They paid their artistic dues with their early crop of albums, which are some of the best rock records ever recorded imo, but needed to make some serious money. The output became more commercial and not as good, but twas ever thus.
Brian is vastly overlooked in preference to Mel , which is a crime . In my opinion, Brian was more creative in his drum patterns and more original. I disagree that Mel should be heralded as the best drummer in the world. Brian was far better creatively, and simple minds for me changed a lot when he left. The edginess left the band after New gold dream of which I'm aware Brian wasn't involved in the making of .