When they replaced the drummer with one of the monkeys crashing cymbals together, I knew the band was truly epic-
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I dunno...they lost it a tiny bit on Snakes for the Divine. But hardly a cause for concern...De Vermis Mysteriis is ungodly good.
I think U2 peaked with Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. I don't know if I would say they "lost it" after those, but all of their subsequent albums were pretty forgettable, IMO.
David Bowie--after Aladdin Sane
Pink Floyd-- after Dark Side of the Moon
The Who--after Quadrophenia
Led Zepplin--after Houses of the Holy (although not as much as the first ones)
the Stones-- from @ 1975 on, say Goat's Head Soup
The Moody Blues--after Seventh Sojourn
Yes--after Close to the Edge
They lost it AT The Resistance, IMHO![]()


I think on similar lines, but I actually like Zooropa better than AB, and I also like a few songs on Pop. I'd prefer any given song from 80s era U2 to almost anything after Zooropa. Even the 80s B-Sides were incredible: some hidden gems among those, like Boomerang and Love Comes Tumbling.
KISS has been terrible the last few times I have seen them. I have a recording off the board from a show a couple of years ago. Paul Stanley's voice was screeching, he was flat and couldn't hit the high notes. I let a friend of mine listen to it and all he could say was "That poor B*st*rd". They should have hung it up a long time ago but as long as people are willing to pay to see them, I doubt that they will stop touring. Last year Van Halen was so bad that they cancelled the tour after a few shows.
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Mofo
Dave,David Bowie--after Aladdin Sane
Pink Floyd-- after Dark Side of the Moon
The Who--after Quadrophenia
Led Zepplin--after Houses of the Holy (although not as much as the first ones)
the Stones-- from @ 1975 on, say Goat's Head Soup
The Moody Blues--after Seventh Sojourn
Yes--after Close to the Edge
i'm sure i'll think of others
I heard Alice in Chain's new single "Hollow" or "Hallow" the other day. They've lost it.
I think a lot of formerly great R&B/funk bands were on that same bus.Rush - after Moving Pictures (Feb 1981, sorry, but when the synthesized intro to Subdivisions starts up I tune them out almost totally for decades.)
Queen - after "Jazz" (Nov. 1978)
Renaissance - after "Azure D'Or" (1979)
Genesis - after "Duke" album (1979)
Jethro Tull - after "Stormwatch" (1979)
Kansas - after "Audio Visions" (1980)
Yes - after "Drama" (1980)
Heart - "Bebe le Strange" (1980)
Supertramp - "Breakfast in America" (1979)
Cheap Trick - "Dream Police" (1979)
Yeah... something horrible happened around 1979-1980 that RUINED a number of great bands. My friend and I call it "The BUS WRECK." At some point in late 1979, early 1980, (New Years' Eve 1979 maybe) Rush, Queen, Yes, and all the other above bands were on a bus that drove off a cliff somewhere. The record companies were screwed and had to bring in look-a-likes for all of these bands, but the replacements, while looking like the original members, were not as talented and the quality of music fell off sharply with the very next releases and with an occasional exception, stayed low). The "Bus Wreck of Sometime in either 1979-1980" theory explains the "musical cliff" of these bands and their near-simultaneous fall from musical grace.
How else to explain the shift from effin' greatness to ewwww at the same time for so many bands in the span of one album?
Meh, it's a theory, anyways.![]()