Metal Sludge Gossip Board

Absolutely. But I think of it less as a time expiration, and more of a dry well. Everyone’s got X amount of the good stuff in ‘em. Use it wisely.

Generally yes, but there are many exceptions - Rush and Motörhead stayed true and maintained quality as long as they made records and toured, and Judas Priest made a return to form after three decades (!!) of mediocrity - from Ram it Down (1988) and until Firepower (2018)....

Alex vanHalen said yes, they knew they had a small window

Yes, after the 3rd album goes platinum and the label extend your contract. It’s usually by the fifth album huge bands drastically fall off. Add or drop from the label completely.

Love_Industry wrote: ↑Sun Aug 10, 2025 8:39 am Generally yes, but there are many exceptions - Rush and Motörhead stayed true and maintained quality as long as they made records and toured, and Judas Priest made a return to form after three decades (!!) of mediocrity - from Ram it Down (1988) and until Firepower (2018)....

Rush strayed from their guitar sound in the mid- to late-80s and a lot of fans drifted away, me included, before they got back on track with Counterparts in 1993.

As to the original question, I have long maintained that bands have a 5 to 7 year peak. After that they lose it for whatever reason -- lineup changes, drugs, running out of inspiration, trauma, what have you. After that they live off inertia for a while. But sometimes they get a great second wind, like Priest with Firepower, AC/DC did with Who Made Who and Overkill did with Ironbound.

Pick any long running band and they all have a peak and a fall off.

I thought Rush's peak period was Moving Pictures through Power Windows. Don't like the earlier material as much, especially the ridiculously over-rated 2112.

I've thought about this a lot too. Even though musically they sold their soul Aerosmith brought in the outside writers for the Bruce Fairburn albums and that completely rejuvenated/resurrected them and they got a second life. There were a few other factors at play too. One, they had been away for bit so people weren't completely sick of them at that point (although I suppose being away could work against you as well). Two, they had gotten clean so they had newfound energy. Three, the crossover with Run DMC was HUGE for them. Without that I question if the comeback would've even happened. Basically it was a different band than what they had been.

I don't mean to take anything away from them because even though they were kind of cheating (if you look at it that way) by bringing in professional outside writers they still were the ones playing the music and they worked their asses off and did what they had to do by using MTV to their advantage and touring hard. In a nutshell what they pulled off was pretty remarkable. They made a lot of good decisions and they caught a couple breaks as well. For example, I seem to remember the first few months after releasing Get A Grip it looked like it was going to fall well short of the success they had with Pump, but then came the Alicia Silverstone trilogy of videos and they became bigger than ever. Also, something that cannot be mentioned enough is that if they had any other front man than Steven Tyler it may not have happened. He had such a big personality that even if he came across as obnoxious sometimes you couldn't help but tell that the guy was having a good time and that personality was perfect for how MTV was back then which helped them considerably.

Overkill is an interesting one. Their stuff from Ironbound forward is, I would argue, their BEST stuff.

Most musicians seem to lose their inspiration once they're past 40 or 50. After that most of the stuff becomes pretty generic.

7 years on average

Olivia Sophia wrote: ↑Tue Aug 12, 2025 4:42 pm Alex vanHalen said yes, they knew they had a small window

Van Hagar came to mind when I posted this thread. Even if you hated the albums, those guys loved working together and Eddie seemed rejuvenated with what he saw as a "real" vocalist. You can't say they weren't motivated.

By the time Balance came around, the relationship was running its course.

SchenkerFan wrote: ↑Wed Aug 13, 2025 2:43 am Most musicians seem to lose their inspiration once they're past 40 or 50. After that most of the stuff becomes pretty generic.

I would like to counter with Deep Purple and Duran Duran.

All artists do, regardless of medium.

For every 1 Martin Scorsese, there are 1,000 Michael Ciminos.