19:08 (twenty years ago)

(I know that sounds dumb but I do really love what I know of the 70s covers and noise/power pop songs and just kinda like the 13-year-olds-throwing-tantrums stuff.)

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 3 September 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

(I will get the entire albums when I find them or when I find a file-sharing programme that makes it through the resnet firewall.)

― Sundar (sundar), Saturday, 3 September 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

Weezer's probably (hopefully) been mentioned a half-dozen times already, but they really own this thread.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Saturday, 3 September 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

Er, only if *Pinkerton* is their debut. Which it isn't.

― xhuxk, Saturday, 3 September 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

eight months pass...

Bongwater!!

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Sunday, 28 May 2006 16:37 (twenty years ago)

Beta Band- I love them, but a clear but gentle descent across their discography from brilliant and idiosyncratic to utterly lost.

― gekoppel (Gekoppel), Sunday, 28 May 2006 17:01 (twenty years ago)

The Prodigy.

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Sunday, 28 May 2006 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Nah, Music for the Jilted Generation is better as an album, Experience has great tracks but they're all samey, works better as individual tunes.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:08 (twenty years ago)

progist

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:21 (twenty years ago)

Well, the thread was about album output, not single output.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:24 (twenty years ago)

Bon Jovi maybe?

Also, Mayhem, if you leave out demos and live albums: De Mysteriis > Wolfs Lair Abyss > Grand Declaration Of War > Chimera
Katatonia can be taken off the list, as they've just released a better album than Viva Emptiness (although it's still not in the league of the first three).

― Siegbran (eofor), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:35 (twenty years ago)

Outkast

(Watch dudes who have never heard Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik or ATLiens flip out.)

― Dr. Rodney's Original Savannah Band (R. J. Greene), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:39 (twenty years ago)

Can I just mention how little I like the word "output" used to describe music? It makes albums and singles sound like some kind of extruded waste matter.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:49 (twenty years ago)

Have you ever heard Aquemeni????

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:49 (twenty years ago)

Dudes! Manic Street Preachers!

Come off it, no way was Gold Against the Soul better than the Holy Bible.

I dunno. I know conventional knowledge is that Holy Bible is the very best of them, but I find it almost unlistenable. I haven't listened to all of Gold Against The Soul (it may just be THAT bad), so I can't be sure, but I suspect that I at any rate would agree with the Manics.

Don't see what people are getting at with the Pets. Actually is significantly better than Please, Behaviour is significantly better than the terrible Introspective (some great singles, but really uninspired production. except for Left To My Own Devices), and Very is [arguably] better than Behaviour. (I personally am not crazy about either Behaviour or Very; but Actually is amazing.)

― Atnevon (Atnevon), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:04 (twenty years ago)

Also, Mayhem, if you leave out demos and live albums: De Mysteriis > Wolfs Lair Abyss > Grand Declaration Of War > Chimera

You mean, they were at their best when they were just a small, local cellar band in my own native Ski, Norway?

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:08 (twenty years ago)

x-post

Aquemini is great, but not as good as their first two.

― Dr. Rodney's Original Savannah Band (R. J. Greene), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:10 (twenty years ago)

(I agree about the word output, though.)

― Dr. Rodney's Original Savannah Band (R. J. Greene), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:10 (twenty years ago)

Well, the last album that Outkast have yet to release is one of the 3-4 best albums ever by a hip-hop act (partly because there isn't a lot of hip-hop in the second half)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 28 May 2006 21:16 (twenty years ago)

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