Is it better to have a 20-year career, or a 5-year career everybody remembers? This is a debate that crossed many people’s minds for a long time and is constantly brought up in music-related debates. Longevity is being able to stay active in the music industry over many years, sometimes many decades depending on the musical act.
Snoop Dogg is an example of longevity. He has been releasing music since the early 90s and now, almost three decades later, is still actively releasing music, amongst other business ventures. However, this poses the question: Is it better to have longevity and to be releasing music over an extended period of time or is it better to have a short career in which the impact an act has in the music industry is undeniable. It is worth noting these two are not mutually exclusive. Snoop Dogg, especially in his collaborations with Dr. Dre, is one of the more influential rappers remaining from the 90s era of West Coast rap. In terms of critical reception and fan opinion, Snoop has yet to surpass his debut album, “Doggystyle.”
To explore this idea more, using a musical act such as Rage Against the Machine might be more apropos. The famous rock collective was only initially active as a band for nine years from 1991 to 2000. They have released four albums, not counting their live album, and the last one was released in 2000 as a covers album. They have reunited for multiple tours and various members of the band have stayed active throughout their hiatuses, either as solo artists or a part of other collectives. Despite only four albums, an initial nine-year run and it being 20 plus years since they released their last album, they are still remembered as one of the most influential rock acts of the last thirty years. Their influence is evident for modern artists, such as Denzel Curry, who released a cover of their hit single “Bulls on Parade” that went viral on YouTube.
To examine the other side of the coin, there is another band that could be considered peers of Rage Against the Machine: Green Day. Despite musically being different from Rage Against the Machine, they were similar to Rage Against the Machine in terms of the lyrics and the topics they approached in their music. Unlike Rage Against the Machine, they are still active to this day and released an album as recent as 2020.
Despite them having the longevity that Rage Against the Machine hasn’t, they have not received the same critical acclaim they did for albums such as the 2004 project “American Idiot” and seem to be more panned critically than they are revered. In many music circles, they are not as well-regarded as Rage Against the Machine.
This is not to say Green Day does not have any impact on the music scene. They can be regarded as the godfathers of the pop-punk scene of the 2000s, but it is worth noting a band that has been active since 1987 does not have the same reverence as a band that was only active and releasing music for nine years. Is this a common theme for every artist who has longevity to their name? No, not at all.
Artists such as David Bowie and Johnny Cash are examples of artists who were active for decades before their passing and released some of the best work of their career prior to their deaths. David Bowie released his “Blackstar” album and Johnny Cash released his cover of the track “Hurt,” originally by the band Nine Inch Nails.
It’s also worth noting longevity, regardless of past acclaim or not, is a difficult trait to accomplish. Recent viral artists such as Lil Pump and Lil Ugly God are examples of artists who achieved brief success and social media notoriety for their music but has struggled to maintain the following they first developed over the years since they first achieved mainstream success.
Longevity, regardless of past popularity or success, is a tall task for musical artists. It’s also worth noting for acts like Rage Against the Machine, Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G. and others who haven’t or, in the case of the latter two, couldn’t actively perform – nostalgia might play a factor in terms of how they are remembered, what they are credited for and how good their music is considered.
There isn’t a clear answer for whether longevity in music is overrated or not, it’s purely a case-by-case basis. However, when debating over what band or what artist is better than the other, longevity should not be a feather in a cap of any argument.
Teren Kowatsch can be reached at [email protected]