How much material do you have to hear to honestly stop loving an artist?

If I’d been about at the time and buying Captain Beefheart’s albums in chronological order I might easily have given up after Mirror Man and certainly after the double-whammy of “Bluejeans and Moonbeams” and “Unconditionally Guaranteed” (as indeed a lot of his fans seem to have done at the time).

Over to you….

Or how you still find yourself playing your old copy of "Hatful Of Hollow" regularly while the dust is getting steadily thicker on your copy of "Yo! Bum Rush The Show"?

Or because Morrissey released a great album in 1994 whereas PE haven't released a great one since 1991?

Or because PE blew their last chance with "Revolverlution" whereas "Maladjusted" wasn't that dreadful so Morrissey's still being given one more chance?

(Sacking Lupine Howl != as serious an offense against taste as sacking Graham Coxon)

I play the PE stuff I love much more than I play the Smiths or Morrissey stuff I love, so it's not that.

I think also it's to do with my current listening - a lot of hip-hop, very little indie. So if I bought an indie record it would be for indulgent nostalgic reasons (i.e. Moz!) whereas I don't need to do that with hip-hop.

Was Graham pushed or did he jump?

More importantly (or at least relevantly) 'though, do you really stop buying a bands records simply because someone you like has left the band, without at least seeing what they sound like without them?

Does it make a difference whether that person was booted out or left of their own volition?

I *had* written off Spz after LICD. But still, I loved them enough once to give AG a chance when I had the chance to listen to the MP3s. And I was glad that I did.

Once I have decided that I love an artist, it takes A LOT to make me then write them off. (Obviously, it depends on the length and depth of the love, but still.) Sacking the most creative member of your band = that LOT.

To take again my old faves the Damned:
In 1978 they lost (split up & reformed without i.e. effectively kicked out) their main songwriter (= most creative member?) Brian James, people said they wouldn't survive without him. They became more successful.
In 1984 they lost their main songwriter (= most creative member?) Captain Sensible, people said they wouldn't survive without him. They became more successful.

Consider also: Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Suede....

Surely the only rule about this is that there are no rules?

In Blur's case, the shitness of the material they are producing sans-Graham backs up my gut reaction.

It's easy with the benefit of hindsight to look at acts like The Cure or The Fall and say that it doesn't matter who else is in the line up because the two messrs Smith effectively ARE those bands - but I can still remember wondering at the time whether they were going to survive the loss of Michael Dempsey / Martin Bramah / Karl Burns etc. etc.

As far as Blur are concerned personally I just see Think Tank as another step in the downhill path they been pursuing from Parklife onwards and Coxon's departure as symtomatic rather than causal.

Even if they are wrong when they don't coincide with mine. ;~P

What about bands / artists where there isn't a specific identifiable trigger like the departure of a key member, just (what you perceive as) a steady decline in the quality of their output?

What about bands / artists that you just grow out of (or is that a different quyestion?)?

I'm trying to think of artists that I "fell out of love with". Usually it happens if it was a brief infatuation to start with. For me to actually FALL IN LOVE WITH a band they have to have had a good, long run of high quality material to start with, in which case, they're less likely to falter with age.

Though I guess I "fell out of love with" Sonic Youth through a long steady decline in (perceived) quality. Though that decline started over 10 years ago, I had a blip with "Oh, NYC Ghosts & Flowers isn't so bad" but then Murray Street confirmed my opinion that they had jumped the shark.

Oh yeah, and speaking of steady declines - Stereolab. Though who knows if they've actually split up and sensibly gone on to solo projects. (I no longer rehearse at The Joint any more, so I don't know if they're still together.)

Also, currently poised on the brink / recently blown their last chance: Killing Joke; Placebo; Suede; Supergrass

Maybe I'm just a shallow, fickle, disloyal little strumpet.

ffwd 3 years. they cut their hair, put out another record. Bleah. Uh, oh, think I. We go see them live, double bleah.

Shit, think i, they were good while they lasted. This is probably it for them.

Then their lead guitarist/co-songwriter quits, which is usually the death knell. The next album comes out, which sucks, followed up by a greatest hits disc. so that's it for them, i guess.

maybe there's a certain point where the artist goes beyond what you're willing to tolerate.

I also checked this thread to see how fast it would take for someone to mention Morrissey. Vauxhall was great, but I honestly think the Moz has lost it. I won't be picking up the new record unless its remarkable or different. A quality producer wouldn't hurt either..

i love radiohead. i quite like the new record. i have 5 others. i was thinking while listening to it this week, you know i don't think i really am ever going to need another radiohead record. I might be wrong but thats how i feel. similarly i reached the same conclusion the day after i bought my second ramones record.

that said i've got 8 dylan records and will get more. I can't think of anybody i've got more than 8 records of though.

although there's much ado about praising the bassline and vocals in "girls and boys" the thing that makes the song wonderful for me is graham's grouchy, smashing guitar work.

What makes the song wonderful is the TENSION between the two. Alex thinking he is in Duran Duran while Graham thinks he's in Sonic Youth. It's like they're trying to outplay each other in their respective styles. And oh so much better for it. Take away either element and the song would collapse.

(But take away the vocals and the song would remain the same.)

I can understand that (not re: Robert Smith necessarily, but if someone were to put out a bootleg of Don Van Vliet farting in the bath I'd almost certainly have to own it) however the question is more about how many kittens would have to be brutally and senselessly slaughtered before you finally tired of their pitiful mewling and stopped buying the albums?

"Moz lost me at _Bona Drag_!"

That's the other side of the coin you see? OK, so you can feel all smug about not having shelled out your hard-earned on "Killed Uncle", but by the same token you've missed out on the joys of "Your Arsenal" and "Vauxhall & I" which I think vindicated me persisting through Mozzer's (first?) (little?) rough patch!

But with Dylan you're (presumably) working backwards, (probably) starting with the (canon) accepted greats. That's certainly the way I discovered Dylan and I *think* I've got 15 myself and I love 'em all to varying degrees. However I've heard enough of the others to know that I don't want to own (m)any of the other albums (basically the ones that AMG etc. are giving 3 stars to or less) and I'm sure that if I'd been buying them in chronological order as they came out, Mr Zimmerman and I would certainly have parted company by 1980, and I might easily have missed out on "Time Out Of Mind" and "Love And Theft", which are two of my favourites.

Ooooooh! Someone hold him down for me while I hit him with me gladioli!

I wasn't saying he wasn't to start with, jeez! I AM saying that at a certain point the 'tension' you note in "Girls and Boys" (for instance) got replaced by a domination from him (and Damon as well, to be sure), and the results weren't pretty. I hated what he'd done and I still am annoyed with what he became -- and considering how much I'm also tired of Damon, this says something. Dave and Alex just need to finally pull a Hair and Skin Trading Company/Darkside move!