Artists whose first album was pretty good, but then the second one was awesome, and then the third was just OK but really more of the same, and by the fourth one you weren't even paying attention

?

TAD

the "42" of internet music boards

radiohead

PIL

Clinic (counting the EP collection as the first album).

Talking Heads

Oasis, Lemonheads, Ash, Chicago, AC, Mia, Elastica, Blur, Can, Principal Edwards Magic Threatre, I ludicrous, Eric Burdon, Shriekback, goose.

my description of the full career arc out to albums 5 and 6 got cut off

R.E.M.

THE STOOGES

girls aloud!!

The Band

Merzbow

Garbage

Prince, once he dismissed the Revolution

The thread title is eerily close to my exact opinion of the New Pornographers.

Dandy Warhols for me.. I could also put Super Furry Animals here, umm.. Travis?

You are describing Suede's career

radiohead was the first band that popped into my mind as well.

jay z?

it's possible i'm getting the timeline of his discography slightly jumbled...

oooh, it is Suede's career!

smh @ people dignifying this thread with serious responses

>>dignifying this thread with serious responses

Time-honored comic technique: treat the utterly ridiculous as serious. Explains Bush getting re-elected, for example.

Pixies

and you will know us by the trail of dead

Chemical Brothers

The thread title is eerily close to my exact opinion of the New Pornographers.

OTM

for me (and probably massively unpopular answer) also add Bjork.

predicting this sort of arc for The Electric Soft Parade

11th Dream Day

TV On The Radio will be

Pablo Honey - The Bends - OK Computer - Kid A

...I'm sorry, are people thinking of a different Radiohead?

yeah wtf "radiohead" on this thread

Dandy Warhols is A+ answer

Trail of Dead is madness though. don't know how you could come to the conclusion that Source Tags is "OK but really more of the same" after the first two.

Is the second DW album even better than the first?! I must get hold...

Quite tempted to suggest The Mars Volta, actually, or Muse (srsly)

The Smashing Pumpkins.

Talking Heads

Also super-WTF.

Actually not Muse because Showbiz was a lot worse than "pretty good" and Absolution was a lot better than "just OK but more of the same", altho 4th-album drop-off present and correct

wtf radiohead

i'm waiting for the first moron to mention pavement

Ride, if the Smile comp can count as their first album. I would consider GBA to be several steps above "OK," but everything else fits the formula.

Ooh, I'd say Ride as long as Smile DOESN'T count! :-P

(Actually I haven't heard Carnival Of Light at all so I might be wrong)

here we are again gabbing about Ride lolz

ya true! it's all this andy bell back in the charts malarkey, makin' me pine for the good old days

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i'm waiting for the first moron to mention pavement

― Kevin Keller, Friday, 17 October 2008 21:39 (9 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol irony ;-)

If Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets could be counted as one album (they are basically flipsides of the same coin), then Metallica OWNS this thread.

Three Mile Pilot

NIN?

As long as it is more of the same, I will always continue liking it. If I like something, I will never get enough and I am more likely to leave the act behind once the act changers and does something different.

timeless geir

OK, OK, I got it: Grandaddy. They fit all criteria perfectly.

LCD Soundsystem (please remind me to post this in 3 or 4 years)

thats a pretty depressing thing to say about someone whos written some of this decade's best songs. give him a little credit

R.E.M.

― Sara Sara Sara, Friday, October 17, 2008 9:46 AM (11 hours ago)

Yeah, this was the band I thought of before I even opened the thread.

mogwai, if you don't count ten rapid

Cream; more controversially, Black Sabbath.

Also, Labradford, big time.

beck

Totally Slowdive (I guess you can consider their fourth album to be all the post-Slowdive projects, which I like, but hey, they're no Souvlaki)

Spacemen 3, not to put down Playing with fire, though.

And I disagree in advance to whomever will inevitably say Animal collective.

Tortoise fits this category, except I really really like the same that they give more of.

Travis

this is exactly right for me. Good Feeling was really good but The Man Who was amazing. then came The Invisible Band which pretty much sucked outside a song or two, then they got even worse.

Snrub, you stopped paying to Beck after Stereopathetic Soulmanure? You've got some catching up to do!

damn, now i see Finefinemusic did beat me to this, but is way off the money about Super Furry Animals!

yeah; SFA discog = strength to strength up to that last two IMO

100% OTM

Graveland

Grandaddy denied for last album's actual awesomeness

"mogwai, if you don't count ten rapid"

This implies CODY is their "awesome" album = WTF.

All that's springing to mind for me is Lil' Kim.

CODY is their awesome album.

three mile pilot reminded me that I felt this way about Pinback.

If you start counting their major label debut (Rafi's Revenge), this could apply to Asian Dub Foundation.

'counting from'

Haha, I was juts gonna say Asian Dub Foundation, but counting from their real debut, not Rafi's Revenge.

Enon

CODY is their awesome album.

You can all stop bickering about Mogwai b/c their first four albums are very good to brilliant and quite variant in sound and assemblage, thus disqualifying them for this thread entirely.

Grandaddy denied for last album's actual awesomeness

I'll have to go back and take a look at this. I couldn't agree or disagree b/c I wasn't paying attention at that point, plus I was a bit dissuaded by the horrible title.

^^^^YES xpost

People who hate on Rock Action and Happy Songs are reactionary imbeciles imo

That last Grandaddy album might be their best.

Streets

Original Pirate Material is way better than the second one IMO.

I would also say the past couple of SFA albums are a bit weaker. Not because they are doing the same thing, just because the songs aren't quite as strong. It's not like I am losing interest, though, and next time around they may suddenly come up with their best album ever.

i just sat here for 5 minutes trying to think of something that fit this thread and then realized that i'm listening to Dog Man Star

also i feel this way about Big Star but most people seem to like the 3rd one best

Chic

Pygmalion is "more of the same" after Souvlaki? WTF?

Public Image Ltd. is so OTM

The Doors

weezer

Public Image Ltd. is so OTM

― Creeztophair, Sunday, October 19, 2008 4:28 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

You jaded noize doods totally missed out on the delectable popness of Happy? and 9

"Disappointed" is their best single IMO

if boards of canada ever release a 4th album it will probably follow this

^^ That would be incorrect, as their first album is quite possibly the best album of all time (for right now at least)

weezer

Sadly, the green album was not more of Pinkerton, otherwise I might have paid attention to Maladroit.

A Tribe Called Quest
Dinosaur Jr.

Suede is a bad example, as their third album was the best ever. (And not really "more of the same" either as "Coming Up" was more pop oriented and had better and catchier tunes)

Slowdive??

A Tribe Called Quest
Dinosaur Jr.

NICE ONES, poifect.

Let me throw in the Comsat Angels

Talib Kweli

PiL

Let me throw in the Comsat Angels
and the Sound
not that I was actually alive at the time, but y'know, looking back and all

was going to say clinic, but beaten to the punch. i'd endorse PiL, too.

Beat Happening

I may have imagined this, but i seem to remember some rumblings from the Super Furry Animals that their next album would be an entirely instrumental affair. Do think the songwriting hasn't been as strong on the last couple, although Gruff has spread himself a bit thin what with solo albums, Neon Neon etc.

no way on BH!! jamboree is classic for sure, but the three after are at least as good as each other, you turn me on possibly the best...

Not fitting with this scheme really, but since hollindagain, each animal collective album has been ever so slightly not as good.

dinosaur jr is perfect

"Pygmalion is "more of the same" after Souvlaki? WTF?"

seriously, pygmalion was quite the departure

Howard Jones

(Except the first was better than the second)

Beastie Boys
Devo
The Tea Party
Soft Boys

Re Pygmalion. I think my brain just stopped reading by "really more of the same"

Joanna Newsom

Boomtown Rats
Squeeze
Sleater-Kinney

Tad otm

X

Sleater-Kinney
Dig Me Out is just ok?

love/hate!

Girls Aloud is maybe the perfect answer.

Also: Neko Case!

(Um wait ignore that - I was sort of forgetting that The Virginian exists)

would say Prodigy but need to swap pretty good and awesome around really

Suzanne Vega.

basement jaxx would also fit this schema if you swapped "awesome" and "just ok"

daft punk

(in as much as i'm not paying attention now)

Belle & Sebastian

daft punk

but need to swap pretty good and awesome around really

i am not really caring now tho yeah. unless the tron legacy soundtrack is gonna be as bizarro as wendy carlos which seems unlikely. call me when you make a bangin house track again.

jaxx for me is more like: awesome, awesome, awesome, just ok...

Psychedelic Furs, or at least I thought so at the time--I'm pretty sure I wouldn't think the second one were so awesome today (and have no intention of pulling it off the shelf to check...)

I few of these I'd agree with if they hadn't come back later with some of their strongest work eg. Belle & Sebastian, Radiohead

Supergrass, maybe?

Whenever an act delivers more of the same, I will continue paying attention.

I am more likely to lose interest if the style is being changed into some genre I like less.

Zen.

Almost all bands ever.

Whenever an act delivers more of the same, I will continue paying attention.

I am more likely to lose interest if the style is being changed into some genre I like less.

― Tied Up In Geir (Geir Hongro), Thursday, March 18, 2010 12:17 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark

it must be highly satisfying to have arrived, rather than constantly be travelling.

Supergrass, maybe?

That second album was fine, but they'd get even better on the third one, and then yet even better on the fourth one. The debut, on the other hand, remains their weakest album.

worse than Road to Rouen? really?

Ride
Juliana Hatfield

xpost: Road to Rouen's the one I found used, listened to once, and promptly gave up on the band. They're worth a second shot? What's their best?

The Band is the obvious answer here

worse than Road to Rouen?

"Road To Rouen" was also great, even though it was the first Supergrass album not to be better than the one before it. Generally, Supergrass are at their best when they slow down, relax, and let those beautiful psychedelic vocal harmonies come to their right.

balls. 'Moving' is their best song.

A fair number of their songs sound (to me) like two song ideas bolted together. Specifically, "Sun hits the Sky" and "Moving".

"Moving" works, though.

was gonna say The White Stripes but apparently there's an eponymous debut album that I didn't know about.

It's pretty good.

U2 a candidate - in my head at least

Pixies seconded

xp yeah I just read about it on wikipedia

ah, there's too much that's good - and different - about Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde that I don't think this model applies for me

White Stripes, first album good, second awes, third more of the same, and the fourth one *everyone* took notice.

Are you counting "Come On Pilgrim" as an album? (xp)

The White Stripes fits this pretty well for me tho - everything from Elephant on has been a snooze imo.

D Jr's 5th album is so frigging awesome I have a hard time seeing them as a legitimate answer to this question for me, especially when their 3rd (Bug) is also such a big part of my past.

I kind of second Psychedelic Furs, though to be honest I might actually prefer their first album to their second one. Boomtown Rats debut might be better than "pretty good," and third one worse than "more of the same," too. Squeeze's third one would have been better if it was more of the same, too. Never thought the third Sleater-Kinney (last one of theirs I cared about) was any better than their second one; not positive it's worse, though. Supergrass peaked with their debut then went downhill (there's a thread about bands like that somewhere.)

Meat Puppets would be a perfect choice if I didn't like their self-titled one most (which most people don't.)

The thread title is eerily close to my exact opinion of the New Pornographers.

― maciej recognizing trill, Friday, October 17, 2008 11:54 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OTM

Eminem

Fleetwood Mac with Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks

So "Tusk" OK but really more of the same? Are you sure you're on the right message board?

New Order for me, although I don't suppose anyone here would agree with me.

Pulp (on Island)

Eminem's a perfect answer, actually.

Local H also fits this to a T (though their fifth album, weirdly, was pretty good.)

Also maybe Poison, though I might rank their debut over their second by now. Definitely didn't at the time though.

Also maybe Shania Twain (though her third and fourth might both be a little too good for the formula.)

(And her first probably wasn't good enough, too.)

Naked Raygun (if you count Basement Screams as their debut).

Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio (not counting the live album, which I never heard)

Shinehead

So "Tusk" OK but really more of the same? Are you sure you're on the right message board?

I'm not a Tusk fan, but you're right, it's clearly not "more of the same." Yet another in my long list of regrets...

Local H is OTM.

Nine Inch Nails

ABC

Public Enemy (same caveat as Poison, oddly enough. And fourth album maybe less ignorable than I figured at the time, who knows.)

liars

The only act I can think of which fits this exactly for me is The Hold Steady.

^ Was gonna say them (and also Schoolly-D), except I actually did briefly pay attention to both of their fourth albums at the time, and didn't want to lie.

The Mars Volta is pretty much the perfect answer to this, for me

Tindersticks

actually no because I did listen to the fourth MV album a coupla times

Teenage Fanclub

In a lot of these examples (including the ones I agree with), I think the third album is still better than "just OK" although it may not be a huge leap from the 2nd album.

Big seconds for Tortoise, who seem to fit this category very well.

Teenage Fanclub

catholic education < bandwagonesque < thirteen < grand prix ... all a bit samey after that tho.

Yeah, the TFC are the opposite of this.

The Dickies fit this exactly though.

Half Man Half Biscuit

Radiohead

I haven't quite given up on Ocean Colour Scene (in fact their new album is quite good as long as you like what they are doing and can tolerate another dose of the same thing once more), but the header still somewhat describes what I feel about them. Except "Marchin Already" was just as good as the debut.

But, I mean, in terms of being "more of the same", they are pretty much OTM. Not that I mind that much about that. The songs have never again been as good as on that second album though - they will never ever top "The Day They Caught The Train" or "You've Got It Bad" in terms of greatness.

this thread pretty much describes pearl jam to me

Belle & Sebastian

^^^correct answer

also TFC

The Pogues (best answer yet, maybe, though like Poison and Public Enemy and Psych Furs -- all "P" bands -- the argument could still conceivably be made that the raw debut was better than the more refined followup.)

Bad Religion (if you ignore the 7-inch and count the Back To The Known EP as their third album).

Also surprised nobody has nominated Jane's Addiction. (But I won't, since I don't think any of their albums quite = "awesome".)

this thread is my object lesson in how not to parody inane list threads: if you don't tip your hand enough, people just take it seriously and before you know it you're contributing to the problem

Maybe make the question less interesting next time.

what a disaster for inane list thread parodies

New thread topic: Artist whose first album was just okay, but then the second one was a little better, then the third one sucked, but the fourth one was surprisingly pretty good, and then the fifth one, etc. etc.

O. Nate: I was completely sucked in--brilliant! The fact is, though, you inadvertently described the arc of many careers.

^ I first read that as "you inadvertently described the arc of my career."

Mine too!

Half Man Half Biscuit

― Mark G, Thursday, 18 March 2010 16:54 (Yesterday) Bookmark

O_O

Mine too! (Minus the brilliant second act.)

Hot chip

dEUS

Also surprised nobody has nominated Jane's Addiction. (But I won't, since I don't think any of their albums quite = "awesome".)

Ritual de lo Habitual is a really special record for me, don't think it fits the rubric... they were on a pretty ascendant arc up through the first three albums. I don't care about any of the post-reunion stuff

gang of 4

For me, Galaxie 500 fits this rule and at least they had the courtesy to break up before the fourth album. On Fire was the first album of theirs I heard all the way through and it's still the consistent standout for me now.

Talk Talk fits better with this title (well, other than the "more of the same" part) than anyone else.

Sigur Ros.

Duran Duran and Culture Club.

The Streets

xpost Geir Are you counting them as one "artist"? Because that would be kind of awesome.

No no. But both fit with the description here to some extent (apart from the "more of the same" thing, which I don't buy anyway because I don't see that as a negative thing)