Bands hit a defining moment, preceded by preparation and followed by decline

Evidence

There is a period, a moment, when groups become what they are. Everything that has come before is preparation and rehearsal; everything that comes after is either decline or evasion. Roxy were themselves immediately — the band-brand established with the first notes of “Remake, Remodel” (with the result that Ferry’s subsequent career has been a long essay in disappointment and deferred return), but it’s more usual for a group to take a while to find themselves; to emerge gradually from a cocoon of allusion, homage and plagiarism. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1054

Categorization

• XREF: A general claim about artistic development arcs that could connect to writing about any long career; fits the reader’s interest in structuring narratives around a before/during/after.