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This is a thread that's devoted to bands who were briefly cool, brilliant or cutting edge and then became embarrassing/part of the establishment or whatever. You know the type, you'll argue that their debut album was great, at the time, but all people will do is throw back at you some godawful hit single played at Sunday Night at the London Paladium or the three months they spent at number 1 with their 5th album, which was clearly soooo much worse than the first album that sank without trace...

Oh you get the idea, and if you're still unsure, I'll start with possibly the most obvious example of this from the last dozen years... OASIS.

Another for me was Cast. They picked up the jangly guitar baton bequeathed from the mad genius that was the La's but went soooo dreary quite quickly afterwards.

And maybe less obviously, because they were after all just a pop band... Fine Young Cannibals. Ok they were never truly hip but their debut album was a hip swiveling indie dance classic with Roland's amazing voice... but then they ran out of tunes.

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Mod Supreme, Demon Headmaster

The House of Love - The Creation stuff was good (although some of it has dated), then they signed to Fontana and went rubbish. I hear they've just recorded a new album with Bickers back on board - I don't really hold up much hope for it.

Spiritualised - I really liked "Laser Guided Melodies" at the time, but everything they've done since has just been the same songs but played slower with more and more instruments. zzzzzzz.

The Cardigans - they started off as quite twee pop ("Emmerdale" , "Life") and then turned into MTV heavy rotation sluts ("Gran Turismo"). The ghost of Xmas future for The Concretes, perhaps?

Franz Ferdinand (controversial, I know) - "Darts of Pleasure" I liked, but thought the album was a bit patchy. Then I went and saw them live and realised they'd nicked their stage moves off Busted which put me off them a bit. Since then they've been doing the whole media circus things to death - that re-recording of "This Fire" was a bit un-necessary. Can we have the Yummy Fur back instead, please?

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Mod Supreme, Demon Headmaster

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Pressure Drop: http://www.pressuredrop.info

The Creeps - Great Swedish garage band. Their debut "Enjoy The Creeps" should be in everyone record collection. After that they signed to a major label and went swiftly downhill.

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Pressure Drop: http://www.pressuredrop.info

The Vines went through a phase of being really exciting only to go and mess it all up.

It should be said that the last Cardigans album, 'Long Gone Before Daylight', was really very, very good.

The Chemical Brothers appear to be becoming more and more irrelevant and utter rubbish as time goes on having been superb once upon a time.

There are almost too many bands here, so few bands maintain artistic credibility before they implode. How sad.

Suede - The first two albums were awesome almost gothic albums, i loved the 3rd album coming up it was borderline glam rock. All the albums since have been getting poorer and poorer and they were right to call it a day. I am off to see The Tears this week hopefully the Butler/Anderson magic will be rekindled but I will take some convincing.

The Strokes - I really liked their first album. Really!


Ryan Adams - goes from brilliant heavily country-influenced first album to duetting with Parker Posey and shit Oasis covers. Shame.

the

manic

street

preachers

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Embrace. That first album is a work of walloping anthemic genius. Honest! The rest is horrific!

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Looks like Elijah Wood. Supports Liverpool. Likes Coldplay.

Travis. I really liked U16 Girls in particular and the rest of the first album was pretty good at the time. Second album - unforgivable dreary shite of which Driftwood is one of my most hated songs of all time.

Look, all bands get crap over time. It's inevitable. The question is simply how long will it take - or will they have the guts to quit (or the good fortune to break up) before the rot sets in. The only band I can think of that has ever managed to survive for a long period and NOT become massively worse (give or take a couple of short-lived troughs) is U2. There, I've said it.

Yes, I know you don't like them but my point is that after 20-something years they somehow manage to put out singles (e.g. Elevation and Vertigo) that have the same youthful energy displayed on their first couple of albums. And the tunes are just as good. It's a stunning, unique achievement.

Well put, Muir.

I second your emotion on U2. To me, The Cure haven't put out anything truly dodgy or gone directly to the toilet (a few songs here and there, for sure), and I can't think of an album that's jumped the proverbial shark or sucked from start to finish.

I thought, until this year, that we could have put REM up there as well, but I daresay Around the Sun is the musical white flag in a losing war with mediocrity...

The Rolling Stones haven't been any good in 25 years, but that certainly hasn't stopped them... there seems to be no end of washed up acts who seem intent to beat a dead horse into glue and just will NOT give up the ghost.

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