Musically Jumping The Shark

[The Dark Knight]

The Living End - White Noise.

State of Emergency was a good album, but White Noise is one I can't sit through the whole album in one sitting. I don't know if I've even heard the last song on the album yet!

Yes! I agree 100% mate, I love The Living End, but I'm not a fan of White Noise. Apparently they're working on a new album.

[Dogwatcher]

Stone Roses - The Second Coming

I'll give you that.

[JK]

I love everything Metallica has done - even Load and Reload, although they're not as good as their earlier albums.I'm just glad they've returned to what they do best on Death Magnetic.

That probably sums it up best for me too

[southee]

Few to come to my mind :

Oasis - Be Here Now. Massive build up for this when it came out but the album did not live up to the hype and was a "blown out" self absorbed and self indulgent album. ie - Johnny Depp playing guitar on it. The album takes all the data on the CD....its very long. Truth be told....I actually like it but it was the end of Oasis. Band members "bailing" out!!

Def Leppard - Adrenalize. Soppy songs, weak, uninspiring MOR (Middle Of the Road) Rock. I loved Hysteria but this did not match it and with Steve Clark's (guitar) death before the album the band surely missed him. Never got back to the Hysteria days again.

Kiss - The Elder. After the massive Aussie tour of 1980 the band then released this commericial "bomb" in 1981. I personally like the album but in the day no one bought it or liked it. Concept album about some medievil child warrior fighting all that is evil........total ego trip and self indulgent by the band to please the critics. (Kiss sounding like and trying to be Pink Floyd) Huge fail.

[Interceptor]

Kiss - The Elder. After the massive Aussie tour of 1980 the band then released this commericial "bomb" in 1981. I personally like the album but in the day no one bought it or liked it. Concept album about some medievil child warrior fighting all that is evil........total ego trip and self indulgent by the band to please the critics. (Kiss sounding like and trying to be Pink Floyd) Huge fail.

That album made Cracked.com's #14 on their 15 Most Ill-Advised Career Reinventions in Rock Music History

[Gozu]

FWIW, I really liked Oasis' Be Here Now but yes that was the moment it popped.

Muse-The Resistance, was the end of a previosuly great band.

Silverchair-Young Modern, Straight Lines was the final straw for me.

Green Day-Warning, a few good songs on there but the moment I knew the GD I once loved were forever gone.

The Fauves-Thousand Yard Stare, knew that was it for The Fauves with the dinky little keyboards taking over from this album onwards.

Regurgitator-Eduardo & Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks, the beginning of the end.

[Pidge]

FWIW, I really liked Oasis' Be Here Now but yes that was the moment it popped.

Muse-The Resistance, was the end of a previosuly great band.

Silverchair-Young Modern, Straight Lines was the final straw for me.

Green Day-Warning, a few good songs on there but the moment I knew the GD I once loved were forever gone.

The Fauves-Thousand Yard Stare, knew that was it for The Fauves with the dinky little keyboards taking over from this album onwards.

Regurgitator-Eduardo & Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks, the beginning of the end.

Serious? Muse are getting better and better. They'd also have to be one of the best live acts in the World at the moment.

[Pidge]

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Stadium Arcadium

[Dogwatcher]

Regurgitator-Eduardo & Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks, the beginning of the end.

The dinosaur theme seems to be a killer....Carter USM's Post Historic Monsters with a big t-rex (as opposed to T-Rex) on the front was disappointing.

[Baron Greenback]

FWIW, I really liked Oasis' Be Here Now but yes that was the moment it popped.

Muse-The Resistance, was the end of a previosuly great band.

Silverchair-Young Modern, Straight Lines was the final straw for me.

Green Day-Warning, a few good songs on there but the moment I knew the GD I once loved were forever gone.

The Fauves-Thousand Yard Stare, knew that was it for The Fauves with the dinky little keyboards taking over from this album onwards.

Regurgitator-Eduardo & Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks, the beginning of the end.

Serious? Muse are getting better and better. They'd also have to be one of the best live acts in the World at the moment.

I agree with Gozu.
Muse's new stuff is nothing on their old stuff.

[Gingernuts]

FWIW, I really liked Oasis' Be Here Now but yes that was the moment it popped.

Muse-The Resistance, was the end of a previosuly great band.

Silverchair-Young Modern, Straight Lines was the final straw for me.

Green Day-Warning, a few good songs on there but the moment I knew the GD I once loved were forever gone.

The Fauves-Thousand Yard Stare, knew that was it for The Fauves with the dinky little keyboards taking over from this album onwards.

Regurgitator-Eduardo & Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks, the beginning of the end.

Serious? Muse are getting better and better. They'd also have to be one of the best live acts in the World at the moment.

I don't think Resistance will go down as their best work, but I think it is far from a 'jumping the shark' album.

The standard of their first 4 albums is ridiculous really, they have not put a foot wrong until now. Resistance is probably their first offering that is slightly below their previous best - it was inevitable really that eventually an album their catalogue would not better the previous - but not one that spells the end for them.

I mean how many bands serve up 4 belting albums before dropping the ball a bit?? Most are lucky if they make 2 in a row.

They are too good to be disappearing off the radar just yet.

And I agree Pidge, after seeing them live in Brisbane a week or so ago, they would have to be one of the best live acts going around at the moment.

[Swooper16]

[quote="southee"]Few to come to my mind :

Oasis - Be Here Now. Massive build up for this when it came out but the album did not live up to the hype and was a "blown out" self absorbed and self indulgent album. ie - Johnny Depp playing guitar on it. The album takes all the data on the CD....its very long. Truth be told....I actually like it but it was the end of Oasis. Band members "bailing" out!!

I'm with you on this Southee. This album got panned by the critics but I quite like it. Obviously they were a bit under the influence during recording as every song goes for about 7 mins and half of that is distortion and other odd noises but the songs themselves arent too bad.

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was their real shocker..!!

[zipzap]

The Fauves-Thousand Yard Stare, knew that was it for The Fauves with the dinky little keyboards taking over from this album onwards.

I hear what you are saying, it was a WEIRD career move but it was definitely a one-off, with business as usual pretty much after that. There are still some very strong tracks IMO and only a handful had the dinky keyboards you mention anyway. So I kinda like it as a quirky part of their catalogue.

[Gozu]

The Fauves-Thousand Yard Stare, knew that was it for The Fauves with the dinky little keyboards taking over from this album onwards.

I hear what you are saying, it was a WEIRD career move but it was definitely a one-off, with business as usual pretty much after that. There are still some very strong tracks IMO and only a handful had the dinky keyboards you mention anyway. So I kinda like it as a quirky part of their catalogue.

What I've heard of Footage Missing was laced with the toy keyboards. They then tried to go back to their old style on self-titled. Nervous Flashlights is just all slow songs with the crappy keyboards here and there and I've only heard one song off of When Good Times Go Good but it could've been straight off of NF. Yes, there are a few good songs on TYS (mainly the singles) but IMO that was the moment they sailed into oblivion.

[Leaping Lindner]

The Rolling Stones - Black and Blue. There have been flashes of their former glory since, but they are short and fleeting. Lester Bangs described this as "The first Rolling Stones album that didn't mean anything." I'm inclined to argee. I can't get my head around the fact that 7 years earlier they gave the world "Gimme Shelter" which must rank as one of the greatest songs of all time, and then,in 1976, they gave us "Fool to cry" as a single. Sums up the crap that music had become by the mid 70's perfectly IMO.

[Leaping Lindner]

While we are at
The Who - By Numbers for similiar reasons to the above. Squeeze Box ???? FFS give me a break.

[southee]

I think bands in the 60's got a bit lost in the mid 70's LL.

Sort of hard to figure out what musical direction they wanted to get into - hence those 2 albums.

[The Dark Knight]

FWIW, I really liked Oasis' Be Here Now but yes that was the moment it popped.

Muse-The Resistance, was the end of a previosuly great band.

Silverchair-Young Modern, Straight Lines was the final straw for me.

Green Day-Warning, a few good songs on there but the moment I knew the GD I once loved were forever gone.

The Fauves-Thousand Yard Stare, knew that was it for The Fauves with the dinky little keyboards taking over from this album onwards.

Regurgitator-Eduardo & Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks, the beginning of the end.

Agree with you there Gozu, Young Modern was Crap and Straight Lines was absolute Sh!t.

Silverchair were awsome when they first started and through their first 4 albums but got all caught up in the Mainstream Pop crap they play these days and went with it the flow a bit making Young Modern. Shouldn't of even bothered making IMO, it really is terrible.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

The Rolling Stones - Black and Blue. There have been flashes of their former glory since, but they are short and fleeting. Lester Bangs described this as "The first Rolling Stones album that didn't mean anything." I'm inclined to argee. I can't get my head around the fact that 7 years earlier they gave the world "Gimme Shelter" which must rank as one of the greatest songs of all time, and then,in 1976, they gave us "Fool to cry" as a single. Sums up the crap that music had become by the mid 70's perfectly IMO.

I'd still give them brownie points up to & including Tattoo You, after that was a disappointment.
Joe Cocker after rehab.
The Specials when they became the voice of apartheid.
The Tubes up til ''Don't wanna wait anymore''
B52's self titled & Devos ''Are we not Men'' never really got that feeling back after those releases.
Disappointed a tad with Marleys stuff after ''Natty Dread''
The obvious one was Hooks ''Hot for the Orient'' but there were band departures.

[CK]

Rather than open a new thread with a similar topic, have bumped this one.

Which acts, in your opinion, have NEVER "jumped the shark" musically? Acts that were still producing great music at the end as well as the beginning.

The one that triggered this just appeared on the MP3 here - Talking Heads. "Naked" was a great final album from them, and their previous album, "True Stories" had a couple of corkers on it.

(in one of life's coincidences, the original topic of this thread just appeared next on the MP3 - U2, with "Angel Of Harlem")

Hunters and Collectors were still producing great music at the end, and I can't pinpoint an album where I thought, yep, that's it from them.