Both started out hot and exciting and ended up as train wrecks that, while you were embarassed for them, you still couldn't look away whenever they ended up on TV.

Both could have been one of the greatest at their given profession in their original form but envying the way others looked turned both into freaks.

or

Josh Fogg: Brings the Flood by Neko Case

or

Carl Crawford: Run Devil, Run by Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins

Thanks for your work this season....

Mark from Pittsburgh

Started out by taking the world by storm. Lost a little popularity and skill in the middle but finished strong as ever. Turned some people off with brashness and politics but never bit their tongue.

I think you might like to hear something from us
Nice and easy
But there's just one thing
You see we never ever do nothing
Nice and easy
We always do it nice and rough
So we're gonna take the beginning of this song
And do it easy
Then we're gonna do the finish rough
This is the way we do Big Papi

Brilliant and powerful, and a tragic early end.

Larry Walker = Barenaked Ladies - Best thing to come out of Canada

Joe D = Buddy Holly and the Crickets - the best of all-time but I have to take my father's word for it

Manny Ramirez = The Pogues - really good but I can't understand anything they say

John Rocker = Cracker

Bill Spaceman Lee = Weird Al - obvious

Both are solid, quality acts acks who are/were incredibly overhyped just because there haven't been many solid, quality acts to come out of NY in a long, long time.

I hope I'm wrong about Wright.

Spectacular as youth, long time greats, stretched their careers long enough to be an embarassment to themselves.

A sustained career of absurd excellence flies just beneath the radar.

Responsible for successes credited to others (Mary Chapin Carpenter's Passionate Kisses, in the case of Abreu Philly successes are credited to anybody but Abreu as a rule).

Bounced into greater public consciousness briefly (Car Wheels, Home Run Derby) and promptly slid back into their original niche.

Continued excellence is expected.

Sure there were other greats at the same time, but they were The Only Band That Mattered. Amazing right from their debut, they built up to one of the most important moments in their industry's history (London Calling = 56), lost some steam (World War 2/Sandinista!) but still had some fantastic moments left in them (Should I Stay or Should I Go/one last MVP).

I was gonna compare The Clash to Bob Gibson. Greatness fueled by anger.

Babe Ruth : Bob Dylan. Not the first guy ever to do what he did, but he changed all the rule for how to go about it.

Ted Williams : Johann Sebastian Bach. Clearly one of the greatest, and the most scientific of those.

A career long greatness (with a bit of a soft ending) that has largely gone unrecognized by most people.

Well travelled with a touch of grey, not always spectacular but always put on an entertaining show.