8. Green Day
The story of Green Day is a strange one. They made their name in the early nineties as a riotous Californian punk band who hit major success in 1994 with their Dookie album, spawning the majority of their early hits. But the rest of the nineties saw a decline in their fortunes to the point of irrelevant mediocrity. Everyone thought they were done until they completely reinvented their sound and image with 2004's American Idiot, which, regardless of your thoughts on the band, was one of the most important albums of the decade, as the youth of America was given a voice in the most unexpected way: through three ageing punk rockers. They followed it up with 21st Century Breakdown five years later... which was okay, like a watered down version of its predecessor. Then they spoiled it all and released a three-part album in 2012, and each received shrugs of indifference from all involved. Yes, Green Day had some how managed to destroy their own magnificent comeback by bleeding it dry then attempting to return to something which slightly resembled their earlier stuff. They went from releasing short, hard-hitting punky singles to more and more rock opera numbers and, at the risk of sounding slightly shallow, starting wearing far too much guy-liner for a group of forty-year old men. Bille Joe Armstrong's breakdown in 2012 seemed to signal that things were going a bit off kilter for the group, and in my opinion, you'll begin to see Green Day less and less as the years go by. They'll play shows, they'll still release new stuff, but nobody will be interested in anything other than their glory days.