Musical artists with the longest gaps between studio album releases

The Chicks have had a long career in their careers, as the country trio had three number one albums in a row, ending with “Taking the Long Way” in 2006. This was back when they were still called each other. the Dixie Chicks, of course. Now they’ve put “Dixie” to the curb and they’re coming back with “Gaslighter”, their first album in over 14 years. Will another number one album be in sight?

Parliament, the legendary funk band, released “Trombipulation” in 1980. Now is the perfect time for a funk band to hang up their instruments. George Clinton had other things to do, like cameos in “Good Burger”. Then Clinton roared back, and he brought Parliament with him. “Medicaid Fraud Dogg” brought the funk back in 2018.

“Raw Power” saw the Stooges sound slightly altered, becoming a bit more rock, but the 1973 album is still considered a predecessor to the rise of punk. Then Iggy Pop embarked on his own journey as a solo artist and shirt protester. After decades of separation, the Stooges reunited in 2007 for “The Weirdness”. Two years later, original guitarist Ron Asheton passed away, marking an end point for the Stooges.

The Eagles released a few albums after “The Long Run” in 1979, but they were kind of a live album. In fact, their 1994 live album “Hell Freezes Over” is one of the best-selling albums of all time. The very premise of this album was that they weren’t a band that imagined getting back together. As such, there were quite a few surprises when “Long Road Out of Eden” was released in 2007.

On “In My Head” in 1985, Henry Rollins was the singer of Black Flag. When the band returned in 2013 with “What The …” there were no Rollins, but they brought back Ron Reyes as a vocalist, who hadn’t been with the band since 1980. Then, Reyes was fired in the middle of a show while Black Flag was on tour to support the album. Talk about a real punk moment.

Chic has been prolific for many years, as their 1992 album “Chic-ism” was their eighth. It also probably seemed to be their last. Then Nile Rodgers rebuilt the gang, or in fact, pretty much brought back the name Chic for his music, for the aptly titled “It’s About Time”. How else do you call an album of 26 years of preparation?

Waters has, of course, been famous since his stint with Pink Floyd. After the band quit, he would continue touring performing “The Wall”, a concept album he designed during the Pink Floyd era. In 2017, Waters published Is This The Life We Really Want? »A sharp album with big themes. It was also his first album since 1992, not to mention an opera he has worked on in the meantime and not released as a Roger Waters album.

Speaking of Pink Floyd, apparently taking long breaks is family. However, Gilmour didn’t wait as long between outings as his former bandmate. The waters took off for almost 25 years. Gilmour’s break was almost exactly 22 years. Literally it was 22 years old and a day between outings.

We would understand if you didn’t think of “Endless Wire” from 2006 as a real Who album. After all, it didn’t feature either the long-deceased Keith Moon or the also-deceased John Entwhistle. That being said, when you think of The Who, you probably mostly think of Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey. They were both still there, as they had been on 1982’s “It’s Hard”.

The Cars got Ric Ocasek back, but they lost bassist and singer Benjamin Orr in 2000 when he passed away. It was 13 years after the release of their last album “Door to Door”. Then, in 2011, Ocasek returned to the studio without Orr for “Move Like This”. Ocasek also died, putting an end to the career of the legendary rock band.

It’s only fitting that a group called the Zombies took a long time to come back from the dead. In 1968, they released “Odyssey and Oracle”, only their second album. It seemed like a short term, but in 1991 the Zombies returned for “New World”. You can be forgiven for not having noticed.

The Pixies had a huge influence on the indie rock and grunge scene, but eventually Frank Black and his company decided to quit. It was 1991, when the bands they had influenced, like Nirvana, really took off. Some fans were ecstatic when they returned with “Indie Cindy” in 2014, but Kim Deal’s absence on bass meant the album didn’t feel the same.

Mission of Burma released exactly one studio album when it was originally released, but that was the founding “Vs”. This release alone made them an iconic post-punk band. Then, out of the blue, they returned in 2004 for a second album. They actually released a few other albums, but quit in 2012.

Speaking of influential bands that apparently came into being after a short time, My Bloody Valentine is a perfect example. They released “Loveless” in 1991, perhaps the quintessential shoegaze album, and then went their separate ways. There were murmurs of a reunion, and then in 2013 they finally got it right with “MBV,” which many fans took affectionately.

Devo’s rock art made them stand out when they debuted, although most people only know the song “Whip It”. Most people had stopped listening to them by the time they released “Smooth Noodle Maps” in 1990. There was probably a plot line for “Something For Everybody”, if only because there was a discrepancy. 20 years between albums. However, during that interval, and since then, Devo member Mark Mothersbaugh has become one of the most successful film music composers.

L7 was great in the era of grunge, but by 1999 the whole grunge thing had died out and more. Given that, it would have been a reasonable time for the group to fall back. And they did … until 2019. The ladies of L7 came back with “Scatter the Rats”, and it was pretty well received. Maybe it’s time for some grunge nostalgia?

The Monkees have pulled off the end-of-break album not once but twice. First, they didn’t release an album between 1970 and 1987. Then they went from 1996 to 2016 without a new album. Of course, the fact that the band started out as a TV show in the ’60s means that all the albums released after 1970 are pretty impressive.

The Jesus and Mary Chain were big in the post-punk and new wave scene of the ’80s, and then they kind of died out in 1998. It would have been fair for the Scottish rock band to go their separate ways, but instead they returned with “Damage and Joy” in 2017.

A Tribe Called Quest was a critically adored rap group, but tensions led to a split after the 1998 concept album “The Love Movement”. It really felt like Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, and the crew weren’t coming together. Then the tribe did come back for their first album in 18 years. Unfortunately, he came with a heavy heart. Phife Dawg passed away in March 2016, and the album won’t be released until November, making it a posthumous affair.

The Go-Go’s were a punk band before they became a huge ’80s pop rock band, but they continued to party like the punks they were. Maybe that’s why they burned out after releasing only three albums, the last of which was in 1984. Many years have passed, some of the band members cleaned up their lives a bit, and then the band came back for “God Bless the Go-Go’s” in 2001. They haven’t released an album since, which means we could be in another long hiatus if they ever get back to the studio.

In 1999, American Football released an eponymous album, which became a seminal emo release. Then they broke up. Would they be a wonder of an album? Nope! In 2016, the group returned with their second album. What did they call him? “American football”, of course.

At the Drive-In caused a sensation at the turn of the millennium with its catchy, heavy guitar sound. However, the group broke up and split into two more successful groups. Half the group formed Sparta, the other half formed The Mars Volta. After almost 17 years of separation, the band reformed in 2017 for a new release under the name At the Drive-In.

Dr. Dre has never been prolific, at least when it comes to his own music. While he helped shape West Coast rap, he released just two solo albums in the ’90s, the iconic 1992′ The Chronic ‘and 1999’ 2001 ‘. Dre was talking about releasing a other album, but it just didn’t happen. We all almost gave up. Then, finally, in 2015, Dr. Dre delivered with “Compton”.

Unfortunately for D’Angelo, his great album “Voodoo” was overshadowed by the music video for his song “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”. You know, the one where he’s practically naked. This may have played a role in his demise after 2000. Unless he released a real surprise album in 2014 with “Black Messiah”. Although it was released in December, many publications have revised their album of the year lists for D’Angelo.

We have to end with maybe the long overdue iconic album. We are of course talking about “Chinese democracy”. Axl Rose has promised the album for years. Even as his former bandmates like Slash left Guns N ‘Roses and brought in guys like Buckethead, Axl Rose said “Chinese democracy” was going to happen. No one believed him. It has become a piece of musical tradition and a running joke. Then, in 2013, exactly 15 years after Guns N ‘Roses’ last album, “Chinese Democracy” finally came out, ruining the joke for good.