Obnoxious Listeners - Latest Comments in Quitting While Ahead

Re: Quitting While Ahead

Dan — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:21:42 -0000

While I certainly can't expect everyone to like Radiohead, I must say that stale is a very poorly chosen word to describe Radiohead... especially from the beginning.

Re: Quitting While Ahead

mysteryoftimes — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:59:36 -0000

i'm glad, radiohead has been pretty stale from the beginning.

Re: Quitting While Ahead

Mr_Cutright — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 20:02:09 -0000

Also in quitting whiles you are ahead, Ozzy should have stopped after Ozzmossis. The later ones are lame and lost. But moving on, check out Crooked X.

Re: Quitting While Ahead

A.K.A — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:50:58 -0000

I'd like to just point out that even though Jerry Seinfeld quit while he was ahead, he still had the decency to admit that as his reason for quitting rather then most celebrities who go with the oh-so overused excuse "it just didn't feel right".

As for Arrested Development and Futurama, I agree that they were both still trying to hit their stride but while Arrested Development was only getting better, Futurama was starting to teeter and as much as it pains me to say...i have to accept Matt G's reason for canceling the show. It's better to leave with your head held high then to leave with your hands on your head.

In the words of George Constanza: "Alright, Folks. That's it for me. Goodnight !"

Re: Quitting While Ahead

orbtrip — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:16:48 -0000

Pre-Dark Side...my opinion on the best would be hands down...Meddle. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is decent too.

And yes, please smack me if I ever say anything bad about The Wall!! ;-)

Re: Quitting While Ahead

blank — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:53:30 -0000

Wow, yeah that's quite a threesome and I'm not prepared to argue for or against any of them either. I really need to watch the entire Arrested Development series some time; I think I've probably only seen like a third of them.

You have the The Wire DVD set for me to borrow??? Ya know, for some unknown reason I thought it was like a TNT show or something... I only recently realized it was an HBO show, and that did make me more interested than before.

Re: Quitting While Ahead

blank — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:46:10 -0000

Which of Pink Floyd's pre-Dark Side albums do you think are the best? I only have the four albums from Dark Side to The Wall but I love them all.

P.S. - For a second there I thought you said you had to force yourself to like The Wall, and I was gonna try to reach through the screen to smack some sense into you! lol

Re: Quitting While Ahead

orbtrip — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:23:37 -0000

My favorite example of a band who should have quit when they were ahead is....Pink Floyd. The more it went on it was like David Gilmore shouting out loud that I really wanted to suck all of these years but Roger kept me in line. Momentary Lapse had a few decent tracks, but for the most part..doesn't go down as true Pink Floyd to me. And to be honest...the end in my head might have been back to the music that mostly Waters put out after The Wall - The Final Cut. I actually enjoy that album...but mostly because I 'made' myself like in the height of my Floyd fandom - you know...the stuff that you know and reminds you of being in high school. But I now recognize how much I would hate it if it was released today...

And I agree, The Black Album was the last of good Metallica. I started listening to them around the same time as Pink Floyd (yes, I'm weird) and Justice was easily one of my favorite tape (yes, Sony Walkman...the original iPod). The Black Album came out my junior year in high school and I've been hoping something good would come out since...but I think I'm finally convinced, thanks to Dan, that I need to give that dream up.

Re: Quitting While Ahead

Dan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:55:23 -0000

I felt like I disagreed with you on the Jerry Seinfeld example... then I realized all of the examples I came up with weren't voluntary quitters. And I guess Seinfeld was doing really well while it was on the air. Futurama and Arrested Development didn't hit the height of their popularity until long after they were cancelled... I hate it when fantastic shows are cancelled before their time. Furthermore, I'm not really prepared to argue which of those three shows is better... I can't decide myself.

By the way, did you watch The Wire yet or what?!

Re: Quitting While Ahead

Dan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:47:07 -0000

Haha! Glad you agree... I couldn't remember if you were one of those stubborn die-hard Metallica fans that even love St. Anger. And no, I didn't know that about Load and Re-Load. I can't bring myself to listen to those albums again to verify, but I remember loving versions of some songs from those albums on S&M. There was something about the production of those albums that evokes the same sensation I get when hearing nails on a chalk board. I really can't remember if the music changed at all or if they just happened to pick a couple good tracks to use on S&M... and honestly... I don't care enough to find out out. Oh well.

Re: Quitting While Ahead

blank — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:57:30 -0000

Perhaps the best example of quitting while ahead in the entertainment business is Jerry Seinfeld. He had enough respect for himself and the show to walk away from it after he felt he had accomplished what he set out to, even though the show was wildly popular and he stood to make many, many millions more by continuing.
It's a little more difficult to think of similar situations in the realm of music because bands break up all the time, and like you said there are all kinds of reasons for it (although, "creative differences" seems to be the most popular cited one).
Anyway, we'll see how this all turns out... don't be surprised if Radiohead does end up working on another full-length a few years down the road. Time has a way of changing a person's perspective.

Re: Quitting While Ahead

leglessmoof — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:54:37 -0000

Not sure if you knew this, but the reason that "Load" and "Re-Load" were titled as such is because they were supposed to be a double album. All the songs were written at the same time. They were in the middle of recording when they got an offer to headline the Lollapalooza tour in the summer of 1996, so they released half the songs on "Load" and then finished the rest of the songs for "Re-Load" the following year.

Of course, what you said in the article is still true -- the naming scheme is stupid, and the music sucks.