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Bands/Performers That Stayed Consistently Good

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O

opoth

Banned
phanphare said:
The Phish from Vermont
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I love Phish brah, but anyone who gave birth to the Coventry Glide doesn't belong in this thread. I will agree that they've redeemed themselves in full but 2000-2010 is time that they can never get back. Maybe this is too much nitpicking that belongs elsewhere on the internet. :)

Baconsaurus Rex said:
Joy Division :(
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This - didn't last long enough to start to suck!

FWIW, New Order's new album is their best work in years.

Boards of Canada and MBV are my other votes.
 
H

hobblygobbly

Member
Immediate that come to mind are (and I listen to them all frequently too):

Gorillaz
TV On The Radio
MONO (the band)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Nine Inch Nails
Mogwai
Electric Wizard
Candlemass
Orange Goblin
Truckfighters
Motörhead
The White Stripes
God Is An Astronaut
Sigur Ros
Carbon Based Lifeforms
Boards of Canada
Paul Kalkbrenner

Honourable mentions are Iron Maiden and Dream Theater, not exactly all the way there but pretty close for me that I have to mention them.
 
D

Doc_Drop

Member
opoth said:
Boards of Canada
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YES! great shout

I can see the thread is getting a little too subjective however (although I accept that this is all mostly subjective anyway). There are a number of artists here that here only because people like them, not that they have objectively stayed consistently good
 
G

Gurgelhals

Member
opoth said:
FWIW, New Order's new album is their best work in years.
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So much this. Didn't really expect anything from them anymore after the boring Bad Lieutenant album and the embarrassing (and still ongoing) Hooky soap opera, but it really is a bloody good one and probably their best since Technique, which was over a quarter-century ago.
 
T

Tenebrous

Member
lastflowers said:
Liking all of your choices. Also agree with the Floyd ones, though honestly I haven't given The Wall a true good listen in a couple of years....so maybe my thoughts might change on it.


I'll have to give Bjork's releases more listens. I like some of her stuff, but haven't ever really devoted much time to it other than one of her low-key albums (gling-glo?)
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You're in for a treat with Bjork. Start at Debut and just work your way through it all.

The Wall has some great moments, but eh... Too many not so great moments.
 
X

XT Vengeance

Member
High on Fire: The same three guys have made amazing metal for the last 20 years, and somehow they make stuff that is new and different, yet still theirs.

The Sword: While some may not like their change from heavy metal into hard rock, they stay true to themselves and consistentlyrics make great music.
 
T

TheSecondLetter

Neo Member
The Roots - I may be biased because they are my favorite band...But they've always had great quality even when they were making albums I liked less than others.

Killswitch Engage - They are one of those rare groups who's content actually gets better with every album (at least for me).

The Foreign Exchange - They changed their formula, but the quality never dropped.
 
K

kris.

Banned
in the 20ish years they've been a band, Converge have released one single not so great album, which is forgivable because it was their debut. everything since has been nails and i don't see them slowing down anytime soon.
 
QuantumZebra

QuantumZebra

Member
XT Vengeance said:
High on Fire: The same three guys have made amazing metal for the last 20 years, and somehow they make stuff that is new and different, yet still theirs.

The Sword: While some may not like their change from heavy metal into hard rock, they stay true to themselves and consistentlyrics make great music.
Click to expand...

I'm getting the feeling you're a fan of Baroness / Mastodon / Torche as well?

(from Atlanta and heavy into the sludge/hard rock-metal stuff)
 
N

nomster

Member
Sorry OP but I can't agree with the Coheed pick. Their first three, maybe four, are so far ahead of anything they've done since. Still great live performers though.
 
M

March of the Crabs

Member
Strung Out (punk/metal/prog-ish band) has been around since the late 80s and just put out their best album yet last year. It's insane. The fact THIS is from a band 26 years into their career (with all original members beyond getting a new bassist in 1999) is fucking INSANE. They are, in my opinion of course, the definitive answer to this question.

Lagwagon (great punk band) is also from the late 80s and put put their best album in 2014 which really impressed me.

Slayer and Bad Religion would be good choices too.

Most impressive though is Buzzcocks. Around since 1976 and still consistently put put solid, catchy pop punk jams. They're in their early 60s now and still kick ass.
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
RoKKeR said:
U2. Dudes have been in the game for 40 years now and they put on some of the best live shows in the industry. While I personally don't think their output in the last 10 or so years has been quite a good as their stuff from the 80's and, it's pretty damn solid and has produced some great material for a band so late in their career.

Also Bowie. What a fucking boss. Top of his game all the way to the end.

Edit: Oh, and Jack White. The entire White Stripes catalogue + his two solo albums? Damn, dude is legit.
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and The Raconteurs two fantastic albums.
 
T

Tuffty

Member
QOTSA, Prince, Killswitch Engage (though more tempted to say Jesse Leach because Seemless, The Empire Shall Fall and Times of Grace are all great while KSE's second self titled album is easily their worst), The Sword, John Frusciante, Bowie.
 
S

Shadowdude

Neo Member
As far as metal, Overkill has yet to disappoint. Every single album goes for the jugular, and they just get better with age.

Motörhead, Kings of consistency (RIP Lemmy).
Dillinger Escape Plan
Death

Devin Townsend also has not disappointed me yet.
My god, Accelerated Evolution and Synchestra are amazing.
 
A

AzureSkies

Member
Shadowdude said:
As far as metal, Overkill has yet to disappoint. Every single album goes for the jugular, and they just get better with age.

Motörhead, Kings of consistency (RIP Lemmy).
Dillinger Escape Plan
Death

Devin Townsend also has not disappointed me yet.
My god, Accelerated Evolution and Synchestra are amazing.
Click to expand...
Accelerated Evolution is amazing, annoyed that it took me until recently to listen to it.
 
SturokBGD

SturokBGD

Member
Ginger Wildheart. Consistently amazing throughout his entire career, with and without the Wildhearts. Also somewhat related, Devin Townsend.

Verdre said:
Motorhead

23 albums released over 40 years. The biggest problem that plagued them over their career was dubious production. Most of the albums I would classify as less than good are almost always due to awful production. It brings down otherwise great albums - as is proven when songs from them are played live.

They finally got the producer they deserved with 2004's Inferno and they went on to make some of the best albums of their career with him, so it's always a shame when everyone screams Ace of Spades from the hill tops without taking into account everything else they released.
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Couldn't agree more.
 
A

AngmarsKing701

Member
gappvembe said:
This topic is so subjective really.
For me it would be my favorite bands:
KISS
Def Leppard (minus first album)
The Darkness
Edguy (for me it's Hellfire Club and after)
Avanatasia (The first two albums are just ok, but after that love them)



Case in point:


I only like one PF song, Take It Back. Anything else I've heard, I don't like.
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Thank you for the Avantasia pointer! Had never heard of them. Decided to listen to some of their Top Songs via Google Music ... and I've pretty much just been adding album after album to my library.
 
S

SatoAilDarko

Member
They Might Be Giants

they-might-be-giants.jpg


they-might-be-giants-hi-res-press-photo-21.jpg
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Together since 1982 with their first album released in 1986. After releasing both and adult and their fifth children's album last year they're going to release their 19th album soon.

Glean was my favorite album out of other favorites Sufjan Stevens and Modest Mouse last year.

They're one of the few bands who I enjoy every song form and as they have released hundreds of songs across albums and b-sides and possibly over a thousand through demos and podcasts that's quite a feat.

The taking their first break soon since the late 90's until likely 2018.
 
H

Hindl

Member
phanphare said:
The Phish from Vermont

over 30 years as a band and they're still going strong, they just played one of their best tours as a band this past summer, and they do it all while staying completely outside the mainstream. name me another band like that that can sell out 4 nights at MSG in minutes or get over 40,000 people to show up to a festival where they're the only band that plays.

edit: in 2004 they were pretty bad but that is only one year of their career and it's mostly because their leader and guitar player was literally dying on stage addicted to alcohol and heroin. even then there were still some great jams but their composed music took a huge hit. but he got clean and now they're back and going strong.
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Agreed. Summer 2015 was incredible, and they've been trending up since 2010. While it wasn't until 2012 that we started getting consistently great shows again, these past few years have been incredible.

opoth said:
I love Phish brah, but anyone who gave birth to the Coventry Glide doesn't belong in this thread. I will agree that they've redeemed themselves in full but 2000-2010 is time that they can never get back. Maybe this is too much nitpicking that belongs elsewhere on the internet. :)



This - didn't last long enough to start to suck!

FWIW, New Order's new album is their best work in years.

Boards of Canada and MBV are my other votes.
Click to expand...

Oh c'mon, the only bad years I'd include in there is 2004 and 2010. Considering they didn't play 01-02 (except New Years) and 05-08, they've had 2, maybe 3, bad years in the 20+ years they've played. And Trey was fucked up on Oxy and other shit at Coventry, it's a miracle he was able to stand up. And that same Coventry produced a really awesome, if sloppy, Melt.
 
V

Valhelm

contribute something
Generally, really good artists manage to stay great for 20 years or 7 studio albums. Whichever comes first. Some examples:

King Crimson
Miles Davis
The Beatles
John Coltrane
Radiohead
Bob Dylan
Pink Floyd
Charles Mingus
Swans
Frank Zappa

It's pretty impressive when somebody can last so long while producing quality work.
 
W

wanderingprostheyltite

Member
Mike Patton seems to keep doing great work, case in point...

Faith_No_More_-_Sol_Invictus_Album_Cover.png


Has done tons of side projects and collabs over the years, most of which are very good to decent. Lots of variety and experimentation as well.
 
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