I'm on my break from cleaning the bathrooms in my house, but as I scrubbed mildew from the shower stalls, I started thinking about when I started growing tired of the bands I grew up loving. I also thought about which bands I havn't grown tired of, and which ones I never got the chance to grow tired of due to the band falling apart during their peak. And so the question goes to you - when did these bands (and I've chosen some fairly middle-of-the road choices as they would tend to be bands we all were most likely to enjoy back in the day) 'jump the shark' for you? To those of you who don't get that term, it refers to the point where your fondness for something starts to go downhill. It originates from the episode of the US TV show Happy Days where the Fonz jumps some sharks on waterskis while wearing a leather jacket and horrendous blue ball-hugger swim shorts. Most of my friends here may know the term, but I wasn't sure how far-reaching it was. I digress! On to the topic at hand. Of these bands, which have jumped the shark (and at what point did they), which do you feel are still great, and then name any band that you feel never did start to decline. Here goes:

Metallica: An obvious choice. I got into them when my brother played me the 'Jump in the Fire' single on vinyl back in 1984. Totally amazing. I feel that they truly reached their creative peak on '...And Justice for All', which to this day is my favorite album by them. I guess I'm a sucker for the 9 minute epics with lots of twisting riffage. I don't even mind the bass-less production. It's a completely unique sound that connected with me. They 'jumped' for me the moment I saw the premiere of 'Enter Sandman' on MTV in the summer of '91. Too simple a sound for me, even though I have to say I don't hate the 'Black Album'. Never bought 'Load' or 'Reload', but did buy 'Garage Inc.' and liked the cover of BOC's Astronomy. The Motorhead live covers are pretty cool, too. I guess I don't HATE them, per se, but it's pretty much over for me.

Slayer: I actually laughed my ass off at 'Hell Awaits', which is the first thing I ever heard from them. I thought, and still think, that it's some dumb-ass metal music. However, the second I heard 'Reign in Blood', I got hooked. Still love that one. They jumped for me when I played 'South of Heaven' and realized that the fire of Reign in Blood was pretty much out on this one. I guess I liked it okay, but I never loved it. Didn't buy anything from them after that one.

Voivod: First heard Killing Technology when it came out and was immediately blown away. Bought everything they put out after that, up until 'Negatron'. Still don't own it. I hate to say they 'jumped' at any point, but I guess that in all honesty they did for me. Everything post-Nothingface hasn't been able to match the greatness, even though I love Angel Rat and really dig Outer Limits. I never got into the Eric stuff - sounded too much like Pantera on 'Negatron' and dispised the vocals of 'Phobos'. That one pissed me off, because I loved the music on it. I know that they have the potential to release another truly great album, and I'll have a little faith that they may just do it again. Soon.

Okay, those were my three obvious bands. Here is my choices for bands that did nothing but progress until they broke up. Dammit.

Coroner: I hope to hell they reunite and release the next step in their evolution. The last stuff they released was fucking genius. I was lucky enough to see them back in the early 90's with Nuclear Assault. Glad I did.

Jawbox: I'm pissed they broke up. They kept getting better and just disintigrated prematurely. Wah.

Failure: Talk about a 'coulda been a contender' band. If the two guys at the heart of the band hadn't decided to hate each other, I bet you anything they would have put out a few great albums in the past few years. Wah. Again.

Metallica got too mainstream after the Justice tour, and I bought St. Anger 12 years after taking a hammer to the Black album. I really dig St. Anger. I won't pay to see them anymore because they tour with chumps like Durst and Axl.

Rush is finished. They have these records come out just to sell for their touring, but they are mostly worthless. Live they can still jam and see them if you haven't. Their music is snoozeville, and they have to do the same sets over and over.

I love The Church but they all looked like they just checked out of the Betty Ford Clinic on thier last tour. Too many ballads, nothing from Gold Afternoon. Limp. Marty Wilson still has some good harmonies left in him. Their last record- After Everything, Now This is real good.

Tool. This band is all attitude, preachy lyrics and sound effects. The stupid lulls in Lateralus are filler to make it look like they made a whole album, which they didn't.
The noises and long drums intros are weak. I wouldn't go to a tool show for free. They especially try to be Voivod IMO. Metal come lately weenies who just recently made two good albums. Anema and okay Lateralus is worthy of some merit. But mostly is filler and crap. These guys are already creatively dried up before they got started.

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Bands that ruled but dissolved were for me--

Iron Maiden, IMHO, was a perfect band up to "Seventh Son". "No Prayer", the album that was intended as a return to roots or something, was just a disappointment. After that, they only got worse with each release. On the other hand, Brave New World is a great step back into the right direction.

I suppose Metallica will be unanimous in this thread, I dunno why ( ). St. Anger is also a return to track.

Deicide is another band who seems to be getting lazy within the years. What once was a superb group, started to fall with the release of the Insineratehymn album, which contains one or two great songs and eight bad fillers. Not to mention the horrible In Torment In Hell. That's few, in comparison to all the previous albums, perfection from start to end.

For me there's some Metal bands that "jumped" but then came back. I thought Priest was done after Turbo and Ram It Down, but they came right back with Painkiller. Then...well, they did it again. I like Jugulator and Demolition has its moments, but they're pretty sub-par for the mighty Priest. We'll just have to wait and see if the old flame can be rekindled now that Rob's back.

Helloween truly sucked when the terrible Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon fiascos were unleashed. Good lord they're bad, even as rock albums they manage to suck. I actually don't really like the Keepers 2 album either, but that's for another rant. Helloween bounced back though and have put out great records ever since Master Of The Rings. Only a few stinkers here and there. The Dark Ride is amazing, and is actually the one that got me back into Helloween.

Metallica. Where does one begin? The Black Album was pretty lame. Not terrible, but not up to snuff again. Very mainsteam, compared to AJFA and MOP. I thought they could redeem themselves but then Load was released. What a god awful piece of shit. Then came...Reload. The leftovers from the Load sessions. More crap. S& M? Terrible. Kamen's arrangements suck. They just don't work. It's like 2 separate CDs playing at the same time that just happen to sync up once in a while. Now we have St Anger, which I think is awesome BUT it's not Metallica. They should have changed their name. So "Metallica" is done, but their new side project is pretty damn good.

I agree that Rush is toast too. After hearing Diaper Trails a few times I've made up my mind NOT to buy it. They really lost it with Presto. Counterparts had some good stuff and inspired a bit of hope that they were back, but then....pffft. I still love them, but they're no longer the prog-gods that I once worshipped. I'd love to see them live, but they haven't played Winnipeg since the Signals tour for no apparent reason. They hit everywhere else in Canada so WTF? Oh well.

Megadeth. They sold out. Dave said so. Risk is shit. So is The World Needs A Hero. I love their older stuff and listen to it all the time. Dave broke up the band. Reunion? Meh. They're history.

Who stayed on top of it and is no longer around? Cirith Ungol. Love them. Faith No More. Can't think of any others right now.

Paradise Lost : I really loved 'Lost Paradise' and 'Gothic'. Playing slow death/doom when everyone else was playing as fast as possible. 'Shades of God' and 'Icon' were decent, but not like the first 2 albums. And after that they slowly turned into Depeche Mode-clones. Pity.

Sepultura : Great band up untill 'Arise'. 'Chaos AD' and 'Roots' not too bad, but not in the same league as 'Beneath the Remains'. When Max left it all went downhill. They should've never went on using the old name if you ask me.

Roorback is very cool though. Heard it last week and I might just buy it!

Metallica: Cliff died, so did they.
Period, the end.

Rush: After 'Signals', everything turned bland for me.
(I also find most everything leading up to 'Farewell To Kings' to be crap as well)
Still respect the hell out of them as musicians, though.

Blue Oyster Cult: An all-time fave to this day, but let's face it:
after Albert Bouchard left, the chemistry was never the same.
When they hired the drum roadie, Rick Downey and his horrible
exploding afro to play on the last decent album, 'Revolution By Night', (1983)
...I knew trouble was afoot.

There have been flashes of the old B.O.C. here & there since, but Albert was just THE MAN.

'Gone before they peaked' section:

For me, the obvious is The Accused.
(even though 'Splatter Rock' was just OK)
Let's hope this reunion pans out into some raging new material.

Coroner is certainly another, as are Dead Brain Cells,
Demolition Hammer, Scratch Acid, Faith No More, (somewhat)
Die Kreuzen, Wehrmacht, Whiplash, and tons more, I'm sure.

...for an honorable mention, it was a shame to see Godflesh go out the way they did.

I know you said 'Metal', but there are also some very notable 80's type bands:

Metallica: For me it was the video and Grammy appearance for the song One.

Anthrax: Jumped on State of Euphoria. They just got too goofy for me. That and the I am the Man / Bring the Noise combo. Why did rap and metal need to be mixed anyway? They returned with Sound of White Noise and I have dug them ever since.

Exodus: Baloff leaving did them in. Souza is good but Baloff was the voice of Exodus for me.

Maiden: I was disappointed with Somewhere In Time and everything after it until Brave New World. They will be 100% once Jannick leaves.

and those who never jumped:

Armored Saint - best straight ahead American metal band in my opinion. Not thrash, death or black, just metal.

Nomeansno - I absolutely love everything they have done. It is all different and all brilliant.

Slayer: After SOH it was downhill creatively. Every album since then has been less good than it's predecessor. But they still totally kill live.

Metallica: After Justice everything went to the dogs, apart from the Garage Inc collection. S&M is utterly terrible. St Anger however is something of a return to the shark but they haven't clambered aboard again just yet.

Anthrax: Didn't like Fistful Of Metal but thought everything up to and including Persistence Of Time was great. When Sound Of White Noise came out I was utterly mortified and have been disappointed with everything since. Still a killer live band though.

Megadeth: After So Far So Good it went downhill. Rust In Peace wasn't bad but everything after was awful. Sad waste of considerable talent.

Celtic Frost: Legends up to Cold Lake, where they didn't so much jump the shark as launch themselves away from it as far as they feasibly could. Recovered well with Vanity/Nemesis. Hopefully the new material will complete their rehabilitation.

Entombed: Utterly mesmerising until To Ride, Shoot Straight, which was rancid. Everything after that has been poor. Again a sad waste of good talent.

Carcass: Sadly jumped big time with Swansong, which was awful. Everything before that was class. What a way to spoil your career.

Bands that never jumped/peaked before jumping:

Death: Stayed true to the cause until Chuck's death. Tragic loss to music.

Confessor: We await the new stuff, but one of the most unique bands I have ever heard.

Cynic: Fantastic. Was a real shame we only got 1 album.

Emperor: Many will dispute this but I believe they progressed massively musically and created a masterpiece with Prometheus. A fine way to end a project. Respect is due and deserved.

Pungent Stench: Fifteen years on and still dirty as hell. The latest album (masters of moral) is brilliant. Awesome band.

Gary Numan: Not much to say here, except he was a true pioneer. I was just in secondary school when I heard Tubeway Army for the first time and it still sticks in my mind to this day. I was totally blown away. Thought Crazier was a good effort, reminded me of some of his wierder stuff. Hope he does come back with some new material.

Blur: Unlike Oasis, who posess no talent whatever IMO, Blur seem to carve their own niche with every new album. Always an interesting listen. One of the few 'mainstream' acts I actually like.

Butthole Surfers: Further off the planet than any other act I have ever heard. Truly amazing. Never boring, but definitely difficult listening! Get Locust Abortion Technician or Electric LarryLand. Madder than a mad dog that's gone totally bonkers.

Faith No More: Though Album Of The Year was weak by their standards it was still Faith No More doing their own thing and not selling out with 'Real Thing Pt II'. Mike Patton is a true genius.

Megadeth - when Dave stopped injecting shit into his arms. He had the sense to stop only 15 years too late.

Metallica - when they got Bob Rock in

Bands that lost it but got it back:

Anthrax - went off the boil somewhat with that rap shit. But the last album is great!

Slayer - are they back or did they never go away and it's just us who've come back to them? I may be the only guy who thought Seasons was where it ended.

Gary Numan - this is a textbook example of someone loosing it and getting it back. I love pretty much all his albums except Machine and Soul from 1992, and even he thinks that one is shit.

Rush - Big gap in quality between Roll The Bones and Vapour Trails. Glad to see they're gonna end on a high note.

Priest/Halford - no explaination needed. I don't however see Turbo as a low point but conceed that certain tracks on Ram It Down are, erm, filler. Johnny Be Good, there, thats the nadir.

Yes - Open your eyes was utter AOR shite, then without explaination they release The Ladder, which was pure old school prog! Fucking awesome live to this day.

Bands that never lost it:

Voivod - you may not like certain eras, and for me it went sour after Blacky left, but they're still Voivod - its still Piggy there on guitar!

Motorhead - come on, who's gonna argue with that?

Bands that never had it anyway:

From "History of a Time to Come" to "Dreamweaver" the expansion of ideas was breathtaking.
A similar progression to the one between "rrooaarr" and "KT". In fact, the only comparison worthy of Voivod.

Dreamweaver was such a good album.
One of the few from that period that doesn't now seem juvenile or cliche-driven. It had easily the best lyrics, written in English, of any thrash album I'd heard.

then...

Walkier left, to be replaced by some drone of an American - they then record an album with almost no merit whatsoever.
Walkier himself winds up in a sort of "Iron Maiden with violins affair" as "Skyclad". All he then reveals is a grating lisp and over-enthusiasm for punning titles...
Especially given that I dislike Maiden.

The horror, the horror.

PS: EKH, I take issue that "yes" released anything worth hearing after the 1st LP.
(...ducks for cover...)

The aural equivalent of having a toothache on a Sunday morning when the dentist isn't open till Tuesday.

quote:

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Originally posted by Emlyn K Malmsteen:

The aural equivalent of having a toothache on a Sunday morning when the dentist isn't open till Tuesday.

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