The Musical Musings 5

This week the topic focuses on those outfits that got out while the gettin' was still good. Before swollen egos, sheer boredom, and an itch to experiment resulted in an album like The Soft Parade (The Doors), Mardi Gras (CCR), Load (Metallica), or, of course, Ceremony (The Cult), they called it quits and moved on. These are:

5 Bands Who Packed It In Before Making a Truly Bad Album

Live albums and compilations are omitted from judgment, since they're consistently uneven and usually label-selected, respectively. Bands or artists that quit too soon and didn't have enough of a catalog are ineligible; we'll set the bar at 4+ studio albums, so Hendrix and Nirvana, while blunder-free, don't qualify. As always, we're authoritative on subjective matters here. In chronological order:

1. The Beatles
Dangerously close: Let It Be. Duh, of course the Beatles are here. Yes, Phil Spector's Wall of Sounds Awful nearly did Let It Be in, but it was still solid Beatles, and you know that can't be bad. Yellow Submarine doesn't count, as it's mostly compiled stuff, nor does the soundtrack to the dreaded Sgt. Pepper's movie. The Beatles went their separate ways just in time, as evidenced by the 15 or 20 Beatle-worthy songs the Fab-Four-no-more produced in the 34 years since.

2. Steely Dan
Dangerously close: Gaucho. Sure, George Carlin rags on them and they've always catered to the odd nerd/snob amalgam, but the truth remains that they put out consistently listenable music throughout the 70's. And then they quit, just like that. Brilliant. Serious asterisk on this one, since it came back to them and they reformed in 2000, but if they re-quit soon, they can stay on the list. Incidentally, they did win a Grammy after reuniting, which (a) is never necessarily evidence of good music, and (b) was considered an overdue make-up call a la Connery's Oscar for The Untouchables, but the album was regarded highly and probably not the ruination of their earlier legacy, either.

3. The Police
Dangerously close: Synchronicity. Five albums in six years and then done, so Sting can let his ego go wild. Their final album was good, but with some borderline soft rock and some slop ("Mother") inferior to the gags on their other albums. At the time I was disappointed they busted up, but it would've ended badly. With pop, reggae, punk, new wave, and rock all vying for Police airtime, Sting's new jazz/worldbeat vibe would've been a messy addition, so he had to move on. After all, if you love somebody, set them free.

4. The Smiths
Dangerously close: Meat Is Murder. These guys dissolved at their peak, and while Moz & Marr have both gone on to later successes, they weren't close to the creative or commercial heights they reached as The Smiths. The Smiths, New Order, and The Cure were the triumvirate of what was first known as alternative music, but The Smiths quickly finished what they started after four great LP's plus one great compilation of random tracks.

5. The Replacements
Dangerously close: Don't Tell a Soul. Before Paul Westerberg went his own way into the land of solo records, soundtracks, and somewhat obscurity, The Replacements were the kings of college radio. They cranked out three indie label and four major label records before Westerberg ended the Replacements' run, God rest their guts. All good, from the early garage thrash to the plain ol' rock 'n' roll. Some are better than others, but any one of them makes a good soundtrack to a night of drinking.

This was mostly off the top of my head, so I'm sure there are others. Many were close, save that one horrid record. A few others would have made the grade had some of the group not continued on in the band's name after key members were gone: The Clash after Mick was sacked (Cut the Crap was just Crap, including the blatantly fraudulent tune "We Are the Clash"), Pink Floyd sans Roger Waters, Van Hagar, and Skynyrd after half the band died.

A few on the right track now include the Old 97's, Ween, and Wilco, though each has a more particular audience and some close-to-the-edge suspects as well. Some have already misstepped, like R.E.M. (Out of Time, all of the post-Bill Berry stuff), the Chili Peppers (One Hot Minute), and U2 (Rattle and Hum).

Others are still spewing out recordings after years and years of great stuff, endangering themselves severely. By "others" I mean The Rolling Stones. Have they ever released an album that was bad by all standards, not just in comparison to Exile on Main Street? Their Satanic Majesties Request, Emotional Rescue, and all of the newest stuff are candidates for such a slag, but are they truly terrible? I'm not convinced the Stones have ever removed themselves from eligibility for this list, even if (a) they haven't really rocked since they were "sucking in the seventies," (b) Mick and Keith have both had solo records better than the Stones' releases of the same era, and (c) they're spewing out live discs and best-ofs with the same frequency with which they change their catheter bags.

Perhaps there are some questions for further scrutiny here, or maybe we should tackle the topic Ryan alluded to in his last post and see whether Michael Jackson is really the King of Pop. (That'll be quick.)