Artists/bands that were once quite popular, yet nowadays are mostly ignored in canonical history books

The Message was released as the extremely dodgy “Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five”, rather than Grandmaster

anybody talking trash on blue sky mining has clearly not listened to it in full. seriously, go back to it: i

I listened in full lots when it came out, because I probably had 15 tapes total, and got off the bus - 10 to 1, Red Sails and Species Deceases were what I dug most about them. At the secret 2005 reunion show in a leagues club they played a bunch of it & the songs killed tbf

ahem
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/tracy-chapman-tracy-chapman/
― Οὖτις, Monday, October 28, 2019 2:42 PM

ahh. welp. i don't read that garbage pile regularly, so that figures.

Wait is Black Box forgotten? Because that was definitely the sound of 1990 where I was.

Black Box better remembered than their other aliases #justice4starlight

Black Box are better-remembered than many - otoh Silver Bullet need recognition

I still have my black box cassette somewhere. l don't really remember what was on it apart from everybody everybody though

Manfred Mann

Barbra Streisand

I have not forgotten these cheesy early 90s eurodance acts because they were my lifeblood til I hit about 14 or 15 and started hating things

I guess the entire once-popular sub-genre of late 60s blues rock has been ground down to a few remembered artists/songs over the decades

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes)

that's because it all fucking sounds the same!

The Kingston Trio

Joan Armatrading is a good example, I think: very popular in the 70s and 80s, but now almost completely written out of history.

No star image at all, but very much recognised by other musicians for establishing control over all aspects of her music. The recent BBC documentary about her did a good job of telling her story. "I'm doing everything. When I do it, I'm a control freak. When Prince does it, he's a genius."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrGYaRxcsoA

I wonder if the Kingston Trio is a good example or not. They were derided by contemporary critics for bringing a pop sensibility to the folk repertoire, while historians recognize their influential role in popularizing the genre & paving the way for Dylan and the folk-rock explosion. Seems about right to me. I guess they might be eligible for a poptimist reappraisal, altho their appropriation and whitewashing of tunes from various traditions would remain, ah, problematic within that frame.

Armatrading, Chapman, Etheridge seem like excellent examples.

Kingston Trio were covered in any pop history textbook I ever used tbh, in the way you describe.

I kind of want to say The Charlatans a little bit. I mean, they headlined Reading in the late 90s which is no mean feat, but they've always been seen as second-tier also-rans, somewhere between Britpop and baggy but never as revered as the Stone Roses or Oasis

Some are mentioned in the thread already, but there's a whole class of classic rock era US bands that ended up without much of a legacy despite the steady hits - Lovin' Spoonful, Grass Roots, Three Dog Night, Blood Sweat and Tears. Similar bands who've kept listeners could rock harder, like Creedence, or drone more, like The Byrds. There's a folky squareness, emphasizing harmony over riffing, that relegates them to oldies radio.

What about Triumph? Based on Wikipedia, 1 platinum and 3 gold records in the US; 3 platinum or multiplatinum + 5 gold records in Canada; still a classic rock radio staple in Canada at least. I'm not sure they get much ink in history books at all (probably bc they were relatively generic - don't tell their fans).

(That said, "Midsummer's Daydream" 4eva)

Man, "Magic Power" earwormed into my waking mind the other morning, after decades of forgetting it's existence, and that song is a rabbit foot keychain hanging out Camero ignition.

Early 90s UK post-baggy pre-britpop indie seems to exist only as nostalgia for those who were actually there, have a look at who was on the cover of the NME in 1991-1993

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NME_covers

Though of course The Wonderstuff / Cud / PWEI / Kingmaker / Carter USM / Mega City Four / Neds Atomic Dustbin never really sold that many records even at the time either.

Lene Lovich.

90s-era indie owns this thread:

Tsunami
Blonde Redhead
Son Volt
Unrest
Adam Green / Kimya Dawson
Grifters
Pedro The Lion
Jon Spencer
East River Pipe
etc
Jawbox

I think Son Volt's Trace is still pretty big in the Americana world

but yeah, most of those groups felt 3rd tier at the time and never all that popular

except for JSBE, who were inexplicably a huge deal in Tucson when I growing up

REO Speedwagon isn't entirely forgotten but Hi Infidelity is a Diamond (10 million) album, I was surprised to learn that the other day on wiki

Paul - I know what you mean about 90s indie being pretty low right now but I mean like .000000000000001 of ppl knew who the Grifters were at their peak

Delaney and Bonnie? I have no idea how popular they were (wiki suggests not very), but you always hear the name in docs about the late '60s scene, so they must have held at least a little sway.

Georgie Fame

He had three UK #1 singles in the middle of the sixties. Three!

With those 90s Indie and Americana bands there did seem to be a tacit assumption that “we may not be big now, but like the Velvets or Gram Parsons someday we’ll get our due”

Delaney and Bonnie seem to be remembered mostly for touring with Clapton as a sideman. Bonnie Raitt would probably be on the same level if not for her comeback.

Some people mentioned 1989 upthread. I'm old enough to remember 1989 and Soul II Soul were absolutely HUGE that year. Nobody ever mentions them now, even though those first few singles still sound great today.

Delaney and Bonnie still get footnote status thanks to all their "Friends" and said "Friends" connections to important/historical artists and albums (Layla, All Things Must Pass, Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Leon Russell in general...)

I've read that Delaney was difficult to work with for whatever reason.

Ha, I thought of mentioning Soul II Soul along with Arrested Development. "Back to Life" is the only thing I remember tbh but it was classic.

oh shit, perfect one: ALABAMA
they were so huge growing up, but I think they kind of invented the modern template for country then got replaced by the ones that came after like Garth, etc

Snap! and 2 Unlimited had a long run of worldwide hits, but have been mostly written out the canon to cater for the ubiquitous 90s narrative of grunge, 'golden age' rap, and more fashionable techno producers like Aphex Twin, The Prodigy, Autechre, Orbital, Underworld, Basic Channel etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

I know the name Neil Diamond but I don't know what his music sounds like.

The Fine Young Cannibals. Any other old people remember them? They were enormous for a year in the US.

Where do you live? "Sweet Caroline" has definitely not been forgotten in the US. xp

Not sure re his place in history books. He comes up a couple of times in Covach's What's That Sound?, although not in great depth.

FYC were mentioned upthread and are probably a good answer, though idk if bands that were big for a year should be expected to get much coverage in history books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Caroline#Use_at_sporting_events

These artists could be quantified up until the iPod era by tallying what is left behind in thrift shops. A lot of Alabama, a lot of Neil Diamond for sure.

Neil Diamond is still huge as fuck

I know the name Neil Diamond but I don't know what his music sounds like.

Aside from the baseball-ubiquitous Sweet Caroline, Diamond wrote I'm a Believer (The Monkees), Red Red Wine (UB40), Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon (Urge Overkill)... even Elvis covered And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind

Neil Diamond Musical Headed to Broadway

Biographical show will be written by Bohemian Rhapsody scribe Anthony McCarten, directed by Tony-winner Michael Mayer

his career is something of an outlier but yeah he is hardly forgotten or ignored - as noted he's connected to too ubiquitous hits to just be ignored by history books.

too many ubiquitous

I'm in Canada. I just listened to Sweet Caroline. No, I don't remember hearing this.

His biggest hits in Canada were Cracklin' Rosie (a much better song than Sweet Caroline), Song Sung Blue, and... (ugh) Heartlight, the ET song.