Why do all bands turn to sh**?

[Alex78]

Why is it that almost every band turns to sh** after some time? It's like in the beginning they're all passionate and serious about their music, but once they have gained recognition they seem to lose focus and start to suck.

Lately I've been let down by my two favourite bands/artists, that is Opeth and Devin Townsend. So let me have a rant on this and excuse my frustration.

First Opeth. God damn, Watershed is a terrible, terrible album. Well, to be accurate, Deliverance already marked the beginning of their decline, I think. But it was still a very good album. Then Ghost Reveries, well that to me seemed to be the point where they started getting "happy". The melodies that once had a special feel/taste to them, both vocally and guitar-wise, now seemed generic and bland. Now, I don't even know what to say about Watershed... It's like all things that were bad on Ghost Reveries taken to the next level of unoriginality.

Next, Devin Townsend. I used to worship him, really. But has anyone listened to Addicted? OMFG. Bend It Like Bender? Ih-Ah? Hyperdrive? Resolved? Horrible, horrible songs. He did some incredible music with his albums from Ocean Machine to Synchestra. Synchestra was a great album, but I think you could already tell that in a very subtle way, his music had changed. It's difficult to describe, but it's like he had lost something, his uniqueness. Addicted is just another step in that direction. It makes me feel nothing (same goes for most of Ki). It's like you hear the melodies and you feel that you've already heard them somewhere else. A sense of generic composition style that the artist seems to have integrated into his once unique music (I don't know if this makes sense).

Thoughts on this?

 

[DarkBliss]

Because they run out of ideas.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

A lot of people seem to have this notion that artists lose steam with time and start to suck. But I disagree. Bands can be broken by line-up changes and wonderful chemistry can whither and die, but a truly great artist keeps learning and evolving over time.

I haven't yet heard Addicted, as I am currently residing in the year 2000, but I thought Ki was Devin's second best album after Terria. It was like the album I had been waiting for him to make forever, the one where he truly expresses himself outside the confines of metal (not counting his ambient works, which are... err)

 

[waif]

The problem seems to be that you listen to really mediocre bands.

 

[Hail The Wizard!]

+1

 

[Lateralus14]

Most good bands become mediocre at some point too.

 

[Saparmurat_Niyazov]

Because they run out of ideas.

.

 

[ArneZ]

They are developing their sound and your taste stands still at the same old self.

 

[Vossyrus]

Aside from obvious reasons like lack of inspiration, ideas etc...

I think a large part of this has to do with the fact that fans do not share the same point of view as the band. When a band is in it's early stages, people will naturally develop their perception of what the band is and should be/sound like. But often a band's early releases do not represent what the band is actually striving for...hence why bands will often say that their new album is their best one, while the fans will vehemently disagree. Bands over time will become better and more competent at playing their instruments so they put more value in their improvement as a musician as opposed to the other factors that fans may look for.

Bands also evolve and experiment with new things that are not always welcomed by fans, though I generally prefer this route. Conversely, bands sometimes strip away experimentation and go for a more direct and "refined" sound, which I don't really like. I lose interest in bands if they become stale and predictable.

Again, this is just my opinion but I think an album's production can also play a small part. The production on each new album will generally "improve" - by this I mean cleaner, louder production that people accept and associate with being "good" and "well produced". However, I think the modern techniques of producing albums can affect the music negatively, giving the album a more generic and sterile sound that makes the music tiring to listen to. I don't really like loud albums and I certainly don't like it when every hit of the drums sounds the same, like a series of repetitive clicks on a typewriter. I'm not saying this makes or breaks an album for me but to an extent it plays a part. I often find that a band's older albums/style has a certain charm to it that is partially due to the way the album was produced.

 

[razoredge]

Theres many reasons, everyone has a limited amount of ideas. They get burned up 3-4 recordimgs, some bands even less. Some bands change their style for many reasons, so they dont just keep playing the same song over and over, because they grow up, because they change, because they are bored with their origional style, because the longer you are around more external influences dilute, some look back on their old music as happy horseshit as they grow a musicians, but the problem is the happy horseshit has its edge before all this other stuff takes place in life and you cant just keep re-writing those songs over and over. Nothing hard to understand.

 

[The Butt]

The problem seems to be that you listen to really mediocre bands.

.

 

[SweptbackFlame]

The Mainstream bullshit is also a factor. And the fact that some bands run out of ideas like Metallica. well in there case it went the mainstream sort of way.

 

[Tonka Time]

The problem seems to be that you listen to really mediocre bands.

I was about to say somthing similar upon reading the thread's title.

 

[IntoPhagist]

It sucks, In flames suck now, Soilwork suck now, Iced Earth and Blind Guardian are weak now, And yeah Devin Townsend has turned into a prog head and I hate all his new albums, Synchestra was awesome though but that last SYL album and Ziltoid were retarded.

 

[Belligerent]

Soilwork suck now, Devin Townsend has turned into a prog head and I hate all his new albums,

Soilwork are still a great band imo

as far as Devin Townsend ive enjoyed all his albums except Synchestra(only good song is Triumph w/ Steve Vai) he's an amazing artist. Even Addicted has quite a few good songs imo.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

most of my fav bands have hit their highpoint and then gone to shit... a few examples of bands that have been around a while and still playing really well though would be Behemoth and Nokturnal Mortum.

 

[SouthernTrendkill]

This concept haunts me at night. But I agree with what most people in the thread have said such as Vossyrus and DarkBliss.

 

[-CC-]

I think some of the greatest bands in metal history have been the bands that have only released 1-2 albums and then disbanded or just withered into absolute obscurity such as Demilich or Wombbath..we never got the chance to hear them "run out of ideas" or let them evolve into something totally different.

2Pac is revered as one of the greatest rappers of all time, but I'm sure if he was still alive today he would not have kept the same fanbase he did in the 90's..who knows, he might have ended up joining G-Unit or something like that?

However there are a whole gang of bands that have been around for a long time and are still awesome, to mention a few: Meshuggah, Behemoth, Burzum, Bolt Thrower, Celtic Frost (or did they disband again? I remember they kept disbanding and coming back together for a while), Nile, Belphegor, Decapitated, Project Hate MCMXCIX etc etc that I can think of right now

 

[waif]

Amon Amarth, faggot.

 

[Alteredmindeath]

Metal doesn't age well in the live area, and record writing process. Most bands write the best material in their youthful prime days. That is when most ideas are fresh, and the band has energy and fresh minds. Most bands I listen to have to put out consistent good records and songs or I loose interest in them at some point.