Name one band...

[hart's shirt]

The Flaming Lips

 

[Hiney]

Seriously? Definitely Maybe and What's The Story Morning Glory are their best albums!

This.

Some bands get better with age, but some (like Oasis) end up so far up their own arses, they forget why they started.

I remember going to see Squeeze right back in the early days. They were supporting Curved Air at The Chichester Festival Theatre and were absolute TOILET.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I think you can roughly divide bands into 2 categories, those that explode with one or two great albums and then fade or implode like Oasis and the Sex Pistols or bands that build to a peak over a number of years( and then inevitably fade ) like REM or The Manic Street Preachers

 

[Mellotron]

Chili Peppers middle period (Blood Sugar Sex Magik to Californication) was their best.

Meanwhile Muse have got WORSE as they've gone along.

Radiohead have gotten better.
The Beatles also.

 

[spring hall convert]

Manic Street Preachers

Crazy talk. Upward trajectory up to and including The Holy Bible or Everything Must Go. Then extremely patchy.

 

[Superphil]

GnR, The Jam, Bowie.

 

[Peteinblack]

Killing Joke (angrier, heavier and louder as they get older!) - their last two albums have been their best.

Manic Street Preachers

Half Man Half Biscuit

 

[Albumen]

The Cure. Some of their earlier stuff was pretty grim.

And pretty amazing. A Forest is in my top 5 Cure tracks. They were consistent throughout. I had a Cure stage when I was 13-14 in '87. I reckon I'll have another one in a few years and buy a 90 record vinyl set or something. If that's my midlife crisis I'll be doing ok.

 

[Hotchilidog]

GnR, The Jam, Bowie.

GNR peaked with Appetite surely? They became arrogant w*nkstains after that. There is one half decent album to be cobbled out of the Use Your Illusion Lp's and the sh*theap that is November Rain would not be on it.

Difficult to think of bands that continued an ever upward trajectory throughout their career. I'd give Pearl Jam a lot of credit for maintaining a high level of excellence given that their debut album is one of the best of all time.

 

[tinx]

Definintely the Black Keys, Their albums just keep getting better and better.

Foo Fighters - They have always been great but show no sign of getting worse and their most recent album was one of their best.

Biffy Clyro - Going from strentgh to strength.

 

[Albumen]

Walkmen.

You and Me was for me their best album, Lisbon that followed also pretty amazing. Bows and Arrows was good with an obvious high with Rats but they were an utterly stunning live band at their peak. I miss them. And so far the parts of the sum, the solo works, just don't cut the mustard.

 

[Superphil]

GNR peaked with Appetite surely? They became arrogant w*nkstains after that. There is one half decent album to be cobbled out of the Use Your Illusion Lp's and the sh*theap that is November Rain would not be on it.

Difficult to think of bands that continued an ever upward trajectory throughout their career. I'd give Pearl Jam a lot of credit for maintaining a high level of excellence given that their debut album is one of the best of all time.

Yeah, but you know I meant Nirvana

 

[Superphil]

Killing Joke (angrier, heavier and louder as they get older!) - their last two albums have been their best.

Manic Street Preachers

Half Man Half Biscuit

100% agree re KJ

 

[Peteinblack]

Queen

Interesting! I thought Queen were brilliant up until Night at the Opera/Bohemian Rhapsody (early tracks like Liar, Ogre Battle, Brighton Rock, Now I'm Here, Seven Seas of Rhye all really rocked, yet were also totally original), but after that, they became commercial, stadium-rock, bores; singalong with Freddie - poor old Brian May might as well have stayed at home! I hated their 1980s output; thought it was utter bilge!

Sorry!

 

[Mellotron]

Foo Fighters - They have always been great but show no sign of getting worse and their most recent album was one of their best.
Biffy Clyro - Going from strentgh to strength.

Can't agree on either of these. Foo Fighters have become incredibly stale for me, and Biffy Clyro have sold out MASSIVELY and just become a pale version of (funnily enough) Foo Fighters. For me both were at their peak at around 4th album.

 

[Mellotron]

Queens of the f'in Stoneage. Slow start but they are SUPERB now.

 

[tinx]

Can't agree on either of these. Foo Fighters have become incredibly stale for me, and Biffy Clyro have sold out MASSIVELY and just become a pale version of (funnily enough) Foo Fighters. For me both were at their peak at around 4th album.

Foo fighters 4th ALbum was One by One which is widely regarded as one of their worst and in fact if it wasn't for a couple of good singles would have been completely forgotten. IMO Wasting Light is far superior to that. Granted there was a bit of a blip with Echo, Silence, PAtience and Grace which was average.

Biffy Clyro released Puzzle as their 4th Album which probably as an album has some of the strongest songs but as a complete package they have grown into their sound and live they are second to none now whereas a few years ago they weren't quite there, the certainly aren't a pale version of anyone.

 

[MarioOrlandi]

Queen already have a mention, but the daddy of them all has to be Davy Jones aka David Bowie, he was always ahead of his time.

 

[spring hall convert]

I feel like I've misunderstood the question. There's some decent shouts here but the answer to the OP's question is extremely rare. Especially amongst high profile, long living acts.

Beach Boys and Beattles are excellent shouts.
Talk Talk and Killing Joke for sure.
Pulp is also a great shout (though I'm not personally a fan of "This Is Hardcore.")
Kraftwerk doesn't quite work but undoubtedly they started comparatively poorly
Radiohead - I love latter period Radiohead but are Amnesiac and King of Limbs better than The Bends and Ok Computer. Really?

Did someone really mention the Stones? Everything they've released post Some Girls has been dire.

It's a tough question. My Bloody Valentine would have been an excellent answer if they didn't do the last album. You could make a case for Nirvana perhaps. PJ Harvey, not quite.

I'll go for a few lesser known ones (min 3 albums released)

Le Tigre
Sleater-Kinney
Oneohtrix Point Never
Lungfish
The Stooges (this might be a personal thing though, I know plenty of people that can't stand Raw Power.)
Julia Holter
**** Buttons
Four Tet (though I'm not sure this quite works TBH)

 

[tinx]

Queens of the f'in Stoneage. Slow start but they are SUPERB now.

I do agree with this however, although I think their early stuff was excellent too. In fact I can't think of anything bad they have ever done.