All Downhill from Here...instances where an artist peaked with the first song on their first album

there are days when i'd say the clash "janie jones." there are other days when i wouldn't.

i want you back was track 2 on the original sequencing

i prefer tojo on that LP anyway

Not many bands can boast a song better than Janie Jones. The fact that The Clash have several speaks volumes.

Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em

i want you back was track 2 on the original sequencing

whoops i see you already mentioned that

It's hard to do this, but since EPs and singles don't really count on this thread:

Pavement - Summer Babe

^Speaking Truth to Power^

I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles (I am actually serious - by far my favourite Beatles song)

The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored

Did the Damned top "Neat, Neat, Neat"?

Interpol
Seam

The Feelies (not a dip after the first song, but not a rise either)

haha interpol. very nearly. but the first song on that album probably isn't quite the best.

It really is, though.

Yeah Joy Division definitely! Good call.

I feel this way about MBV "Soft as Snow (but Warm Inside)" but fully understand that I am insane.

killing joke

totally disagree with joy division

shellac

totally disagree with joy division

Yes, cannot be said enough.

loooooool

JJ Fad

Much as I love the Ramones, there's a case for them going downhill after Blitzkrieg Bop.

Did they better it? Probably not.

Still, not a steep downward curve.

it's weird how some "classic" artists could legit fit in here - eg my favourite missy elliott song is often "hit 'em wit da hee", ie the...first (non-intro) track on her first album.

otherwise, various examples from the elephant's graveyard of failed r&b babydivas (teairra mari) and those kinda boring MOR types who somehow build a really long career on only one song that people care about (natalie imbruglia, gabrielle)

Garbage

I meant the band. The first track on their first album rocked quite a lot.

i was about to post garbage

resists temptation to repost on the 'out-of-context' thread.

nas

Screamingly obvious answer:

Oasis - Rock and Roll Star

is it possible to go downhill if you start off at the very bottom?

Evidently so!

Orange Juice-Falling and Laughing
Ian Dury & The Blockheads-Wake up and Make Love to me
The Sleepy Jackson-Good Dancers
Luther Vandross-Never Too Much
Heaven 17-(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang

and as much as I love everything they do, Art Brut are yet to top Formed a Band.

The Damned - Neat Neat Neat
(though it's possible New Rose is as good)

'Garbage' OTM

even if it is a whopping great Only Shallow rip-off

haha, i was about to say that about only shallow!

am also a fan of Vow and Only Happy When It Rains tbh

Mercury Rev - Chasing a Bee

I wouldn't stake too much on it, but I was listening to "Re-make/Re-model" today and wondering if it was the best thing Roxy Music ever did. Close, if not.

Le Tigre - Deceptacon

Big Country - 'In A Big Country'

Neu! (first thing I thought of for this thread)
agreed on King Crimson, "Starless" and "Epitaph" are close but "Schizoid" is going to be the band's legacy
post-puberty Michael Jackson ("Don't Stop Till You Get Enough")
Telex - "Moscow Discow"

Radiohead.

The Jesus and Mary chain

The Saints - (I'm) Stranded

Mudhoney - Touch Me, I'm Sick

Elvis Presley

I'm not sure The Fall isn't a valid answer. I mean, it's been 36 years of sustained brilliance but at the start of it all lurks 'Frightened', always there, always peering out at us

Leonard Cohen – "Suzanne"

Fountains of Wayne - "Radiation Vibe"

I was about to object, then realized that, while there are probably 15 FoW songs I like almost as much, you're probably right

Delays - "Nearer Than Heaven"

Raspberries - "Go All the Way"

ELO.

If you were a Move fan, sure.

Britney Spears OTM

Also agree with Fountains of Wayne

Ron Carter with his debut as a band leader- Where album, with Dolphy/Waldron, which is a minor masterpiece. Not really felt much else he did, although Uptown Conversation isn't terrible.

ELO.

If you were a Move fan, sure.

That would explain why I was going to say OTM

Guns N' Roses?

Meek Mill is never going to top Dreams And Nightmares (Intro) is he?

Enh he's recorded lots of stuff that's at least comparable in quality, if not urgency

t/s: blue gene tyranny 'next time might be your time' vs annette peacock 'i'm the one'

who bodied 70's avant-jazz-pop harder on the first try

What is Annette Peacock's first album, though? Revenge: The Bigger The Love The Greater The Hate has been re-released under her own name (and also features a version of "I'm the One", but not as the first track!).

a perplexing intrusion! nonetheless, picking between those two songs is quite the task isn't it. (i mean i am personally going BGT but they're both incredible)

"Jacking the Ball" by The Sea and Cake