I have a crappy memory. My apologies if this thread has already been posted.

There are a TON of them for me, so I'm going to limit it to the most severe cases

This came up for me recently due to disappointing albums from old favorites Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos (both of which I liked at first, but I doubt if they'll get much play) & more recent fav Lily Allen

Here's some artists I used to buy EVERYTHING they released, who's more recent releases just don't touch me like they used to:

Sheryl Crow
Melissa Etheridge
(I hate to include her here but........) Sarah McLachlan
Jackson Browne (Last one I LOVED was Hold On Hold Out; last studio album that really did anything for me was parts of Naked Ride Home
Another one I feel a bit like a traitor by including: Dan Fogelberg (he had at least 3 drop offs; the last one obviously due to declining health)
Fish
Stevie Nicks
Madonna (thanks for the reminder, Renny!)
ZZ Top (thanks for the reminder, Walter!)
Aersosmith (thanks for the reminder, Walter!)
U2 (thanks for the reminder, Jeff!)
Rolling Stones (thanks for the reminder, Everyone!; though the Stones have always been hit & miss for me; was never a completist)
Sam Phillips
I could go on & on.

One artist in this category that I'm back on the bandwagon with is Prince. LOVED everything from Dirty Mind - Black Album/Love Sexy. Though it took me years to admit it to myself, starting with Batman, I didn't like any of them after Love Sexy until vault release Chaos & Disorder; & after that (despite spending a lot of $ on Prince albums I didn't like) didn't get back on until LotusFlower. I really didn't like 2010, but I LOVE the new Third Eye Girl material, & have discovered I like a couple of the early 2000's live albums. I hope we get a really great TEG album soon.The man's been wasting a ton of talent with beyond mediocre songwriting for the last 25 years.

If I was going to change the thread to schizoid (one great album, then a mediocre album, than an ok album, etc I would add Bowie & Neil Young too.

For that matter as much as I love them, the last GREAT CSN/CSNY studio album as a full 3-4 member band was 1982's Daylight Again. Every album (with the possible exception of After the Storm) has had something superb on it; but imo the last COMPLETE great album was Daylight. Again, imo the most consistent offshoot of the band since Crosby sobered up has been Crosby & Nash as a duo & Crosby as a solo.

Of the recent new releases from artists I've been into for a long time, for me the most consistent has surprisingly been Suzanne Vega. IMO, she's never done a bad album; & even her weakest, Days Of Open Hand is still somewhat enjoyable.

They Might Be Giants -- stopped after "NO!" (appropriately enough)

David Byrne -- after Grown Backwards

The Rolling Stones
The Who
(of course,they've pretty much quit putting out new product--makes quitting them easier.)
Bruce Springsteen

Elton John - after Blue Moves vinyl.

Elvis Costello - after the 3rd or 4th issue of catalog - when he moved into IMO boring stuff

bands that didn't translate to CD - (most stuff I have covered both) CS&N after Deja Vu -

Bruce -Never replaced the vinyl with cd - only got a couple cd releases - is it me or what - I just don't care for him.

to me - a new 61 year old - "new" musicians are Tom Petty, Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds.or Cyndi Lauper.

Mike Oldfield
Kate Bush
The Rolling Stones
Paul McCartney

While I really liked the "Exile On Main Street" bonus disc and the 1971-2006 singles collection, beginning with the expanded "Some Girls", the glut of Rolling Stones material that's come out in the past 2-3 years has left me cold. I keep thinking I'll get caught up someday, but I will always prefer the ABKCO/Brian Jones era to the Ron Wood/disco era. I still haven't gotten around to hearing the new songs from "Grrr".

Maybe it's one of those "be careful of what you wish for" type of deals--for years, the Stones seemed so indifferent to releasing anything from the vaults, yet in the wake of those Best Buy DVD boxes (which I bought on clearance and played maybe once or twice) the thought of setting aside a couple of weeks to slog through such a glut of live material doesn't hold much appeal for me--but if they ever get around to releasing the stuff that began to show up on bootlegs such as the "Ultra Rare Trax" series about 20-25 years ago, I'd get excited all over again. (Unless I have to buy a $100+ greatest hits boxed set to get it.) At this point, I've probably been hoping for a Rolling Stones BBC collection for at least two decades.

>paul mccartney - not since 'flaming pie" have i graded an album of his above a "C"
>melissa ethridge - got real old...real fast
>jethro tull - i cannot thinnk of any other band that lasted so long on the reputation of only one really good album (aqualung) and didn't put out another really good album since.
>madonna (once a guilty pleasure) - just quit listening to her.
>dave matthews band - every song sounds the same to me, i think his voice gets tough to listen to, after a while.
>suzanne vega - see melissa etheridge
>concrete blonde - after 'mexican moon' the songwriting got a little suspect


i recorded the songs i like on CD-R and sold the CD's.

>aimee mann - including til tuesday ( i did keep a best of)
>later (the last 5 or 6) david bowie albums
>sting - his forays into the lute and the "good ship" are just wretched to me

sold the above and didn't even bother to record anything from them.

considering doing the following with this summer's annual purge:

little feat
aerosmith
rod stewart

The Grateful Dead

Around the time of Dick's Picks 22, I got burned out for awhile after 20+ years of them being my favorite group and not enjoying alot of the post-Jerry Garcia spinoff bands. I probably went 7+ years in the 2000s without listening much to them. Because of that, I didn't keep up with alot of their live releases except for shows I was at. I'm back/refreshed since around 2008, but most of the CDs I passed on are OOP and expensive......can only just go forward with Dave's Picks and whatever else.

I haven't kept up with every posthumous Frank Zappa release either.

I should be off of Bruce and Elvis by now. The first step to overcoming an addiction is admitting my problem. I'm not admitting anything yet.

I rarely go 100% catalog with any artist. Even if I try that, I still check out samples or streaming beforehand. Most all artists will eventually disappoint. Plus I rarely pick up live albums & artist comps as it's mostly redundant.

Personally I think it's best to cherry-pick good-great albums from the wide variety of artists today than keep buying material from once favorite artists who've stopped being relevant and release far-below par albums (ie Springsteen).

Elvis Costello & Sting are two artists I gave up on after years of buying everything they did on the day of release. I'm sure there are others but those two immediately came to mind. I've definitely become less of a completist as I've gotten older, and there are only a handful of artists where I still buy every new/archival/live/expanded release.


Geff: not sure when you gave up on Fish but he's got plenty of fantastic albums in recent years. I almost gave up on him after "Suits" but I'm glad I stuck with him.

Stopped:
Tori Amos
Adam Ant
B-52's
Anita Baker
Bananarama
Barenaked Ladies
Black Crowes
David Bowie
Jackson Browne
Jimmy Buffett
Mariah Carey
Eric Clapton
Phil Collins
Elvis Costello
Counting Crows
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Depeche Mode
Bruce Hornsby
Indigo Girls
Elton John
Mark Knopfler
Cyndi Lauper
Kenny Loggins
Madonna
Dave Matthews Band
John Mellencamp
George Michael
Steve Miller Band
Stevie Nicks
Pet Shop Boys
Robert Plant
R.E.M.
Simple Minds
Sting
They Might Be Giants
Midge Ure
John Waite
Robbie Williams
Stevie Wonder


Should have stopped:
Aerosmith
Boston
ZZ Top

Walter, think of all the money you saved over the years by cutting off those artists? I had forgotten about Phil Collins. I was a huge fan of his solo work through ...But Seriously... but everything after that fell flat for me. I was a Barenaked Ladies fan from the release of their first album (used to see them as an opening act at The Bottom Line in NYC around '92/'93). I lost interest around the time of their third album but came back around to discover that some of their recent albums are really good.

I also stopped buying Aerosmith albums more than 20 years ago & I don't regret that decision.

Weezer.

Well, I don't know that I ever went the full 100% with all the singles and foreign editions, but I used to eagerly buy their albums as they came out.

I stopped after Ratitude.

Having a hard time thinking of any, though I don't buy new John Mellencamp stuff - and I stopped with Barenaked Ladies after Steven Page left.

Elvis Costello. I didn't think anything he did between Brutal Youth and Momofuku was all that good. When I Was Crual and The Delivery Man had a few good moments, but not enought to allay an overall sense of disappointment. Momofuku was brilliant, but nothing since has grabbed me.

Dave Matthews Band - When he started putting out 2 or 3 double or triple live albums between each studio effort, I stopped taking him seriously.

Ones I quit an album or two too late:
Sheryl Crow I dropped after C'mon C'mon.
Chris Isaak after Always Got Tonight

Ones I quit at just the right time:
The Apples in stereo after New Magnetic Wonder
Beastie Boys after Hello Nasty
Flaming Lips after At War With The Mystics
Julian Cope after 20 Mothers

The Cure after Wish. I've since rediscovered my love for the band, but I don't get everything "automatically" anymore. Several holes in my collection.
New Order after Technique
Sting after Ten Summoner's Tales
Rammstein after Mutter.
INXS after Kick
Skinny Puppy after Last Rights

Note: Jeff has remained loyal to Morrissey.

Right to the bitter end.

Thanks to the Brain Salad Surgery saga Emerson Lake & Palmer are off my list of re-issues re-buys

Save money? Is that really a thing? Maybe I should try it sometime.

Everytime this seems to happen, the artist does something that prompts me to go back and pick up the releases I missed.

I had stopped with Queensryche after Mindcrime 2, but got back into the band when they fired Tate and ended up with American Soldier and Dedicated To Chaos in my collection (and neither album are worth having).

I had stopped with Metallica but ended up getting albums I had skipped (St. Anger, Garage Days INC) just to have the full series of a Japanese mini-LP issue. Nothing post-Black Album is worth having IMO. Had no desire to purchase Lulu so now I'm back off.

Then there are some other bands that generally take me quite awhile (9 months to a year) to pick up the new album and in the end I really only do it to complete the collection. Def Leppard and Bon Jovi are two that fall into that group.