I liked them better back in the day.

[(busdrivertohell)]

Everclear. Back when they were frickin grunge, their tunes had a lot of graininess and hard chords. Their music involved a lot of drug recovery lyrics and hardcore love and things that don't make sense.

Now they're soft, and not really Everclear, just Art Alexakis and a bunch of other dudes using the Everclear name. They have the same rythm for the same 3 or 4 chords in every song. I only really like 2 songs on their new album (under the western stars, portland rain), as opposed to every song on White Trash Hell, Nervous and Wierd, and Sparkle and Fade. Art's probably on his 20th marriage or so, and his daughter is a teenager, but for crying out loud his stuff may as well go under 'soft rock'.


Anybody mourning the loss of a band's old ways?

[Shep]

The Rolling Stones haven't made a relevant studio album in ages. They've become a geriatric "greatest hits" machine. Of course, you can't stay 19 forever.

David Bowie also. Love the early stuff. The new stuff--not so much.

Manic Street Preachers. Not nearly as good post "This Is My Truth."

[Krista]

Most reunion bands. They just aren't good anymore.

Like when the New York Dolls did a reunion. There were only 2 of the orginal members left. It was sort of a joke. Dead Kennedys are awful now, also.

My favorite band used to the the Goo Goo Dolls, but now they are coming out with poppy stuff, which makes me sad. I absolutley loved their self titled album from '87, Jed from '89, and Hold Me Up from '91. Songs like, "Don't Beat My Ass with a Baseball Bat" and "Messed Up" I pretty much like all of their stuff up to 1998's "Dizzy up the Girl." Then... came.. *gulp* songs like "Let Love In" *cries*

[Katie]

Everclea, oh everclear. I own all thier albums up through Songs From An American Movie, so I get what your saying completely, thier old stuff was much better, and it's what I listen to to this day. Generally when a band changes, I just ignore thier new music and live in the past.

Dashboard Confessional is the same way for me, they used to have a lot different sound, now they are just freaking emo that you hear on mtv.. drives me batty

screaming infedelities was the first song they had that got any sort of attention, and it was still good.. then hands down and vindicated came around and those started it.. and now thier new album is just crap.

i saw them in concert recently and all they played was new stuff, and the above mentioned singles.. i was quite pissed.

[Phantom Engineer]

If bands stay the same they will get criticized for not evolving. If they change the will get criticized for abandoning their original sound. Must be frustrating. Of course when bands go off in as different direction it usually leads to the "back to our roots" album. It's a cycle.

[Captain Hygiene]

Word has it that the remaining members of Led Zeppelin are getting together. Will they be on this list soon?

[(busdrivertohell)]

A vicious one at that.

[Mr. Atari]

I haven't really liked a Rush album since Presto in 1990.

Radiohead was great back when they wrote songs and didn't just record digital noise.

Sting used to be great before he went overboard with the wuss rock. It was great to see him playing loud music again with the Police this summer.

And all of the great artists from the '70s and '80s whose songs have been ruined through licensing and too many commercials (The Cars, Squeeze, ELO, the Who and so many more).

[hopesfall]

Hopesfall, once an amazing, melodic, passionate hardcore band, now a boring soft rock band lead by a guy who can't sing.

Poison the Well, another example of hardcore gone wrong. I guess after "Opposite of December" they decided to start smoking crack and making their music more and more weird as they progressed.

The Ataris. The new album is garbage and a complete 180 from their old stuff.

Cave-In is another band that did a complete 180 on their sound. Although I like the new "softer" sound, I really miss their hardcore days.

Thrice used to be awesome... now they've done that thing where their music has "matured" (gone soft and uninspired). I really hate when musicians "mature."

There are probably a bunch more, but that's all I can think of right now.

[Trumpy's Magic Snout]

jorel said:

The Rolling Stones haven't made a relevant studio album in ages. They've become a geriatric "greatest hits" machine. Of course, you can't stay 19 forever.

David Bowie also. Love the early stuff. The new stuff--not so much.

Manic Street Preachers. Not nearly as good post "This Is My Truth."

With you there on the Manics. There was a time when they were everything to me. Now I didn't even realise that they had a new album out. It's actually quite good mind you. And Oasis. Again there was a time where they meant so much. I remember the day Be Here Now came out and I queued at the local record shop to get a copy before school. Then I dogged a class so I could go to the music room and listen to it. Shamefully it was also the album that killed my love!

[Trumpy's Magic Snout]

Oh and Aphex Twin. Ever since he went digital there's been something missing in his music, although Flim and Windowlicker were incredible, and it led to the inevitable "return to the roots" stuff that Phantom was talking about when he started using analogue synths again. Shamefully the quality was nowhere near his early stuff. he deserves credit for continuing to experiment with sounds, it's more the decline of the actual tunes from a melody stance that's the shame.

[Dr. Henry Krasker]

Like Phantom Engineer said, it's tough for a band to evolve and still keep their fans. I strongly believe you can't keep making the same album over and over, but on the other hand, if they evolve in the wrong direction. you'll lose your fans. I loved Everything But The Girl in the '80s when they made magnificent jazz pop that emphasized Tracey Thorn's rich, smokey voice. Then they started getting electronic and dance-oriented, and I lost interest. It's not that I didn't want them to change, I just didn't want them to go down that particular path.

[(busdrivertohell)]

I dunno, I think metallica sounded pretty much the same throughout the years (minus when St. Anger came out) and they still have a rabid following.

[fanliorel]

I think I agree with every group mentioned so far on this list. Some others:

Cranberries - Everybody Else and No Need to Argue were great albums, but their 3rd was on the downhill, and after that they were pretty stale.

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses and October Rust were so fantastic, and World Coming Down was solid too. After that it just devolved into more cliche and unoriginal sounds. They were so unique in the 90s - sad since the turn of the century or just after.

Dave Matthews - first album was great, second ok, but I don't know what happened after that. hooray for adult contemporary

Hootie and the Blowfish - see above

Smashing Pumpkins - what happened after the crescendo of tremendous albums which peaked with Mellon Collie? Sad.

Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory and Meteora were both fantastic, though the 2nd not quite as good as the first. But what happened with their most recent one? Again sad in my opinion.

Mortiis - Possibly the WORST change in sound in musical history, from very surreal and atmospheric "dungeon" music to some kind of industrial death metal. Terrible music the last 8-10 years.

Actually, I'd have to make the argument that almost every group fits this category. There are very few groups past their 2nd album that I can think of that are as good as they once were - unless they weren't very good to begin with. I can count on one hand the groups whose new albums I'll buy without first hearing clips or reading reviews. But my musical tastes have changed a lot in recent years, so I may seem a bit more jaded on mainstream groups.

[Trumpy's Magic Snout]

martialstax said:

Like Phantom Engineer said, it's tough for a band to evolve and still keep their fans. I strongly believe you can't keep making the same album over and over, but on the other hand, if they evolve in the wrong direction. you'll lose your fans. I loved Everything But The Girl in the '80s when they made magnificent jazz pop that emphasized Tracey Thorn's rich, smokey voice. Then they started getting electronic and dance-oriented, and I lost interest. It's not that I didn't want them to change, I just didn't want them to go down that particular path.

The only band I think that never really evolved in their sound and I love are AC/DC. And in all honesty I hope they never do (if they ever get round to making another album!).