There are the hardcore fans who stick with a band through thick and thin, but I still say in general the 80/20 rule applies, that 80% of the songs a fan will listen from a particular band will fall in a seven-year period.
Take Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon to The Wall? Seven years!
The Who....The Who Sell Out to The Who By Numbers? Seven years!
The Beatles, entire output was 1963-1970, Seven Years!
The Rolling Stones, pretty much from 1965 to Exile on Main Street (1972)......Seven Years!
Yeah. I’m one of those obsessive completists, I get whole collections. And that’s where the fun comes in. Pink Floyd was really 4 different bands, that main era you list was version 3, burn version 4 cause it sucked, but the highly psychedelic start is completely different, then there’s the phase over period where they were borderline prog rock. I’m more version 1 and 2 with them. These days. I swap around every few years. But never post Wall, screw that crap.
Stones too. I don’t think you can really cut it off at Exile. Mid 70s was some good stuff, and their peak commercial period was Some Girls through Tattoo You. And Blue and Lonesome is a freaking awesome album.
U2: 1983-1992 - nine years
Metallica: 1983-1992 - 9 years
Coincidence?