Bands that started good then sucked
 

Pretty self-explanatory

Heart
Jefferson Airplane (when they became Starship)
Wire
The Who
Oasis
Pavement
Van Halen
Part of me wants to says the Smashing Pumpkins, but I have to admit their post-Melon Collie work does have its moments
Metallica would be on this list if not for Death Magnetic

Others?

Guns & Roses

Pretty sure there's been a few threads like this. Anyways
Weezer
Jimmy Eat World (seriously)
Cypress Hill
Flaming Lips
Mercury Rev

pretty sure these threads are stupid cuz we're all just gonna argue. Like that dude up there says Flaming Lips. But I still love Flaming Lips. So normally I'd argue. But I'm tired of this kind of shit.

i agree so, so much on the who. ack. one massively downhill discography right there. everyone blames it on keith moon's dying, but they were putting out shit long before that. definitely townshend's fault. i was/am kind of weirdly intrigued by the pretentious/boring/sad bastardality of the later who stuff though.

the white stripes - jack white only recently got his groove back. i do not dig the last two white stripes elpees. nor do i give two shits about the raconteurs. the dead weather fuckin' rule, though.

the clash - their pattern of suckage could be, like, morse code: not suck suck not suck not suck suck suck suck...

roxy music - i can't pinpoint when they started sucking, but oh man did they suck. they always were teetering on the edge of wankery, in a way, but veered away from it up to a point.

talking heads - they started out beyond awful, though. ever see 'the blank generation'? their segment is so cringeworthy. a big chunk of their output is some of the most bland, banal stuff i have ever heard. but remain in light is awesome. so i'm totally torn on them.

patti smith - ... is not a band. blah blah blah arena rawk blah getting older blah findin' god blah housewifery whatever. i don't even know.

I don't even know how to argue somebody saying Pavement started to suck but says in the same post the Smashing Pumpkins still had their moments later on. I realize everybody has their own opinion but that leaves me up in arms.

~Jeremy~

Malice Mizer - well, not entirely, as they still did some good stuff with their last two vocalists, but compared to what they did in 1992-94, with their first vocalist, they just went way downhill.

Metallica is one of the biggest examples of this kind of band... Weezer too (after Pinkerton) but they had some good songs. The Who maybe but hey, the 80's were difficult for many bands and artists, including Neil Young and Bob Dylan... One of the only songwriters who had his best days in the 80's is Tom Waits, for sure.

Yeah Pavement remained awesome throughout their career.

A Silver Mt Zion... Their first two albums are wonderful, but when they began using their voices so much, they also began to suck so much...

^^ absolutely.

I wonder who will be the first one to say "Sonic Youth"

I'm gonna get bashed for this, but Simian Mobile Disco. The first one was really really good (yes, I said it), but the new one is plain boring terrible awful shit. They relied on their casting and forgot to bring actual tunes. Boring boring boring

TOTALLY agree on Wire. The first 3 albums were amazing, then they did nothing but GARBAGE for years. They ended up releasing a great album ("Send") and then have released a few more awful things since then. ("Read and Burn 3" and whatever that last album was called)

the two biggest examples of this for me (cuz honestly a lot of bands either totally suck from the beginning to me or stay really good till the end)


koRn: fucking good band until the 2000 era and then they just dragged out the same old thing for ten years..


Marilyn Manson: Daisy Berkowitz was that band like Tony Iommi was black sabbath.. zim zum was pretty good replacement, but he didn't write the material. after they brough in John 5 that shit went in a sucky direction.

The Cure

hole - early singles, pretty on the inside and live through this rule, celebrity skin not so much
the rolling stones - haven't produced anything remotely worthwhile since tattoo you and that's even pushing it
pavement - first tapes are genius (slay tracks, perfect sound forever, demolition plot) after that they just got BORING

I have said it before: The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol made great debut albums but everything after that is garbage.

Deftones
Stone Temple Pilots
Dead Kennedys - I'm split on Frankenchrist, half of it is really great, the other half, meh. Then Bedtime for Democracy was just boring.
CKY - Their first album is actually really really good, but after that it just sails into shit.
AFI - seriously, they sound awful now, nothing like the old albums for Nitro.
The Transplants.

Yeah Pavement did not start to suck they always did :D

Oops that's not what you meant...

The Cure
The Fall
Roxy Music
Radiohead
Beth Orton
Cat Power
Elvis Costello
Interpol
Mogwai
Pink Floyd (I'd say they were good up to Animals, and then there were just a few good songs on the Wall)
Placebo
R.E.M.
Rolling Stones (obviously)
Gang of Four

Pavement became very predictable and bland after Wowee Zowee IMO.

Good post-MCIS Pumpkins: The End Is The Beginning Is The End/The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning, Eye, Ava Adore, Pug, For Martha, The Everlasting Gaze, Doomsday Clock, Bleed The Orchid, (C'mon) Let's Go!, For God and Country

Gish and SD were amazing, MCIS was okay but a lot of it was bland, Adore was great, the Machina's have some good songs, and Zeitgeist just sucks shit 100 %.

I sort of agree on the YYYs, like their first stuff was okay, some songs were great, while others were trash, and I just hear the singles from the new stuff and I just cringe listening to it. Zero or whatever it's called is just plain awful.

whoah mogwai are shit now? what happened?

I only have Young Team, I love it.

I have young team and Mr. Beast. Both are good but Young Team is particularly awesome.

^Rock Action is worth a listen. And My Father, My King is pretty unreal for a 'single'.

Yeah Mogwai are still awesome.

Mogwai have been pretty boring for a while, but they usually still have a few worthwhile tracks per album. I wouldn't say they've started to flat-out suck yet.

The replacements - i know some of you are gonna say they sucked to start with (they didnt) but they really lost it after bob died.PTMM was ok, but after that they should have just broke up.

I also agree with the strokes debut being their only album of merit.

Ride- remember the early singles where they did sonic youth kinda noise breakdowns then they suddenly went to covering creation songs wtf happened?

Ride were fucking incredible in the beginning. I saw them on the "Nowhere" USA tour and they blew my mind. On eof the very best shows I saw in the whole of the 1990s.

Verve (pre-"The" Verve) were also pretty fucking amazing. "A Storm In Heaven" is one of the best psychedelic albums I have ever heard, and at that time they were easily one of the best live bands on earth too. God, did they ever turn into a bunch of crap later. Disappointing. I'm glad I caught them early. I got to see them in a tiny bar, playing to an audience of maybe 40 people and it was insanely good.

Spiritualized - ditto the Verve comments. Up to an including "Ladies and Gentlemen," one of the greatest live bands I have ever seen. After that, they were either too overproduced or bland for my liking, but god god were they fantastic for a number of years.

Psychic TV

Flaming Lips (do not want symphonic version)

I've seen Spiritualised on, I think, every tour since Ladies... and they remain the sort of band that are well worth seeing. I haven't bothered with their records so much, but I maintain they're still worth it live.

Probably just about every band I can think of at the moment. I think that's just the way it goes.