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A whole other conversation indeed! 😁 I'd posit that anyone with any staying power produces their best work after that initial release...it's the ones that burn bright and fast that follow the path above (which is somewhat relevant to a pyramid headliners thread as it takes more than a big first release to be booked for the top spot, or at least it should!). Eventually they all reach a point of trying to recreate that early magic (though now and again something that can stand alongside their more creative years comes along...rare enough though...Songs of a Lost World being the most recent example!). Of all the bands/artists I love, it's rarely the first album that ranks as my favourite whereas the fleeting affairs I have with others are often driven by that initial big splash. 

Like every year, some suggestions for 'names written in small font' :   Thursday   Been Stellar Djrum Midnight Tramhaus   Friday   4am Kru Cynna Peyghamy Gouge Away Heal High Vis Simo Cell Still House Plants Yasmine Williams   Saturday   Chat Pile Dehd Horsegirl Sherelle

It's a whole other conversation, but I'm largely with your mate on this one (not REM, obvs). Sweeping statements and all that...   First album is a culmination of all the work they've done to that point, the songs that got them signed.    Second album is made up of tracks rejected from the first, plus a few others written while on tour.   Third album, the drugs have kicked in and they believe their own hype.   Fourth album, a key member has left to pursue an ultimately unsuccessful solo career, rest of the band are knackered, disillusioned and generally not arsed anymore.   Everything afterwards is an attempt to reproduce the first album but the spark has gone.   Time for the first album anniversary tours to start.

No.   2014 Pyramid & Williams Green, 2016 Other Stage, not headlining. 

You've made it up.