Great Bands that "Jumped the Shark"

SeafoamStrat · November 7th, 2009, 12:46 AM

Can you remember great bands from the 60-70's that sold it all out once the 80's came? Changed their sound and style so completely that they were water skiing right behind Fonzie in his leather jacket and swim trunks? Heart comes to mind....

AllroyPA · November 7th, 2009, 02:39 AM

Kiss is one. Later than that I'll say that No Doubt sold out, their early stuff was ska-rock, almost like a Chili Peppers influence w/a female vocal, it was really tastey. Dag that all went south once they got popular.

Giant · November 7th, 2009, 02:44 AM

Metallica. (they are back to normal now. ha ha)

Malikon · November 7th, 2009, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giant

Metallica. (they are back to normal now. ha ha)

psh, that's not normal. Their early stuff had a semblance of arrangement with threads and themes running through their songs, and Kirks solos were often times very beautiful and melodic.

Now their stuff sounds like pro-tools riffs all hacked together in whatever order, and Kirks solos sound like a bad Kirk impersonation, and there's no melodies in them like there use to be.

I guess it's hard to hold onto the rage when you're a multi-multi-millionare.

____

on topic, one band that jumps to mind is Soundgarden. Louder then love, ultra mega ok, badmotorfinger were all great noisy but brilliant albums. Superunknown and Down on the Upside sound nothing like the others, very pop oriented instead of angry and noisy.

interesting thread idea, gonna be neat to see what other bands get mentioned.

alexti · November 7th, 2009, 03:21 AM

I'd have to say Yes (as in the band), though I love all their stuff, regardless of the period.

Giant · November 7th, 2009, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malikon

psh, that's not normal. Their early stuff had a semblance of arrangement with threads and themes running through their songs, and Kirks solos were often times very beautiful and melodic.

Now their stuff sounds like pro-tools riffs all hacked together in whatever order, and Kirks solos sound like a bad Kirk impersonation, and there's no melodies in them like there use to be.

I guess it's hard to hold onto the rage when you're a multi-multi-millionare.

____

on topic, one band that jumps to mind is Soundgarden. Louder then love, ultra mega ok, badmotorfinger were all great noisy but brilliant albums. Superunknown and Down on the Upside sound nothing like the others, very pop oriented instead of angry and noisy.

interesting thread idea, gonna be neat to see what other bands get mentioned.

thanks for correcting me.

and what i mean is, their last album is the best they've done since Justice. so when i say "back to normal" i mean they are back to playing metal. Not pop-rock like their last few albums.

Goodkat · November 7th, 2009, 03:37 AM

Fleetwood Mac?

Malikon · November 7th, 2009, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giant

thanks for correcting me.

and what i mean is, their last album is the best they've done since Justice. so when i say "back to normal" i mean they are back to playing metal. Not pop-rock like their last few albums.

aw c'mon, I wasn't correcting you, Lol.

just sharing my overinflated opinion. They were my heros when I was a teenager, so I was pretty let down when the whole Load and Reload crap started happening. Honestly I wasn't really happy with the enter sandman album either in comparison to the 4 that came before it, but in hindsight the sandman album is pretty heavy compared to what was coming.

I'm still bitter, lol. Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lightening, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice For All just seemed so epic when I was young.

True story: When I first bought the tape cassete (remember those?) of The Black Album, when I first heard The Unforgiven and that, "what I've felt, what I've known, never shine through..." part? I took the tape back and exchanged it for another one. I was completely convinced there was something wrong with the tape because James just didn't sound like that to me. When the next tape sounded the same I realized what had happened.

I died a little that day.

Giant · November 7th, 2009, 04:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malikon

I died a little that day.

i think lots of people felt like that. ha ha

AllroyPA · November 7th, 2009, 04:12 AM

Think of all the great metal that filled the void in those years though, I did'nt miss Metallica. Newsted was a knob. Lars goes w/o mentioning. I saw the Justice tour, with The Cult opening. I'd seen what I needed from them.

Giant · November 7th, 2009, 10:27 AM

either way, they play metal again, so all is well...

back to the thread......

i think alice in chains has jumped the shark by gettin this new guy to sing. i used to love their stuff, but now they have hired a Layne clone. . . go figure.

GuitarCrazy · November 7th, 2009, 10:35 AM

Don't forget Jefferson Airplane who then became Jefferson Starship. Grace Slick has even admitted to doing it for the money.

Malikon · November 7th, 2009, 10:46 AM

yeah I'm not digging the new AiC either. The new guy has the sound but none of the feel. Though 'through the black and into the blue' is a good song, and Elton John does the piano which is kinda cool.

jguitarnash · November 7th, 2009, 11:08 AM

I think Aerosmith jumped the shark by making Just push play and doing the Armaggeddon soundtrack song "dont wanna miss a thing".

Goodkat · November 7th, 2009, 11:11 AM

Yup, that was a great soundtrack.

mijstratguy · November 7th, 2009, 01:14 PM

Judas Priest attempted to with Turbo, but no one accepted them as a pop metal band. Iron Maiden, to a much lesser degree, tried this with Somewhere In Time. The common factor here is the inclusion of guitar synths on these records. The synths were not the dealbreaker, the pop melodies were.

SeafoamStrat · November 7th, 2009, 05:06 PM

Yeah, I always had a real problem with Aerosmith in the 80's. I mean "Angel" ???? Uggghhh I immediately threw in my "Get Your Wings" Cd and played Seasons O' Wither" over and over till the nausea went away.

ZL1LoVeR · November 7th, 2009, 05:45 PM

RATM when De La Rocha left and got replaced with Chris Cornell... forming the band that I could never really understand "Audioslave"

guitargeekaz · November 7th, 2009, 06:29 PM

ZZ TOP! Really disappointed with the direction they took on their "disco"/ MTV sound starting in the early 80's. Lost a lot of respect for what they had accomplished to that point.

mw13068 · November 7th, 2009, 06:33 PM

I'd like to suggest that any artist mentioned in this thread was likely writing the music that came to them, given the environment they were living in at the time.

Now a listener may like the music, or dislike it, but suggesting that the artist has somehow "lost" something or "sold out" is ridiculous.

The alternative would be for the artist to try to "recreate" the music that their fans considered "good" over and over again.

*THAT* would be selling out.

tl;dr judging artists based on your perception of their art is dumb.

ncjeepinyj · November 7th, 2009, 06:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuitarCrazy

Don't forget Jefferson Airplane who then became Jefferson Starship. Grace Slick has even admitted to doing it for the money.

If i remember correctly, didnt they eventually become just "Starship"?

SeafoamStrat · November 7th, 2009, 07:16 PM

Actually mw13068 Aerosmith admitted to Desmond Child being the co-writer on some of their big hits in the 80's. I think the idea of them co-writing with a pop artist in the 70's would have resulted in a lot of WTF reactions by fans and the band themselves. But I get your point - despite Nancy Wilson of Heart and Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane admitted to being "cheesy" and giving in to out-of-touch A&R guys of the day.

Malikon · November 7th, 2009, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mijstratguy

Judas Priest attempted to with Turbo, but no one accepted them as a pop metal band. Iron Maiden, to a much lesser degree, tried this with Somewhere In Time. The common factor here is the inclusion of guitar synths on these records. The synths were not the dealbreaker, the pop melodies were.

I loved everything Maiden did up to Seventh Son. Just didn't really dig them after that for some reason.

ZL1lover? You didn't like Audioslave? I thought they were pretty unique sounding. Like A Stone was a pretty neat song. I admit I never heard the second Audioslave album.

I don't know if they jumped the shark, but what the hell happened to Pearl Jam? The first album was so good and then.......everything after that, not so good-borderline bad, lol.

ZL1LoVeR · November 7th, 2009, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malikon

ZL1lover? You didn't like Audioslave? I thought they were pretty unique sounding. Like A Stone was a pretty neat song. I admit I never heard the second Audioslave album.

Now after I read what mw13068 said and looking back, I don't think I even gave them a fair chance...

But still, I was just mad that Zach De La Rocha left and I expected that they would try to maintain the rap metal genre they were pioneers at... Chris Cornell can't rap to save his life

(they did an awful "cover" of Killing in the Name with Cornell... worst cover ever right after DMB's All Along the Watchtower

)

Strat-O-Lady · November 7th, 2009, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ncjeepinyj

If i remember correctly, didnt they eventually become just "Starship"?

Holy crap! I learn something new everyday. I had to look this up, and you are correct - the band went from being Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship, to just Starship (and apparently their newest creation is Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation): Jefferson Starship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I always got Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship mixed up (but that was when I didn't know they were the same band...I just thought Jefferson Starship was a play on/homage to J. A.). I can't believe they went from songs like 'Somebody to Love' to 'We Built This City'. Although, I must admit - I have a lot of J. S. hits in my iTunes collection...LOL. When 'We Built this City' came out, I was like 3 or 4 years old and that was a damn fun song for a little kid....so it kind of has a special place in my heart.

Also - Seafoam -> I am with you on 'Heart'. In fact, that was the first band that came to mind when I read the subject of this thread. Although, I still enjoy their 'jump-shark-era' music

Although, in some cases, I think a band's music is a product of the time in which it was created (as was eluded to in a previous post on here) more so than a product of jumping the shark. But there are definitely bands that clearly jump the shark, too.

ncjeepinyj · November 7th, 2009, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strat-O-Lady

Holy crap! I learn something new everyday. I had to look this up, and you are correct - the band went from being Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship, to just Starship (and apparently their newest creation is Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation): Jefferson Starship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I always got Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship mixed up (but that was when I didn't know they were the same band...I just thought Jefferson Starship was a play on/homage to J. A.). I can't believe they went from songs like 'Somebody to Love' to 'We Built This City'. Although, I must admit - I have a lot of J. S. hits in my iTunes collection...LOL. When 'We Built this City' came out, I was like 3 or 4 years old and that was a damn fun song for a little kid....so it kind of has a special place in my heart.

Also - Seafoam -> I am with you on 'Heart'. In fact, that was the first band that came to mind when I read the subject of this thread. Although, I still enjoy their 'jump-shark-era' music

Although, in some cases, I think a band's music is a product of the time in which it was created (as was eluded to in a previous post on here) more so than a product of jumping the shark. But there are definitely bands that clearly jump the shark, too.

I grew up more around the Jefferson Starship/Starship time i guess. One of my brothers won some tickets to a Starship concert and brought me. I was probably about 14 and didnt really care for them but went anyway. I have to admit though, that was a really good concert. They played alot of their older stuff and really rocked.
Now back on topic. Im not sure if this counts as jumping shark or just a change in direction but when Van Halen recorded 1984 i hated it. ALOT more comercial, pop, synthetic sounding.

SeafoamStrat · November 7th, 2009, 10:19 PM

A band or artist merely organically changing their style or direction or "growing" musically does not fit the criteria of "Jumping the Shark". But a band or artist purposely changing their style and direction to please their respective A&R label reps to stay "relevant" to their fans and "lucrative" to the label and or themselves does fit the criteria. Look at Ted Nugent for example; you think the guy that was writing Stranglehold or Wang Dang Sweet Poontang would ever imagine himself in a band with Tommy Shaw and writing songs like "High Enough"? He would have shot you with a flaming bow and arrow.

NorthShore · November 7th, 2009, 11:25 PM

The J. Geils Band was one of the ass-kickin'est bar blues boogie bands of all time before that "Centerfold" and "Love Stinks" crap.

dman · November 7th, 2009, 11:44 PM

I'll second ZZ Top...that synth-backed stuff was very unappealing!

Jabs · November 8th, 2009, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorthShore

The J. Geils Band was one of the ass-kickin'est bar blues boogie bands of all time before that "Centerfold" and "Love Stinks" crap.

+1

AllroyPA · November 8th, 2009, 09:34 AM

How about Richey Kotzen jumping in with Poison.

SeafoamStrat · November 8th, 2009, 01:03 PM

Hey Allroy - Can you imagine if Slash would have passed the audition with Poison and actually became a member of that band? The reason he was passed over for C.C. was because he refused to wear the make-up. But can you imagine how rock history would have changed?

ncjeepinyj · November 8th, 2009, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeafoamStrat

A band or artist merely organically changing their style or direction or "growing" musically does not fit the criteria of "Jumping the Shark". But a band or artist purposely changing their style and direction to please their respective A&R label reps to stay "relevant" to their fans and "lucrative" to the label and or themselves does fit the criteria.

Thats why i suggested Van Halen. Keep in mind, this is only my opinion. I saw it as a change to gain popularity by changing to a more comercialized sound. It just didnt seem like an album that most of their long time followers would prefer. For example, one of my older brothers had most of their older albums and the last one he ever bought was 1984. I feel as if they gained some fans but also lost some in the process. I may be totally wrong, maybe they just got tired of playing the same old stuff and saw this as a chance to grow. I guess only Eddie, Dave, Michael and Alex will know for sure.

Paulbiz · November 8th, 2009, 06:50 PM

STYX!!!!! In the 70's they were amazing then cheesed out in the 80's! Listen to This:

YouTube - Styx "Music Time"

SeafoamStrat · November 8th, 2009, 07:27 PM

+1 ncjeepinyj

peskypesky · November 8th, 2009, 10:00 PM

Yes, Genesis, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Queen.

highway-one · November 9th, 2009, 12:02 AM

ON the bright side RCHP never sold out spiritually and, you know who became an important guitar influance and a legend to those crazy people like me who can see and hear? John Mayer, he played the game deliberately and showed us how to keep the music alive in Generation why, (and I think thats deep blues roots. even metalica came from the blues, whoever forgot that became like britany spears and nikleback) and good ones are still around. But I dont think theres ever been a period of time where music sucked so bad for so long. I hope the world doesnt come to an end any time soon lol.