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Bands who should have broken up when ...

Frayed Knot Apr 30 2015 01:35 PM

Sharpie wrote [from 'The Who' thread in the Baseball Forum]: "The Who should have broken up after Moon died. They were never the same after that." Name your entries for when a given band should have called it quits. Could be from a member's death, or for any other reason.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 30 2015 01:51 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

The world wouldn't have missed all that much had REM called it quits after Bill Berry split. I guess that's up to and including the dawn of the boring-era NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI

d'Kong76 Apr 30 2015 01:59 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ... Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 30 2015 06:08 PM

I saw The Who in 1979 (the first post-Moon tour) and thought they were really good. Of course I was in high school and seeing a band as big as they were (or at least once were) in a place like Madison Square Garden may have slanted my thinking a bit.

RealityChuck Apr 30 2015 02:11 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Spirit should have stayed broken up after Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus. Once Randy California came back, they had their moments, but nothing like the original. The Steve Miller Band should have packed it up after Number 5. Yes, they had their major hits after that, but the songwriting was lazy and lame.

MFS62 Apr 30 2015 02:11 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

The Rolling Stones should have broken up after Keith Richards died. Oh, wait. Later

Edgy MD Apr 30 2015 03:26 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

I'm all for bands staying together when things go south and they're throwing themselves against the wall of their lost market position and authenticity. There's a nobility in that, even if it's often a comic nobility. And a lot of the material from their decline sounds perfectly fine years later when it's not heard in the context of their beloved triumphs of just a few years before. Hate me if you must, but I stand with the band who was playing hockey arenas not so long ago, now rocking the student union ballroom of Scribbleputz University, announcing, "We'll get back to the hits in a few! Right now we're going to play a few songs off our new album!! ... please don't everybody go to the bar at once." Dear God, is there anything as poignant as that?

cooby Apr 30 2015 05:30 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

I think Chicago was the best band ever. They thought of breaking up when Terry Kath died. They had a couple of other good leads and guitarists, so they didn't but wow. I don't know if they were really ever the same.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 30 2015 05:41 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Guns and Roses, after Lies. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: The world wouldn't have missed all that much had REM called it quits after Bill Berry split. I guess that's up to and including the dawn of the boring-era NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI [Nods so hard, he accidentally breaks into "Losing My Religion" flail-dance] I have no use for Weezer, post-Green-Album. (Or, really, Green Album inclusive. But, y'know, hey, triumphant returns and all.)

d'Kong76 Apr 30 2015 06:00 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Aerosmith could have hung it up after Night in the Ruts and no one would really have cared or noticed.

Frayed Knot Apr 30 2015 06:33 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

cooby wrote: I think Chicago was the best band ever. They thought of breaking up when Terry Kath died. They had a couple of other good leads and guitarists, so they didn't but wow. I don't know if they were really ever the same. That was the first band I thought of after Sharpie's comment about the Who/Moon that inspired this thread. Though never known as a guitar band, in a way that made Kath's absence from Chicago all the more missed. Plus he also sung a bunch of their good early work. Now maybe they had reached their creative peak and would have gone downhill anyway, but this made it look so abrupt and they never again sounded like anything except kind of a lame lounge act. I saw a live gig from them recently on some cable music channel and it was essentially a couple of young kids on guitar and vocals in front of three old dudes on horns.

Ashie62 Apr 30 2015 07:15 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

As long as one original surviving member exists to keep it going and earn you have to scrape the uniform from them. Example, Joey Molland cashing in on the Breaking Bad finale with yours of "Badfinger."

Fman99 Apr 30 2015 07:26 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

The Doors produced two albums after Jim Morrison died, but by then no one cared. I doubt they sold much. Pink Floyd should have disbanded after "The Wall." "The Final Cut" is a Roger Waters mush mess and the subsequent stuff is really David Gilmour with help from Mason/Wright. Pink Floyd it ain't. Alice in Chains made records after Layne Staley died. Pfffffffft. You can also keep all of the Dio/Ian Gillian era Black Sabbath, as far as I am concerned.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 30 2015 07:27 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Edgy MD wrote: I'm all for bands staying together when things go south and they're throwing themselves against the wall of their lost market position and authenticity. There's a nobility in that, even if it's often a comic nobility. And a lot of the material from their decline sounds perfectly fine years later when it's not heard in the context of their beloved triumphs of just a few years before. Hate me if you must, but I stand with the band who was playing hockey arenas not so long ago, now rocking the student union ballroom of Scribbleputz University, announcing, "We'll get back to the hits in a few! Right now we're going to play a few songs off our new album!! ... please don't everybody go to the bar at once." Dear God, is there anything as poignant as that? Sure that's great. But in the case of REM they hung around wasting a $80 million recording contract. The Who sure aren't out there to push their latest project, they're doing "album" shows from 40 years ago. That's not so poignant.

Frayed Knot Apr 30 2015 07:50 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

There's also a difference between bands that just plain suck when compared to their former selves and ones playing smaller gigs because they, while still cracking out good stuff, have for whatever reason fallen out of favor with popular tastes.

d'Kong76 Apr 30 2015 07:51 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Fman99 wrote: You can also keep all of the Dio/Ian Gillian era Black Sabbath, as far as I am concerned. Iommi would disagree with you wholeheartedly about the Dio albums and subsequent H&H tours years later. They should have changed the name of the band from the get go... just like Van Hagar and High Voltage (or a dozen other cool names AC/DC could have picked) for example.

d'Kong76 Apr 30 2015 07:54 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Fman99 wrote: Pink Floyd should have disbanded after "The Wall." "The Final Cut" is a Roger Waters mush mess and the subsequent stuff is really David Gilmour with help from Mason/Wright. Pink Floyd it ain't Another great example.. oh, and by the way which one's Pink? Roger's second effort could have had a dozen cool names too and still sold out stadiums for 2-3 nights in a row and still play old stuff and new stuff.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 30 2015 08:34 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Edgy MD wrote: I'm all for bands staying together when things go south and they're throwing themselves against the wall of their lost market position and authenticity. There's a nobility in that, even if it's often a comic nobility. And a lot of the material from their decline sounds perfectly fine years later when it's not heard in the context of their beloved triumphs of just a few years before. Hate me if you must, but I stand with the band who was playing hockey arenas not so long ago, now rocking the student union ballroom of Scribbleputz University, announcing, "We'll get back to the hits in a few! Right now we're going to play a few songs off our new album!! ... please don't everybody go to the bar at once." Dear God, is there anything as poignant as that? This post is great. Because otherwise, what? A band's supposed to break up as soon as I, me, don't like their music? What the hell is it any of my business if a bunch of musicians wanna jam?

d'Kong76 Apr 30 2015 08:44 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Is that what he meant?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 30 2015 09:11 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

d'Kong76 wrote: Aerosmith could have hung it up after Night in the Ruts and no one would really have cared or noticed. This one occurred to me, like, 25 minutes after I posted mine.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 30 2015 09:18 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

d'Kong76 wrote: Is that what he meant? You question my post, but naturally, not Edgy's, whom I agree with? Of course that's what the OP meant. He's asking my opinion, and yours, and everybody else's for when a band should've broken up. And I say it's none of my fucking business. If the Rolling Stones wanna replace Mick Taylor with Ron Wood, who the hell am I to tell them that they should forego all that subsequent fame and money and good times and faux Disco music and instead break up just because I think Ron Wood blows, when I could just choose to ignore the product? If he asked for opinions on when a good band jumped the shark, then I would've answered it differently, probably giving the type of answer you expect.

d'Kong76 Apr 30 2015 09:23 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Really?

Frayed Knot May 01 2015 05:57 AM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Bieber should have broken up shortly after his birth.

Edgy MD May 01 2015 07:22 AM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Edgy MD wrote: I'm all for bands staying together when things go south and throwing themselves against the wall of their lost market position and authenticity. There's a nobility in that, even if it's often a comic nobility. And a lot of the material from their decline sounds perfectly fine years later when it's not heard in the context of their beloved triumphs of just a few years before. Hate me if you must, but I stand with the band who was playing hockey arenas not so long ago, now rocking the student union ballroom of Scribbleputz Universit, announcing, "We'll get back to the hits in a few! Right now we're going to play a few songs off our new album!! ... please don't everybody go to the bar at once." Dear God, is there anything as poignant as that? Sure that's great. But in the case of REM they hung around wasting a $80 million recording contract. The Who sure aren't out there to push their latest project, they're doing "album" shows from 40 years ago. That's not so poignant. Mostly true, but it's not my money. That said, I've got a small but reasonable amount of affection for It's Hard and Face Dances. Nu wave-era Who! And amid all the latter-day farce, they did release an album of new studio material in 2006, and toured to support it.

Edgy MD May 01 2015 07:27 AM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Frayed Knot wrote: There's also a difference between bands that just plain suck when compared to their former selves and ones playing smaller gigs because they, while still cracking out good stuff, have for whatever reason fallen out of favor with popular tastes. As somebody who strongly suspects his music sucks, I'm all for people still trying when somebody tells them they shouldn't.

John Cougar Lunchbucket May 01 2015 10:00 AM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

I was a Face Dances guy too, had the poster that came with the album looking at me every night. For whatever reason I turned against them big-time for IT'S HARD. I guess by then I'd fully committed to "newer" stuff like Squeeze, REM, the Alarm that made the Who seem too old. This is no social crisis. The B-52s should have broken up after WILD PLANET, then reformed in time to record COSMIC THING, then broken up again.

Frayed Knot May 01 2015 10:20 AM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Because otherwise, what? A band's supposed to break up as soon as I, me, don't like their music? That's EXACTLY what they should do ... for the purposes of this exercise anyway. Obviously no one is advocating government forces step in and prevent any further recordings, but there is the idea that bad art by an artist diminishes the memory of the good. I'd have better memories, for instance, of ROCKY had Stallone not decided that 18 sequels were needed (or in the case of GODFATHER where I simply pretend that 'III' was never made). In the music scene, bands that disband when they should have would leave smaller catalogs of great material without decades of mediocrity piled on top and images of playing oldies shows in gray hair and orthopedic shoes where Roger can no longer hit the notes and Gregg Allman's tattoos are sagging longer than his hair. Defining "when they should have" is the whole purpose here.

Edgy MD May 01 2015 12:13 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I was a Face Dances guy too, had the poster that came with the album looking at me every night. For whatever reason I turned against them big-time for IT'S HARD. I guess by then I'd fully committed to "newer" stuff like Squeeze, REM, the Alarm that made the Who seem too old. This is no social crisis. The B-52s should have broken up after WILD PLANET, then reformed in time to record COSMIC THING, then broken up again. See now, right there, I'm a BIG fan of Bouncing off the Satellites, which didn't get very far because Ricky died a few months before the time of the release, and they unofficially broke up without touring to support it. The Pretenders will likely never match their first two albums (few bands will), but you'll still have to pry Learning to Crawl — lacking in Farndon and Scott though it may be — from my cold, clammy hands. I hate this exercise and if I have to stand at the dressing room door to protect fat, washed-up acts from their fickle fans, I'll sign up for that duty. I GOT YOUR BACK, CRAPPY THIRD-GENERATION VAN HALEN!

Ashie62 May 01 2015 07:40 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

batmagadanleadoff wrote: d'Kong76 wrote: Is that what he meant? You question my post, but naturally, not Edgy's, whom I agree with? Of course that's what the OP meant. He's asking my opinion, and yours, and everybody else's for when a band should've broken up. And I say it's none of my fucking business. If the Rolling Stones wanna replace Mick Taylor with Ron Wood, who the hell am I to tell them that they should forego all that subsequent fame and money and good times and faux Disco music and instead break up just because I think Ron Wood blows, when I could just choose to ignore the product? If he asked for opinions on when a good band jumped the shark, then I would've answered it differently, probably giving the type of answer you expect. Do you take Seroquel? Thanks!

Rockin' Doc May 01 2015 09:19 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

The Beach Boys probably should have packed it in when Brian Wilson devolved into a drug addled recluse.

Frayed Knot May 02 2015 06:09 AM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

And, of course, what's the point of ONE DIRECTION continuing on without Zayn Malik

Mets Guy in Michigan May 02 2015 04:19 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

d'Kong76 wrote: Fman99 wrote: You can also keep all of the Dio/Ian Gillian era Black Sabbath, as far as I am concerned. Iommi would disagree with you wholeheartedly about the Dio albums and subsequent H&H tours years later. They should have changed the name of the band from the get go... just like Van Hagar and High Voltage (or a dozen other cool names AC/DC could have picked) for example. I have to say, I like the first two Dio Sabbath albums a lot. I saw that version on the "Black and Blue" tour with Blue Oyster Cult. I agree with the Floyd comments, but I really like REM's Monster and Hi-Fi. They seemed to fall off after that. I've never been a huge Who fan, but I don't know if losing the drummer was what changed things if Townsend is the primary writer.

Mets Guy in Michigan May 02 2015 04:28 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ... Edited 1 time(s), most recently on May 04 2015 01:23 PM

I loved -- LOVED -- 10,000 Maniacs with Natalie Merchant on board. I tried to like the post-Natalie albums, and there are some good songs on them, but it's just not the same. As for Natalie, her first solo album was really good, and she has gotten progressively worse since them. Clearly, she needed the band to keep her in check and her ego got the best of her. The music critic at my former newspaper once tried to tell me that she was going nowhere with the band and needed to break free, and her post-Maniacs work was far better. I think they throw you out of the music critic club if you are not contrarian and elitist.

Fman99 May 04 2015 08:20 AM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: I have to say, I like the first two Dio Sabbath albums a lot. I saw that version on the "Black and Blue" tour with Blue Oyster Cult. I went back this morning and listened to 'Heaven and Hell' and I enjoyed it greatly. I'll have to go back and listen to 'Mob Rules' next. I agree with Kong - they just should have called the band 'Heaven and Hell' -- it's a very different animal from the 1970's Ozzy-led Sabbath records.

Frayed Knot May 04 2015 09:09 AM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: I think they throw you out of the music critic club if you are not contrarian and elitist. Absolutely true!

Edgy MD May 04 2015 12:15 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Natalie Merchant was, for a time, not to be messed with. Her fondest fans were true believers and casual opinions were not welcome. A Joni Mitchell-level of she's-my-poetic-avatar devotion, with an extra heavy nineties-level of confrontational stridency. "You disagree with Natalie? How interesting. Oops, I accidentally spilled acid on your face." I imagine she left said band for the same reason most vocalists do, because her cut was bigger as a solo act. Kudos to Michigan for sticking with them as they ground on with Mary Ramsey on vocals.

Mets Guy in Michigan May 04 2015 01:33 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Edgy MD wrote: Natalie Merchant was, for a time, not to be messed with. Her fondest fans were true believers and casual opinions were not welcome. A Joni Mitchell-level of she's-my-poetic-avatar devotion, with an extra heavy nineties-level of confrontational stridency. "You disagree with Natalie? How interesting. Oops, I accidentally spilled acid on your face." I imagine she left said band for the same reason most vocalists do, because her cut was bigger as a solo act. Kudos to Michigan for sticking with them as they ground on with Mary Ramsey on vocals. I am loyal, if nothing else. I think the problem wasn't just that Natalie left, but that John Lombardo came back and it wasn't just a band with a new singer, it was a band with a new sound and direction. Then, when Rob Buck died, it just seemed to change the whole sound. I was distraught when Natalie left, because "Our Time in Eden" was -- and still is -- one of my all-time favorite albums. I've read some of the interviews where she was upset by what she called "art by committee" and then the band saying she was intent on doing more of the slow songs that pull "Ophelia" to a halt. It seemed like on "Eden" they were able to strike the right balance. Meanwhile, the band released an album last month called "Twice Told Tales" with 13 traditional folk songs from the British Isles. I haven't hear it yet. I have Natalie's newest album. I haven't really given it a chance yet. But it seemed like more of the same.

RealityChuck May 05 2015 01:19 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Fman99 wrote: The Doors produced two albums after Jim Morrison died, but by then no one cared. I doubt they sold much. Yet, Other Voices is an excellent album (the second wasn't). Pink Floyd should have disbanded after "The Wall." "The Final Cut" is a Roger Waters mush mess and the subsequent stuff is really David Gilmour with help from Mason/Wright. Pink Floyd it ain't. The Division Bell is pretty damn good. I think that Roger Waters gets too much credit for Pink Floyd, and the group started becoming less interesting when he started taking over. Their best years were when it was a collaborative effort (I've seen them divided as "Sid's Floyd," "Floyd's Floyd," "Roger's Floyd," and "David's Floyd").

sharpie May 05 2015 02:40 PM Re: Bands who should have broken up when ...

Yes, on Other Voices. Speaking of Yes, they should have broken up after Close to the Edge. That way you wouldn't have the embarrassment that was Tales From Topographic Oceans and you would have never had to have heard "Owner of a Lonely Heart."