cast [citation needed]
― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 31 October 2019 11:16 (four years ago) link
That Quo talk is fightin' talk
― Cornelius Fondue (Matt #2), Thursday, 31 October 2019 11:17 (four years ago) link
first cast single was good, everything after was very not good.knew I would be in trouble with the quo
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 31 October 2019 11:19 (four years ago) link
At one time every second band in Glasgow was trying to do this
Somewhat amusingly Wet Wet Wet proved be better at it than the West End hipster crowd, despite being a bunch of Rangers' fans from Clydebank.
― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Thursday, 31 October 2019 11:22 (four years ago) link
The Quo rule from Matchstick to Mystery Song. That's a lot of singles.
― Mark G, Thursday, 31 October 2019 11:30 (four years ago) link
Bordering on FP territory.
― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Thursday, 31 October 2019 11:34 (four years ago) link
shit I'm in trouble now
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 31 October 2019 11:38 (four years ago) link
eheh regarding the "soul music for white suburban Brits", the video for "Sweet Little Mystery" is quite wtf : they go to an African country to spread the groove to the locals !
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 31 October 2019 12:07 (four years ago) link
Hey, the Clydebank Groove might not be that well known in Africa.
― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Thursday, 31 October 2019 12:10 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgEqJUcUKNw
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 31 October 2019 12:14 (four years ago) link
and the lucky country is Gambia !
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 31 October 2019 12:15 (four years ago) link
It's like the Beatles arriving in the US.
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 31 October 2019 12:16 (four years ago) link
I have actually just watched the whole thing and... oh my...
― AlXTC from Paris, Thursday, 31 October 2019 12:20 (four years ago) link
worst scottish export since mcewans
― the creator has a mazda van (NickB), Thursday, 31 October 2019 12:26 (four years ago) link
I'm quite partial to McEwan's Champion Ale although the 7.3% ABV might have something to do with that
― Colonel Poo, Thursday, 31 October 2019 12:41 (four years ago) link
Wet Wet Wet were an absolute shocker of a band. And, as has been noted, were Rangers fans into the bargain.
― does it look like i'm here (jon123), Thursday, 31 October 2019 13:52 (four years ago) link
Disgraceland is in Liverpool though
Disgraceland is a podcast about pop music and crime
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Thursday, 31 October 2019 13:53 (four years ago) link
had never heard of wet wet wet before, that song with the video in the Gambia sounded like Culture Club
― L'assie (Euler), Thursday, 31 October 2019 13:54 (four years ago) link
Have never forgotten Mark E Smith talking about being on the same label as Wet Wet Wet:
"The worst fucking drummer I have even seen in my lifel He is so fucking shit!"
https://thefall.org/gigography/90jan25.html
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 31 October 2019 14:20 (four years ago) link
just gonna chime in to join the earlier mentions of Three Dog Night, who surely have the biggest gulf between popularity and canonization of anyone mentioned. they also work as the avatar of the late 60s/early 70s harmonically-oriented pop-rock melange discussed upthread - Rascals, Lovin' Spoonful, Grass Roots, that whole thing, and frankly I suspect their original audience base may have resembled Blood Sweat and Tears's, Chicago's, and Neil Diamond's. huge huge huge acts, largely wiped out by the demise of oldies radio and/or its time shift forward into 70s Denver/Carpenters/Taylor lite-rock and 80s soft rock material (which obviously threw Chicago a lifeline). too rockin' for the while-you-work stations, not enough guitars or attitude for classic rock. these are also all "greatest hits" type bands - albums all look generic and thin on material, feels obvious you want the comp only, there has never been much work putting into gilding their real careers with arcs or narratives or creative journeys. wonder if there are some generational or factors here too (did Three Dog Night sell to boomers' parents and Silent Generation relations as much as to boomers themselves?). fanbase gender balance is surely SUPER relevant here - rockism 101, right?i've yammered on about this on ilx before, but my 90s equivalent for Three Dog Night has always been Matchbox 20 - not nearly as successful at their peak but similarly adrift in recurrent plays. first album crossed over so quickly from rock to pop radio that the rock songs didn't build permanent roots, and then pop radio stopped playing guitar bands and rock radio stopped playing melodic roots-informed hootie-esque bands anyway in the nu-metal years. i'll still hear "unwell" and "3 AM" around here and there but nothing in proportion to their actual success.as a keeper of the billy joel flame i'll also put his name forward in the "mega-successful, hardly forgotten, hits played all the time, but still no place in the Story of Rock" column. there are a couple of critics who really stan for him, but if you pull up a big history of rock documentary or something, i feel like nobody would feel obliged to include him. he doesn't serve any narrative function.
― weird ilx but sb (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 31 October 2019 17:46 (four years ago) link
billy joel's commercial peak lasted about 10-15 years, and he still sells out the garden every month. that's a way different level of popularity than most of the people mentioned here
― kanye kendrick frank kendrick frank kanye (voodoo chili), Thursday, 31 October 2019 17:51 (four years ago) link
Joel isn't the kind of artist critics like to write about, but he won't soon be forgotten
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Thursday, 31 October 2019 17:53 (four years ago) link
right, which is what the thread is about, right?
― weird ilx but sb (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 31 October 2019 17:54 (four years ago) link
how it started, I guess
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Thursday, 31 October 2019 17:54 (four years ago) link
the kind of artist critics like to write about, but he won't soon be forgotten
I suppose the Bee Gees qualify, if this is the metric
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:03 (four years ago) link
lol uh left off the "isn't"
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:04 (four years ago) link
if they are cited it's usually as a punchline to disco (a genre that has def been canonized, but w the Bee Gees written out of that history afaict)
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:05 (four years ago) link
like I feel there's a canon of disco that purposefully excludes the Bee Gees as interlopers/commercializers etc
also my Bee Gees track-by-track thread is mostly tumbleweeds these days :(
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link
Yes, disappointed about that too. I don't know about over there but the Bee Gees are more than a 'punchline to disco' over here.
― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:11 (four years ago) link
i have no evidence to back it up but i'm positive the bee gees are more respected by critics than say billy joel
― cheese canopy (map), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:13 (four years ago) link
Chris Molanphy did a Bee Gees podcast a few months ago
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:13 (four years ago) link
Bee Gees are so good. Οὖτις, I have been enjoying your posts on the track-by-track thread I just have nothing to contribute really.
― brimstead, Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:13 (four years ago) link
they're perfect as a 'you know them for x, but actually they were y, and also great artistes" take, which is an evergreen narrative for canon construction.
― cheese canopy (map), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:15 (four years ago) link
Yes, despite their many ridiculous aspects and (especially) lyrics, the Bee Gees are too good to be the subject of a pointing and laughing thread a la the Eagles.
― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:18 (four years ago) link
the bee gees are more respected by critics than say billy joel
I would think the opposite, but dunno how to gauge this really
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:22 (four years ago) link
Oh God no, please tell me no.
― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:23 (four years ago) link
i regret dropping off of the bee gees thread after an early, doomed attempt at catching up with it - i was digging the deep dive! it still stares at me in my bookmarks, i should make the attempt
― weird ilx but sb (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 31 October 2019 18:50 (four years ago) link
― breastcrawl, Thursday, 31 October 2019 19:45 (four years ago) link
Bee Gees & Joel are both RRHOF inductees; don't think it gets much more "canonical" than that...
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Thursday, 31 October 2019 19:53 (four years ago) link
(but then I also don't know what the hypothetical "history books" are, and probably haven't read them)
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Thursday, 31 October 2019 19:54 (four years ago) link
Stephen Holden reviewed a bunch of Bee Gees albums for Rolling Stone, most of them are just one back-handed compliment after another, for ex:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/main-course-100601/
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:12 (four years ago) link
Christgau couldn't be bothered:https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=bee+gees
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:17 (four years ago) link
thirded on Bee Gees thread
― A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Chooglin (will), Thursday, 31 October 2019 20:39 (four years ago) link
The best-selling artist for singles in the UK for the 80s was Shakin' Stevens. My 30-year-old colleague has not even heard of him (though he must have heard Merry Xmas Everyone which will be on rotation in shops as soon as we get past bonfire night)
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 31 October 2019 22:04 (four years ago) link
As is Chicago.
(Induction speech by I think Rob Thomas, who said something like "If Chicago is your mom's band, then I want to party with your mom." Make of that what you will.)
― tempted by the fruit of your mother (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 31 October 2019 23:54 (four years ago) link
https://youtu.be/baewtwI9A64
Gah, I was right, alas
― tempted by the fruit of your mother (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 1 November 2019 00:11 (four years ago) link
xp Yeah — I also hear about Chicago all the time (a podcast guy I’m a fan of is a huge fan of theirs)
― dracula et son fils (morrisp), Friday, 1 November 2019 00:17 (four years ago) link
For the record, Rob Thomas is NOT invited to party with my mom.
― tempted by the fruit of your mother (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 1 November 2019 00:18 (four years ago) link
― Οὖτις
i mean just you could just ask anthony fantano
― tantric societal collapse (rushomancy), Friday, 1 November 2019 00:40 (four years ago) link