20 respectable rock and rap acts that peaked with debut albums

o_O

i mean if you define peaking as making your best album then yeah i guess but that's a pretty flimsy definition

16 Wu-Tang Clan - 36 Chambers (1993)

^like this is insane

yeah, really really strange.

Like 75 percent of bands peak with their debut album

And like 90 percent of punk bands and rappers

OTM

i was thinking why pick Boston in the first place?

I don't think I've ever met anybody who "respects" Taking Back Sunday or the Sundays, but maybe I just lead a sheltered life.

Like 75 percent of bands peak with their debut album

OTM -- and most of the ones who don't peaked with their debut EP.

Where is the thread about all the bands who went downhill with every subsequent album (starting with the Clash and Patti Smith)?

Maybe this one?

Biggest drops in quality ever

Like 75 percent of bands peak with their debut album

-- Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, April 15, 2008 9:23 PM (18 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

And like 90 percent of punk bands and rappers

-- Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, April 15, 2008 9:24 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

doesn't this go hand in hand with "like 60 percent of bands only make one album"?

didn't the clash peak alot later in when they stopped making corny message rock and made shit more pop that you could dance to? the early stuff sounds more like the who, the later stuff sounds like (roughly contemporary even) stones - how does the who win that equation?

you are tripping, balls

all those rap records are arguable, nas maybe the least arguable but also the most CHALLENGING OPINIONS

the biggie one is nuts to me

xp -- Nope, this one:

Acts whose entire album output has always been on the decline, with no exception

Black Flag peaked before Damaged.

36 chambers is obv the best wu album but it'd be pretty semantic to not include individual albums under the wu umbrella

50 one is pretty otm except that his songs on the get rich soundtrack are pretty great

kanye one is the most ridiculous one imo because all of his albums are great and pretty close to each other in terms of quality

xxp The Clash never stopped making corny message rock. And I can dance to the early stuff just fine.

That Sunny Day Real Estate album is their worst (How It Feels to Be Something On might be worse).

Also, don't put it past Kanye. He still might put out a better album one of these days.

1/2 of these bands aren't respectable

Yeah, I half-expected that Kanye would never match or exceed the success of <i>College Dropout</i> afterward, not necessarily on some Arrested Development shit but like he'd just scrape by like that Wyclef-style. Even if you think the first is his best it's pretty ridiculous to say he peaked with it.

The Strokes 2nd record is their best.

The Violent Femmes obviously should be on there somewhere. Same goes for Jesus & Mary Chain,The Ramones & maybe even Elvis if you count The Sun Sessions.

the thing is that half of these are spot-on and obvious, and it should've been easy to do a whole list like that, but they just couldn't resist editorializing with a few that are pretty impossible to agree on. and wtf, Supergrass's 2nd record was good and Jonathan Richman did loads of good stuff after Modern Lovers.

Aztec Camera.

NOT Supergrass!

"respectable"??

guns and roses, obv

Nah, Supergrass totally belong here, no question.

Supergrass' first has tons of energy and balls, something lacking in their well-crafted but slightly dull later stuff.

"In It For The Money" is the best Supergrass album, "I Should Coco" is just No. 2.

Oh, and are Taking Back Sunday a "respectable rock act"?

Supergrass' first album is their worst. Way too much energy and way too much "balls". They peaked with "Life On Other Planets", which is a wonderful softrock album.

I've never even heard of Taking Back Sunday, let alone "respect" them.

Supergrass' first album was pretty fab but I don't suppose they could get away with singing about being told to sit up straight at the back of the bus thirteen years later.

I keep buying Supergrass albums thinking at some point they'll be half as bracing as the first two. They never are.

I keep buying Supergrass albums thinking at some point they'll be half as bracing as the first two. They never are.

Ditto.

Add Garbage, Nick Lowe, and Ryan Adams to the list.

One that popped up in the comments: DJ Shadow.

"50 one is pretty otm except that his songs on the get rich soundtrack are pretty great"

And that's not actually his debut album, of course.

guns and roses, obv

RONG even if you mean Appetite

at first, after the first few responses, i thought this thread ended up being totally pointless. but the two linked threads, especially the second one, was a great read.