Classic rock fans have long grappled with the same nagging question: Why don’t their favorite artists release new albums?

It’s a daunting task for artists who have been around for 30, 40 or even 50-plus years to write new material that will resonate with listeners in the same way as their beloved hits. Still, that doesn’t stop some of them from trying. Legacy artists like Alice Cooper, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Deep Purple release new music with surprising regularity, which is a bonus for die-hards. McCartney’s headlining set at Glastonbury 2022 even included two songs from his 2018 album Egypt Station, proof that the ex-Beatle still sees merit in his new work.

Not all fans are receptive to new music from legacy acts, however. While some concertgoers delight in fresh material, some act more like Homer Simpson when he interrupted Bachman-Turner Overdrive to demand, “No talkin’! No new crap! ‘Takin’ Care of Business’ now!”

No doubt it’s disheartening for legacy artists to see their new material receive such a lukewarm response from fans — and the lack of profitability certainly doesn’t help either. When asked in August 2022 about writing a follow-up album to Kiss‘ 2012 album Monster, Paul Stanley told Howie Mandel (via Blabbermouth), “I think it’s setting myself up for disappointment. Not crushing disappointment, but when you put your heart and soul into doing something and it kind of gets a polite nod, there’s other things I’d rather do.”

Gene Simmons was even more direct. “Not to say we don’t enjoy the creative process, but Kiss is not a charity,” he told Classic Rock in May 2022. “Working your ass off to have somebody download or stream your music for free is not my idea of how things should be. When you don’t put a value on music, it doesn’t have value.” Stanley and Simmons are not alone, as you’ll see in this gallery of rock stars who haven’t released an album in over 10 years.