Which of these 5 rock bands who all hit their artistic peak in the 90's,) has the best chance of releasing one more great album before they call it a day?

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Inspired by Green Day's "American Idiot"( which I think is their best album,) I went through my CD's and picked out a few rock bands that all had commercial and/or critical success in the 90's AND are still making music together (all of them for at least 15 years now.) Which of these bands do you think still has one great album left in them?

Cracker- One of the finest debuts I've ever heard followed up by a very good sophomore effort. They got a little spotty after that but recently released "Forever" which was a very fine effort.

Live- Monster success with "Throwing Copper" but pretty much all downhill after that. Some good songs here and there, but they never seemed to artistically or commercially equal their biggest album.

Pearl Jam- The strength of their first two albums along with great live shows have kept this once monstrous band still going strong. But recent albums, despite moments of greatness, have also seen there share of filler.

Lemonheads/Evan Dando- Released some of the best indie pop of the 90's culminating with "It's a Shame About Ray" but hasn't really been heard from lately, although I hear he's still performing.

Superchunk- They continue to release solid albums, but most will agree that they have yet to equal the greatness of "Here's Where The Strigs Come In" or "On The Mouth."

― Mace, Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I think "Come Pick Me Up" is EASILY Superchunk's best album--doesn't rock like some of the others, but songwriting, playing, thinking-about-sound are totally ahead of the pack. I suspect there's plenty of juice left in them.

― Douglas (Douglas), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm going to have to go with Pearl Jam simply because I believe they're more talented than the rest of the bands I've mentioned and have teetered on the edge of greatness. If they really put their minds to it I'm pretty confident that they could release another fantastic album. They could use a producer who has the balls to tell them what songs aren't making the grade though. And at this point in their career I'm not entirely sure that will happen. I think Cracker and Superchunk will continue to release albums that their fans like, but probably nothing earthshaking. Live, despite growing up 25 minutes away from me, seem to have exhausted their creativeness, which is sad, but probably true. I hope I'm wrong. Dando is the wild card. I think he's a great songwriter, but I'm not sure he'll ever get it together fully to duplicate his previous success.

― Mace, Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Jeez, talk about slim pickin's. Are Cracker even still going now that Lowry has revived Camper Van Beethoven? Live are DONE, and amen to that. Pearl Jam are just so far up their own ass these days that I can't say whether they could pull it off or not. Dando's just a casualty.

My money's on Superchunk.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Ding! (re: Douglas' assessment of Superchunk.)

Also, this:

Pearl Jam - But recent albums, despite moments of greatness, have also seen there share of filler.

SOOOOOOOOOO WRONG (especially when you're weighing their last 3 records against the wants-to-be-odds-&-sods grandeur of Vs.) (DROP THE LEASH EDDIE!) I'd go so far as to call Riot Act PJ's version of Come Pick Me Up. But, then, I would.

― David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:40 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck all those bands

― the first church of latebloomer, friend of plebians and santa (reformed) (latebl, Saturday, 22 January 2005 07:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Douglas is OTM, I love Come Pick Me Up. didn't here the one after that, though, so I'm not sure how much juice they've got in 'em. I thought Riot Act was mostly dreadful, easily Pearl Jam's worst album (and pretty much all their albums are uneven as it is), but I wouldn't be surprised if they came out with something really good, although I doubt they could score a comeback on the level of American Idiot.

― Al (sitcom), Saturday, 22 January 2005 08:17 (twenty-one years ago)

the only one of these groups that i like even a little bit is superchunk. and everyone knows that superchunk just keeps releasing the same record over and over, anyway. (so does pearl jam, but they've always sucked so who cares!)

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 22 January 2005 09:15 (twenty-one years ago)

LIVE has to disperse of the soft verse / heavy chorus formula that they adopted for Throwing Copper. They should forget they even had success with that album, forget that grunge ever happened, and believe in the idea that their best and most original sounding disc was their first, MENTAL JEWELRY. The Distance To Here was pretty good and at points seemed to acknowledge their funk and acoustic roots, but still pandered to that "modern rock" sound. V was a disaster due to the woeful incorporation of "hip hop" in the vain attempt to stay current...just plain bad. Their last one, Birds of Prey, was even worse due to the boring soft / heavy obviousness that I mentioned in the first sentence.
That being said, I still believe in the possibility that if they quit trying to have "hits" or mistakingly thinking that Throwing Copper was their best album and just follow the path that they blindly took when young and unencumbered by commercial restraints, then they could still come up with another classic.

― bahtology, Saturday, 22 January 2005 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

The answer is Nirvana.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Saturday, 22 January 2005 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Probably Cracker.

― Ian Riese-Moraine (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 22 January 2005 15:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Here's To Shutting Up was terrific. Superchunk's as good as they've ever been. So there you go.

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 22 January 2005 15:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Flaming Lips. The 90s stuff leading up to and including "Zaireeka" is incredible and then it all went downhill after that. "Soft Bulletin" is mostly amazing but "Yoshimi" is boring and the song with the Chemical Brothers is wretched..

― Adam Bruneau (oliver8bit), Saturday, 22 January 2005 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)

I hated (hated!) 'Come Pick Me Up' when I first got it. I played it a couple of years later and realized that I R DUMM and that this album was great all along.

I haven't heard Here's To Shutting Up, but my vote's on Superchunk.

― righteousmaelstrom, Sunday, 23 January 2005 04:30 (twenty-one years ago)

De La Soul.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Sunday, 23 January 2005 04:46 (twenty-one years ago)

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