Interesting question there Eric. The only artists I guess I will target is musicians. Let's take Cat Stevens. I was thinking about him today because the comparisons have between him and Nick Drake. They were contemporaries... kind of. Cat's first album of substance (although he had earlier albums) was Mona Bone Jakon leading to the masterpiece album Tea for the Tillerman and the lesser Teaser and the Firecat. Stephen or Cat whatever you call him was locked in a room with an ailment that caused him to focus on nothing but music and those 3 albums were written. After that he produced lesser albums as he was focusing on other things.

Any R.E.M. fans out there? Ever listen to the 1st 5 albums and wonder what the hell happened in 6  and on with the exception of Automatic for the People and the latest effort Around the Sun? Focus again. Those guys were together around the clock for the 1st 5 for the most part. Warner signs them and they suddenly become one experiment after another.

I honestly thought David and David would produce the next Joshua Tree. Came out gunning with Boomtown and what stopped them? Hell I would love to know the answer to that one.