Music Flashbacks...

For the most part, if I was once really into a group and they're still around, I'll at least give their new stuff a listen (e.g. the Newsboys) and hope they make a comeback. It's rare that I fully give up on a group, unless my fandom was only marginal to begin with. Most groups that I'd say I used to be a fan of are because they were short-lived to begin with, so there's nothing current to replenish my positive feelings about them. (Some great bands break up and I'll still ramble on about them for years, like PfR or Chasing Furies, but that's another story.)

As for artists that I definitely no longer consider myself a fan of that I used to be pretty big on, because of low-quality material being put out (or because I just plain grew out of them) and not because of breakups? Here's who I'd list at this present moment:

Amy Grant - I enjoyed Heart in Motion a lot and House of Love a little, but never got into her older stuff and lost interest by the time Behind the Eyes came out. Gave her another try with Simple THings, but it didn't stick.

Anointed - Enjoyed The Call and parts of Under the Influence; had no desire to keep up with them after that.

Audio Adrenaline - I got into them very early with Don't Censor Me, and remained a big fan until Lift proved to be a minor letdown, then Worldwide came along and I didn't like anything on that album or Until My Heart Gave In.

Avalon - The first four albums have tons of classics which I still love. Losing Michael Passons was the big turning point. The Creed was mediocre and Stand was a bysmal. I actually have their hymns album on my computer but can't seem to bring myself to listen to it.

Bebo Norman - He's bored me for most of his career, but there was a brief period in between his third and fourth albums when I really connected with his stuff, and I even paid to see him headline a concert (with Jeremy Camp, of all people, as the opening act). That's all gone now.

Bleach - Their albums were only marignally interesting to me anyway - each album would have one or two songs that I thought were a blast, but then there was no such song on Astronomy, so I didn't bother with their final effort.

Carman - It was a youth group thing and the concerts were fun (and free!) when I didn't know any better. The Absolute Best was the first tape I ever owned; I loaned it to a friend in high school and never got it back. I enjoyed Addicted to Jesus and especially The Standard, but had far outgrown his style by the time R.I.O.T. came along.

Carolyn Arends - First two albums were fun. This Much I Understand was pure, unadulterated boredom. I didn't bother after that.

Ceili Rain - Enjoyed their first two albums; haven't tried anything past that mostly due to the difficulty of finding it.

Christine Glass - Human was a slow-burner album that became one of my staples in college. Love and Poverty just didn't do it for me, aside from one or two songs. Things took a turn for the absolute worst once she and her husband Marc Byrd started putting out music together.

Code of Ethics - Loved Arms Around the World; Soulbait was a mediocre album with a few strong highlights. Had absolutely zero interest in the worship album. I don't believe they've been heard from since then.

Crystal Lewis - She was big locally and I had her greatest hits album on Metro One before she went national. Beauty for Ashes was OK; I never bothered checking out Gold or anything that followed.

Erin O'Donnell - A Scrapbook of Sorts is one of the best "organic pop" records I've ever heard; I still love it from start to finish. Scratching the Surface was OK. When she went major label, she became really boring.

Fold Zandura - Ultraforever was an underrrated gem; everything I heard from King Planet just sounded majorly awkward, so I steered clear.

4Him - Pretty much my favorite group before Jars of Clay came along. Liked everything from Face the Nation up through The Message (which I think is their best album), but Obvious failed to resonate with me, and I never bothered with Walk On. I gave Visible a try, but it sucked. The magic was definitely gone long before then.

Jaci Velasquez - I had a bit of a celebrity crush on her at the outset; that passed, but I still enjoyed all of her English records up through Crystal Clear. Unspoken and Beauty Has Grace were embarassing; I probably won't come back for another round.

Jeff Deyo - I appreciated Saturate for carrying on the SonicFlood torch. But Light just didn't do anything for me.

Jeremy Camp - I was never a huge fan but I appreciated his first album as a simple pop/rock devotional before its worth got greatly exaggerated by those who sympathized with his personal testimony (which never showed up clearly on the album!) I was a definite non-fan by the time album #2 came around, and I still haven't forgiven him for being The Benjamin Gate's equivalent of Yoko Ono.

John Elefante - Liked him for one album, Windows of Heaven, and nothing he released after that showed up on my radar.

The Kry - You was enjoyable; everything I heard from them after that was too preachy and forced. (It's probably more because I grew up, not because they degenerated.)

LaRue - It was mostly about Transparent with these guys; I'm not sure what I ever saw in their first and third albums.

Lisa Bevill - I couldn't get enough of All Because of You in my high school days, and her first album was cheesy but fun. Love of Heaven was too AC for my tastes; I gave up after that.

Michael Sweet - First album was another one of those youth group classic; Real was hit-and-miss, and I think he went indie after that and I lost track.

Michael W. Smith - Started with The First Decade and Change Your World; really enjoyed those and everything up through the turn of the century, though This Is Your Time was a bit weak. I still love Live the Life and I think Freedom will last long after his other stuff becomes more horribly dated than it already his. But he's been batting zero with me ever since Worship.

Nicole C. Mullen - I liked the "funkabilly" stuff on her first album, and enjoyed her second even though she moved away from it a bit, but never felt like checking out anything after that.

Nine Days - There's a reason why their second album So Happily Unsatisfied was never released. Enough said.

Out of Eden - I enjoyed everything up to No Turning Back, but This Is Your Life didn't work for me at all.

Pam Thum - First album was chock full of solid pop songs. Faithful and Feel the Healing were too girly for my tastes. After that I lost track.

Point of Grace - Yeah, I owned and enjoyed their first two albums, though I was never a huge fan. Life, Love & Other Mysteries was really the album that convinced me that I was really too old and had too much testosterone for this sort of thing.

Salvador - Into Motion was rather middling, and I heard some good stuff about Dismiss the Mystery but just never bothered to check it out.

Smalltown Poets - At the beginning I was like, "Eh, they're decent", then I was like, "Eh, not interested", then I was interestpretty interested in Third Verse, then I downloaded their latest album and never bothered to listen to it, so... yeah.

SonicFlood - You all know how this story goes, so I'm not even going to rehash it here.

Supertones - Started with Supertones Strike Back and enjoyed them a good deal up through about the first half of Loud & Clear. I had a really difficult time with most of Hi-Fi Revolution and Revenge of the Supertones, though, and I didn't miss them when the breakup announcement came soon after.

Tait - Yeesh. They really crashed and burned after Pete Stewart made his planned exit.

Tamplin - Self-titled disc kicked so many levels of ass! In the Witness Box, sadly, was a half-ass job. He veered away from metal after that and I lost interest.

This Train - Mimes of the Old West was such a quirky blast of an album; I couldn't get into anything other than that one, though. They tried to do swing and they just lost me.

Train - Yeah, that fandom was short-lived. It was all about the title track from Drops of Jupiter, though the album had a few other charming songs. Haven't heard a single tune from them since then that hasn't disappointed me, though.

Tree63 - My interest waned after The Life and Times of Absolute Truth, which wasn't a bad album, but the title track from The Answer to the Question just didn't compel me to check the album out.

The Waiting - Self-titled album and Unfazed were fairly enjoyable; I gave up after they decided on Wonderfully Made that they couldn't even be bothered to make rock music any more.

ZOEgirl - Liked the middle two albums; never wanted to hear the first, and was surprisingly unimpressed with their fourth and final disc.

Even most of these folks, I'd still listen to if they came out with a new album, but more to poke fun at it than anything else, maybe 1 out of 10 times they'll actually surprise me.

Artists who aren't on this blacklist yet, but who are veering uncomfortably close:

All Star United
Andrew Peterson
Bethany Dillon
Blindside
Chris Rice
Collective Soul
Corrinne May
Dave Matthews Band
Dixie Chicks
Joseph Arthur
Lifehouse
Norah Jones
Pillar
Rebecca St. James
Sara Groves
Steven Curtis Chapman
Third Day
Tool
Vertical Horizon

Sorry, now that I typed all this I've noticed that it's really about artist you've gotten back into after an absence. I don't really have any of those because I tend to be fairly loyal and give artists a good chance before dumping them altogether. So there will generally be few such "gaps" in my fandom of a particular artist.

The Newsboys are one exception, I guess, but that's marginal since I only sort of like Go. Michelle Tumes definitely made a good comeback with her self-titled album after the abysmal Dream. The Corrs made a similar comeback a few years ago with Borrowed Heaven after two albums that didn't interest me at all. And I really liked Home, but I still don't expect that they'll wow me again to the extent that they did with their debut.

I suppose Cindy Morgan kind of counts - she never put out an album I didn't like, but she recently returned after an extended absence. Massivivid had an awesome first album called Brightblur, but they were so obscure that I didn't realize their second album had actually released, and even after I did it took me forever to find it, do I just listened to it for the first time the other day; we'll see if they make a comeback.