10 Rock Bands That Destroyed Their Own Legacies
Black Flag threw it all away with one ill-advised decision...
It's a gift for any musician to have a legacy with their music. No matter how much flak comes your way from those around you, it all fades when you look back on a rich catalog of music behind you. At the same time, leaving that spotless track record can be a double-edged sword.
Whenever bands either take a break or retire from making records, the pressure is always on for the band to either reunite or come back together in the studio. Sometimes bands prefer to leave their legacy the way it is, while some emerge from the dead and end up defacing their older work.
Over the years, there have been many bands who have decided that they still have gas left in the tank only to be shown running on empty when it comes time to record. The records may not be bad nor the tours laughable, but this incarnation shows these phenomenal acts as a shadow of their former selves. The hot streak is always fun, but the victory lap is always when you can see the cracks appearing for these artists. Here are the bands whose recent work made us all want to reach for our older CD's for comfort.
10. U2
At the end of the 80's, U2 started to seem like more than just a band. After dominating that decade with epic shows at Live Aid and classic albums like the Joshua Tree, this Irish group were poised to be the next spokesmen of rock. Even into the 90's, their work on albums like Achtung Baby showed how well they could adapt with the changing musical landscape.
Ever since that decade though, any goodwill that the band may have had seemed to dissipate. The band started the millennium off pretty strong with the album All That You Can't Leave Behind, but nowadays they have taken creative ventures that have led to musical dead ends. Instead of thriving by expanding on their classic sound, some of the band's output like "Get On Your Boots" feel more like Bono and the Edge trying to catch up with the poppy trends of the modern day.
It also didn't help when one of their better records, Songs of Innocence, was practically forced upon all Apple users upon the day of release. Bands will typically do whatever they can to reach the best demographic, but the idea of just giving away your music regardless of whether your audience wants it was bound to backfire.