10 Classic Rock Bands Never Better Than Their First Album

The era of the '60s through to the end of the '80s is commonly known as one of the greatest times for rock and roll. No matter what genre of rock you listened to from glam rock to heavy metal, there's a high probability that some of your favourite albums of the genre came out during that timeframe. However, even though the best of the best have risen to the top, some bands just couldn't build off their initial momentum.

Even if these bands had stellar starting points, their career never took them as high as they might have thought. Does that mean these bands weren't talented? No. Most of them have actually had pretty prosperous careers going on after their initial success, but they always seemed cursed to live in the shadow of their first effort. In some cases, these acts never even got that big, but people found out that their debut held up pretty well.

These are just an assortment of legendary acts who have been stuck trying to recreate their initial magic for years now. They may have had a bunch of other hits down the line, but when it comes to the classic tunes, nothing beats the originals.

If it weren't for King Crimson, the entire prog landscape might not exist. Under the watchful eye of guitarist Robert Fripp, the band toyed with everything from time signatures to different recording techniques in order to make their music sound like nothing else in the rock sphere. Though the band would have other epic tracks, it still doesn't get any better than In the Court of the Crimson King.

From the way "21st Century Schizoid Man" marches in with its use of distortion to the moody energy of "Epitaph," the whole album feels like you're listening to the sonic equivalent of the rapture. However, things began to unravel once the band got to their next record. In the Wake of Poseidon was still a great helping of prog, but with members Greg Lake and Michael Giles already out the door, the band had lost some of that initial magic. Though later albums like Red and Larks' Tongues in Aspic are still phenomenal by prog standards, they don't possess the amount of punch that the band's first record had.

Saying that King Crimson never got better than their debut isn't really the diss it's supposed to be. In the Court of the Crimson King couldn't be topped, but that's because most other human musicians probably couldn't match it.