bands that dropped off

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s_mcsleazy
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bands that dropped off

Post by s_mcsleazy » Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:09 am

here is an interesting idea for a thread. quite often, some bands and artists will get hype surrounding an album or single but for whatever reason, they just kinda drop off the face of the music industry or fail to make waves like they did before. let's discuss some of the bands that were slated for greatness but never made it.

the kills.
i really liked the kills when i first heard them around the midnight boom era and a lot of people were talking them up. blood pressures came out and everyone was like "their gonna be huge come the next album" then they kinda just went away. i realise the reason was down to jamie injuring his hand and having to get a lot of work done to it but still. when the last album came out, no one seemed to care. it was just kinda like "oh, ok cool"

the black keys.
yeah, remember like 5 or so years ago everyone was talking them up like they were going to save rock music. then turn blue came out and yeah, i remember everyone was like "it's ok" then never listened to it again. i was never the biggest black keys fan so i dont really know what happened to them or why they never took off again. wikipedia tells me they are on hiatus. but i wonder why fans never reacted to turn blue the same way as el camino. sounded much the same to me.

the world is a beautiful place and i am no longer afraid to die.
now this is one of those cases where i kinda know why they fell off, being that i was a fan of them since 2013. when they started, they were closely linked to the emo revival scene. i seen them during the whenever, if ever tour and the harmlessness tour and both times they were amazing. but when nicole (fka derrick) left the band after divorcing kate (the keyboard player) it felt like there was something missing in the song writing. plus harmlessness was a very high bar. i think it would have taken something extra special to hit that mark.
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NickD
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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by NickD » Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:19 am

This might be an unpopular opinion, and it's about quality (IMO) rather than success in £ terms, but I think it happens to a majority of bands. They have one or two, perhaps a few very good albums and then tail off, creatively.

Take some rock grandees as an example:

Deep Purple - Mk2 only, really, and then only the 70s version

Black Sabbath - the first few Ozzy albums, they were dying even before he left

Rolling Stones - their last 'good' album was in, what, '72?

And these are bands that are still going.

I could continue for hours, there are tens, hundreds of bands probably playing their own nostalgia tours.

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PorkyPrimeCut
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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by PorkyPrimeCut » Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:53 am

The Klaxons. There was so much London-centric hype revolving around these guys.

I seem to remember though, back in the mid-noughties, there were stacks of bands (more rock-based than the above though) getting similar plaudits, only to disappear into obscurity. No surprise it coincided with events like the hideously corporate-smelling Ibiza Rocks. Yeesh!
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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by shadowplay » Wed Nov 21, 2018 4:05 am

NickD wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:19 am


And these are bands that are still going.

I could continue for hours, there are tens, hundreds of bands probably playing their own nostalgia tours.

If I was king I'd make 'farewell tour' legally binding.

D
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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by daemon » Wed Nov 21, 2018 5:57 am

Mclusky was pretty badass and then just seemed to disappear.

Amusement Parks on Fire had a pretty stellar first album, but I never heard much about them after that. I actually went to see them around that time here in the states and there were probably 10 people there. I felt kinda bad for them. I believe the sold womens underwear as merch.

The one band I'm the most bummed about, though, is Macha. They were an impossible-on-paper mix of shoegaze and post rock done with all sorts of interesting instrumentation from around the world (dulcimers and nipple gongs) as well as earth-razing organ. Here is the opening track from their first album. This is all pre-Y2K, mind you. Then, they upped the game by teaming up with Bedhead, premium purveyors of slowcore. They brought out the best in each other for one record. You could practically bathe in the shimmering beauty of Only the Bodies Survive.

Then, 4 years went by and they came out with Forget Tomorrow. I remember just about crapping myself when I heard the station I was listening to introduce the new single. I'd never heard them anywhere, other than the CDs I had bought. Then what comes out of the speakers is nothing like the Macha I knew and loved. It sounded like they were trying, really trying, to be radio friendly. I never had the heart to listen to that record, but maybe it's not that bad (7.4 on Pitchfork, and those guys are cranky). Nevertheless, I guess they just gave up after that.

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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:35 am

Yo La Tengo is the big one for me. They’ve made some of my favorite music, but now they make the same dull midtempo album every few years.

Interpol took a steep nosedive after Antics.

Luna - They peaked at Pup Tent then got progressively more boring/cheesy.

Tortoise - Occasionally they do something interesting, but I think as much as anything I’m just tired of their schtick. I have similar feelings about The Sea & Cake.

Television is a sad case too, but they can’t really be considered an active band. Really just a cover band, especially after losing Richard Lloyd for the last time.

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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by marqueemoon » Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:50 am

Oh, and for some reason Morrissey is still at it. :fp:

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daemon
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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by daemon » Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:50 am

marqueemoon wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:35 am
Yo La Tengo is the big one for me. They’ve made some of my favorite music, but now they make the same dull midtempo album every few years.
That's funny, I was just talking about this to someone the other day. I got into them around 1992 and saw them on every tour from probably 1995 through 2008 and at least bought all the albums after that. Around the time the covers album came out, though, it just lost a lot of the magic.
marqueemoon wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:35 am
Interpol took a steep nosedive after Antics.
Absolutely, although the first album was probably the only one really worth listening to.
marqueemoon wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:35 am
Luna - They peaked at Pup Tent then got progressively more boring/cheesy.
Oh man, couldn't disagree more. I haven't heard the new one but there's not an album of theirs that I wouldn't listen to all the way through.
marqueemoon wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:35 am
Tortoise - Occasionally they do something interesting, but I think as much as anything I’m just tired of their schtick. I have similar feelings about The Sea & Cake.
Yes, "Millions" was a great album, but nothing after that really stuck.
marqueemoon wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:35 am
Television is a sad case too, but they can’t really be considered an active band. Really just a cover band, especially after losing Richard Lloyd for the last time.
Right, how can they even call themselves Television anymore?

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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by s_mcsleazy » Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:08 am

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:53 am


I seem to remember though, back in the mid-noughties, there were stacks of bands (more rock-based than the above though) getting similar plaudits, only to disappear into obscurity. No surprise it coincided with events like the hideously corporate-smelling Ibiza Rocks. Yeesh!
by any chance, is it the mid 00's british indie boom you are talking about? if so, i could not agree more half those bands were trash.

fun fact. there was a band like that who went to my high school. they were complete garbage and half the time were so desperate for attention, they would start feuds with my band/other local bands. here is the funny thing. they used to say i needed to "go back to england" because i have an english accent. but the funny part is, whenever they played live, they would put on fake shefield accents. i remember one time i was pulling sound duty at a show they were playing. safe to say i pushed the suck button for them that night.
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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by sammynb » Wed Nov 21, 2018 12:24 pm

daemon wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 5:57 am
Mclusky was pretty badass and then just seemed to disappear.
Mclusky broke up in 2005 which explains why they disappeared. Falco's current band is The Future of the Left, not as frantic but still interesting.
Amusement Parks on Fire had a pretty stellar first album, but I never heard much about them after that. I actually went to see them around that time here in the states and there were probably 10 people there. I felt kinda bad for them. I believe the sold womens underwear as merch.
Amusement Parks on Fire are still about, they had a few issues with labels but had their first release in 8 years on their new label Saint Marie Records, it's not bad, standard fair for what they do.

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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by Jaguar018 » Wed Nov 21, 2018 1:55 pm

I stopped really enjoying Luna after Penthouse. I still like few things for sure, but the connection isn't as deep as it was. Might have to do with reading "Black Postcards."

In general I think 99% of bands drop off-- just about every damn band out there whether it's dino rock, indie, hip hop, funk, or whatever else. It's pretty rare that I will really enjoy more than two or three albums of a band if they make it that long.

One exception: Broadcast. Stereolab had a pretty good run, but sorta tailed off.

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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by eggwheat » Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:20 pm

marqueemoon wrote:
Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:35 am

Interpol took a steep nosedive after Antics.
Yeh but I’d say that happened after record no 1.. showed a lot of promise for greater things but they did the exact opposite...and they have just ridden off the back of that first record ever since.

Ride is another..each record progressively worse.

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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by dinosaurkale-> » Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:33 pm

one of my old bands opened for Interpol on the Antics tour. not really a fan of the band then or now (i do like a handful of songs), but it was a pretty wild experience being with them during, what some may say, at their height. sold out places every night.

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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by thedude99 » Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:41 pm

Interpol were a time and place kind of band IMHO. They were at the forefront of a pretty exciting New York scene at the start of things. After that it became pretty blah.

Others for me

Brian Jonestown Massacre - early stuff was fantastic. They went downhill pretty heavily.

Belle and Sebastian. Once they got polished, they lost the appeal.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - first album was phenomenal- not so much after

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Re: bands that dropped off

Post by Pepe Silvia » Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:44 pm

I started listening to The Black Keys in 2002-2003 when they were making albums with two people in a basement. I was disappointed when they went pop, added members, and had this new fanbase. My brothers got to see them in some smaller venues before the album Brothers, however I only got around to seeing them in 2011ish in Central Park and it was just a bunch if people talking, ignoring the show, but could brag they were there. I think they were tired of touring in a van, got the money grab and are getting the easy money of producing and/or being baby daddy to Michael Branch.

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