I preferred their early stuff

All IMHO but

My favourite Pink Floyd album is Piper At The Gates Of Dawn.

Coldplay - think the second album is better than the first.

Roxy Music - their debut is better than all their subsequent records although Avalon comes close.

Fleetwood Mac - have distinct eras so difficult to compare. Tusk is my favourite album of all time by anyone.

Early Nick Cave - no. Don't think he hit his stride until Your Funeral, My Trial.

Red Hot Chili Peppers early albums are full of filler. They didn't click until Mother's Milk.

The Smiths' debut album is significantly weaker than the other three.

New Order's Movement is one of the worst records I have ever heard.

The Cardigans might be a good example... stuff like 'My Favourite Game' and 'Erase / Rewind' were okay at the time but would only really listen to the earlier stuff these days

Seems Americans only know the later stuff...

Well smashing pumpkins, obvs!

Aerosmith, love their 70s stuff, nowadays? Meh

Kendrick Lamar - Has completely sold out now - OD and Section 80 were unbelievable

Eminem - No explanation needed. When things like Love The Way You Lie started coming out it fell apart

Arctic Monkeys - In fairness they’ve changed things up and I’m just not into them anymore

All IMHO

U2 - not sure. Peaked with The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby & Zooropa. Pop was the last classic. Mixed returns after 2000.

Beatles - my favourite four Beatles albums are Sgt Pepper, Let It Be, White Album & Abbey Road - so definitely think later was better

Spandau Ballet - agree, first two albums were best

Human League - last good album was Hysteria, hit and miss after that although 1990's Heart Like A Wheel and 1995's One Man In My Heart are bangers.

The Beatles? They are an incredibly rare example of a band that got better as they went and arguably split up at their peak, Abbey Road was the last album they recorded and imo the best. Their very early stuff is actually a bit rubbish for the most part.

my #2 Stones album. Beaten by Some Girls.

completely agree about U2. Its like adam clayton forgot how to play the bass.

Oasis, first 3 albums are classics, what followed is total horse sh1t bar 1 or 2 songs eg ‘Stop crying your heart out’.

Unless your Leonard Cohen.

Green Day have never hit the same heights as their first few albums.

Depends what you mean by newer stuff. You said "in their 50s" which is when he is releasing Various Positions, I'm Your Man and The Future which have some of his best work.

Kid A blew me away when it came out. It's what started me into the world of electronic music, was exclusively listening to rock before that.

I suppose the thing is, what's their 'new' stuff today is their 'early stuff' tomorrow if they go on long enough. 😁

I absolutely love Rush with their peak for me being the period of albums from 2112 through to Permanent Waves. In my mind I've always considered that their 'earlier stuff', but they've three albums before 2112.

I'm a huge Nine Inch Nails fan from their first album up to The Fragile. Some of my favourite music ever. Then it drops off an absolute cliff for me and I can't listen to a lot albums that came after.

I went to one of their gigs in The Netherlands a few years back and it was mostly 'new' stuff to me. But my missus didn't start listening to them until some of that new stuff, so to her the new stuff was 'old stuff'.

All very confusing :D

Levellers became fairly famous from about '93 onwards, were on a lot of the mid-'90s compilations but I couldn't get into anything by them - heard a bit of their earlier stuff in recent years, some of that is very good

Yeah, I remember The Levellers appearing on two Now albums

Now 26 This Garden

Now 33 Just The One

Their earlier LP Levelling The Land was a firm favourite at Dublin house parties of the early 90s.

That's right. Think they were on 5 or 6 volumes. Great series.

One Way is on Telstar's Indie Hits which is a great snapshot of late 91 / early 92 nights at McGonagles (Panic and Sonic Boom) https://www.discogs.com/release/635103-Various-IndieHits

The first Reef album, 'Replenish'… essentially a Stoner Rock album

Spiritualized magnificent for first three albums, only a few songs per album after that (although the latest album is great tbf).

Mercury Rev post-David Baker era lost the thrill for me.

Stereolab up to Emperor Tomato Ketchup were fantastic then dropped off considerably.

Whipping Boy pre-Heartworm much better imo. Tiny discography i know but it bugs the hell out of me that the earlier material is always completely disregarded when they're talked about.

Not a fan myself but i know plenty who would put Flaming Lips firmly in this conversation, jumping off at Clouds Taste Metallic.

Agree re Stereolab, serious fall off in quality from Dots and Loops onwards.

Whipping Boy early stuff is great especially the first two 12"s. Submarine production lets it down a bit but they were savage live 1989-1992. Heartworm is very good but the 2022 reissue wasn't as comprehensive as it should have been. Primarily because the label insisted on the vinyl running time dictating the content. Great for all those who ignored the vinyl in 1995, not so good for those of us who did buy the LP back then and who now just wanted everything from the era on two CDs.

Avril Lavigne is an interesting example of this. The record label made her play into the pop punk trend of the early 2000s and when that went out of fashion she gradually became a generic pop star. She never really made it as a pop star but she still has a large fan base based upon those first 2 albums. I saw her live recently and she doesn't seem to sing those old songs the same as in the concerts 20 years ago.