[Derek]

Originally Posted by radarmaker

Shit, just about every band that has ever been "good" ends up pissing their legacy away in the end.

Off the top of my head: The Modern Lovers, Television, Patti Smith Group, Stooges, Husker Du, Butthole Surfers, the Stones, the Clash, and many, many more. I'm sure a few people on here would say Sonic Youth.

A tougher question is to think of bands that started out being crap and then pulled themselves around into something fantastic - I guess MBV are an obvious choice there...

Television?

Patti Smith still makes good records.