All hail those brave few who never jumped the shark....

[RandomKoolzip]

There's been very few people in the music industry who never jumped the shark, i.e. they never got the chance to start sucking, either because they died, or they never reformed due to monetary reasons (Step forward, Sex Pistols...)or they were extraordinarily on top of the trends, as well as being creative and intelligent, or they had enough sense to pack it in when they had the chance....Vote for your favorite artist who never donned the waterskis, and tell me why you voted. And of course, alternates are accepted.


BTW: I'm not including the Beatles here, because that's too obvious.

[Bake]

1. Jimi Hendrix

Never got the chance to jump it. Zappa never jumped it, although some may argue that he jumped it before he started ...

Patsy Cline! Died waaaaaay too young.

Stevie Ray Vaughan!! Never jumped it, in my book.

Bake

[RandomKoolzip]

2. Good choices...I knew I shoulda put Hendrix up there....

Darn it all to heck!

[blondeatlast]

12. Patsy Cline! Excellent choice . . .

Ray Charles is another.

[RandomKoolzip]

26. Ray Charles did a series of diet pepsi ads in the 80's.

You don't get much more sell-out-ified than that. Plus he has supported republican candidates for president, made horrible trend-chasing records with Quincy Jones and a slew of rappers, and he played Sun City. Need I say more?

[Missy Vixen]

19. I still miss SRV

>Stevie Ray Vaughan!! Never jumped it, in my book.<

Stevie Ray Vaughan performed in a 2500 seat hall a few miles from here the year before he died. I was in the second row. I was sitting with a bunch of guys I knew that were in NA; they were waving their keychains at Stevie. His smile got broader and broader (and his playing got better and better,) everytime he got a glimpse of those keychains. He was playing for our row!

I couldn't hear very well for a couple of days afterwards, but I'll take the hearing loss. He was an amazing performer and a truly talented person.

Julie

[Wickerman]

3. Elvis

Ha, ha, only kidding. I'm picturing the Fat Elvis on water skiis now. Umm, instead, how about Yo La Tengo or Camper Van Beethoven? Both into their third decade of music that remains as true to indie rock roots as their first LPs, yet each has progressed. It helps that CVB took a decade off and hasn't actually released the new LP yet, but, I'll give em the benefit of the doubt based on their off decade body of work.
I voted Minutemen

[RandomKoolzip]

5. Hmmm. I'm not a fan of Ira Kaplan , but...

I can see that. As far as CVB, I need only sing, "Bein' with you girl, is like being low, hey hey hey like being stoned...." Sure, that was only Lowery, but Cracker's butt-sucking career sure casts CVB in a negative light for me, since they sucked so bad, and their defining characteristic (Lowery's voice) is shared with CVB; that's just my opinion, though...your mileage may vary. As far as I'm concerned, the day Lowery formed Cracker was the day he strapped on those waterskis and decided to "go for it."

[Wickerman]

8. Uh, I was kinda hoping no one would make the Cracker connection

I have no use for Lowery solo or for Cracker. However, as a band I always liked the CVB sound and the reformed unit is great. Since I ignored Cracker I guess I was willing to let it slide - you are correct in your analysis, though, and with chagrin I withdraw the CVB piece of my post.

on edit - I would almost argue with you about Husker Du - Warehouse kinda sucked. Thoughts?

[RandomKoolzip]

10. Warehouse definitely needed some pruning...

Reading about the state of the band's interpersonal relationships at the time, I can't really blame them though. And it has some of my all-time fave Husker Tunes on it: "It's Not Peculiar," "Could you BE the One?", "Ice Cold Ice," etc. I think Grant Hart's songs were not up to par on that one, while Mould had totally hit a plateau of quality he'd reach only rarely since then. It's a mixed bag, not a disaster; The MInutemen's last album was the same kinda thing, too. "3-way Tie for Last" is certainly three and a half stars material, not their best work, but not a sellout or a suck-fest, either.

[Wickerman]

16. True, neither mentioned were sellouts

just not their best work. 3 Way Tie would've made a nice EP, I suppose. Warehouse one disc, but then Grant would've been even more pissed, because even though it pains me to admit it, his stuff lacked on that outing. And some of the production might've been amped down a tad.

[Drifter]

4. Listening to ...

Best Band You Never Heard ... right now.

I saw Project Object a few weeks ago. They featured Ike Willis, Napolean Murphy Brock, and Don Preston. Truly amazing. If you get a chance to see them ... DO.

Cheers
Drifter

[RandomKoolzip]

7. Amazing how Zappa's last tour was somehow, against all odds, his best

In most career trajectories, that's the point when they do a beer commercial!

As much as I love Zappa (i'm a bootleg collector, my own vote went to the Jam. Paul Weller was such a brave cat; he broke up his band at the very HEIGHT of their prowess and their popularity in England, rather than see it become a sell-out or an institution...if only more musicians learned this lesson!

[ironflange]

6. Beethoven

Talk about working around a handicap.

[vi5]

9. Nirvana jumped the shark with their first Rolling Stone cover....

Where Cobain stood there in his "Corporate Magazines Still Suck" shirt.

Dude, nobody was forcing you to do that, just as nobody forced you to sign to a major label and nobody forced you to do all the promotion that led to you selling eleventy billion trillion albums.

[RandomKoolzip]

11. It's amazing how people critcized him for that shirt.

I actually thought it was pretty cool. It was kind of like a line in the sand, I guess. ANYWAY, Ahem...Though really what we're talking about here is the MUSIC, not any political stances or extra-musical incidents. And "In Utero" was a killer album, IMO. Imagine if Nirvana had recorded more music after that, though...I don't think it would have stood up as well as their previous albums.

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. Springsteen

Some might have considered Human Touch/Lucky Town the jumping the shark moment for him - but he came back with Ghost of Tom Joad and The Rising to prove he's still got it.

[RandomKoolzip]

14. Don't wanna start a flame war, but...

My own view is that Springstreet jumped the shark the second Steel Mill broke up. I love Bruce's working class politics, but his music is 100% cliche...Again, just my opinion.......

[THUNDER HANDS]

15. lol

What about Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom - surely you must love their work. :D

[RandomKoolzip]

17. 'Course, you kiddin' me?

Who DOESN'T worship at the altar of Dr. Zoom?

[mitchum]

18. MX-80 Sound and Pylon

[RandomKoolzip]

23. OMG! Another MX-80 fan!!!!

Bruce Anderson, the most underrated guitarist EVER. Everyone on DU owes it to him/herself to hear the solo on "Sad Girls," off of the Big Hits/Hard Attack CD RIGHT NOW. You're right, they never sucked, even through all those side projects....Have you heard their last live album, "Always Leave 'em Wanting Less?" It's awesome.

[BurtWorm]

20. The Ramones

Lou Reed
Captain Beefheart
kd lang

[Abaques]

21. Good call with the Ramones...

But you forgot Minor Threat.

[RandomKoolzip]

Ah, I will not argue with Minor Threat, but the Ramones??

I've never cared for the Ramones, but even a dedicated fan must bemoan the horribly dated production and songwriting on their post-1980 albums. And "Pet Sematary??!?!" Please. They got about 50 feet over the shark on that one alone.

[RandomKoolzip]

27. Lou Reed jumped the shark with his synth-dominated 80's albums.

Listened to "Mistrial" lately? I didn't think so. Plus he did commercials for Honda motorcycles, reformed the Velvet Underground, basically to serve as his backing band, for a shitty reunion tour in 1993, shilled for MTV, and hasn't written a decent song since "The Blue Mask."

Capatin Beefheart broke up the Magic Band in 1973 specifically in a attempt to sell out. He signed to mercury, made two WRETCHED albums with a bunch of boogie hacks, and tarnished his legacy, pissing off his diehard fans, thus officially jumping the shark. Fortunately, he kept those skis right above the dorsal fin when he got back together with Zappa in 1975 for the "Bongo Fury" album, then hooked up with a new, awesome Magic Band for a handful of amazing records, then disappeared again before he could start sucking. A bad career judgement, but a wise CYA maneuver to follow.

I don't know enough about kd lang to make a judgement about her.

[ZoCrowes]

22. Good list

Glad to see the Jam, Marley andZappa on there. The Jam is pretty much overlooked by everyone outside of the UK.

Nirvana??!! Give me a fucking break they always sucked! If Kurt Cobain would not have blown his fucking head off the public would have gotten tired of them just like every other "grunge" band. Fucking boring martyrs. Unplugged was damn good though so I'll give them props for that.

Dave Grohl has more talent in his little finger than Cobain ever had and I don't even consider myself a Foo Fighters fan.

I have to vote other because of the absense of Hendrix (he was working on his best album when he died) and The Beatles.

[RetroLounge]

24. ? and The Mysterians

'nuff said...

[RandomKoolzip]

25. Well, remember that reforming for mercenary reasons

is a shark-jumping activity. I love them, but they've reformed so many times I'd consider them third to Arthur Lee/Love and Kiss in that department. And Big Star, too, as much as I love them...

[HEyHEY]

28. No Means No n/t

[RandomKoolzip]

29. Absolutely, great choice. And they're in their 60's!

Buncha old guys making great prog-punk. Kinda inspiring, innit?

[Search Party]

30. John Coltrane

Billie Holliday
Flaming Lips
The Embarrassment
Beasts of Bourbon
Mortal Micronotz
Coctails
My Bloody Valentine
Gun Club
Pixies

[tishaLA]

34. Sorry, but

Billie didn't just JUMP the shark. SHe jumped it and then had it swallow her whole. :-)

[Sufi Marmot]

31. Richard Thompson...

He's been making consistently brilliant music for the last ~35 years. Of his contemporaries who got their start in the mid-sixties, possibly only Neil Young measures up in terms of longevity, quantity, and most importantly, quality of material.

-SM

[Zorra]

32. SRV

Ripped until he died.

Bob Marley, Hendrix, Zappa.

I still like John Fogerty too, did some nice stuff on Blue Moon Swamp.

[carpetbagger]

33. Premature death is not a successful alternative.

Drowning in one's vomit or blowing your brains out and leaving young children behind is often by itself jumping the shark.

That sure narrows the field, doesn't it.

Besides the Beatles, there are only a few bands and musicians I can think of who exited with some dignity.

Simon and Garfunkel manage to keep their reunions short and sweet, and split up on top.

The Police split up on top.

Only a few dinosaurs managed to avoid the common traps (the disco album, playing muzak with the London Philharmonic, the drum machine, right wing politics and religion, reality TV, that line in your bio that says "and then drugs and alcohol began to take their toll", revamping your old hits, and shamelessly performing after the voice and dexterity leave). I'd put Clapton and Santana at the top of their class in that one.

But the real winners are not from rock and roll. The real winners, in my opinion, are Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and several of the old blues masters (e.g. Muddy Waters).

Honorable mention to drummer Ed Cassidy of Spirit, who's the first rock musician to reach age 80 without jumping the shark.

[Wolfman 11]

35. Other.... Blind Melon.

Shannon Hoon was an incredible songwriter, and the band definitely is underrated by today's standards.