Artists for whom you have a firm "cut-off" album

I agree with you. I am a huge Genesis fan. But I cut it off with "We can't dance" and "Calling all Stations" was not even a Genesis album (Congo was a single on the album). It was Rutherford, Banks and a substitute singer's attempt at one last shot that failed miserably. It proved you can only replace Peter Gabriel once and succeed. By the way, not many bands could replace their lead singer even once and succeed. (Notable deceptions, Van Halen and AC/DC had success after a switch. But there are a lot more that did not or are just out their playing oldies for the boomers.)
Steve

 

1975, the Hank Williams Jr. "And Friends" album is my cut-off point for his output. While Merle Haggard was making all that great music during the 1980s, Hank Jr. was getting too rowdy and I have no use for his later career periods.

 

I tend to just cherry-pick from the albums after these

Rush - Signals
Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
Midnight Oil - Earth and Sun and Moon
Skinny Puppy - Too Dark Park
Pixies - Bossanova
Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona
U2 - Achtung Baby
Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

 

Not much after Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love has resonated with me at all.

 

From around that time I rarely like Bruce with bands, but I enjoy him solo acoustic.

 

All I know is that I have a problem with most funk made after 1975. That's when the disco influence moves in, and it softened many a hard-hitting funk band - the Commodores, Bar-Kays, ESPECIALLY Kool & the Gang.

In the case of EWF, their better albums were made between 1971-75 and that's all there is to it - for me. Yes, there was always a smoothness, but it went down better on the first seven albums. I'd take "Reasons" over "Fantasy" anyday, and they're both ballads.

 

U2: I ignore everything after Rattle and Hum
REM: I stop after Out Of Time
Sting: I ignore everything after Mercury Falling (even though I did enjoy the Police reunion)
Moody Blues: For me their career ends after Long Distance Voyager

 

These are bands, I can think of, that I was really into at one time, but have mostly lost interest in since...

The Cure - Disintegration
Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses
Guns N' Roses - Lies
James Taylor - New Moon Shine
John Mellencamp - Mr. Happy Go Lucky
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
Sting - Ten Summoner's Tales
U2 - Rattle and Hum

 

TV on the Radio - Dear Science

 

Ones that killed it and I never went back?

Grateful Dead. Wake of the Flood. Tops the list, big fan of the Dead before this, never bought this or anything after it. Major killer.

Others
The Who. Squeezebox on The Who By Numbers raised a major red flag for me, but Who Are You was the one that killed it.
Blondie. Eat to the Beat was the last one I loved, so Autoamerican was the killer. The Hunter was just beating a dead horse, for an encore.
Ramones. End of the Century. Not a bad album, but I did not like the new direction with Spector, and I never went back (their first four by comparison are in the Pantheon).
Ohio Players. Angel. Contradiction was a very good album, but not as great as the three before it, and so Angel was so underwhelming it killed it for me.
The Clash. London Calling. I do not get the love for this mess.
Bob Dylan. Self Portrait. I know Dylan is said to have had an agenda on this, but put me in the WTF? camp. Never got over it. Probably my loss. but it is what it is.
Quicksilver Messenger Service. Just for Love. Dino Valenti's return killed it for me, and I don't care how popular this album was.
Janis Joplin. Pearl. It has some moments, but the album has become unlistenable for me. (Of course if Janis had survived, she may have turned it around, can't rule that out, so perhaps this doesn't belong here.)
Savoy Brown. Jack the Toad. WTF? A classic case of the killed it off album. Everything before was great, and then bam.
Fleetwood Mac. Future Games was the turning point, away from their blues base, and Kirwan and even Spencer gone after Green left previously. Ftr I did not hate the later iteration with Nicks and Buckingham, but I didn't buy it, either.
Rod Stewart. Smiler. It just got even worse after this, but this was so bad. I suppose it deserves some credit for my not even coming close to getting a travesty like Atlantic Crossing.
Steve Miller. The Joker. Well at least it had a nice cover. But I never went back after hearing the new direction here, and like for Smiler and Rod that helped me avoid even worse efforts later.

Finally I wish I could say The Stones after Tattoo You, but I did buy later albums of theirs up to Steel Wheels. Some I wish I hadn't. but that's a different question.

 

Hootie and Blowfish: Cracked Rear View
Metallica: ...And Justice For All

 

The Who - Quadrophenia

 

Live - Secret Samahdi. Decent album but all down hill afterward (dolphins cry )

U2 - achtung baby. Great album. Steep drop-off afterwards.

Fountains of Wayne - welcome interstate managers. Classic album, but the band crossed into self parody on subsequent albums

 

Ryan Adams-Ashes and Fire...
His last two lps reek of 80's schlock...

 

Hardwired to Self Destruct is a fantastic album, strongly recommend you give it a listen if you haven't.

 

It was all downhill after The Castiles

 

Even though Nebraska may be my favorite Springsteen album, much of his other solo work doesn't do anything for me. Lyrically, the Tom Joad album is perhaps some of his best work, but it's deadly dull musically. I never really connected to Devils and Dust either.

 

Rob Zombie --- Nothing after White Zombie

 

Lots of folks here really missed some good albums.

 

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon. When they changed their U.S. record label they started recycling sounds from their earlier catalog. Since they had a lot of new fans from DSOM that never heard their earlier works it was all new to them. For me it was MEH.

 

Good question.

For me, most that come to mind are caused by significant changes in the lineup:

Black Sabbath - Ozzie years
Chicago - Kath years
Alice Cooper - original band
The Who - Moon years
Elton John - w/ his classic band lineup

 

I agree with this. I enjoyed Nine Types of Light on my first listen, but have never made it through a re-listen; and I enjoyed the first 1 1/2 songs off Seeds but give up around song 5.

The first EP, and the first two albums, are some of the best things to come out of the '00s though, and Dear Science is great as well.

 

I find Genesis' s/t album from 1983 very spotty indeed but it has its moments - Mama, Home By The Sea, That's All is a decent-ish pop song.

But after that, I'm out. From what I've heard of the next two studio albums, they are unlistenable.

Don't know Calling All Stations.

 

Some of the cut off dates listed above are very harsh.

Quitting Genesis after Gabriel's departure is just plain wrong....they became somewhat more musical when he left (and that's no district to PG, whose work I love).

 

"Now That's What I Call Music Vol 37"