Breaking up with your favorite bands

[Jorge]

I was listening to an episode of All Songs Considered on the topic of "breaking up" with old favorites.

They laid out four categories. What are yours?

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back:
bands you simply grew away from with age:
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times:
bands you'll stick by no matter what:

[Jorge]

Mine are:

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: U2
bands you simply grew away from with age: The Offspring, Oasis, Metallica
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: NOFX, Bad Religion
bands you'll stick by no matter what: The Cure

[Strat]

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: Our Lady Peace
bands you simply grew away from with age: Aerosmith, Oasis
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: This one is tough because every once in awhile a song will pop on from an old favorite that i will go check out to see what they are up to.
bands you'll stick by no matter what: pearl jam (shocking)

[E.H. Ruddock]

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: Oasis, Kings of Leon
bands you simply grew away from with age: Stone Temple Pilots
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: Metallica
bands you'll stick by no matter what: The Ramones, The Clash, Pearl Jam, Talking Heads

[Jorge]

I answered exclusively with bands I was into at ages 13-15 but I suppose you could include later favorites as well

[tragabigzanda]

[bada]

This is a tough one because there are loads of bands I grew away from but I still come back to from time to time. Like for instance Def Leppard. They were my first love and I listened to them pretty much non stop in the 80's. When Adrenalize came out in ('91?) I discovered they weren't for me anymore but many years later I realized I still enjoyed the band and every once in a while I listen to them. I can't think of a band I swore off. I imagine I'll stick with Soundgarden forever.

[melonhead4]

Artists you swore off entirely and never looked back: Metallica, Oasis
Artists you simply grew away from with age: Bone Thugs N Harmony,The Offspring, Led Zep
Artists you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: G n R, Wu Tang, STP, RHCP, AIC
Artists you'll stick by no matter what: PJ, Blind Melon, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, 2pac, The Stones, Grateful Dead, Arcade Fire, Nirvana, Biggie Smalls, Mobb Deep, RATM, Talking Heads, Soundgarden, Modest Mouse, Cormega

[bodysnatcher]

This is pretty cool, and probably deserves more thought I'm putting into it, but off the top of my head...

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: Flaming Lips, Red Hot Chili Peppers
bands you simply grew away from with age: Death Cab for Cutie, The Cure
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: The Clash, TV on the Radio, Interpol, Air, AIC, Soundgarden
bands you'll stick by no matter what: Radiohead, Boards of Canada

I feel like PJ could be in the last category, but they're not consistent enough. They teeter in the abyss between the last two.

[gardenparty]

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: Green Day, Foo Fighters
bands you simply grew away from with age: Phish, Weezer
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: G. Love, Ben Harper
bands you'll stick by no matter what: Pearl Jam, MMJ, Radiohead, Beck

[bodysnatcher]

Weezer, good one

[LoathedVermin72]

These categories seem a bit vague to me. Maybe I'm too young for this?

[surfndestroy]

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: world music as done by rock bands
bands you simply grew away from with age: gangster rap except NWA's first album
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: The Who. Aersomith.
bands you'll stick by no matter what: Led Zeppelin, The Stones, Beatles, U2, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley, SRV. It's so much harder for the dead to fuck up their legacy. Under the current music environment there aren't many current bands that I don't think aren't more than willing of making horrible music choices trying to chase money.

[BurtReynolds]

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: Coldplay
bands you simply grew away from with age: Pearl Jam
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: GnR, MMJ, Alice in Chains
bands you'll stick by no matter what: Smashing Pumpkins, The Sword, Modest Mouse

[Jorge]

These categories seem a bit vague to me. Maybe I'm too young for this?

You're in your late 20s dude

[Jorge]

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: Coldplay
bands you simply grew away from with age: Pearl Jam
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: GnR, MMJ, Alice in Chains
bands you'll stick by no matter what: Smashing Pumpkins, The Sword, Modest Mouse

You listen to the new Smashing Pumpkins albums? Are they good?

[bodysnatcher]

Oh man I forgot about the Pumpkins. I'd definitely put them in one of the first two categories of mine

[Jorge]

Oh man I forgot about the Pumpkins. I'd definitely put them in one of the first two categories of mine

They'd be a "band I no longer follow but I still remember the good times" for me. A BINLFBISRTGT.

[Kevin Davis]

These categories seem a bit vague to me.

They're a bit cut-and-dry -- they oversimplify the oftentimes transient role music tends to play in a person's life, coming and going in a way that listener doesn't always have as much control over as the categories suggest. I don't know that any band cleanly falls into the first category for me -- that idea of consciously "cutting ties" with a band in a way that rules out any kind of natural growth away from them seems kinda dumb, as if one day you just decide you don't want to be the kind of person who listens to, say, Pink Floyd anymore, which I don't really understand. There are a lot of bands that fit in some joint configuration of the second and third categories. There are a lot of bands I'll probably always keep up on, but "no matter what" is a pretty big commitment.

I've been surprised by how many artists I've thought I was "done with" only to find myself interested again years later for entirely new reasons (The Grateful Dead are a great example of this in my life right now), and many times I've written things off for reasons that seemed extremely important at the time but seem increasingly stupid as time goes on (I have always enjoyed Def Leppard and Aerosmith and bands from that era of my childhood, and there was a time when I felt I shouldn't listen to music like that because of some high-minded principles about art that I couldn't care less about now). Most commonly I simply find something that once sounded great to me now sounds less great -- is this inherently the same as "growing out of" something? It's hard to say.

Basically, at time present I have no desire to hear anything by thr Doors, Coldplay, or the Dave Matthews Band ever again, and will probably buy every Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan, or Brad Mehldau album released between now and my death or theirs. However, I expected the same of Elvis Costello, and then he collaborated with Marcus Mumford. The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

[BurtReynolds]

bands you swore off entirely and never looked back: Coldplay
bands you simply grew away from with age: Pearl Jam
bands you no longer follow, but you still remember the good times: GnR, MMJ, Alice in Chains
bands you'll stick by no matter what: Smashing Pumpkins, The Sword, Modest Mouse

You listen to the new Smashing Pumpkins albums? Are they good?

I guess I mean I'll love them no matter how shitty their albums get, though I liked zeitgeist. and will hope any new albums are good.

Contrasted with PJ, where every bad new album leaves me more disgusted.