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

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I'm sorry, you cannot honestly tell me Theater of Pain was better than Dr. Feelgood.

I was going to disclaim that with something, but fuck it, that's a close to an objective statement about music as I'm gonna get.

Eppy (Eppy), Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Pink Floyd, arguably. (Actually I don't think this but I figure a case could be made).

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

Also, I expected to see Oasis here. It is of course way wrong, as their first album is still their worst IMO :-)

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link

"What about Beck?"

doesn't work. One Foot in the Grave is his best album

daglo, Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:26 (eighteen years ago) link

abc? Nothing is ever likely to be worse than what was their second album.

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:31 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm sorry, you cannot honestly tell me Theater of Pain was better than Dr. Feelgood.

Singles-wise, sure. But I completely blow my argument because "Wild Side" came out between them and is one of the band's finest moments.

Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Motley Crue's last 2 LPs their two catchiest. So no, not them.

Poison might work, though.

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:36 (eighteen years ago) link

oops, by "last 2" i mean dr. feelgood & girls girls girls. (i've heard they've since made a comeback, but i forget what that entails. or why anybody would care, for that matter.)

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, I was gonna say...

Eppy (Eppy), Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:40 (eighteen years ago) link

2 long shots that might actually work, if you think about it enough:

motorhead
pet shop boys

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:41 (eighteen years ago) link

pet shop boys

Ridiculous. Very is better than everything before or after.

john'n'chicago, Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:48 (eighteen years ago) link

wrong on Pet Shop Boys! and 1916 is a pretty kickass latter-day Motorhead album.

Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Pretenders > Pretenders II > Learning to Crawl > Get Close. Further distinctions not cost effective.

brianiac (briania), Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:56 (eighteen years ago) link

Disagree w dom's eminem sentiment above, i think. Well, particularly if you include "Infinite" among his albums, but even then i like both MMLP and the one after it more than slim shady lp.

This is a good thread. I'm w/ pappawheelie re: run dmc's 4th album, "beats to the rhyme" is probably my favorite rdmc track.

deej., Thursday, 19 May 2005 20:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Boston, they just couldn't follow the success of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

rat, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Portishead

Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:01 (eighteen years ago) link

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.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Cover Girls
Expose'
Pajama Party
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
Debbie Gibson
Tiffany

not Company B, though - their second album is a true classic!

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:06 (eighteen years ago) link

guns n' roses

fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:08 (eighteen years ago) link

No way - Spaghetti Incident>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>both Use Yr Illusions

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link

fIREHOSE

john'n'chicago, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:11 (eighteen years ago) link

(x-post)
(wait, i forgot that gnr pre-appetite thing, which i guess would disqualify them if it counts.)

fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:11 (eighteen years ago) link

also Appetite for Destuction >>> Live @#$% Like a Suicide, but maybe that doesn't count

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:12 (eighteen years ago) link

(xp obv)

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:13 (eighteen years ago) link

Boston, they just couldn't follow the success of Smells Like Teen Spirit.

No wonder. How could they possibly expect to get away with ripping off Nirvana like that?

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:14 (eighteen years ago) link

(x-post)
i'm fascinated that spaghetti incident trumps use yr illusions by about 50 arrows, but appetite trumps @#$% by only three arrows!

fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:19 (eighteen years ago) link

hey, @#$%^&* had a rose tattoo cover on it, y'know! that's worth 40 arrows alone, don't you think?

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:23 (eighteen years ago) link

this is why i'd never make a good critic. i never remember that kinda stuff!

fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Killing Joke?

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:33 (eighteen years ago) link

The Knack

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:34 (eighteen years ago) link

the bangles

fact checking cuz (fcc), Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link

was (not was)

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:36 (eighteen years ago) link

David Sedaris

Guayaquil, Thursday, 19 May 2005 21:40 (eighteen years ago) link

Stone Roses.

Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 19 May 2005 22:19 (eighteen years ago) link

ian dury and the blockheads?
nick lowe?
b-52s?
devo?

(or maybe not; freedom of choice > duty now for the future, right?)

xhuxk, Thursday, 19 May 2005 22:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Wall of Voodoo, maybe. Not sure how many albums they released post-Call of the West, but it should work up to their 3rd LP at least, and the 1st release (EP) was the best. EP>Dark Continent>Call of hte West>Andy PRieboy stuff

666, Thursday, 19 May 2005 22:42 (eighteen years ago) link

oh and a case could be made for the Velvet Underground, if you are on the John Cale side of things.

and Nico > White Light > s/t > Loaded

I'd probably reverse 2 & 3, though

666, Thursday, 19 May 2005 22:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Suede.

Drowners Ep > Suded > Dog Man Star > Hell

elwisty (elwisty), Thursday, 19 May 2005 22:45 (eighteen years ago) link

j.j. cale?

cyndi lauper?

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 19 May 2005 23:02 (eighteen years ago) link

the cars?

Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 19 May 2005 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Tricky.

paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 19 May 2005 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link

The Orb?

Alba (Alba), Thursday, 19 May 2005 23:07 (eighteen years ago) link

I almost said the
Beatles and the Beach Boys but
then I caught myself

Haikunym (Haikunym), Thursday, 19 May 2005 23:51 (eighteen years ago) link

The Orb?

At one point, I might have been persuaded to agree, but their last album was shockingly good.

Also, "Orbus Terrarum" was a huge letdown. I think they recovered a bit after that.

MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 19 May 2005 23:54 (eighteen years ago) link

The Orb?

"Pommes Fritz" is a better album than "Orblivion"?

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 20 May 2005 00:04 (eighteen years ago) link

BADLY DRAWN BOY

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 20 May 2005 00:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Tori Amos - no way, her Pele through to Venus period trumps her first two albums by a very long way.

Tricky - probably, but who's even bothered to track the descent of the last few?

Garbage - surely no one can argue against them. And they've done it to such an extreme (from an awesome debut to really hideously bad stuff within two albums).

The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 20 May 2005 00:19 (eighteen years ago) link

1) Chuck is crazy re: The Clash.
2) Though Liz Phair is most certainly in decline, "Rock Me" from her last record along with several tracks from Whitechocolatespaceegg and Whipsmart blow at least half of the songs on Exile In Guyville out of the water. Exile is so overrated, I've always considered Whipsmart to be the real classic in her catalog.
3) Boys For Pele is the best Tori Amos record by a massive margin.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 20 May 2005 00:23 (eighteen years ago) link

haha "re: the Clash"--dude, Cxxxk is crazy period.

Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 20 May 2005 00:25 (eighteen years ago) link

Also, in spite of my defense of Make Believe, I totally agree that each Weezer record is weaker than the previous, though I like the songs I like on Maladroit a lot more than the songs I like on the Green Album. Filler can really ruin an average.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 20 May 2005 00:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Tricky is in decline as well, but I think Premillenium Tension is a little bit better than Maxinquaye, which I don't think has aged nearly as well. Nevertheless, Tricky still makes a lot of great music, he's just wildly erratic and overeager to release his worst material and bury gems on very obscure records, if he releases them at all.

Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Friday, 20 May 2005 00:29 (eighteen years ago) link


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