SmackDaddy

With EVH's passing It reminded me how disappointed I was in VH's lack of output over the last fifteen years. It also got me wondering about what other major bands ignore parts of their musical history. At one point (if ya'll recall) they tried to erase Michael Anthony's presence on their website. Of course they also completely ignored their output with Sammy as well once Dave rejoined (along with pretending the VH III never happened). I know Dave's limited vocal ability had something to do with it, but think there's some material he could have done.

Black Sabbath also comes to mind. I know this may be an issue of vocal ability...I love Ozzy and all, but I don't think there's any way he could do Dio era any justice.

So, who else leaves some of their good stuff in the vault so to speak?

morriscroy

During their mid-late 1980s peak heydays, Judas Priest didn't play as many of the songs from their 1970s catalog. The epitome of this was the 1987 Priest ... Live album.

panchor

Talking about Judas Priest, they ignores the Owens era completely.

The Clash acts like Cut the Crap never existed.

Paff

Probably because after that album, THE CLASH didn't exist.

Nick Danger

I've never heard it, but it keeps making lists of the worst albums ever. I'll bet that the Beach Boys never talk about their album on the list, Summer in Paradise.

Why So Blu?

Kiss. It's all 70's. They ignore the deep cuts from the 80's and Revenge altogether. I remember in the mid 2000's Gene would actually play Unholy instead of God of Thunder but that only lasted that one tour Poison opened for them on.

Decker

I have seen Billy Joel live 7 or 8 times over the years. Maybe more. I have NEVER heard him play Just The Way You Are live even though it was one of his biggest hits (and my personal favorite of his songs). He explains that it was written for his first wife and he has hard feelings about the relationship and he just doesn't feel it any more. I guess that is a legitimate explanation but he sings lots of songs written about his second ex-wife.

SmackDaddy

This one I never understood. They have some really good songs throughout their later years. I remember Paul/Gene commenting on how the "final" tour would feature a lot of surprises, but it ended up essentially the same setlist from the last several tours.

Why So Blu?

Yeah. Now the caveat, they seemed to have a better set-list when they did the Kiss Kruise shows. They played The Oath on one of those Kruises and it was awesome from the clip I saw on Youtube.

PerryD

I remember seeing Def Leppard for the first time back in 1987 for their Hysteria tour. I was a long time fan and was disappointed to see them only play one song from their first two albums.

Josh-da-man

Judas Priest - The "Ripper" years.

Iron Maiden - The "Blayze" years. (Though they do occasionally play "The Clansman" live).

Ozzy Osbourne - Pretends "The Ultimate Sin" doesn't exist. It's even been out of print for about twenty years.

Celtic Frost - the entire "Cold Lake" album that the band absolutely fucking hates.

Black Sabbath - once they hooked back up with Ozzy, the stuff from the 80s with Ronnie Dio, Ian Gillan, and Tony Martin disappeared, and they only played Ozzy-era songs. Likewise, when the band toured with Ronnie Dio, they did it under the "Heaven and Hell" name and only played Dio-era songs.

And then you have guys who become hardcore Christians who won't play certain older songs any more. Blackie Lawless (of W.A.S.P.) stopped playing their notorious "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)" track, and Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) stopped playing certain songs he considered to be Satanic like "The Conjuring," though he might have backtracked on that decision.

Paff

I assume bands that go through a change in sound to reflect the current trends, probably don't go back to that era if they can avoid it. I'm talking about a lot of classic rock bands that embraced new wave for about a minute and a half (and in the case of J. Geils Band, experienced their biggest success). Billy Joel, Linda Ronstadt, Geils, Alice Cooper, all made synth-y new wave stuff around 80-81. But Billy still probably has to play It's Still Rock and Roll To Me.

Toddarino

when a band replaces a lead singer you shouldn’t be surprised when the new singer doesn’t perform that material. Especially in the case of sabbath, priest and maiden. Those singers left, were replaced and then rejoined.

morriscroy

That's too bad. My favorite KISS record is "Creatures of the Night".

I would love to see them do the entire Creatures album and the four original tracks on Killers, all in one concert setlist. But alas, that is not likely to happen.

story

Didn't Red Hot Chili Peppers essentially erase One Hot Minute from existence?

Why So Blu?

They do play Creatures of the Night, War Machine, and I Love it Loud. They used to play I Still Love You but Paul can't sing that too well anymore, maybe acoustically, but even then he won't hold those high notes like the legendary MTV '96 Unplugged performance.

morriscroy

I also really liked most of "Lick It Up" back when it was first released. Besides the title track, most of the other tracks on "Lick It Up" don't seem to appear much anymore in their setlists. Exciter sounded like it had a lot of high notes.

I didn't really get into Animalize, Asylum, etc ... as much. Though I did like "I've Had Enough, Into The Fire", and "Tears Are Falling".

Josh-da-man

At this point, KISS and Alice Cooper are pretty much nostalgia acts, and their set lists are more or less a collection of greatest hits.

Alice seems to ignore most his output from the mid-70s to the late 80sin favor of material from about Love it to Death through Welcome to My Nightmare, a few late 80s hits like "Poison," and whatever new album he's touring on.

KISS mostly seems to run through their "greatest hits" stuff, mostly from the make-up period of the 70s and few notables from the 80s like "Lick it Up" and "Heaven's on Fire."

John Galt

Considering how much he likes to repackage his old albums and sell them to fans for the 20th and 30th time, it says a lot that Garth Brooks completely ignores the Chris Gaines album.

SmackDaddy

You mean Chris Gaines isn't real? Even I would ignore that travesty!!

Why So Blu?

A Million to One is my favorite song from Lick It Up and they don't play that live unless it's an acoustic show or when Paul did his Live to Win solo tour. Tears Are Falling is in the current setlist, I believe.

BearFan

You can add Deep Purple and anything from when Coverdale was in the band

Maiden has done a decent amount of Blaze songs. Clansman and Sign of the Cross on the current tour. Previously they did Lord of the Flies, Futureal, and Man on the Edge

[email protected]

Robert Plant didn't play any Zeppelin songs for years after going solo. He eventually did the Plant/Page project, and then started (re)working some songs back into his setlist.

Same for John Fogerty - ignored the entire CCR catalog for many years, before finally accepting that they were his heritage, regardless of any legalities/bad feelings about the past.

rw2516

First there is the absence of lesser known songs. Fans love to hear these because they have all the albums and know these songs as well as the hits. The average concert goer only knows what they hear on the radio or MTV. Got to please the crowd.
Originally concerts were a means to sell records. When somebody is turned on to a band by seeing them, and they then buy records, they want records that sound like the band they saw, not with some other guy singing. So the band will stick with playing stuff recorded by that lineup.
Even though bands go through periods when their sound is different, they can perform songs so they all sound alike. RUSH could perform their 80s stuff so it sounds like Caress of Steel but when someone goes out and buys one of these 80s albums they are disappointed that it sounds different.
In some cases they don't want to fuck with learning to play songs they only played once years ago on an album. Too much work. Nobody's going to bitch if they don't play them.

REO ignored the non Cronin albums. 157 Riverside Ave. and Ridin' The Storm Out became known from live albums with Cronin and are now the standard versions.
Except for maybe "Lady", Styx ignored the Wooden Nickel albums.
Fleetwood Mac mostly ignores anything before Buckingham/Nicks
I've never heard Hagar do anything off Paper Money album.
McCartney ignores his solo catalog. Anymore it's 3 new songs, Band on Run, Jet, My Love, and the rest Beatles.

Paff

Not a hugely popular band, but they're my favorites. Long time LA punk band The Dickies rarely touch material they did in the late 80s, other than the theme song from Killer Klowns from Outer Space. They've done those "in entirety" shows where they play an album in order, of their 70s records Incredible Shrinking Dickies and Dawn of the Dickies, their '83 EP Stukas Over Disneyland, and their '94 album Idjit Savant, but never the Killer Klowns EP or the '89 Second Coming LP.

The only think I can think of is that was apparently the height of the singer's drug problems, and probably sees playing the songs as a potential trigger to a relapse. Or at least a reminder of the worst period in his life. I'm glad he's sober and alive, but I really like those records!