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Why do you think so many rock groups get worse over time?

StageLeft

StageLeft

No Lifer
So I was watching last night a couple min on Pearl Jam's "Ten Reissue" project, which is them remaking their debut Ten album, this because everything since has been increasingly bad. It reminded me of some other groups. Remember Counting Crows first album? It was a masterpiece. Then they have another one or so that's ok and from there on it's mostly universally crap. When was the last time you heard a new CC song on the radio? Nobody cares about them anymore. Collective Soul had two really good albums (#1s one and two) and then again, crap. And Pearl Jam same thing, but their stuff really got awful quite quickly. After album #2 the rest was pretty much a total waste of time.

BTW, this is not just subjective, I am basing this on the number of chart-toppers or whatever that they have. And before you anti-poppers think "who cares about the radio", well, it is a gauge of public interest, and for these aforementioned groups, it has dwindled. I just wonder what it is that prevents groups from getting better. Go to these groups on wikipedia and look at their singles lists and where they placed (actually I can only see it for CC right now).

Just saw this thread. There are some in there that have basically died. Strange, especially among those that are still technically a band.
 
Once you have the money and the name, people will buy your shit regardless of how much effort was put into it. Or a band gets sick of the same old thing, and tries to change their style a little bit which pisses of the old fans.
 
It's the same with any popular entertaintment especially tv shows. After a few seasons, the plot starts dragging and everyone starts wondering when the trainwreck will end.
 
This really implies for MOST bands and musicians. Some do get better and.. more 'mature' I guess. But like gorcorps said... you've already made it. You got the money, the fame, the women, whatever the hell you damn well want. At that point, you can basically do whatever the hell you want and your followers will still follow. I guess that's just my .02.
 
People run out of creative steam and their musical tastes change and evolve. There are few groups out there that have the creative force to continue to push the envelope of creativity and still retain 'their' sound without alienating fans or losing their creative message.

Keep in mind that while the mainstream might not like the direction a band is going, that doesn't really mean the music isn't good any longer. A 'total waste of time' for you might be exactly what someone else loves. Music is boring if it doesn't go anywhere...

Really, it boils down to why a band is still making music. If they still have something to say and they're true to themselves and their creative outpouring then it really doesn't matter if the mainstream cares about it. The best ideas polarize people.
 
Music is boring if it doesn't go anywhere...
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You know what though I can't think of a group I have liked that has continued to sound the same and I got bored. I am always turned off them when they start to do stupid sh*t. Examples U2, Linkin park (last album fvcking horrific), it goes on and on.
 
I saw Collective Soul at a big rock festival a few years ago and holy hell I was blown away by how good they sound live.

They sound better live than they do on their studio stuff.

Much heavier sounding.
 
I think a couple of reasons.


1. Bands use all their best creativity on their first couple of albums and then either can't or don't feel like coming up with more creative stuff

2. The public is very fickle. If a band puts out an album that is just like their preiouvs 1/2 the people will love it, 1/2 the poeple will bitch b/c it's nothing new. If the band tries something new, it's the other way around.

3. The newness and the fad of finding a cool new band wears off.
 
Originally posted by: Steve
If they stop doing heroin (like the RHCP) then their music won't be as interesting.
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Fixed.

Mostly it becomes less about the message and more about the money, and I'm sure it has a lot to do with studio execs telling them how they should sound to maximize revenue.
 
I don't really understand how AC/DC can keep making literally the same music over and over again for this length of time. Eventually you grow as an artist, you become inspired by different things your tastes change and/or you just get tired of the same thing. I could not imagine writing music the same way 20 years after you began. It's just the natural progression of things IMO.

I think it's alot less rooted in greed and lack of creativity than most seem to think. Just my 2 cents.
 
Originally posted by: Platypus
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
:music:It's better to burn out than to fade away:music:
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it's better to burn out than it is to rust 😎
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He also said something like: A band has all their life to write their first album, and six months for the second.
 
As some above have hinted, oftentimes, it's not that the music is worse, it's that the audience wants more of the same, whereas a true musical artist may change over time. Perhaps the best example is the Beatles.
 
Hunger makes creativity. Once you lose the hunger, you lose the soul of the work. That's why every great band's first couple of albums are classics, then they trail off from there once they get comfortable.

This is also why bands tend to make great records after they break up and reunite after several years.
 
Few reasons:

1) Familiarity breeds Contempt--audience changes tastes
2) Age/Maturity, as the Artist gets older their Views/Experience change. Younger Artists concern themselves with Teen Angst and the various turmoils experienced with Hormones coursing through their veins. As those settle down and their Lives take on new Issues/Concerns, their response is much different
3) Related to #2: Age tends to decrease the Energy within Artists. They no longer can belt out songs with the same Energy level and/or Passion. They need to mellow out their Performances in order to complete them.
4) Stardom is its' own existance. They no longer relate to the Common Person and though that doesn't affect everyone the same, once the Audience has difficulty relating to the Life of successful Artists, the difference betwixt the 2 tends to limit the Audience in numbers
5) Demands on the Time of the Artist, Alcohol, Drugs, the Chicks, endless days of travel from one Gig to the next, yadda yadda ya interferes with an Artists ability to just sit back and work on new Material. Increasingly they need to rush out new Material or get Material from others.
 
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