[Music] Artist or band with the best run (4+) of consecutive albums

[Radio]

Skinny Puppy
Remission (1984)
Bites (1985)
Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse (1986)
Cleanse Fold and Manipulate (1987)
VIVIsectVI (1988)
Rabies (1989) (While the album as a whole was a little off compared to their usual efforts, songs like Worlock, Rivers and Tin Omen stand out very nicely)
Too Dark Park (1990)
Last Rights (1992)
Unfortunately The Process (1996) breaks up what could've been a perfect run through to Handover(2011) (imo).

Front Line Assembly
The Initial Command (1987)
State of Mind (1988)
Gashed Senses And Crossfire (1989)
Caustic Grip (1990)
Tactical Neural Implant (1992)
Millennium (1994)
Hard Wired (1995)
[FLA]vour of the Weak (1997)
Implode (1999)
Epitaph (2001)
Civilization (2004)
Artificial Soldier (2006)
Improvised Electronic Device (2010)
Honestly I'm happy with everything this group has ever done.

Radiohead (As listed by other people)
Nine Inch Nails (As listed by other people)

Depending on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs release that is bound to spring out of the woodwork later this year / early next year, they could also make this list.

[Stormcall]

New Model Army:
Vengeance
No Rest For the Wicked
Ghost of Cain
Thunder and Consolation
Impurity

King Diamond:
Fatal Portrait
Abigail
Them
Conspiracy
The Eye

Savatage:
Hall of the Mountain King onwards

If you dig country Johnny Cash had a pretty amazing run of good albums...

[Rennadrel]

Really everyone is going to think that their favorite band and/or genre is going to have a string of consecutive successes. If you didn't think so, you wouldn't like them. I think for a question like this you have to try to separate out you personal feelings and look at things like commercial success, critical acclaim, and how well the music holds up long term. That makes a lot of your classic rock bands a slam dunk, because we tend to only remember the good music from the 60's and 70's. From the 80's, you can pretty much forget any hair band, even Poison and GnR never had that much long term success. Bowie and Metallica stand out, as well as Prince, Michael Jackson, and Madonna. From the 90's, you have bands like Nirvana (unless you don't count Unplugged, then they never made it to four), Pearl Jam, U2, and several others. I'd have to say, I can't really say anything about any modern music, since we have no idea how it will hold up over time. I'd think The Black Keys are a good candidate. Muse as well. Once upon a time, I'd have said Weezer, but they've spent the last couple albums making me hate them. I know I've left out a ton of quality music, but you kind of have to think outside of your own musical preferences for a question like this.

Ultimately, I think the answer comes down to two candidates: The Beatles and Elvis. They both have everything you could ask for in a long, successful run. Honorable mention to The Stones as well.

Commercial success doesn't always dictate whether or not the album is in itself, good. If you look at a band like Rush, who's first album was heavily blues rock derived as was the norm in 1974, it wasn't very successful since it was a debut by a Canadian band still doing the high school circuit and playing a lot of cover tunes as well. Things really took a turn when they changed gears due to their drummer leaving the band and being replace with Neil Peart. While their second album Fly By Night isn't my favourite in terms of how much I enjoy the songs, it is a good album. Again, not very popular due to half the album being extensive progressive material, same goes for Caress of Steel which followed it. I'd say for me as a fan, Caress of Steel was their defining moment as a progressive rock band, and they were nearly dropped by their record label after 2112 was released. But it got picked up by a radio DJ in the USA and the rest is history, the album gained them an increased amount of exposure and the freedom to write as they saw fit. For that reason, when it comes to commercial success as well as song quality, I'd say 2112 up until Moving Pictures were all great, but some of their original trio of albums were great as well from a song writing perspective exclusively.

[Deleted]

Arctic Monkeys.

[Deleted]

Depeche Mode.

[buck008]

Well, I don't know. Critical acclaim? Why should anyone "separate out personal feelings", but take into account what some "critic" thinks? That doesn't make any sense. Also, commercial success or failure doesn't say anything about the art and the quality of the music.

It's also very off to think that if you're a "fan" of a band, that you automatically like everything they ever did - and that you aren't even a fan if you don't. Maybe teenagers are like that.

Well, my point was that if it's entirely based on personal preference, then you just have a bunch of people telling you what their favorite string of 4+ albums happens to be. There's nothing wrong with that, but I read the question the OP asked differently. So commercial success is indicative of how many people appreciated the music. Critics are, mostly, a neutral party that can give you an idea of quality. You would have to turn to different critics for different genres because no one is an expert on everything, but it's at least something. I also think longevity is important when you are talking about something like the greatest run of four albums in a row.

So I was just saying, the conversation about my personal favorite run of four+ albums is a very different one from the one about whom I think holds the best run. I think the latter question has to mean something outside of my own personal opinion on music. So while you might not like, say, Elvis, you can't really argue with results. You can compare his best run to others of the same caliber and see where they stack up. Maybe I'm approaching this too much like a sports stat geek, though.

[Muis]

To my list of Metallica + Machine Head I'd like to add:

Staind
Slipknot (altho I started to like most newer songs less)
Trivium

[Idrinkwhiterussians]

Opeth.
Dream Theater.
Pantera.

I think those are all no brainers.

[melodramocracy]

4 amazing albums in a row? Pretty rare.

Opeth (MAYH, BWP, Deliverance-Damnation, Ghost Reveries)

That's all I can think of. Most of the other bands that I enjoy have sequential runs of 3 or less before they release something I'd consider less than stellar.

[Fuzzzie]

Tragically Hip. Haven't really put out a bad album since they started in the 80s. Canadian band so many of you probably haven't heard of them.

[poser765]

The Beatles are one of the most overrated bands of all time.

On topic: Opeth.

Except they really aren't though. Granted this is my opinion and the opinion of a LOT of other people.

I hear this all the time and it's usually from one of three people.

1. people who only know some of the Beatles early work. Songs like Help, and Ticket to ride. Love me Do does NOT represent what the Beatles accomplished musically. Something like Abbey Road or the White Album, really shows their musical talent and how much they allowed themselves to grow.

2. People who are young and still in their formative years. I once hated the Beatles. Now I feel they are the single greatest contributor to popular music in the last 150 years. Again...opinion.

3. People who really feel they are over rated. Not sure how to respond to them.

[vindicatorx]

My personal favorite for this would be Nine Inch Nails I have grown up with this music and as it has aged and lost some of the angst I have in life as well.

[Coolascancer]

Atmosphere, Billy Talent, The Strokes, Ten Foot Pole, The Juliana Theory, Thrice, Thursday

[melodramocracy]

New Model Army:
Vengeance
No Rest For the Wicked
Ghost of Cain
Thunder and Consolation
Impurity

King Diamond:
Fatal Portrait
Abigail
Them
Conspiracy
The Eye

Savatage:
Hall of the Mountain King onwards

If you dig country Johnny Cash had a pretty amazing run of good albums...

OK. as someone who was, in his formative years, a HUGE King fan (one of the bands I was in would cover about half of Abigail during practice), you really think "The Eye" holds a candle to what came before it? I just remember being really let down by that album when it came out. Maybe I should give it another listen.

I'd almost make the same argument for Conspiracy, though that one grew on me after a bit.

Brb, going to repaint the front door

[inboundpaper]

Bad Religion, Rise Against's first 4 albums, NOFX, System of A Down, August Burns Red. Come to think of it, I have a hard time finding bands I listen to with 4+ albums.

[Kuniku]

Machine Head & Metallica if you ask me.

as much as i love machine head, unfortunately the OP stated 4 consecutive albums, and machine head can't have 4 consecutive albums without supercharger being included which wasn't brilliant by their standards tbh . . .

[Muis]

as much as i love machine head, unfortunately the OP stated 4 consecutive albums, and machine head can't have 4 consecutive albums without supercharger being included which wasn't brilliant by their standards tbh . . .

Again, this is all opinion and taste.
I love Supercharger.

On the same page I also posted I liked the St. Anger album despite alot of people in the scene disliking it.

[VanillaO]

I would say Iron Maiden - Killers/The Number of the Beast/Piece of Mind/Powerslave (I would even toss their first album before those 4 and Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son on the end to make 7 pretty awesome albums).

Another would be Mastodon from Leviathan through The Hunter.

The Decembersists from Castaways and Cutouts through The Crane Wife.

There's actually a lot... I'll go through my music when I'm home.

[Deleted]

Iron Maiden
U2
Kanye West

[Neazy]

There's more than a few artists who are consistently above average, but there's only been two in my lifetime that have been consistently amazing--meaning back to back to back classics.

Eminem had 3 insanely successful albums in a row (Slim Shady LP, Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem Show). You have to agree with that no matter how you define successful; MMLP and Eminem Show are the two highest selling albums in hip hop history, and all three of those albums are 4.5 stars and higher at respected hip hop review sites. Those albums define a generation. He ruined his streak with Encore though, and the Slim Shady EP wasn't a real album so he didn't reach the 4 in a row mark like the title asks for.

Kanye had 3 in a row, too (College Dropout, Late Registration, Graduation). I mean, everything Kanye has ever put out under his own name has been classic, except for 808s & Heartbreak, which was just so awful it's not even funny. Take that out of his catalogue and he would have 4 classic solo albums and a classic duo album with Jay-Z. Still, even with that blemish on his record he's the most consistent artist of my lifetime.