Songs that made you realize your favorite band was going downhill

[MattSuspect]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Float On - Modest Mouse

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't understand this one. They're wasn't another song like this on the album, and there isn't any indication that this is the direction they're going in, so let's reserve judgement for now, eh?

[/ QUOTE ]

TME,

These people are idiots.

-IMS

[Dominic]

The Cars - Shake it Up

How can both the worst song and the best song the Cars ever did (Since You're Gone) can be one after the other on the same album is inexplicable. The first two Cars albums are classics, and the third one was exhilerating, experimental and dark...and boded well for the band's future. But then the two subsequent albums (Shake it Up and Heartbeat City), while having its share of joyful music, got more "pop" and less interesting. By the time the last Cars album, Door to Door, came out, their sound was a mess.

It would've been interesting if instead of going in the direction they did with Shake it Up, The Cars and principal song writer Ric Ocasek had instead delved even deeper into the dark side that their third album, Panorama, promised. If all you know of the Cars are their hits, you should check out this album.

But hey, even their later albums have some really great songs.

[DarkForceRising]

Tom Petty- Learning to Fly

The "Into the Great Wide Open" album in general began his downfall for me. I have always been a huge fan and I have wanted to like his stuff from that point on. Unfortunately, with the possible exception of "Wildflowers", he has only made a smattering of great songs since.

VanHalen- Why can't this be Love.

What an absolute steaming pile of crap that was. The sound production on that album was horrible.

Ozzy Osbourne- Shot in the Dark

Ultimate Sin sucked, period. It could have been better had the sound not been so thin. No Rest for the Wicked rocked a little harder but it sounded too bassy and flat.

Ozzy actually recovered, though, with No More Tears. Although there were too many filler songs the good stuff was really good. His last album was extremely heavy and very lean- only 9 or 10 cuts, I believe.

[Free_Beer]

[ QUOTE ]
bulls on parade - ratm

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree.... I guess it's pretty hard to rage against the machine when you are a multi-millionaire...

Does being a multi-millionaire make you part of 'the machine?'

[Free_Beer]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure of the exact song, but when Eddie Van Halen always seemed to be playing the keyboard instead of the guitar. In retrospect "Love Comes Walking In" comes to mind.

[/ QUOTE ]

I liked old Van Halen and I LOVE Sammy... but together they sucked bad. Sammy got it back after the split but VH never did... come to think of it, VH started to suck LONG before Sammy showed up... I think VH jumped the shark with Diver Down....

[0evg0]

Matt, can you honestly say you are not worried about the upcoming album falling short of their first 3 major albums?

As a whole, Good News is at the bottom of my list of MM albums. And this is coming from someone who had only heard of the band before the MTV and the Nissan Quest commercial.

[kidcolin]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

REM - Shiny Happy People


[/ QUOTE ]

WTF? That's a crap song for sure, but downhill? Yeah, you're right -- following that up with AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE is a real step down. ROFL, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

I actually think "Automatic" is their best album, and "Monster" isn't bad at all either, but you could tell on "Out of Time" that they were headed for the crapper, and it quickly came to pass after Monster.

The last few songs on "OOT" are actually still awesome : Half A World Away / Texarkana / Country Feedback / Me In Honey-580 but the first half is puke-worthy.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know how you could tell they were headed to the crapper on Out of Time... Their next 3 albums over a period of 5 years:

-Automatic for the people. Widely regarded to be one of their best albums and one of the best albums of the 90's. Hit #2 on the charts. A couple of songs in top 3 in the charts.
-Monster. Multi-platinum selling, reaching #1 worldwide. A number of major hit songs on it.
-New Adventures in Hi-Fi. One of the band's favorite albums. Excellent reviews. Reached #2 in US with a couple of top ten hits.

[/ QUOTE ]

Frink,

First, let me state that I think Out of Time is awesome.

Second, there are basically two sets of REM fans. Those that like post-AFTP and those that don't. Those that don't prefer their early, simple sound and they see OOT (or possibly Green) as the starting point when things began changing.

All your points about New Adventures and Monster are valid, but they're meaningless to THEM. I used to be in that camp. I never liked Monster. I though New Adventures was decent, but not great, and I wrote them off with Up. Then I smartened up. New Adventures and Up are two of my more regular listens, and though I don't love Monster, I give it a whirl occasionally and really like some of the songs.

Reveal was the definite crapper.

[Frinkenstein]

[ QUOTE ]
Second, there are basically two sets of REM fans. Those that like post-AFTP and those that don't. Those that don't prefer their early, simple sound and they see OOT (or possibly Green) as the starting point when things began changing.

All your points about New Adventures and Monster are valid, but they're meaningless to THEM.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, you make a good point here. Although, personally, I like the stuff both before and after AFTP.

I'm glad we all agree that Reveal sucked balls. I'm not the biggest fan of Up... I am still uncertain about their latest effort, Around The Sun. I just got it... Maybe it will grow on me, but it seems similar to Up so far.

[kidcolin]

Frink,

I like Reveal more than Around the Sun, though it's close. I actually think Reveal has some pretty decent stuff on it, with a couple of gems. Same with Around The Sun. But both, as a whole, I view as pretty sub-par when compared to the catalog.

[nath]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

REM - Shiny Happy People


[/ QUOTE ]

WTF? That's a crap song for sure, but downhill? Yeah, you're right -- following that up with AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE is a real step down. ROFL, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

I actually think "Automatic" is their best album, and "Monster" isn't bad at all either, but you could tell on "Out of Time" that they were headed for the crapper, and it quickly came to pass after Monster.


[/ QUOTE ]

No, this is totally wrong too. Their immediate post-Monster album, NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI ranks up there with PAGEANT and RECKONING as the best work they ever did. Hi-Fi is way better than Monster, at least as good (for my $) as Automatic, and much better than Green, Out of Time, or Up (but Up is pretty good too).

[/ QUOTE ]

Private Joker FTW, I want to buy you a drink now and talk about REM