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Rock groups that hit their commercial peak when their best work was behind them
YellowSnow
Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 35,815 
@Swaye and I were podcasting a bit back and forth the other week on the subject of Metallica and our noble, hatchet packer made an interesting observation. The thought was has there every been another rock group with a similar career trajectory- i.e., a long slog of nearly a decade from 1983 to 1991 of being a moderately popular, but sill somewhat niche group, to then becoming one the most successful and popular groups in the world? I struggled to think of another example; it seems like more artists either hit is fairly big early on or they never do.
Take a look at the peak US Billboard Album chart position for all of their albums from Kill 'em All to Reload.
Kill ‘em All (1983) - #66
Ride The Lightning (1984) - #48
Master of Puppets (1986) - #29
And Justice for All (1989) - #6
Black Album (1991) #1
Load (1996) #1
Reload (1997) #1
We also agreed that Metallica's best work was in the rear view mirror, but the time of the breakthrough into the rock main stream- i.e., the Black Album in 1991.
The closest analog I could think of was AC/DC. They were considerably less commercially successful than Metallica at first - arguably due to their being an a foreign act - but their journey from unknown to mega band / superstars only took roughly 4 years in the US (i.e., 1976- 1980). But like Metallica, AC DC's artistic peak had already come and gone by the time of their first #1 record.
High Voltage (1976) – #146
Let there Be Rock (1977) - #154
Powerage (1978) - #133
Highway to Hell (1979) - #17
Back In Black (1980) - #4
For Those About to Rock (1981) - #1
Another comp, I wanted to pull was Van Halen. By comparison, the were already one of the biggest acts in rock by the second album, but didn't actually top the charts until the shitty, Van Hagar era.
Van Halen I (1978) - #19
Van Halen II (1979) - #6
Women and Children First (1980) - #6
Fair Warning (1981) - #5
Diver Down (1982) – #3
1984 (1984) - #2
5150 (1986) - #1
OU812 (1988) #1
Take a look at the peak US Billboard Album chart position for all of their albums from Kill 'em All to Reload.
Kill ‘em All (1983) - #66
Ride The Lightning (1984) - #48
Master of Puppets (1986) - #29
And Justice for All (1989) - #6
Black Album (1991) #1
Load (1996) #1
Reload (1997) #1
We also agreed that Metallica's best work was in the rear view mirror, but the time of the breakthrough into the rock main stream- i.e., the Black Album in 1991.
The closest analog I could think of was AC/DC. They were considerably less commercially successful than Metallica at first - arguably due to their being an a foreign act - but their journey from unknown to mega band / superstars only took roughly 4 years in the US (i.e., 1976- 1980). But like Metallica, AC DC's artistic peak had already come and gone by the time of their first #1 record.
High Voltage (1976) – #146
Let there Be Rock (1977) - #154
Powerage (1978) - #133
Highway to Hell (1979) - #17
Back In Black (1980) - #4
For Those About to Rock (1981) - #1
Another comp, I wanted to pull was Van Halen. By comparison, the were already one of the biggest acts in rock by the second album, but didn't actually top the charts until the shitty, Van Hagar era.
Van Halen I (1978) - #19
Van Halen II (1979) - #6
Women and Children First (1980) - #6
Fair Warning (1981) - #5
Diver Down (1982) – #3
1984 (1984) - #2
5150 (1986) - #1
OU812 (1988) #1
Comments
I think Yes has a place on this
From prog rock to dance music stars. Their later hits boosted sales on their earlier better work
The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge were their peak
Those ended up with pretty good US sales but barely cracked top 40 when released
FM radio baby
90125 was #5.
Just a weird career arc. Yella and I podded back and forth quite a bit on this. ACDC was the most analogous we could come up with.
edit: You look at the other MEGA bands of the last 60 years - Beatles, Stones, Who, Zeppelin, CCR, GnR, etc. - and they were all big right out of the gate.
ZZ Top's First Album (1971) - #201
Rio Grande Mud (1972) - #104
Tres Hombres (1973) - #86
Fandango (1975) - #91
Tejas (1976) - #124
Deguello (1979) - #58
El Loco (1981) - #141
Eliminator (1983 - #5...I want my mTv
No #1's, but still...
It is certainly subjective, but at their commercial peak, I stopped listening to the new stuff
But it seems with Fleetwood Mac, it's really a tale of two completely different bands that happened to have the same name and same drummer and bassist.
Aerosmith. I remember buying Permanent Vacation on a whim. Turned out to be I was onto something. Then Aerosmith became huge again.
Heart. I liked early Heart. Then it got really MTV-ized.
Sammy Hagar.
Cheap Trick. Granted their #1 song was it. They then went back to making not good albums.
If you find a greatest hits album from Run DMC, it’ll have Walk This Way on it but Aerosmith’s greatest hits will only have the original version.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerosmith_albums_discography
Same is true for Heart. Their commercial peak came in 1985 - 90. Not with their mid 70's classics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_discography
Heart owned the 80s big hair, power ballad genre. They weren't as prolific as Chicago (another candidate for this) or Foreigner, but better than both.
I hated them for it back then. Nowadays I even appreciate how good they were at that.
In reality the best thing either Wilson sister did after the 70s was when Anne joined Alice In Chains on the Sap EP.