2004 saw the retirement of some important artists. Guided By Voices and Luna bowed out gracefully rather than tarnishing their legacies with the inevitable late career cash-in album. A couple of young groups with talent to spare, McLusky and the Beta Band, broke-up before reaching their full potential. And when Suede called it quits, both of their fans were crestfallen.
Who should retire their tambourine in ’05? Aside from perennial embarrassments The Rolling Stones, Megatron is calling out the following artists:
Duran Duran: Their reunion in ’04 could’ve been monumental, considering Franz Ferdinand, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and every other dance-punk outfit is aping Mr. LeBon’s sound. Instead, they made an instantly forgettable album of VH1-ready adult contemporary pop. They now sound like a Duran Duran tribute band.
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Their descent into irrelevance has spiraled out of control. The once fun, socks-on-their-cocks, funky party band has turned into a vehicle for the increasingly dour and uninspired Anthony Keidis. Please- hang up your socks, now!
Wilco: It’s about time Jeff Tweedy quit destroying his group’s once-revered name and start releasing material under the proper moniker- The Jeff Tweedy Project. Their line-up changes every two minutes, Tweedy swapped his acoustic guitar for a laptop, and now wankmaster Nels Cline is a member. Jay Bennett must be spinning in his grave.
I totally agree with you as far as the Chili Peppers go, they haven't been nearly as good as they once were. That is some funny stuff though. May I add a couple?
Aerosmith-Never were that good to begin with, then they went completely commercial and became terrible. They are well past their prime and need to give it up.
Metallica-Although they have smeared their name already they should stop trying to make money or music together. Go back into hiding and never come back James!
A nice thread idea, Megatron. I'll have to respectfully disagree with you about Wilco, but then I've respectfully disagreed with you before on Wilco, so it's not anything new.
I would add:
The Who: Or, at least the two headed monster that is supposed to pass for the Who. It's never really been the Who post-Moon, but at least with Entwistle there was more than 50% of the band. Now, with just Daltrey and Townshend, it's not the Who. They might be a fun live show (I'm not sure of that, but I've heard rumors to that effect) but they haven't made memorable music together in ages.
Bob Dylan: Before you freak out, I'm only hoping the Bob retires FROM TOURING!!! The last three times I've seen him, Bob's been almost unintelligible. When you have to get through 3 verses and choruses of "Mr. Tambourine Man" before you realize what song it is, you're not playing it well.
Goo Goo Dolls: Back in the early 90's, touring small clubs and bars, these guys were the heirs apparent to the Replacements. Their middle records (particularly Hold Me Up) were great. Then, they went soft and became bland radio ballad rock. I don't find their songs so terrible, but it's nothing like the hard drinkin' and hard rockin' Goos of old. Maybe they should just be a vehicle for John Rzenick's future career as a hair spray salesman...but calling the stuff they're doing now the Goo Goo Dolls just reminds me how good they USED to be.
Ooh...I almost forgot this one:
R.E.M.: The last few REM records have had moments of greatness. The most recent one (Up on the Sun) has a couple of good songs on it, but for the most part suffers from the worst sin: it's BORING. Pete Buck is a smart guy (when he's not drinking on airplanes) with a good grasp of music history...shouldn't he recognize a floundering band when he plays in one? The sinking ship that is REM has already lost a drummer and a lawyer. Despite adding some interesting new parts (monster drummer Bill Rieflin, who gets underused in REM-lite, ex-Posie Ken Stringfellow, and Young Fresh Fellow Scott McCaughy) the new REM just isn't relevant any more. Unlike their contemporaries and competitors for biggest band in the world (U2), they just don't matter anymore. Which is sad, because they've always been one of my favorite bands.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: philosopherEric,
Although I completely agree with the Aerosmith thing, I get annoyed everytime someone says that they were never good to begin with. Someone should drop copies of Toys In The Attic, Rocks, Draw The Line, Permanent Vacation, and Pump into your lap.
i have to agree with all of you're choices cept Wilco, they havent tarnished there legacy like the Who and Aerosmith have. Wilc's new stuff is much better than ryan adams solo stuff, Aerosmith really really really needs to retire i got really sick of the teen pop community embracing them and lenny kravitz like they were somehow relevant
I'm sorry for taking the thread off topic but let me respond to Curefreak.
quote: Although I completely agree with the Aerosmith thing, I get annoyed everytime someone says that they were never good to begin with. Someone should drop copies of Toys In The Attic, Rocks, Draw The Line, Permanent Vacation, and Pump into your lap.
I actually own "Permanent Vacation" and "Pump" both are okay, but highly overrated (Especially "Pump". I like "Permanent Vacation" because of "Ragdoll" and "Dude Looks Like a Lady" but they just are HIGHLY overrated which may cause me to underrate them a little.
Now back to the topic:
Xzibit-Although it may be young in his career, he is already done. I have seen him everywhere recently from "Pimp My Ride" to "NFL Street 2" to "Def Jam Fight for NY" to his new terrible album. I hope he does like Kid Rock did right after he started showing up everywhere, quitely disappear.
U2, please retire. bono, i wish i could cast a spell so that you'd never be able to speak or sing ever again. am i the only person that realizes what an egomaniac baffoon he is? their music since "achtung baby" has been awful, yet of course they still win grammys on name recognition. that, and bono intimidates them into being nominated to the point where it's like "how dare they think of not nominating u2 for best album, even when u2's album came out the year before. u2, please retire.
I agree, U2 is completely useless. You know its bad when the only song of their new album that we haer is "Vertigo"... the song is just no good. Usually the radio plays the better sonngs and if thats one of the best on that cd...BOOO.
I vote for U2, Metallica, Aerosmith, Mick Jagger needs to die so I can listen to old RS and not feel dirty, Red Hot Chillis, No Doubt (at least change your name when you sell out so bad, so fast), The Doors (of the 21st Century...how long can you milk it?), Celine Dion (haven't you made enough cash yet? GET OFF MY TV!), Santana (can't listen to his back catalogue either till he dies), Moby (just geting worse and worse), Dr. Dre, Morrissey (never much liked him anyway), Bruce Springsteen (never liked), Ozzy Osbourne (you're killing me, gramps), and REM (it was good while it lasted).
________________________________________________________ "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson tinymixtapes.com / The Skinny / PopMatters
Originally posted by Nickel-Z: I agree, U2 is completely useless. You know its bad when the only song of their new album that we haer is "Vertigo"... the song is just no good. Usually the radio plays the better sonngs and if thats one of the best on that cd...BOOO.
"Vertigo" is really not one of the better songs on the new record. But I won't defend U2 here, even though I like them and think that the last two records have been uniformly excellent, because I understand why Bono rubs people the wrong way. I do know a fair number of people, however, who criticize U2 but haven't actually HEARD anything they've done (other than singles) since 1988, which is a lame move. The album cuts are often far better than the singles.
Bono is my deciding factor anyway. Edge has some killer licks but Bono is one of the best examples of how to appear concerned about world events but do absolutely nothing about anything except pose for pictures with leaders and politicians.
________________________________________________________ "The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." - Hunter S. Thompson tinymixtapes.com / The Skinny / PopMatters
I can't speak to Bono's motivations, but he seems to spend a lot of his time off travelling to third world countries and trying to get outstanding debts forgiven. He takes a lot of photos, to be sure, and he's a huge attention hog, but from what I've read and seen, he has done some good as far as the debt forgiveness stuff goes. Hell, he's been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and he's being considered for President of the World Bank!!!
I'm not trying to say you should change your tune on Bono, Filmore. My love for U2 doesn't make me any more objective than anyone else, but I think he's done a fair bit of good and it's just his attention-grabbing public persona that really pisses people off. I've always thought that the Edge was the real musical talent in U2, and nobody ever talks about him.
Originally posted by philosopherEric: I've always thought that the Edge was the real musical talent in U2, and nobody ever talks about him.
It's all about Edge. I can't stand anything about U2 since 1990 but I always give props to Edge. I'm still convinced their best work was "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (Island, May 1980). Where are the Martin Hannets anymore?
