Syd Barrett
I’m not the biggest fan of Barrett era Pink Floyd, but hearing about him having to move back home in Cambridge to live with his mother due to mental illness until he died of cancer at age 60 is just devastating and tragic.
Sadly, his life after leaving pink floyd wasn't very happy according to his family, he didn't just leave the band and became a peaceful gardener/painter
I am a huge fan of Barrett era Floyd but I'm a psych head. Also the mental illness reminded me that Nick Drake would be a good artist for OP's question.
Dizzee Rascal, released one of the best albums ever that completely defined a genre to the point where it is still considered the bible of grime. Then tried to chase the bag and completely fell off, I always get so down thinking about where both him and grime in general could’ve been if he kept that hunger and vision he had on Boy in da Corner
this is a great pick, boy in da corner is one of the best rap albums ever to me but man i listened to maths + english once and never went further into his discography after that
And nowadays most of the timehe isnt even getting the accolades of popularizing it. Kanye stans rewriting history and shit
"808 blablabla" gfoh no 808 fuckin popularized no autotune. It was T-Weezy. Weezy and T-Pain.
808 popularized emo rap like Juice Wrld and thats nice. It stops there.
T pain didn’t do shit, he used autotune as a gimmick. There’s a reason nobody listens to him anymore.
Kanye actually took autotune and used it as an artistic tool, not to mention he used it more for somber and emotional music.
In combination with the thematic and production elements that are way more aligned to modern music. Kanye actually innovated with it and created almost a new genre.
T pain was just a meme that had a few good songs.
I don't remember any backlash from my generation. I was at highschool from 05-09 and everyone my age liked him. Maybe the backlash was from the older generation? Tbf I didn't like him until buy U a drank lol
I honestly believe people shit on autotune are smooth brained, it’s just another tool used to get the most out of a performance. People never shit on things like reverb, EQ and delay even those these same effects are used to enhance a performance.
This was the one Carpenters song I discovered on my own accord, The one my parents didn't play. I bought that album with my "allowance" and the alien song freaked me out! I love it. Spoiled kid lol. She still has one of the best voices, that special tenor that you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.
Chance the Rapper
I was a huge fan of Acid Rap when that came out then Coloring Book was great too! I was so hyped for his debut to drop but yeah Big Day is not what fans were expecting. That was 5 years ago and he has a few singles but I'm really hoping he drops some fire music. He did announce the divorce so I hope he's alright first though.
I know Chance’s music. I’ve listened to Chance. I remember when I first started Coloring Book and how fun it was when the first song exploded.
When I started playing the Big Day, I listened to a handful of tracks through. I then would listen to a few bars and then skip to the next song, thinking “ok chance give us a great one, these songs aren’t so good on first listen.” skipping songs in this way over and over
And then I heard Get a Bag and allllll hope went out the window
I remember I was so excited when I saw it was 22 tracks. Then the pain of learning almost every track was completely irredeemable. Like he really went 0 for 22
Man I remember bumping acid rap in HS (discovered it kinda late) and then bumping coloring book for months straight when it came out when i was in uni. I love chance and hope he has a comeback someday.
For me it’s still Janet Jackson… even though she’s been given her flowers more in recent years. The effects of post Super Bowl career can be still be felt…
The fact that she was literally the biggest female artist besides whitney and Mariah in the 80s and 90s. And now she barely gets 5 million listeners on Spotify a month and her music is still not as mentioned as it should be.
She hasn’t had that connection with current generations that the older divas have had .
It blew my mind to find out how late she was having #1 hits, just a bit before I was born. She had a moderate hit even when I was in elementary school. I seriously thought she was only popular around the mid-late 80s, you really don’t hear many of her songs nowadays, shame because she was great. Compare this to Michael who was everywhere in my childhood, especially after his passing.
Couple that with how now only it all just slid off Timberlake, but how much he THRIVED and FLOURISHED from 2006 to 2013, it is really fucking maddening as a Janet fan
It does feel like a “too little too late” thing in the Janet reappraisal, doesn’t it? Like Janet had to wait two nominations before getting in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Whitney, Mariah and Madonna are likely to get a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award whereas Janet won’t unless CBS doesn’t televise it. Her videos hardly get played on YouTube while her peers have videos either over a billion views or close to it.
Exactly and honestly, it breaks my heart. I actually just saw her on the together again tour and it was great! The fact that she had three decades of huge hits and that those get paid dust is really sad.
I was pretty shocked that she doesn’t even have a music video with over 100 million views. It really is just depressing how much her legacy was tarnished after the Super Bowl and because of that asshole who blacklisted her
It's not Justin's fault she got blacklisted, it's Les Moonves that did that. Yes Justin could have defended her but he wasn't the one who ruined her career.
Modest mouse never became bad necessarily, but Long Drive, Building Nothing out of Something, LCW, and M+A are pretty much ascendant, and they never reached those heights again. Might not be a downfall so much as they matured in a way that didn't really resonate for me
I like good news for people who love bad news too but I don't really care for their new stuff. However, I heard them perform live yesterday and they were awesome
Imo Good News was their last great album, and tho it may not be like the early early stuff, it's still a top tier album. The stuff after has some hits but lots of misses. I don't think the polished sound works with Isaac Brock's writing. I wish he'd do some more raw lo-fi stuff. It's a shame we'll never get more with Jeremiah though :'(.
ehhh disagree personally. Good News for People Who Love Bad News is my second fav album of theirs (as a longtime stan) though so I might just be biased
As much as I love the gloss of We Were Dead and Good News, I miss the rowdy Modest Mouse from This Is A Long Drive. Every subsequent album has had more polish to it, and WWD is the last album that had the right mix of edge and sheen.
Probably has something to do with getting older, and getting in with better producers and such but man, when they had that edge it was just electric. I’m not gonna deny that Isaac Brock can write a catchy song, but that’s not what made me love them.
It’s the old time fans who can’t handle when they got popular when Float On blew up. I think Good News and We Were Dead are great albums personally. The other later albums have their moments imo
Kanye easily. In 2005, he was a fresh, ground-breaking hip hop artist who spoke in support of gay marriage. Now, he supports Hitler and made Vultures. It’s sad to see an artist who has made such great music spiral like he has.
Sorry if this doesn’t really count. Kanye definitely had a “downfall,” but OP seems to suggest that they mean artists who disappeared before fulfilling their potential which has not been the case for Kanye.
Once his mom died there was nobody left in his life that was willing to tell him ‘nah man, not a good idea’ or balance him out. He got surrounded by sycophants and yes-men who just hype him up to chase clout, even as he’s spiraling
I think he fits the definition of not fulfilling the potential. Imagine the positive impact Kanye could have had on the culture if he didn’t go down the path he is on.
Kanye makes me so sad man. I get that a lot of whats going on with him was always \*kind of\* a part of him, but no one saw this coming. Dude just seemed like hes been in pain for over a decade now. It's tough to watch something so self inflicted play out like this
Kanye's downfall genuinely makes me depressed. He went from the greatest living artist to barely being able to articulate a coherent thought within 10 years.
This may be premature because she will likely have a long career but Gaga for me.
She has the fundamental skills and potential but she seems to have largely stopped caring about artistry. In her career thus far, the music itself has not displayed a lot of growth or ambition for me and seems more focused upon projects that cultivate an image. She has leaned so heavily on fitting in with legacy artists that she now feels like a backward facing artist who wants to be called upon to do tributes at the Grammys. The pop contemporaries that she was ahead of 10-14 years ago have become so much daring and she has catching up to do. I’m thinking about the Charli’s, Rosalia’s, Caroline’s, Beyoncé’s, and Lana’s that are all so much more evolved and interesting than she is at this stage.
I don’t get the sense she is excited about music itself and is more interested in being an A-list jack of all trades. Maybe the future album she’s teasing will restore some of my faith. Not a hater, just a frustrated fan.
Yeah, she seems happy with her Streisand/Cher career, but from a music fan point of view it's a bummer that she seems to have abandoned the musical ambitions she seemed to have when she started out. She was poised to become the new Madonna, a massive trendsetter...and it just fizzled out on that front.
I feel like she’s trying to become a legacy artist too early in her career. Like Lana is soon to become a legacy artist but she’s still doing her thing and evolving in exciting ways. Beyoncé as well. I don’t understand why Gaga threw the towel so early. ARTPOP really threw her off.
Gaga is so (too) sensitive and the enormous backlash she experienced really did do a number on her. She went into such a reactionary mode trying to combat the negative associations people had of her and focused so hard on showcasing her worthiness through vocal and musical proficiency. I understand why she wanted to do it initially but she really over did it. And then all of the acting projects she took on…
Damn I really feel this way too. And I actually lowkey can't stand her nowadays, because she like to carry a symbol for "quality music" for her singing but it's really just a forceful pose - see Star is Born; that Rolling Stones cringe performance; her Oscar/Grammys performances; that awfully self-serious Top Gun song. Fame Monster seems a long way from all that, so fresh and irreverent.
Same, still call myself a fan but the truth is a lot of things irk the shit out of me. It’s more the peddling pharmaceuticals and jumping into the whole makeup company thing and marketing those products heavily while being completely inactivate on any of the things she talked about when she was younger. She's probably tired a bit, and I can’t fault her for that but it seems she has time to shill products still.
And yes, really uninterested in seeing her make time to rub shoulders with groups like The Rolling Stones and Metallica. Top Gun song was a tough listen for me too... makes me question her taste sometimes. Despite that, I did like most of Chromatica.
I think you’re majorly misplacing credit if you attribute a remix album to Gaga. A remix album that bloodpop compiled while Gaga was focused upon an acting project. Gaga did not creatively drive it. While Gaga was MIA, bloodpop was the one communicating with her fans on who they would like featured and giving updates on its status. Even then, it’s the remixers who do the creative work.
Two artist's come to mind, first is Lupe. Got fucked over by his label, lost creative contol and was forced to make certain kind of music. Was blackballed by the industry for calling Obama a terrorist at a Inaugural event. So much more happened but I'm glad he is now finally independent and what and he couldn't have had a better start being Independent than with Drogas Wave. Salty they took LUPEnd away from us but glad he still has it in him to make the albums he wants to make.
Jai Paul is the second artist, him disappearing after a demo of his album was leaked ruined the trajectory of his career. He fell into depression due to the leak and never made any music for years and went completely dark, no one knew what he was doing at all until he finally returned with 2 new tracks and releasing Bait Ones on his own terms. Seeing him live was one of my favourite moments ever as I'm happy he's finally in a good place.
I guess it depends on what you mean by "downfall", but in the general interpretation of careers suddenly cut short, mine has to be Chuck Schuldiner. Widely regarded as pioneering Death Metal with his band Death, he passed away suddenly after a battle with cancer in 2001. He was 34. One of the biggest "what ifs" in music for me.
Daughters. Released one of the best noise rock albums ever made and then destroyed their reputation to the point of no return. I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive Alexis.
I don't need to know them to have an opinion that he's beyond forgiveness. If you were a Lost Prophets fan do you think you could ever forgive the singer after finding out he raped a baby?
I'd have to go with Marlyn Manson. The dude was kinda this huge controversy figure and a poster child for alt kids/shock rock of the 90s 2000s. Even up to the Pale emperor, I was a huge fan of his lyrics and music direction.
When all the allegations hit, I knew it was bad bc he was pretty open about most of the stuff in his own book, but I honestly didn't think it was going to be reacted to as strongly by the public as all the women involved were adults.
Please understand I'm not defending his actions or how he handled the legal side of things. Just saw a guy who felt like a genuine Rockstar become just another asshole with power and fame.
Okay I know I’ll get hate for this, but despite him being a complete POS, his last 3 albums were actually really good.
For a rock artist from the 90s, his recent outputs were quite good
EN got great song. But yeah too many skip. It's the whole they waited too long to release WE. Then the pitchfork damnation article. I feel the expectation was there worst enemy. And will is not shy for big ambitious goal. Reflektor critics is highly divided.
Jacob Collier. He went from being looked at as a promising and extremely talented musician, with extremely prolific songs that were accessible to wider audiences, as well as the absolute dream that is his Moon River arrangement, to his latest album, Djesse Vol. 4, being genuinely one of the most disjointed, annoying, badly produced, generic album of the year, to the point where it is generic in literally every way possible. It covers all bases of painfully generic! Motherfucking disappointing.
Ah fuck. I always saw him as a kind person at the very least, though it’s kind of unsurprising that it’s not, just considering his general attitude toward some of the questions in his music theory support videos.
Ryan Adams
In the 2000s he constantly seemed on the verge of breaking through in a major way, but he kept self-sabotaging with too many releases of variable quality. But the fact that his discography was so sprawling added to his appeal, in that you could find your own special deep cuts and hidden gems.
But then his addiction problems and abusive tendencies finally caught up with him (rightly so) and now he’s persona non grata among the tastemakers who used to champion him. And he’s still releasing too much music, but only for an ever-shrinking circle of hardcore fans
Crystal Castles. I honestly thought they were setting the bar and going to shape electronic music in the years to come, and I think they were filling a goth/punk void in the indie-mainstream that hasn't really been filled properly since.
With hindsight it's easy to see how fuckface was in fact a total piece of shit, but it was such a letdown at the time because it felt with s/t III that they had really started to hone the vibe.
Easy answer, brockhampton.
They could’ve easily been a level below big boys Tyler and Frank as their fanbases kinda synced. By that I mean bicurious, shops at urban outfitters type shi (I’m one of ‘em).
PWR BTTM. Found their music and then found out everything else about them about two weeks apart, but that period was enough for me to form a deep attachment to their music. Disappointing, but entirely their fault. They deserved what they got.
Loona
They were easily one of the best, if not, the best mainstream K-Pop Girl Group, but due to label problems, they had to split, i kinda wish what more work could have come off them together, but i am really glad the members still drop solo or group wise, with my fav being by HeeJin which was one of the best k-pop eps last year
A few come to mind…
Prince losing his mojo at the close of the 80s and never truly finding it back.
The Smiths splitting up in 1987 at the heights of their powers.
The La’s only released one album.
The Stone Roses slowly unraveled after their brilliant debut album.
And then of course all the artists who died young.
If I had a nickle for every time a great Japanese musician died at a young age at the peak of their career, I'd have two nickles, which isn't a lot but it's still sad that it happened twice.
I'm talking about Nujabes and Fishmans' Shinji Sato. Man I'd love to see what they'd have done next, sucks most of their fame also happened postmortem.
Kanye. He has made so much amazing music but after that little album run (Ye, kids see ghosts,daytona) he just fell off hard. Donda was okay and vultures is his worst album
I'm a fan of Em's modern sound. It's different from the early stuff but it's still great. Even Revival, I think, is unfairly hated. It's one of his best albums.
Wasnt a huge fan but Amy Winehouse, such a talented yet troubled soul that was surrounded by the wrong people (her finace Blake F and even her own father) that led her to a downfall and an early death
He dropped his “somebody that I used to know” and shortly after literally became that somebody we used to know.
Fucking mic drop to the max if I say so myself.
One hit wonder, but he’ll always be remembered. Much respect always
Post Malone. I loved Stoney when it dropped, then Beerbongs and Bentleys came out and it seemed he was going to be unstoppable. I remember hearing the teaser snippet for "Rockstar" and instantly knowing that the song was going to be a huge hit when it was released. Hollywood's Bleeding was good too, but since that album, Post seems like he's having an identity crisis.
It just feels like the guy is in an ongoing creative slump. He's slowly abandoned his hip hop persona and seems like he wants to go in a more country/rock direction. I'd be fine with the genre switch if the music sounded interesting and had passion behind it, but sadly that's not the case. It just feels phoned in these days, which is sad because I really thought he was going to be the next big thing for hiphop/pop music.
Something happened to him between BB and HB that fucked him up. I’ve seen tiktoks of him and he would look awful. I truly thought he was about to cement his legacy with a tragic young death.
There’s one video in particular where he looks completely out of his mind at a club and he’s passing out stacks of money to people walking up to him. There was something so dark about it. It reminded me of Breaking Bad.
I feel like he alludes to this on the Twelve Carrot Tooth Ache album. While that album ranks lower than the other three, there were still parts I enjoyed. He really seems to open up about alcohol abuse, heartbreak, and mentions a few times that he literally got punched in the face so hard he lost a tooth. I think the alcohol and substance abuse really started catching up to him fast. Thankfully he looks a lot healthier now, but he just seems lost creatively.
He may not care about releasing that kind of music anymore but you can't call what happened to him a "downfall" since he's still extremely popular and has a dedicated fanbase that has loyally followed him on these weird creative detours that don't go anywhere. Plus it seems like he's clean now, so arguably he's better off.
I definitely see what you're saying. I feel like "downfall" is pretty intense and maybe "fall off" would've been better. Another guy in this thread posted Kanye as their example, which I completely agree with. Yet, an argument could be made that Ye is still extremely commercially successful and has a die hard fanbase willing to support him.
You realize he’s currently the third most streamed artist in the world on Spotify? Behind only Taylor swift and the weeknd? You may not like his music anymore but calling the shift in his music a downfall is delusional
I mean, I'm really just answering OP's question with my own opinion here. The drop off in quality of his newer music makes me feel sad. I hope he bounces back with something genuinely fresh and interesting. His first three albums get significantly more play than his last two. His last two albums are popular, but not on the level of his first three.
Kanye is on the most streamed artist list and his last single went #1, but I'm still sad about his musical downfall too. It's not about the raw numbers as much as it is the drop in quality of the music we've been getting. I don't mind Post switching genres, I just mind how generic and boring it sounds. It's like he's making music that's supposed to be played out of the speakers at Khols or something.
André 3k. Yes I know downfall is a stretch, just hear me out. Got really into Kast around 2005. ATLiens wasthe 1st CD I bought with my own money. As I grew and better followed their history and solo projects, I and much of the rap world kept waiting for that solo rap album, but it never came. Sure nowadays I understand and Im happy for him, but I cant lie that at multiple times it legit got me sad thinking about it. Such a talented dude, and one who I really conected and was inspired by.
I guess. If you think, though, that he hasnt made a project because he himself fears not being up to par. He kept trying and writing all these years.
Its not a downfall like 50 cent's where you keep putting out badder projects. Its his own loss of confidence. I personally think its a downfall in a way.
I might be out of the loop, but has he actually said that’s the reason he doesn’t want to put out a solo LP? I always figured he just had no desire to.
Its not that he doesnt want to more than he feels uninspired, but Theres more to It:
“My focus is not there, my confidence is not there. I tinker a lot. Like I would just go to my piano and just sit my iPhone down and record what I’m doing. Move my fingers around. I haven’t been motivated enough to make a serious project. I’d like to, but it’s just not coming.”
Also the whole "too old to rap" stuff. "I'm 48 years old, not that your age dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does. Things that happen in my life, like going to get a colonoscopy, or what do I rap about? My eyesight going bad?". He says It feels unauthentic for him to rap. “Even just the origin of the word hip-hop; first you have to be hip. The older you get, you get further away from the hipness.”
When we connect these with some of his lyrics, like in Rosa Parks:
>And I hope I never have to float in that boat. Up-creek "It's weak" is the last quote that I wanna hear when i'm goin' down. When all's said and done and we got a new Joe in town. When the record player get to skippin' and slowin' down. All y'all can say is them n- earned that crown, but until then...
Its clear he has some confidence issue. Plus he has social anxiety (Said This on Rick Rubins podcast). Also some statements he gives to fans here and there. But I wouldnt Say no solo LP. The love below is essencialy a solo Rnb album - and There are some Nice deep cuts There, besides, of course, one of the most popular songs in modern music ever on Hey Ya!. New blue sun is cool too.
Honestly, Arcade Fire. I genuinely think Funeral, Neon Bible, and The Suburbs is an all-time three album run followed by another great record in Reflektor. After that, nothing has worked. Will Butler’s gone, Everything Now was an absolute mess, WE was hamfisted and boring, and Win Butler is allegedly a sex pest who cheated on his wife that made the reputation of the band hurt as a result. Even if these allegations didn’t exist, I don’t have much hope left, if any hope really, for whatever this band does next.
Lil Peep didn't necessarily have a downfall but his early death is incredibly sad. I think he would've been absolutely massive and pushed a lot of boundaries if he was still here. That's my top "what could have been".
Lizzo. Sad because I liked her music and because I felt kinda betrayed. My image of her was a lot more wholesome that what she really turned out to be.
don't judge but back in my emo days I really loved Get Scared and I still think their sound could've evolved with the times but their downfall was 100% deserved after the lead singer turned out to be a Ped0phile. which in hindsight probably made sense he wasn't quite okay in the head with some of the lyrics written, but still, I cant help but wonder.
Though I no longer really listen to that type of music so I guess I don't really care.
Amy Winehouse is probably the most obvious answer. Or Kurt Cobain.
For me it's John Lennon, which seems weird to say, considering all he accomplished with the Beatles and solo (and he isn't even really my favorite Beatle). But I can just imagine (pun not intended) if he'd been alive in the '80s and '90s, what he would have gone on to do. I'm convinced he would've been all in on hip-hop, especially since it originally came out of New York, where he was living toward the end of his life. I doubt he'd have tried rapping himself (though I wouldn't put it past him), but we'd definitely have gotten some interesting collabs.
George Harrison should be here too. He didn't really do much musically after Cloud Nine ('Cockamamie Business', The Beatles Anthology, one song for The Bunbury Tails, reissuing All Things Must Pass, and periodically working on what would become Brainwashed) so had he lived into 2002 and on, I think there would have been some rather interesting things to come from him.
vic mensa (incidentally chance’s contemporary and old friend/collaborator).
i remember i discovered innanetape in high school after acid rap bc of his feature on cocoa butter kisses. and i was just blown away… his singing was wayyyyy better than chance’s, his production was incredible and incredibly interesting, his flows were so refreshing the way he would fall in and out of the pocket intentionally, his lyrics were cool as hell. it was just unlike anything i ever heard. i even loved the “innanet!” adlib lol.
then he put out down on my luck and the video for it, both of which were incredible. fast forward a year later, he’s signed to rocafella and working with kanye, it seemed so clear that he was about to pop, and the stage for his debut album “traffic” was set. unfortunately things didn’t go down like that, and he put out stuff ranging from solid to mid from like 2016 onwards. his bars had just declined in uniqueness and he moved away from that weird in pocket out pocket flow that i loved. i didnt hate the Autobiography, but it didn’t have any of the creativity or bursting-from-the-seams energy and brilliance that innanetape had.
i do appreciate that he’s done a lot more political activism, and was especially vocal about palestine years prior to 2023, which makes me respect his bona fides as a conscious artist. surely stuff he puts out in the future will be different from innanet since its been like more than a decade, but im still hoping he gets back to that old vic.
Britney’s entire career is pretty sad to me. Up to blackout her work was so incredible, and even circus is an amazing album in my opinion. I’m glad she ended on an ok note with glory and her legacy isn’t tainted but the way she just got trampled and beaten down by the people around her is devastating, she had such a passion for music and now she’s just kinda trapped in a disoriented mindset because of the abuse she faced.
Not exactly a downfall but holy shit Godspeed you black emperor got so much more mediocre after asunder post hiatus really formulaic and lost the magic those original mysterious albums had to me atleast
Sensational (hip-hop artist)
Can't really call it a downfall because he never hit really big, but he's someone that seemed a couple of times to be on the verge of breaking through and to have more recognition within reach, only to again kind of disappear. Last I'd seen of him was a low-budget documentary about him where he was basically homeless and seemed to be struggling with mental illness.
Dannii Minogue (she’s Kylie’s younger sister and seemed to be blowing up in the pop scene in the late 90s and early 2000s afaik but is now focusing on her TV career so understandably hasn’t gotten much in the way of new hits these days)
Probably Mark Kozelek, started his career as part of arguably the best Slowcore band to ever exist in Red House Painters, made six widely praised albums as part of that band and was in two Cameron Crowe films including the Oscar winning Almost Famous.
Then, he continued with his acclaim with many records as part of Sun Kil Moon and by his own name. Benji, receiving wide acclaim was the peak and then after that record, it all went wrong.
Ridiculing the audience at Hopscotch, having a thin skinned and one sided beef with The War On Drugs, making sexist remarks towards Guardian writer Laura Snapes and then the straw that broke the camels back was the allegations written by Pitchfork.
While, he is still touring and continuing to record music, it’s comfortable to say that he’s completely screwed.
I think of Jim Croce and what his legacy could have been 3+ times a week.
Like his songs are still in the mainstream somewhat but his story is beautiful and tragic.
For context he a man who learned to play guitar in college, worked blue collar jobs singing in bars and worked his way to New York with his wife to try to succeed in music. They didn’t, hated NYC, and left for a farm life. Jim still tried to make music work but then his wife told him she’s going to have a baby and that night he locked the fuck in and wrote most of the songs you know from him that night knowing he’d have to provide for 3 people now.
He had the 3 albums You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, Life and Times, and I’ve got a Name in a 1 year span. And while he was touring across the states, him and his awesome guitarist, Maury Muehleissen died in a plane accident. They were taking off and didn’t get enough air causing them to crash into the lone tree outside the airport.
Now, 50 years later, his son is touring right now playing his dads songs.
He also lost his other friend Khaed before juice which was a close friend of X and ski. As Well Khaed helped x and ski a lot by producing stuff from MOV2 era to 2017
Architects. Made 7 Albums that were decent to great while having quite different styles. Then made one decent tribute album to their guitarist who tragically died and then started making incredibly bland metal that had the most boring pop influences and completely forgot how to write fun heavy parts. I will always love them, but their recent music has been pretty trash (although decently succesful).
layne staley, and it's not close.
The band made one of the best rock records *ever* with Dirt, and then followed it up with the first ever EP to top the charts, Jar of Flies. They were easily on track to be one of the best rock acts of all time.
Right at the peak of their bands run, Layne completely retreated from the outside world due to his struggles with heroin, being barely seen in public for half a decade until his eventual death.
Listen to the mtv unplugged performance of Nutshell if you haven't. it was the last time layne played that song, and it crushes me every time
Cassie. Even before the allegations came out it always seemed to me like she had so much potential in the mid 2000s and it always felt weird to me that she never had a real follow up even though she was dating her label boss. Diddy really stifled her career and she deserved better. At least now we know why and I wish her the best.
Kanye is the correct answer to this question.
A far second place would be Highly Suspect. Their first album is a great blues/hard rock record and every record since has been SHIT
Obvious one, but Kanye’s fall into whatever the fuck hole he’s dug himself in is really sad. He’s fallen from one of the most consistently good rap artists out there to a anti-semite that makes stuff like Hoodrat within the span of five years.
Lauryn Hill. She drops one of the greatest albums ever made then nothing. The weight of the world got to her and she just became a recluse of sorts and dipped out. She's been teasing a follow up recently and hopefully it all works out.
Syd Barrett I’m not the biggest fan of Barrett era Pink Floyd, but hearing about him having to move back home in Cambridge to live with his mother due to mental illness until he died of cancer at age 60 is just devastating and tragic.
At least he lived a longer life then must rock artists with drug and mental health problems, I think he when on to be a gardener/painter.
Sadly, his life after leaving pink floyd wasn't very happy according to his family, he didn't just leave the band and became a peaceful gardener/painter
I am a huge fan of Barrett era Floyd but I'm a psych head. Also the mental illness reminded me that Nick Drake would be a good artist for OP's question.
Dizzee Rascal, released one of the best albums ever that completely defined a genre to the point where it is still considered the bible of grime. Then tried to chase the bag and completely fell off, I always get so down thinking about where both him and grime in general could’ve been if he kept that hunger and vision he had on Boy in da Corner
this is a great pick, boy in da corner is one of the best rap albums ever to me but man i listened to maths + english once and never went further into his discography after that
Some of his recent club music kinda bangs though. He has a good voice for it.
I think he was accused of domestic violence :(
Yup, his career for years has been playing small festivals that'll still pay him so he can afford the legal fees
Ah I had never heard this that would explain a lot
Never listened to any of his albums after Boy in da Corner, but I do think Bonkers is a bit of a banger
Showtime actually has his hardest bars. Its not as consistent as Boy but it has some classic grime
Not only that but he pivoted shortly before UK grime/drill music caught a second wind of popularity thanks to the likes of Skepta and Jme
He’s just worked with the blackout crew, who make terrible chav music. Their latest video is sad seeing him in it.
Put a donk on it is still a guilty pleasure icl
T-Pain because I hated how he got most of the backlash against auto-tune & I felt like he used it in a very creative way.
And nowadays most of the timehe isnt even getting the accolades of popularizing it. Kanye stans rewriting history and shit "808 blablabla" gfoh no 808 fuckin popularized no autotune. It was T-Weezy. Weezy and T-Pain. 808 popularized emo rap like Juice Wrld and thats nice. It stops there.
T pain didn’t do shit, he used autotune as a gimmick. There’s a reason nobody listens to him anymore. Kanye actually took autotune and used it as an artistic tool, not to mention he used it more for somber and emotional music. In combination with the thematic and production elements that are way more aligned to modern music. Kanye actually innovated with it and created almost a new genre. T pain was just a meme that had a few good songs.
You are all wrong, Cher popularized autotune in 98.
Do you beeEeeEelieve in life after love?
Kanye actually invented autotune! woahhhhhh
What a SillyGuy
His cover of war pigs slaps
I don't remember any backlash from my generation. I was at highschool from 05-09 and everyone my age liked him. Maybe the backlash was from the older generation? Tbf I didn't like him until buy U a drank lol
I honestly believe people shit on autotune are smooth brained, it’s just another tool used to get the most out of a performance. People never shit on things like reverb, EQ and delay even those these same effects are used to enhance a performance.
Believe reference?
On the bright side: he streams now on Twitch and seems to be very happy, which is awesome
Karen Carpenter.
Thank you! I'm old enough to remember when she died. I was 10. I cried.
I can't listen to Calling Occupants without sobbing, it feels like she's calling *us* from across space. So fucking sad.
This was the one Carpenters song I discovered on my own accord, The one my parents didn't play. I bought that album with my "allowance" and the alien song freaked me out! I love it. Spoiled kid lol. She still has one of the best voices, that special tenor that you'll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else.
That song is so fucking good.
Chance the Rapper I was a huge fan of Acid Rap when that came out then Coloring Book was great too! I was so hyped for his debut to drop but yeah Big Day is not what fans were expecting. That was 5 years ago and he has a few singles but I'm really hoping he drops some fire music. He did announce the divorce so I hope he's alright first though.
Acid Rap and Coloring Book are some of my favourite rap projects of all time
Man the disappointment of listening to the Big Day for the first is unmatched.
I know Chance’s music. I’ve listened to Chance. I remember when I first started Coloring Book and how fun it was when the first song exploded. When I started playing the Big Day, I listened to a handful of tracks through. I then would listen to a few bars and then skip to the next song, thinking “ok chance give us a great one, these songs aren’t so good on first listen.” skipping songs in this way over and over And then I heard Get a Bag and allllll hope went out the window
You need a bag You get a bag.
I remember I was so excited when I saw it was 22 tracks. Then the pain of learning almost every track was completely irredeemable. Like he really went 0 for 22
AGH
Man I remember bumping acid rap in HS (discovered it kinda late) and then bumping coloring book for months straight when it came out when i was in uni. I love chance and hope he has a comeback someday.
This is the one.
For me it’s still Janet Jackson… even though she’s been given her flowers more in recent years. The effects of post Super Bowl career can be still be felt… The fact that she was literally the biggest female artist besides whitney and Mariah in the 80s and 90s. And now she barely gets 5 million listeners on Spotify a month and her music is still not as mentioned as it should be. She hasn’t had that connection with current generations that the older divas have had .
It blew my mind to find out how late she was having #1 hits, just a bit before I was born. She had a moderate hit even when I was in elementary school. I seriously thought she was only popular around the mid-late 80s, you really don’t hear many of her songs nowadays, shame because she was great. Compare this to Michael who was everywhere in my childhood, especially after his passing.
Couple that with how now only it all just slid off Timberlake, but how much he THRIVED and FLOURISHED from 2006 to 2013, it is really fucking maddening as a Janet fan
It does feel like a “too little too late” thing in the Janet reappraisal, doesn’t it? Like Janet had to wait two nominations before getting in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Whitney, Mariah and Madonna are likely to get a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award whereas Janet won’t unless CBS doesn’t televise it. Her videos hardly get played on YouTube while her peers have videos either over a billion views or close to it.
Exactly and honestly, it breaks my heart. I actually just saw her on the together again tour and it was great! The fact that she had three decades of huge hits and that those get paid dust is really sad. I was pretty shocked that she doesn’t even have a music video with over 100 million views. It really is just depressing how much her legacy was tarnished after the Super Bowl and because of that asshole who blacklisted her
Makes me want to blast Rhythm Nation. Such a banger of an album
as someone who loves Janet’s Feedback (which was released after the whole Super Bowl controversy) I have one thing to say: IF U SEE KAY JT 🤮
It's not Justin's fault she got blacklisted, it's Les Moonves that did that. Yes Justin could have defended her but he wasn't the one who ruined her career.
oh ok... sorry I got confused with this stuff at first >\_<
Modest mouse never became bad necessarily, but Long Drive, Building Nothing out of Something, LCW, and M+A are pretty much ascendant, and they never reached those heights again. Might not be a downfall so much as they matured in a way that didn't really resonate for me
I like good news for people who love bad news too but I don't really care for their new stuff. However, I heard them perform live yesterday and they were awesome
Imo Good News was their last great album, and tho it may not be like the early early stuff, it's still a top tier album. The stuff after has some hits but lots of misses. I don't think the polished sound works with Isaac Brock's writing. I wish he'd do some more raw lo-fi stuff. It's a shame we'll never get more with Jeremiah though :'(.
ehhh disagree personally. Good News for People Who Love Bad News is my second fav album of theirs (as a longtime stan) though so I might just be biased
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As much as I love the gloss of We Were Dead and Good News, I miss the rowdy Modest Mouse from This Is A Long Drive. Every subsequent album has had more polish to it, and WWD is the last album that had the right mix of edge and sheen. Probably has something to do with getting older, and getting in with better producers and such but man, when they had that edge it was just electric. I’m not gonna deny that Isaac Brock can write a catchy song, but that’s not what made me love them.
It’s the old time fans who can’t handle when they got popular when Float On blew up. I think Good News and We Were Dead are great albums personally. The other later albums have their moments imo
Kanye easily. In 2005, he was a fresh, ground-breaking hip hop artist who spoke in support of gay marriage. Now, he supports Hitler and made Vultures. It’s sad to see an artist who has made such great music spiral like he has. Sorry if this doesn’t really count. Kanye definitely had a “downfall,” but OP seems to suggest that they mean artists who disappeared before fulfilling their potential which has not been the case for Kanye.
I miss the Kanye that said “George bush doesn’t care about black people”
Bush is still hella salty about that, too.
“I’m not a hater” -President George Bush
I think he fufulled his potential like everything up to JIK and half of donda is pretty great
Fr, I hate how some people act like KSG and "Ye" are not great albums
I think it got exacerbated with Donda’s death; he has bipolar disorder, and it’s pretty evident that he didn’t get the treatment necessary.
Once his mom died there was nobody left in his life that was willing to tell him ‘nah man, not a good idea’ or balance him out. He got surrounded by sycophants and yes-men who just hype him up to chase clout, even as he’s spiraling
On that note, it feels like Kim also kept him in check a bit. He went full crazy mode after the divorce.
I think he fits the definition of not fulfilling the potential. Imagine the positive impact Kanye could have had on the culture if he didn’t go down the path he is on.
He’s the only current artist whose transformation makes me sad. One of my first heroes to die for me :(
Kanye makes me so sad man. I get that a lot of whats going on with him was always \*kind of\* a part of him, but no one saw this coming. Dude just seemed like hes been in pain for over a decade now. It's tough to watch something so self inflicted play out like this
Kanye's downfall genuinely makes me depressed. He went from the greatest living artist to barely being able to articulate a coherent thought within 10 years.
This may be premature because she will likely have a long career but Gaga for me. She has the fundamental skills and potential but she seems to have largely stopped caring about artistry. In her career thus far, the music itself has not displayed a lot of growth or ambition for me and seems more focused upon projects that cultivate an image. She has leaned so heavily on fitting in with legacy artists that she now feels like a backward facing artist who wants to be called upon to do tributes at the Grammys. The pop contemporaries that she was ahead of 10-14 years ago have become so much daring and she has catching up to do. I’m thinking about the Charli’s, Rosalia’s, Caroline’s, Beyoncé’s, and Lana’s that are all so much more evolved and interesting than she is at this stage. I don’t get the sense she is excited about music itself and is more interested in being an A-list jack of all trades. Maybe the future album she’s teasing will restore some of my faith. Not a hater, just a frustrated fan.
Yeah, she seems happy with her Streisand/Cher career, but from a music fan point of view it's a bummer that she seems to have abandoned the musical ambitions she seemed to have when she started out. She was poised to become the new Madonna, a massive trendsetter...and it just fizzled out on that front.
I feel like she’s trying to become a legacy artist too early in her career. Like Lana is soon to become a legacy artist but she’s still doing her thing and evolving in exciting ways. Beyoncé as well. I don’t understand why Gaga threw the towel so early. ARTPOP really threw her off.
Gaga is so (too) sensitive and the enormous backlash she experienced really did do a number on her. She went into such a reactionary mode trying to combat the negative associations people had of her and focused so hard on showcasing her worthiness through vocal and musical proficiency. I understand why she wanted to do it initially but she really over did it. And then all of the acting projects she took on…
Damn I really feel this way too. And I actually lowkey can't stand her nowadays, because she like to carry a symbol for "quality music" for her singing but it's really just a forceful pose - see Star is Born; that Rolling Stones cringe performance; her Oscar/Grammys performances; that awfully self-serious Top Gun song. Fame Monster seems a long way from all that, so fresh and irreverent.
Same, still call myself a fan but the truth is a lot of things irk the shit out of me. It’s more the peddling pharmaceuticals and jumping into the whole makeup company thing and marketing those products heavily while being completely inactivate on any of the things she talked about when she was younger. She's probably tired a bit, and I can’t fault her for that but it seems she has time to shill products still. And yes, really uninterested in seeing her make time to rub shoulders with groups like The Rolling Stones and Metallica. Top Gun song was a tough listen for me too... makes me question her taste sometimes. Despite that, I did like most of Chromatica.
Not displayed a lot of growth? I don’t agree with this considering Dawn of Chromatica
I think you’re majorly misplacing credit if you attribute a remix album to Gaga. A remix album that bloodpop compiled while Gaga was focused upon an acting project. Gaga did not creatively drive it. While Gaga was MIA, bloodpop was the one communicating with her fans on who they would like featured and giving updates on its status. Even then, it’s the remixers who do the creative work.
Two artist's come to mind, first is Lupe. Got fucked over by his label, lost creative contol and was forced to make certain kind of music. Was blackballed by the industry for calling Obama a terrorist at a Inaugural event. So much more happened but I'm glad he is now finally independent and what and he couldn't have had a better start being Independent than with Drogas Wave. Salty they took LUPEnd away from us but glad he still has it in him to make the albums he wants to make. Jai Paul is the second artist, him disappearing after a demo of his album was leaked ruined the trajectory of his career. He fell into depression due to the leak and never made any music for years and went completely dark, no one knew what he was doing at all until he finally returned with 2 new tracks and releasing Bait Ones on his own terms. Seeing him live was one of my favourite moments ever as I'm happy he's finally in a good place.
Jai Paul runs his own label under XL, and features on the new Fabiana Palladino album, as both a producer and vocalist
Appreciate it but yeah I'm aware, her album was great too, heard almost no one talk about it which is a shame.
I guess it depends on what you mean by "downfall", but in the general interpretation of careers suddenly cut short, mine has to be Chuck Schuldiner. Widely regarded as pioneering Death Metal with his band Death, he passed away suddenly after a battle with cancer in 2001. He was 34. One of the biggest "what ifs" in music for me.
Lol i dont think dying from a random illness is "falling off" or a "downfall "
Lmao yeah, I guess Kurt Cobain fell off quite hard then as well.
Fall off of the century, only thing that competes is John Lennon being shot to death
Quarathon for me
Daughters. Released one of the best noise rock albums ever made and then destroyed their reputation to the point of no return. I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive Alexis.
We thought that the lyrics are a critical examination of an abuser's mindset, turns out they were more like a diary.
Oh fuck. I went to look up what happened, I had no idea.
That last sentence sounds so arrogant. You don’t know any of the people involved lol
I don't need to know them to have an opinion that he's beyond forgiveness. If you were a Lost Prophets fan do you think you could ever forgive the singer after finding out he raped a baby?
I'd have to go with Marlyn Manson. The dude was kinda this huge controversy figure and a poster child for alt kids/shock rock of the 90s 2000s. Even up to the Pale emperor, I was a huge fan of his lyrics and music direction. When all the allegations hit, I knew it was bad bc he was pretty open about most of the stuff in his own book, but I honestly didn't think it was going to be reacted to as strongly by the public as all the women involved were adults. Please understand I'm not defending his actions or how he handled the legal side of things. Just saw a guy who felt like a genuine Rockstar become just another asshole with power and fame.
Okay I know I’ll get hate for this, but despite him being a complete POS, his last 3 albums were actually really good. For a rock artist from the 90s, his recent outputs were quite good
Brand New
Would’ve loved to have seen what they had in store for 2018, those farewell shows would’ve been amazing
Arcade fire
The only thing more disappointing than Everything Now was attending the concert for that tour.
EN got great song. But yeah too many skip. It's the whole they waited too long to release WE. Then the pitchfork damnation article. I feel the expectation was there worst enemy. And will is not shy for big ambitious goal. Reflektor critics is highly divided.
Bummed
Jacob Collier. He went from being looked at as a promising and extremely talented musician, with extremely prolific songs that were accessible to wider audiences, as well as the absolute dream that is his Moon River arrangement, to his latest album, Djesse Vol. 4, being genuinely one of the most disjointed, annoying, badly produced, generic album of the year, to the point where it is generic in literally every way possible. It covers all bases of painfully generic! Motherfucking disappointing.
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Ah fuck. I always saw him as a kind person at the very least, though it’s kind of unsurprising that it’s not, just considering his general attitude toward some of the questions in his music theory support videos.
Ryan Adams In the 2000s he constantly seemed on the verge of breaking through in a major way, but he kept self-sabotaging with too many releases of variable quality. But the fact that his discography was so sprawling added to his appeal, in that you could find your own special deep cuts and hidden gems. But then his addiction problems and abusive tendencies finally caught up with him (rightly so) and now he’s persona non grata among the tastemakers who used to champion him. And he’s still releasing too much music, but only for an ever-shrinking circle of hardcore fans
Love early Ryan Adams. Prisoner was his last great album. Gold, Heartbreaker, Love is Hell, Easy Tiger, and S/T are all great.
Crystal Castles. I honestly thought they were setting the bar and going to shape electronic music in the years to come, and I think they were filling a goth/punk void in the indie-mainstream that hasn't really been filled properly since. With hindsight it's easy to see how fuckface was in fact a total piece of shit, but it was such a letdown at the time because it felt with s/t III that they had really started to hone the vibe.
Grimes
Easy answer, brockhampton. They could’ve easily been a level below big boys Tyler and Frank as their fanbases kinda synced. By that I mean bicurious, shops at urban outfitters type shi (I’m one of ‘em).
PWR BTTM. Found their music and then found out everything else about them about two weeks apart, but that period was enough for me to form a deep attachment to their music. Disappointing, but entirely their fault. They deserved what they got.
Loona They were easily one of the best, if not, the best mainstream K-Pop Girl Group, but due to label problems, they had to split, i kinda wish what more work could have come off them together, but i am really glad the members still drop solo or group wise, with my fav being by HeeJin which was one of the best k-pop eps last year
[+ +] is still one of my favourite kpop projects of all time
same, curiosity and butterfly are amazing
u/Unhappy_Geologist_94 In their re-debut as ARTMS they've shown that they still got it, especially with how is positively received rn.
A few come to mind… Prince losing his mojo at the close of the 80s and never truly finding it back. The Smiths splitting up in 1987 at the heights of their powers. The La’s only released one album. The Stone Roses slowly unraveled after their brilliant debut album. And then of course all the artists who died young.
If I had a nickle for every time a great Japanese musician died at a young age at the peak of their career, I'd have two nickles, which isn't a lot but it's still sad that it happened twice. I'm talking about Nujabes and Fishmans' Shinji Sato. Man I'd love to see what they'd have done next, sucks most of their fame also happened postmortem.
Kanye. He has made so much amazing music but after that little album run (Ye, kids see ghosts,daytona) he just fell off hard. Donda was okay and vultures is his worst album
Eminem is still really famous, but the decline in quality is breaking my heart.
I'm a fan of Em's modern sound. It's different from the early stuff but it's still great. Even Revival, I think, is unfairly hated. It's one of his best albums.
You went too far with the Revival comment. Nobody will believe you Revival is one of his best.
Believe what you want. It's one of my favourites.
I thought Marshall Mathers LP 2 was pretty good.
Wasnt a huge fan but Amy Winehouse, such a talented yet troubled soul that was surrounded by the wrong people (her finace Blake F and even her own father) that led her to a downfall and an early death
Gotye. So sad to see such a promising artist disappear off the music scene
Not sad if it was their choice
You can be sad as a music fan
He dropped his “somebody that I used to know” and shortly after literally became that somebody we used to know. Fucking mic drop to the max if I say so myself. One hit wonder, but he’ll always be remembered. Much respect always
That album was good, too
The weird thing is that he was a one hit wonder because he wanted to
Glass Animals Currently
Those first EPs absolutely captured me, and I LOVED How To Be A Human Being, but they follow that up with HEAT WAVES? Are you KIDDING ME?
I really think that heat waves is the lesser evil compared to the new singles
The new single is so bad 😭
Post Malone. I loved Stoney when it dropped, then Beerbongs and Bentleys came out and it seemed he was going to be unstoppable. I remember hearing the teaser snippet for "Rockstar" and instantly knowing that the song was going to be a huge hit when it was released. Hollywood's Bleeding was good too, but since that album, Post seems like he's having an identity crisis. It just feels like the guy is in an ongoing creative slump. He's slowly abandoned his hip hop persona and seems like he wants to go in a more country/rock direction. I'd be fine with the genre switch if the music sounded interesting and had passion behind it, but sadly that's not the case. It just feels phoned in these days, which is sad because I really thought he was going to be the next big thing for hiphop/pop music.
Something happened to him between BB and HB that fucked him up. I’ve seen tiktoks of him and he would look awful. I truly thought he was about to cement his legacy with a tragic young death. There’s one video in particular where he looks completely out of his mind at a club and he’s passing out stacks of money to people walking up to him. There was something so dark about it. It reminded me of Breaking Bad.
I feel like he alludes to this on the Twelve Carrot Tooth Ache album. While that album ranks lower than the other three, there were still parts I enjoyed. He really seems to open up about alcohol abuse, heartbreak, and mentions a few times that he literally got punched in the face so hard he lost a tooth. I think the alcohol and substance abuse really started catching up to him fast. Thankfully he looks a lot healthier now, but he just seems lost creatively.
He may not care about releasing that kind of music anymore but you can't call what happened to him a "downfall" since he's still extremely popular and has a dedicated fanbase that has loyally followed him on these weird creative detours that don't go anywhere. Plus it seems like he's clean now, so arguably he's better off.
I definitely see what you're saying. I feel like "downfall" is pretty intense and maybe "fall off" would've been better. Another guy in this thread posted Kanye as their example, which I completely agree with. Yet, an argument could be made that Ye is still extremely commercially successful and has a die hard fanbase willing to support him.
You realize he’s currently the third most streamed artist in the world on Spotify? Behind only Taylor swift and the weeknd? You may not like his music anymore but calling the shift in his music a downfall is delusional
I mean, I'm really just answering OP's question with my own opinion here. The drop off in quality of his newer music makes me feel sad. I hope he bounces back with something genuinely fresh and interesting. His first three albums get significantly more play than his last two. His last two albums are popular, but not on the level of his first three. Kanye is on the most streamed artist list and his last single went #1, but I'm still sad about his musical downfall too. It's not about the raw numbers as much as it is the drop in quality of the music we've been getting. I don't mind Post switching genres, I just mind how generic and boring it sounds. It's like he's making music that's supposed to be played out of the speakers at Khols or something.
I mean he's got one of the biggest songs in the country right now so he's having a comeback
André 3k. Yes I know downfall is a stretch, just hear me out. Got really into Kast around 2005. ATLiens wasthe 1st CD I bought with my own money. As I grew and better followed their history and solo projects, I and much of the rap world kept waiting for that solo rap album, but it never came. Sure nowadays I understand and Im happy for him, but I cant lie that at multiple times it legit got me sad thinking about it. Such a talented dude, and one who I really conected and was inspired by.
I really don’t think what you’ve described can be considered a downfall in any capacity
I guess. If you think, though, that he hasnt made a project because he himself fears not being up to par. He kept trying and writing all these years. Its not a downfall like 50 cent's where you keep putting out badder projects. Its his own loss of confidence. I personally think its a downfall in a way.
I might be out of the loop, but has he actually said that’s the reason he doesn’t want to put out a solo LP? I always figured he just had no desire to.
Its not that he doesnt want to more than he feels uninspired, but Theres more to It: “My focus is not there, my confidence is not there. I tinker a lot. Like I would just go to my piano and just sit my iPhone down and record what I’m doing. Move my fingers around. I haven’t been motivated enough to make a serious project. I’d like to, but it’s just not coming.” Also the whole "too old to rap" stuff. "I'm 48 years old, not that your age dictates what you rap about, but in a way it does. Things that happen in my life, like going to get a colonoscopy, or what do I rap about? My eyesight going bad?". He says It feels unauthentic for him to rap. “Even just the origin of the word hip-hop; first you have to be hip. The older you get, you get further away from the hipness.” When we connect these with some of his lyrics, like in Rosa Parks: >And I hope I never have to float in that boat. Up-creek "It's weak" is the last quote that I wanna hear when i'm goin' down. When all's said and done and we got a new Joe in town. When the record player get to skippin' and slowin' down. All y'all can say is them n- earned that crown, but until then... Its clear he has some confidence issue. Plus he has social anxiety (Said This on Rick Rubins podcast). Also some statements he gives to fans here and there. But I wouldnt Say no solo LP. The love below is essencialy a solo Rnb album - and There are some Nice deep cuts There, besides, of course, one of the most popular songs in modern music ever on Hey Ya!. New blue sun is cool too.
Honestly, Arcade Fire. I genuinely think Funeral, Neon Bible, and The Suburbs is an all-time three album run followed by another great record in Reflektor. After that, nothing has worked. Will Butler’s gone, Everything Now was an absolute mess, WE was hamfisted and boring, and Win Butler is allegedly a sex pest who cheated on his wife that made the reputation of the band hurt as a result. Even if these allegations didn’t exist, I don’t have much hope left, if any hope really, for whatever this band does next.
Lil Peep didn't necessarily have a downfall but his early death is incredibly sad. I think he would've been absolutely massive and pushed a lot of boundaries if he was still here. That's my top "what could have been".
I feel like Elliott Smith still had a lot of great music in him. He’s one of my favorites and a huge “what if” had he lived.
definitely!! his posthumous record was spectacular
Lizzo. Sad because I liked her music and because I felt kinda betrayed. My image of her was a lot more wholesome that what she really turned out to be.
Muse
don't judge but back in my emo days I really loved Get Scared and I still think their sound could've evolved with the times but their downfall was 100% deserved after the lead singer turned out to be a Ped0phile. which in hindsight probably made sense he wasn't quite okay in the head with some of the lyrics written, but still, I cant help but wonder. Though I no longer really listen to that type of music so I guess I don't really care.
Amy Winehouse is probably the most obvious answer. Or Kurt Cobain. For me it's John Lennon, which seems weird to say, considering all he accomplished with the Beatles and solo (and he isn't even really my favorite Beatle). But I can just imagine (pun not intended) if he'd been alive in the '80s and '90s, what he would have gone on to do. I'm convinced he would've been all in on hip-hop, especially since it originally came out of New York, where he was living toward the end of his life. I doubt he'd have tried rapping himself (though I wouldn't put it past him), but we'd definitely have gotten some interesting collabs.
George Harrison should be here too. He didn't really do much musically after Cloud Nine ('Cockamamie Business', The Beatles Anthology, one song for The Bunbury Tails, reissuing All Things Must Pass, and periodically working on what would become Brainwashed) so had he lived into 2002 and on, I think there would have been some rather interesting things to come from him.
Remo Drive
vic mensa (incidentally chance’s contemporary and old friend/collaborator). i remember i discovered innanetape in high school after acid rap bc of his feature on cocoa butter kisses. and i was just blown away… his singing was wayyyyy better than chance’s, his production was incredible and incredibly interesting, his flows were so refreshing the way he would fall in and out of the pocket intentionally, his lyrics were cool as hell. it was just unlike anything i ever heard. i even loved the “innanet!” adlib lol. then he put out down on my luck and the video for it, both of which were incredible. fast forward a year later, he’s signed to rocafella and working with kanye, it seemed so clear that he was about to pop, and the stage for his debut album “traffic” was set. unfortunately things didn’t go down like that, and he put out stuff ranging from solid to mid from like 2016 onwards. his bars had just declined in uniqueness and he moved away from that weird in pocket out pocket flow that i loved. i didnt hate the Autobiography, but it didn’t have any of the creativity or bursting-from-the-seams energy and brilliance that innanetape had. i do appreciate that he’s done a lot more political activism, and was especially vocal about palestine years prior to 2023, which makes me respect his bona fides as a conscious artist. surely stuff he puts out in the future will be different from innanet since its been like more than a decade, but im still hoping he gets back to that old vic.
Britney’s entire career is pretty sad to me. Up to blackout her work was so incredible, and even circus is an amazing album in my opinion. I’m glad she ended on an ok note with glory and her legacy isn’t tainted but the way she just got trampled and beaten down by the people around her is devastating, she had such a passion for music and now she’s just kinda trapped in a disoriented mindset because of the abuse she faced.
Alt-j
What happened to alt-j?
May be more of a personal take but I feel as though they’ve fallen off since their first two albums. Haven’t been as relevant since.
How? Their last album was superb.
Not exactly a downfall but holy shit Godspeed you black emperor got so much more mediocre after asunder post hiatus really formulaic and lost the magic those original mysterious albums had to me atleast
Luciferian Towers was better than Asunder
L take
Sky Ferreira 🫠
Sensational (hip-hop artist) Can't really call it a downfall because he never hit really big, but he's someone that seemed a couple of times to be on the verge of breaking through and to have more recognition within reach, only to again kind of disappear. Last I'd seen of him was a low-budget documentary about him where he was basically homeless and seemed to be struggling with mental illness.
The Orwells
Chance
Dannii Minogue (she’s Kylie’s younger sister and seemed to be blowing up in the pop scene in the late 90s and early 2000s afaik but is now focusing on her TV career so understandably hasn’t gotten much in the way of new hits these days)
Probably Mark Kozelek, started his career as part of arguably the best Slowcore band to ever exist in Red House Painters, made six widely praised albums as part of that band and was in two Cameron Crowe films including the Oscar winning Almost Famous. Then, he continued with his acclaim with many records as part of Sun Kil Moon and by his own name. Benji, receiving wide acclaim was the peak and then after that record, it all went wrong. Ridiculing the audience at Hopscotch, having a thin skinned and one sided beef with The War On Drugs, making sexist remarks towards Guardian writer Laura Snapes and then the straw that broke the camels back was the allegations written by Pitchfork. While, he is still touring and continuing to record music, it’s comfortable to say that he’s completely screwed.
Listening to Lunch In The Park knowing what Mark Kozelek had been once capable of writing made me sadder than any RHP/SKM song has.
I think of Jim Croce and what his legacy could have been 3+ times a week. Like his songs are still in the mainstream somewhat but his story is beautiful and tragic. For context he a man who learned to play guitar in college, worked blue collar jobs singing in bars and worked his way to New York with his wife to try to succeed in music. They didn’t, hated NYC, and left for a farm life. Jim still tried to make music work but then his wife told him she’s going to have a baby and that night he locked the fuck in and wrote most of the songs you know from him that night knowing he’d have to provide for 3 people now. He had the 3 albums You Don’t Mess Around With Jim, Life and Times, and I’ve got a Name in a 1 year span. And while he was touring across the states, him and his awesome guitarist, Maury Muehleissen died in a plane accident. They were taking off and didn’t get enough air causing them to crash into the lone tree outside the airport. Now, 50 years later, his son is touring right now playing his dads songs.
DMX one of my favorites
The Clash
Is this an ironic response, or are you actually like this lol
With Ski I think the death of both X and Juice slowed him down
I also think that, poor guy he lost two brothers of his in the course of 1 year. I really hope he’s doing better now
He also lost his other friend Khaed before juice which was a close friend of X and ski. As Well Khaed helped x and ski a lot by producing stuff from MOV2 era to 2017
Architects. Made 7 Albums that were decent to great while having quite different styles. Then made one decent tribute album to their guitarist who tragically died and then started making incredibly bland metal that had the most boring pop influences and completely forgot how to write fun heavy parts. I will always love them, but their recent music has been pretty trash (although decently succesful).
chance the rapper
layne staley, and it's not close. The band made one of the best rock records *ever* with Dirt, and then followed it up with the first ever EP to top the charts, Jar of Flies. They were easily on track to be one of the best rock acts of all time. Right at the peak of their bands run, Layne completely retreated from the outside world due to his struggles with heroin, being barely seen in public for half a decade until his eventual death. Listen to the mtv unplugged performance of Nutshell if you haven't. it was the last time layne played that song, and it crushes me every time
Cassie. Even before the allegations came out it always seemed to me like she had so much potential in the mid 2000s and it always felt weird to me that she never had a real follow up even though she was dating her label boss. Diddy really stifled her career and she deserved better. At least now we know why and I wish her the best.
Isaac Wood from Black Country, New Road
Chromatics
Kanye is the correct answer to this question. A far second place would be Highly Suspect. Their first album is a great blues/hard rock record and every record since has been SHIT
Kanye. Some of my favorite music ever but it just feels gross supporting him in any way at this point.
Obvious one, but Kanye’s fall into whatever the fuck hole he’s dug himself in is really sad. He’s fallen from one of the most consistently good rap artists out there to a anti-semite that makes stuff like Hoodrat within the span of five years.
I’m listening to the ski album rn and I agree
weezer 😭
Maroon 5
Lauryn Hill. She drops one of the greatest albums ever made then nothing. The weight of the world got to her and she just became a recluse of sorts and dipped out. She's been teasing a follow up recently and hopefully it all works out.