Which bands have kept up a consistently high standard throughout a long career?

GJK1959

The Hawks/The Band

thecolourbox

Fairly predictably i'd like to add Jack White in the various guises, 25 years since White Stripes were formed and he's been pretty prolific by just starting a new band when others run out of time

1997 - Formed White Stripes
1999 - White Stripes Debut album
2000 - White Stripes - De Stijl
2001 - White Stripes - White Blood Cells
2003 - White Stripes - Elephant. 2x Grammy award winning, 2 more nominations
2004 - Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose. 2x Grammy awards wins, 2 more nominations
2005 - White Stripes - Get Behind Me Satan. Grammy award winning, 1 more nomination
2006 - Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers. 2x Grammy nominations
2007 - White Stripes - Icky Thump. 2x Grammy award winning, 2 more nominations
2008 - Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely. Grammy winner, 1 more nomination
2008 - Duet with Alicia Keys - Another Way to Die for Quantum of Solace 007. Grammy nominated
2009 - Dead Weather - Horehound
2010 - White Stripes - Under Great White Northern Lights. Grammy winner, and one other nomination
2010 - Dead Weather - Sea of Cowards
2012 - Solo - Blunderbuss. 5x grammy nominations
2014 - Solo - Lazaretto. Grammy Award Winning, and 2 more nominations
2015 - Dead Weather - Dodge and Burn
2018 - Solo - Boarding House Reach
2019 - Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger
2022 - Solo - Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive

viz

ICBM said:

viz said:

Duran Duran

There are a couple of pretty dodgy albums in the 90s. The most recent ones are good though.

To get in before you, I don’t think Steve Vai has made a bad album . (Although I don’t like Sex & Religion.)

You will

Hoof

PhilW1 said:

Clutch

I came here to say that. I think they may even be improving with age. Incredible band.

I'll add:
Russian Circles

Reverend

Hoof said:

PhilW1 said:

Clutch

I came here to say that. I think they may even be improving with age. Incredible band.

I'll add:
Russian Circles

Ive never bothered listening to them. Seen them live twice and they've been destroyed by the other band on the bill so never bothered 

jonnyburgo

Mike Watt continues to make brilliant stuff From Minutemen days to now, total workaholic.

lustycourtier

Morrissey. I know people hate him for being a huge troll.  I was a huge smiths fan, still am but Morrissey on his own has released masterpiece after masterpiece, rarely dipping in quality or lacking relevance. 

 Paul Weller. I cant remember the last time I listened to the Jam, but the style council I listen to daily and solo, fantastic. 

LPManic

Manic Street Preachers - 14 studio albums, a record 34 UK Top 40 hits, various number one singles and albums. Constantly re-evaluating and re-inventing themselves. Lost a band member quite tragically but kept going. Together now 35 years and releasing music for 30+ years.

RandallFlagg

2 Unlimited

stimpsonslostson

Slipknot and Mastodon are both consistently excellent. 

Stuckfast

Has anyone mentioned Half Man Half Biscuit yet? Always at least a couple of complete classics on every album.

Philly_Q

stimpsonslostson said:

Slipknot and Mastodon are both consistently excellent. 

I've never got into Slipknot but absolutely agreed on Mastodon, magnificent band although I find the harsher-sounding early stuff hard work.  I like them better now that Brann's singing a lot.

Cranky

Pearl Jam
Weezer
Green Day
Radiohead
Foo Fighters

Do the Beatles count?  Most of their stuff covers like 4 years.

Bowie and Lou Reed are good suggestions, too.

ICBM

Cranky said:

Do the Beatles count?  Most of their stuff covers like 4 years.

It still astounds me that the Beatles entire recording career spans just less than seven years. How much they changed music, and helped to change the world, in that short time is incredible.

SPECTRUM001

Aren’t we being a bit Walter Softy here and simply championing favourite artists ??

I am a big Bowie fan, but come on; Tonight, Tin Machine etc are not at the standard of his early (and a couple of later) recordings. Of course he did continue to take his work seriously and was still prolific, but the standard wasn’t consistently high. 

That said, pretty hard to maintain at the level he set himself - so not knocking his drive or integrity. And agreed, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Neil Young - all still valid after lengthy careers.

And Wire spring to mind too, as (over forty years on) they are releasing and playing great stuff - albeit there are still loads of ups and downs.

Chas and Dave ? They never wavered…

Philly_Q

SPECTRUM001 said:

I am a big Bowie fan, but come on; Tonight, Tin Machine etc are not at the standard of his early (and a couple of later) recordings. Of course he did continue to take his work seriously and was still prolific, but the standard wasn’t consistently high. 

Funnily enough, I've never been a Bowie fan - he falls into the "admire more than like" category for me - but I bought the Tin Machine albums because it was Bowie doing Rock.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

Funnily enough, I've never been a Bowie fan - he falls into the "admire more than like" category for me - but I bought the Tin Machine albums because it was Bowie doing Rock.

I quite like the Tin Machine albums - the first one especially - but Tonight wasn’t great. There was a dire one after that too - Never Let Me Down, which ironically is exactly what he did! I would give him the benefit of the doubt though, because his mistakes were the result of trying different things which didn’t work, rather than just churning out the same old.

Philly_Q

Bowie had a reputation of always being ahead of the trends, but I remember someone saying - a very long time ago - that he actually had a happy knack of jumping on a bandwagon just after it had set off. 

(I have no idea if that's true, I've never been within a million miles of a trend.  I just thought it was a good quote.)

Reverend

Bowie was more of a barometer than trailblazer.

LastMantra

ICBM said:

Cranky said:

Do the Beatles count?  Most of their stuff covers like 4 years.

It still astounds me that the Beatles entire recording career spans just less than seven years. How much they changed music, and helped to change the world, in that short time is incredible.

I'm not sure the Beatles changed the world anywhere near as the world changed the Beatles.