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#4611936 - 10/25/22 01:16 PM Rock groups/artists who quit while on top  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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A friend of mine and myself were having an interesting discussion about legacy Rock bands which continue to put out new albums even though those new albums are largely ignored and quickly forgotten about except by their most hardcore fans. We then dovetailed into talking about those rock bands/artists who actually quit making music while they were at the top of their creativity and commercial success. These came up in the discussion:

The Beatles
The Police
Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd (Roger Waters era)
Billy Joel


Which others can you guys think of?


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4612259 - 10/28/22 10:23 PM Re: Rock groups/artists who quit while on top [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Force10 Offline
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I'm going with Creedence Clearwater Revival. While they had a serious slew of hits...they came in a span of about 3 years then gone.

Technically...they didn't "quit" when they were on top...it was a falling out between Fogerty and the other members.


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#4612333 - 10/30/22 12:31 AM Re: Rock groups/artists who quit while on top [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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Apart from Billy Joel, those are bands that have just split up.
I really can't think of anybody that's just walked away when they were at the top.
We have people like Syd Barrett or Grace Slick who sort of walked away, or flew away in Syd's case...and I'm too much of a gentleman to discuss why Grace might have walked away.

#4612465 - 10/31/22 12:23 PM Re: Rock groups/artists who quit while on top [Re: Force10]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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PanzerMeyer  Online Centaurian
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Originally Posted by Force10
I'm going with Creedence Clearwater Revival. While they had a serious slew of hits...they came in a span of about 3 years then gone.

Technically...they didn't "quit" when they were on top...it was a falling out between Fogerty and the other members.


It's still quite stunning to me just how many hit songs they pumped out in such a short span of time but yes, their final album without John Fogerty should never have happened. The band pretty much disowned that album in later years.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
#4618722 - 01/14/23 03:59 PM Re: Rock groups/artists who quit while on top [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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dutch Offline
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#4618725 - 01/14/23 04:12 PM Re: Rock groups/artists who quit while on top [Re: PanzerMeyer]  
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NH2112 Offline
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I’ll say Triumph. Their last few albums were more successful than their earlier, more creative ones, but after guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett left they made one more album with guitarist Phil X then hung it up. It wasn’t a bad album, it wasn’t the Triumph from their late 70s/early 80s creative peak but it would have been a standout offering from anyone else. Rik went on to have a successful solo career, one of the other members (bassist Mike Levine, IIRC) started a pyrotechnics business (he’d done the pyro for the band), and AFAIK drummer Gil Moore got into production instead of playing.


Phil

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#4618908 - 01/18/23 12:48 PM Re: Rock groups/artists who quit while on top [Re: NH2112]  
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PanzerMeyer Online centaurian
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PanzerMeyer  Online Centaurian
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Originally Posted by NH2112
I’ll say Triumph. Their last few albums were more successful than their earlier, more creative ones, but after guitarist/vocalist Rik Emmett left they made one more album with guitarist Phil X then hung it up. It wasn’t a bad album, it wasn’t the Triumph from their late 70s/early 80s creative peak but it would have been a standout offering from anyone else. Rik went on to have a successful solo career, one of the other members (bassist Mike Levine, IIRC) started a pyrotechnics business (he’d done the pyro for the band), and AFAIK drummer Gil Moore got into production instead of playing.


I concede that I had no clue who Triumph was until about 10 years ago. Based on what I read they were very popular and well known in Canada but unlike Rush they never were big in the US.


“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”

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