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Besides one hit wonders who do you think had the worst transition in a career?..Who was at the top of their career but eventually went through an everlasting dryspell? as far as sales/hits/good music?(besides the beach boys of course)
and what year? album? song? was it that started it?
for me it has to be Marc Bolan//T.Rex i was looking at a documentary on youtube about it and it was so sad :/

Well, Guns n Roses has the biggest selling debut album of all time in Appetite for Destruction (according to a Billboard Q&A citing a 2008 RIAA certification, at about 18 million, surpassing Boston's debut), so I guess a person could argue them. Huge peak as a debut, very successful true follow-up in the Illusion albums, and then a catastrophic implosion.

I think the best example would be the Stone Roses. Had a HUGE debut in England, influenced tons of bands, created a scene and are considered one of the most influential bands of the last 30 years. Yet after their huge initial success, troubles within the band and issues at the record caused them to kind of be pushed to the side for all the britpop bands that came on the scene. They hadn't been forgotten, but hype for them wasn't really the same after that. Probably one of most promising acts of that generation. Also come to think of it, Badfinger went down the tube pretty quickly too. Again, they got screwed by their label, and it ended in Pete Ham committing suicide. Horrible, horrible tragedy

Smashing Pumpkins had a great career trajectory until Adore. Then they went from hitsville to splitsville.

I mentioned this in another thread but for me it's really easy:

Aerosmith.

how they still had hits & sold records?

They were nowhere near the band they were in the seventies.  In my opinion in the seventies Aerosmith was one of the hardest rocking bands on the planet.  Their stuff was unapologetic, balls to the wall brute force rock.  Steven Tyler even once said I think that he almost pulled "You See Me Crying" off of "Toys In The Attic" because he "didn't want any p**ssy sh*t on their records" (though I'm glad he left it on there, amazing vocal). 

The problem with Aerosmith is when talking about declines is while their records still did indeed sell, they seemed to have lost everything that made them great in the seventies.  They went from being these aggressive rockers to being ballad spinners.  Now that isn't to say they still couldn't rock out when they wanted to but for the most part they became a power pop/rock band.  Their songs went from hard rock to hard candy.  I can't even listen to some of their more recent records such as the big hit they had for that movie that Liv Tyler was in entitled "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing", it's such a far cry from the band I grew up listening to it's like listening to two different bands. 

Hits aside in my opinion, biggest decline musically speaking that I've personally ever encountered in mainstream rock music.

As far as good music goes -- post-Kirwan Fleetwood Mac.   Dennis and millions of others no doubt would disagree.

There was a pretty huge musical dropoff for Elton John too.

The Rascals

The last years of the Kinks were pretty depressing.

The Monkees.

wow you don't love "i dont wanna miss a thing"? that's their best song :)

To his wonderful records with his brothers through early adulthood on to the funkiest of his solo music, Michael Jackson seemed to have it all. The music was still intermitedly interesting, but he became a joke after 1984. Don't get me wrong Bad was decent, but after that his sound gets  noisey and harsh with an occasional glimmer of soul or beauty peaking through. I know he was set to make something of a comeback, and he has since his death, I still feel the second half of his life was just such a sad decent.  

Bad was better than Thriller :) and Dangerous was fuckin awesome as well (Black and White,Remember the Time,Will You Be There) but yes as the years went by his career and life was slowly slipping away.

Oh God, yes. 100% agreed.

Rod Stewart is another good example.  The general consensus is that after Never a Dull Moment, he started sucking. I disagree with that, as yeah his work post-Faces was not up to the standards of his first four solo releases (or his work with the Jeff Beck group), but he still made good pop/rock. Even when he was shamelessly trying to be hip in the early 80s, or his move towards AC from 1988 onwards, he still put out some decent recordings (even if they were guilty pleasures). NO, I'm talking about him basically becoming a karaoke singer. I mean, really?!

I disagree about Bad being better than Thriller. Bad had way too much filler, and even the best cuts were not a patch on Thriller (or Off the Wall, for that matter). That said, he still put out good stuff the rest of his career; he just didn't make any more good albums after Dangerous.

Yeah which something I always bring up when someone mentions Michael Jackson's "greatness".  His albums got progressively worse not better.  Compare that to say The Beatles whose albums got progressively better as their career went along.

Seriously bad was all big hits every song except one :) you find another album thats filled with hit singles...the work was decent i actually enjoyed that album much more than thriller & off the wall.

Simple: Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA".

Genesis - Invisible Touch

also pink floyd :) they kept getting better & better.

Ummm...Thriller was pretty much all hit singles, and the two non-singles were my two favorite on the album!

As for Pink Floyd, I'd agree up until a point. I personally love Animals, but it was not better than Dark Side or Wish You Were Here...or Meddle...or Obscured by Clouds. As for The Wall...well... I actually think its somewhat overrated.

baby be mine? the lady in my life?  :)
i love animals and i prefer it over dark side any day :) the wall is so over-rated but i respect it as a creative piece of art, just musically it didnt do it for me.

Yep...The Lady in My Life is my favorite cut on the album, and one of my favorite Michael Jackson recordings.

I personally like Dark Side the best, but really all of their albums pre-Wall were great pieces of work, possibly aside from Atom Heart Mother.

I can't agree with this.  While his life was kind of tragic, you can't really say he had a 'professional' decline.  Any issues he had with money or sales or chart position or whatever were self inflicted, and then, after death he was more popular than ever.  Also his 'Dangerous" album was HUGE and made him a mint, it was nearly as successful as Thriller.  He also did big business with the "History" double album in 95 or so, even had a #1 hit off of it. 

So since it's 'biggest decline in a career' I don't think you can possibly say Michael's career declined much at all.  Anything looks like a decline compared to 100 million album sales. 

I think we need to define what exactly is meant by decline here because people are talking about two different things.  There is a decline in sales and an artistic decline.  The music industry is littered with artists who continue to rack up sales based on past glories but haven't put out a decent record in decades.  So two different things here.

Anything but sales is subjective, though. 

On Michael, another thing: The last thing he did professionally before he died, was sell out 50 shows in a row at the 02 Arena in London, nobody else could have done that (or would! hell it helped kill him!).  


If his career was in tatters, he never would have sold out a 20,000 seat arena, in the same city, for 50 shows, BEFORE he even performed the first one.  His career was incredible, with the exception being the long periods of self-imposed recluse.  

Who cares?  That's what we're here for.  

Edit: In regards to Jackson, his career wasn't in tatters but his reputation had taken a significant beating.  That being said Jackson might have the most rabid fanbase on the planet.  These are the same people who rallied blindly to his defense no matter what allegation was being hurled at him.  I'm not surprised his final concerts sold out.  Look I'll admit, the guy had a great deal of talent but I was never enamored with him enough to get past a lot of his eccentric behavior.  If you want my honest opinion on the guy: It's tragic that he had to pass away so young but frankly I don't miss him, his life had become a spectacle and tabloid fodder.  The fact that he's gone now hopefully opens the door for other musicians who will make music just as good (or better) as he did without all the fanfare.

My bloody valentine- nothing since loveless.

i'm speaking of both combined :)

atom heart mother has fat old sun and summer 68 which are beautiful tracks :)
i say the weakest from pink has to be ..Soundtrack from the Film More...Ummagumma...The Final Cut..

I agree with you on More. I like Ummagumma, although I have to be in the mood to listen to it I actually love The Final Cut.

I will defend latter day Kinks to my dying day, but if someone wants to pick apart the solo careers of the Davies brothers, go right ahead. It's mostly been Ray and Dave offering different ways of remaking the old stuff. Storyteller, Kinks Khoral Kollection, See My Friends duets from Ray,  and endless live discs from Dave. It's like they couldn't stand to be together, but being together is what brought out their creativity.

I think Michael Jackson and the Jacksons peaked with Destiny, Off The Wall, and Triumph. It still seemed to be about the music then. Being a Beach Boys fan I love hearing brothers harmonize so the two group albums I mention (they were good songwriters too) have more for me.  I like Thiller and Bad, Dangerous never sat well with me though some of the new stuff on HiStory was decent. I don't know though, I like the Michael who seemed shy, a bit eccentric, but not yet "King Of Pop".  I remember the days before Thriller because my friends across the street were Jacksons fans, and nobody considered him as being strange. Again I can't stress how much more productive Michael was as an artist before he began trying to make himself seem like some sort of dietity. His big mistake musically was to ignore the R&B he was so good at as heard on all the Jackson 5./Jacksons/ and seventies solo LP's. He should have stopped trying to be "MICHAEL JACKSON" and just focused on music. Not his clothes, not his hair, not his nose, music. I am a huge fan but this is how he musically hits me. Perhaps I simply like groups and seventies music better than muisic from the eighties on and solo artists? I'm looking at this as a creative and personal decline over his last twenty to twenty five years, not popularity. That has nothing to do with how good something is so those huge later numbers don't impress me in the slightest. I hate arena or stadium shows in general

In the same vein I love late sixties rock music more than anything since so it's Syd Barrett who I really get into. I like the Floyd after him through Obscured By Clouds, but I wouldn't have listened anything after it had they had not done the early music. That said I don't think they were bad at all until Rick was fired.   

Jerry Lee Lewis, anybody? Although, technically his career end happened over a scandal that wasn't music related.

How about prince it seems he fell off after 1987 :/ (he's definitely one of my favorites.)

Collective Soul released two great albums in the 90s, Self-titled and Dosage. For some reason their songwriting went down the shitter. They've horrible for at least 10 years now.

I didn't think of him because he maintained high artistic standards and had never lost the respect of the discerning music fan.  Sure it was a professinal fall.

I wouldn't neccarily say that he never lost the respect pf the discerning music fan. Don't forget, it was switching to country and western that basically saved his career. When I think of country music, I usually picture people who are middle aged to elderly. I think by switching to country and western, Jerry Lee convinced some of the older generation(the parents of the typical record buying tennager) that he had toned down his "wild" bad boy image.

what about bob dylan after the 60's? lol

I would say Dylan after 76..... Although he's out there doing the good work still so he's bounced back.

Definitely Prince after Batman,  or if you're being the charitable the first Symbol album - he's just settled into this weird mediocrity. There's probably a great couple of albums in there, but there's a DELUGE of stuff.


Did The Ramones ever decline, or did they just keep writing the same song again and again and again?

  Elvis Presley, post "Burning Love"/ALOHA FROM HAWAII? Granted, he always had a large fan base at every stage of his career, but there was an unmistakable professional and personal decline after the worldwide success of the ALOHA project. His career seemed to consist of the rut of endless touring/Vegas and records that sold moderately well without any true smash singles after "Burning Love."

Um until after Roger Waters left... but I believe thats water we have already tread here.  ;D

Dylan's last 4 albums have been every bit as good as anything he ever did in the 60's.

Per MJ, pretty much everything he did after the Pepsi incident was FAIL, imo.

after 76? i thought some of his worst material were in the 70's i might have to recheck it.
yes in the 90's prince started releasing some his strangest and almost intolerable music ever..."Come"..."The Gold Experience".."Graffite Bridge"
end of the century and pleasant dreams sound so different from the rest of their catalog :)

poor elvis :/ when did that fat elvis era began?

The Kinks started to go downhill after 'Muswell Hillbillies'....A long, hard, decline IMHO.

'More' has some great songs on it - 'Ummagumma' is the nadir, although the live stuff is superb.

'The Final Cut' is a masterpiece IMHO.

Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton, easily.

More is one of my three favorite Pink Floyd albums.

There was a remarkable resurgence with "Give the People What They Want."   I didn't care for the general negativity of the album (though  "Better Days" is great) but the punks loved them -- they were one of the few 60s bands that were still au courrant.  Then came "Come Dancing" -- the Kink's Kokomo, and -- again like anything after Love You by our favorite band, after that it is cherrypicking time at best.

Nashville Skyline, Desire, Blood on the Tracks, Slow Train Coming, Oh Mercy, Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft (to name a few) all came after the fabled 1966 motorcycle accident. If those were the only albums he'd ever done, it would be one hell of a career.

Well country was always a part of his music and his late sixties songs were polished but critically acclaimed. By the early seventies he was doing a lot of rock again and his shows weren't toned down at all. Catch the 1969 Toronto footage, he's as wild as ever.

Dylan never sang as well after 1976 but Street Legal, Slow Train, Oh Mercy, The Wilbury's LP's, Under The Red Sky (I know most hate that one but I like it) Modern Times, Love and Theft, Time Out Of Mind are very good if not to the level of the pre 1977 stuff.

He continued to record some good music and do some good shows, but after 1972 he wasn't as consistant. I would argue that most of his soundtrack work from 1962-67 is far worse then his later stuff.  He still was a huge concert attraction, but yes personally and musically there was a decline.
As far as the weight 1975 was when it really became a problem though he had struggled with it since his early thirties.

Prince did make a good album in Musicology if nothing else past the eighties. As far as Floyd More is terrific, Ummagumma half great half garbage. Kinks Everybody's in Showbiz is the last one I like. It's not as good as the ones before but I like much better than any of the stuff I have heard from 1973 on.

 He was husky in some of his movies (see PARADISE;HAWAIIAN STYLE 1966) but the real fat years began after the 1973 ALOHA special. Seems Elvis lost about 25 pounds while preparing for the event (late 1972) then immediately after gained it all back, plus more.

 Despite some decent to good singles ("Steamroller Blues", "If You Talk in Your Sleep", "Promised Land", "Hurt", "Moody Blue') and continuing to sell out concerts, Elvis spent the rest of his life and career in a  rut.

 

Glad to see someone else agreed with me about Rod, although I need to add that he was MUCH better in concert than on radio, up until about 1996.

I...don't really rate Clapton. He was great in the 60s, but his solo work never did anything for me. To be honest, I find him quite boring at times.

 Yeah, the seventies studio work is generally far better than the 62-67 movie soundtrack stuff.

the album after muswell is awesome :) it has celluoid heroes which is one of the best songs they've ever made.

all 3 of those are weak albums especially the final cut :/

musicology was a bullshit attempt to win over his african american fans and it failed plus it had some of the worst music he ever realeased no matter what decade it was.

he was loaded with money idk why he kept on trying smh :/

Fairport Convention for me!

Their first album was a delight and they just got better and better (even through harrowing personal tragedy) and were forward thinking and traditional at the same time. Then Sandy Denny quit, then Richard Thompson (after they made a great album without Denny) and they soon became basically a generic folk/rock band, though there was some good stuff here and there and Dave Swarbrick kicks ass. They just seemed to get more and more indistinct as the years went by.

In contrast, I think Richard Thompson solo (and with Linda Thompson) has been one of the most consistently great artists ever.

Newguy: I'm with you on Everybody's In Showbiz! Great album! Celluloid Heroes! Sitting In My Hotel! Supersonic Rocket Ship! Hot Potatoes! Plus, a fun live album! Fantastic stuff!!!

Didn't it have something to do with The Colonel having to pay off increasingly huge personal debts?

Moon Dawg, are you still an Elvis fanatic?  What's come out since the last time we talked on Cabinessence?  Anything essential?  I think all of the 50's/60's/70's Sun/RCA studio and live material and the Hawaii and Vegas shows have been done to death with all the various reissuing/remastering/remixing/reformatting releases. Any new revelations or new suff that's surfaced recently?

They are still a great band but the material has often been thin and none of the current blokes has much presence as a front man.  But at Cropredy when they are backing up Richard or when they have a sense of direction (as in the Liege and Lief reunion) they are still a great great band.  Those recordings need seeking out but they are well worth it.  I consider all their studio recordings -- even as Fairport Convention -- as side projects, and basically tell myself that the band is together once a year.

That whole album is fun and it has some beautiful yet dark moments like celluoid/hotel in there :)..it's the most slept on album of their catalog.
As far as good music goes the kinks were straight until after " Everybody's in Show-Biz". Once they stepped into the theatrical realm that's when they hit rock bottom lol..Don't get me wrong i think it was a fascinating time in their career (soap opera..sleepwalker) the music wasnt great by any means it so horrid.

WOW!! really? that would explain a lot

Stevie Wonder lost it, big time. And unfortunately, his inability to finish his production projects kept some folks in recording limbo for years.

Lucky for him, he had a Genius lifesaver buoy, just like Brian.

He is still a great great vocalist, musician and entertainer. Up to a certain point, the man was on fire as a recording artist.

Does Black Sabbath count?

Of course the first 6 Ozzy albums are hardcore classics as are the first 2 Dio albums! But then there's Born Again (pretty damn good but not great) then another Dio record (Dehumanizer) and then after that it basically becomes "Tony Iommi's Black Sabbath" with an endless succession of faceless guys....

what album was it that it started going downhill?

I don't know. I no longer follow his recording career. But, I was very much into his recordings from about 1972 to 1976.

Secret Life Of Plants from 1979 or so was pretty average.

Calling it 'average' may be rather generous of you, Mike. I think that was pretty much the line in the sand, as he went downhill after that. He still did some decent albums in the 80s, but he was never again a dynamic creative force. Once the 90s started, though, he couldn't even top *that*.

In your very limited opinion. :/

the final cut seemed so depressing :/..the first side of ummagumma doesnt sit well with me...something from the film more is the best out the three :)

I suppose I am being nice. Wonder from 1962-77 was a great artist but after that you have to be very choosy.

I never "got" Stevie, even during his glory years when my friends loved his stuff.  But my wife had me go with her a couple of years ago, just as she's going to hear the Beach Boys with me.  He had a very big band with a lot of drummers and they were are doing complex, interesting things.  There was a real sonic clarity behind all the dazzling rhythms and it sounded real nice.  And everyone was happy when he sang the good old songs.  So maybe it's his songwriting skills, and not his general musicmaking, that took a dive.

He never did look quite as good after early 1973, but he wasn't exceedingly overweight until 1975. In other words I think if Elvis died in late 1974 few would think of him as being fat. Out of shape perhaps but not huge.

Man I love Umma Gumma. Especially Granchester meadows and the SoSSoAGiaCWaP.  :lol

I can't believe nobody has mentioned The Beach Boys. Although, their career has gone up and down so many times. But in this fairly "hardcore" fans opinion, 15 Big Ones was a mistake that they never really recovered from(until now?).

Well, this is the 'general music discussion" area, we've talked plenty about the BB's fall from greatness after Holland in the Smiley Smile section. Still some occasional moments of brilliance, but overall, quite a drop from the glory years of 1962-1966, and the artistic but uncommercial works of 1967-1973.

i already mentioned the beach boys..i said "besides the beach boys" and the bb's had more low points than high points but the highest point beats everybody that ever sung high point (pet sounds)

 I'm not really up on what RCA is doing with Elvis. The last I noticed they were putting classic albums together in one packagae. (From Elvis in Memphis/Back in Memphis, etc) The Follow That Dream label is a good source for outtakes and live stuff.

 Believe it or not, Elvis probably had to keep on working. Elvis and the Colonel had a financial philosphy of the $ going out one door and coming in the other. Not a lot of astute investments.

I remember reading somewhere that before Elvis died his estate was only worth about $700,000. That more than quadrupled the year after he died.

Elvis liked to spend money - on himself, his family and friends, even total strangers. This caused conflict with his father, who remembered when they were poor, and believed in setting some income aside. Elvis, of course, remembered being poor, and that's why he gave so much of what he earned away. He believed his wealth was a gift to share with others.

Very true

Oasis got wretched in the middle of their career.  They at least finished being respectable/good again, but those middle years were truly awful. 

The first side of 'Ummagumma' has the superb live version of 'Astronomy Domine' on it - Rick's keyboard solo is truly superb.

Not sure whether anyone's mentioned REM.

Horrendous long decline after 'Automatic For The People' - almost 20 years before they finally gave up.

Eh. Even then, stuff like "Roll It Over" or "Go Let It Out" were good, and songs like "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" or "Let There Be Love" are up their with their best. "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" is one of my favorite songs of theirs.

That said, if I like someone, then they generally never become completely bad in a way that I can't stand 100% of their newer material. Even with bands I'm not into anymore, I still bother to check out their new records and generally find at least a song or two that I enjoy quite a bit.

God forbid a person enjoy performing or, in other people's cases, writing and recording.

Adore was a step down (for me), but only a small one. "To Sheila", "Perfect", "The Tale Of Dusty And Pistol Pete", "Annie-Dog", "Shame", and especially "For Martha"  are all really good, and I enjoy a few others to a smaller extent. After that, however, I'm not much a fan of most of their work except a handful of songs.

with Elvis it wasn't really a "decline" but more of "not caring anymore",he still had it the last couple years but it all depended on his mood .when he didn't care his performances suffered (Aka:June 19th 1977), when he did care his performances were still great (Aka:Dec 31st 1976,June 26th 1977),the same with his studio stuff,he stopped caring in 1971 with the christmas album and you can tell,then after that it all depended on the song,some songs he cared for and you can hear it because he put more effort into them while others he didn't care for and he didn't put as much effort into those songs,but he still had the voice and stage presence,even though I do agree that after 1975 it became VERY obvious,especially with the way he looked and perform on stage..

Yeah, REM was a painful one for me. I absolutely LOVED them back in the day, but even then I'd listen to something like Out Of Time, and though it was great, it paled in comparison to something like Life's Rich Pageant or Reckoning. But alas, Automatic was insanely great (if still not as good), I actually quite liked Monster and LOVED New Adventures, but when Bill Berry left, that was it. They were one of those few bands who are such a "real band" that no member is disposable. No one in the band stuck to their main instrument and Berry wrote a lot as well. In fact, he wrote the basis of some of their best songs. They were a genuine unit and his absence just gutted them, in my opinion. Sure, there were some bright spots in the ensuing years but they just came off a damaged goods and it always seemed like THEY knew it as well.....

biggest decline in a career? 

Mine. 

I feel the same way and although I hold out hope that they will release one more record or tour one last time somewhere in the future, I hope if they ever do it's will Bill behind the kit.

PS: I love "Monster", it still finds it's way into my cd player often now ever twenty years later.  Some awesome music videos for that album as well.

No, More and The Final Cut are both great albums.

Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants is a brilliant, beautiful cult album. Some of the most expressive, pictorial music around. Huge favorite of Prince.

How come no one has mentioned David Bowie? From Scary Monsters to Tin Machine in 9 years is quite an achievement.

you think let's dance was a fail?

What about The Red Hot Chili Peppers?

It was okay, but everything from then on until 1995 or so was pretty bad.

i have to agree with this..i always felt like they had a great single from their albums and the rest was filler.

It seems like their whole attitude has changed. They went from "Out In LA" to "california, rest in peace".

Disagree...I think they became better musicians & writers with age, although I may *prefer* the earlier stuff.

really? i mean their singles are great but most of their albums just contain filler songs.

Compared to his 70s albums it was. Let's Dance, Tonight, that horrible duet with Jagger, Never Let Me Down, Tin Machine... each one is worse than its predecessor. The 80s wasn't the happiest period to be a Bowie fan I suppose. He got himself together by the mid-to-late 90s with some decent albums though he never achieved the samel level of greatness he did in the seventies.

david bowie's career has always been a roller coaster ride :) i seen his documentary the other day.
i could never get into his music for some reason but my father is a huge fan of his.

As far as his voice was concerned, I don't think Elvis ever 'lost it', he just got really bored of singing the same old songs on tour. He was generally far more into the 'big voice' ballads like 'It's Now or Never', 'Hurt' and gospel classics like 'How Great Thou Art'.

From what I've read, sadly, I think Elvis got scared of a lot of things - scared of getting older, death threats, poor business decisions (Graceland was indeed in the red and partially mortgaged out at the time of his death) his deteriorating appearance and some genuine health problems (ie clinical depression, possibly undiagnosed bi-polar I speculate, glaucoma, as well as a distended colon, which was very painful and caused some unpleasant complications from what I've read) though IMO much of the personal deterioration was caused I would say by his unhealthy lifestyle), scared of being lonely, not knowing who and what was real. And obviously spending too much money. He did work VERY hard from 1969 to 1977, over 1000 concerts, I believe.

Obviously he thought the industrial quantities of prescription drugs he was consuming were 'medicine' (like some southern US folk used to do, I believe), but of course, they were destroying his body, his reason and making him paranoid. He fired two of his guys in '76 and the next year, they wrote and published an expose on his drug abuse etc. Elvis died the day before he was due to go on tour for the first time since that book was published. He was terrified of people in the audience shouting 'Junkie' at him etc. On some level, he must have known he was seriously out of control with the drugs and diet, but he couldn't stop and nobody could make him ...

He really should have taken at least a couple of years out from showbusiness from '75 or '76 to deal with his health and drug issues, rest up and get back in condition before coming back in say, '78 with a more modern look and style and some great new songs.

On a deeper level, I suppose you could say he just got sick of being 'Elvis Presley, Handsome Superstar' and knew the reality would never again match the myth. Also there's some truth I think, in that he never got over the loss of his mother and the blow to his pride of his wife leaving him for another man, despite all the affairs he himself was having. Reality can only be avoided for so long.  :(

Milli Vanilli

Weezer. The first two albums are lauded as two of the best of the 90's. They were absolutely huge on MTV and such. After the second one Rivers Cuomo went to Harvard, and ever since the Island in the Sun single release, they've pretty much been labeled sell outs. (Even tho i personally liked the Green Album which was the album that song was on). Actually the last like four albums they did have been universally panned. There was even news that some fan had offered them some obscene amount of money just to quit, which they of course haven't. Anyway tho, every time there's news of a new album, I still go and get it hoping they've made a come back. They're the one band I don't even read reviews for before i get it. It's very weird haha

They've always been more rollercoaster-y for me, personally. First album blows (although the demos for it were so good - shame about the production, iffy performances and lineup change), next two albums are pretty good (Anthony's vocals are somewhat terrible on Uplift, though - did he have a cold or something?), can't stand most of Mother's Milk, Blood Sugar Sex Magik is good (if way too long and a bit samey sans a few songs), I really enjoy One Hot Minute and Californication, By The Way was pretty good, I really disliked about 3/4 of Stadium Arcadium and thought the songwriting was appallingly lazy (although the other 1/4th was great), and their newest album is okay if a bit forgettable.