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

I worked with a rather cheeky New Zealander living stateside as a lark many years back. He loved Loverboy, but ironically so. He referred them as "gettin` laid music" which I found spot-on and right hilarious.

Also, LOL Marillion. Talk about a band that could only have existed in the 80s. Power balladeers with prog aspirations. What a cacophony.

They’re still making albums today

I really loved the Moodies’ “I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band)" (a big hit in ‘73 in the Netherlands, also in the US, not in the UK) as a kid, and it still sounds great to me.

And then I went “Waterloo” > “See My Baby Jive” (boy, does that song outstay its welcome!) > “Beach Baby”. This thread does strange things to me.

ILM is giving me two very different strands of My Own Private 70s today, after I dug into War (“Cisco Kid” > “Low Rider” > fucking “Galaxy”) earlier - now there’s a band that fits here too!

(...and I see War were discussed here back in November, the jury was out on them apparently)

Never realized that marillion was a band with actual hit singles in the UK, wow

They’re still making albums today

― frogbs, Thursday, August 13, 2020 3:30 PM

(looks at discogs)

O_O

Holy hell.

Also, I don't think War is applicable here. Most people know "Low Rider" even if they don't know who it's by. "Why Can't We Be Friends?" perhaps a bit less so, but it's still a fairly well-known jam. War certainly isn't as big a name as the other classic funk/rock bands (P-Funk, Ohio Players, etc.), but their material still carries some clout.

War still pops up in soundtracks too.

'Kayleigh' by Marillion is still very much beloved in the UK and not just by prog fans (who maybe don't even like that particular song that much anyway?). Total party singalong stuff the teh olds

War are only a one-hit-wonder band among white people.

even more people know “Nights In White Satin” (108M streams on Spotify vs 92M for “Low Rider”), and The Moody Blues may have more name recognition as well (though I have no way of proving this) - so if they’re a given I would think War are too, but whatever.

I hear War pretty frequently — and not just “Low Rider” — on oldies stations, but never on “classic rock” stations. I’ve also heard them on the supermarket PA several times within the last year.

Humble Pie have less than 300k listeners on Spotify.

Moodies just edging out War in monthly listeners as well, 2.2M vs 1.9M

Xxxpost Huh? War had 6 top 10 hits

FWIW, War's Spotify #s are pretty close to those of the definitely canonized Funkadelic and Parliament.

For comparisons sake, Earth Wind & Fire have 11 Million listeners, although it remains to be seen how many of those are millennials listening to "September" and nothing else.

Gap Band also draw War/P-Funk #s on Spotify.

Josh in Chicago at 4:45 13 Aug 20

J. Geils Band haven't been mentioned yet, have they? They were sort of a huge cult band for much of the '70s, and of course huge in the early '80s - and then Rolling Stone kept giving Peter Wolf albums 5 stars or whatever - but no one really talks about J. Geils Band.

this is a good one, I feel like acts who had a "bar band" vibe have really faded out in terms of the pop culture

I think American Psycho turned Huey Lewis into a ironic/camp thing but he's the exception

I don't know how Dire Straits is regarded now but War in Drugs makes a good living doing it

J. Geils Band touring without J Geils off and on for the last 5 years of his life was pretty fucked.

War are only a one-hit-wonder band among white people.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, August 13, 2020 3:48 PM

As a white person currently listening to Deliver the Word, I happily resent this.

Unperson is pretty much right overall

Must be nice LOL.

Humble Pie have less than 300k listeners on Spotify.

That’s unique monthly listeners? I’m surprised it’s that high. I’m a fan, but very rarely hear them mentioned. (Maybe their profile is higher in the UK?)

Actually, just remembered that “30 Days in the Hole” was sort of a classic-rock staple when I was a teen (in the Detroit area).

Looking at my parents records: Supertramp, Rod Stewart

Jane Olivor

Lonnie Donegan

Humble Pie at the Fillmore is hot shit

That’s unique monthly listeners? I’m surprised it’s that high. I’m a fan, but very rarely hear them mentioned.

Yes, unique monthly listeners, a figure which is way lower than most of their contemporaries pull. They were a bit of a big deal at the time, but definitely not a group you'll be reading about in history books now.

Jane Olivor's albums had been in my college campus record store's cutout bins for so long (even at 99 cents) that they decided to give them away, which is why First Night (Stereo Review's 1976 Album of the Year!) and Stay the Night are in my record collection. I've never listened to them.

How many of you have heard of a band called the Buckinghams, much less could name any of their songs? They had five major U.S. hits in the late 1960s, including a chart-topper, but are utterly forgotten today. Actually, they've been totally forgotten for a few decades now.

this could be a UK/US thing --- but already by the 90s, in my US experience, Humble Pie were effectively anonymous and nonexistant --- not a band mentioned by name. as far as meat n potatoes 70s rock bands who fill the used bins, they had a lower profile even than, say, Foghat or Grand Funk Railroad (who at least had Slow Ride and We're An American Band in regular rotation). i'm honestly surprised to learn they were a huge deal at one time!

i eventually gleaned that Peter Frampton used to be in a band called Humble Pie, who later got memorably namechecked in Almost Famous, and yeeeeears later i stumbled on 30 Days in the Hole and stuck it in one of my Spotify playlists, and that's still about all i know.

Surprised nobody has mentioned Bread. Huge in the early 1970s but almost never mentioned today.

man, now i really wanna order in Sund4r's textbooks, cause i feel like i'm turning into one of those people i would be "um, ACTually"-ing on the New Jersey thread

How many of you have heard of a band called the Buckinghams, much less could name any of their songs? They had five major U.S. hits in the late 1960s, including a chart-topper, but are utterly forgotten today. Actually, they've been totally forgotten for a few decades now.

Ph.D and Jim Diamond who had big AOR blue-eyed soul hits with 'Should Have Known Better' and 'I Won't Let You Down'. I guess they were never considered cool though

I’d heard “30 Days” a couple times on “classic rock” radio (not since the early ‘90s, though), but got into Humble Pie from loving the Small Faces. The first two records (especially Town & Country), the Fillmore dealie, and Rock On are all pretty great. Never dug into the post-Frampton stuff.

For better or worse — mostly worse — Paul Stanley has said that seeing Steve Marriott at those Fillmore shows was the primary inspiration for his onstage approach.

loading up a Buckinghams hits comp now - i def remember Kind of a Drag from "oldies" stations when i was a kid, curious if any of their other hits ring a bell. feel like there's a whole swath of Parent-Unobjectionable Crossover Pop-Rock that, lacking rock cred, never had a shot at getting canonized by rockists in the first place. The Association, The Monkees, and Three Dog Night come to mind among the biggest sellers --- but i'd thoroughly expect to find all three in textbooks with the level of thoroughness Sund4r has revealed!

Bread also seem like they'd have to merit inclusion; if you were discussing that *kind* of music and where it went from the 60s to the 70s, they'd be perfect for the role. popularly, i'd say they have an even lower public profile today than the three bands i just mentioned. however i bet a robot trawling facebook could find thousands upon thousands of mid-to-late Boomers sharing youtube clips of even minor Bread songs and proclaiming that this takes them back to such good times etc. iow i doubt they are forgotten, they just haven't been effectively or systematically passed on.

"I Won't Let You Down" is a massive tune but tangential to the thread direction now. Didn't Jim Diamond do "Hi Ho Silver" too? Also great

I ONLY know Humble Pie and Bread bc of books is the thing. I listened to Bread's most popular songs on Spotify yesterday just bc I'd never heard them. They were closer to something I'd listen to than I expected tbh, echoes of John Denver? Now I know the original of "Guitar Man", which Ben Monder did on his last album.

xp the only version of 'I Won't Let You Down'* on Spotify is awful and sounds like a bad karaoke version of the song I grew up with

*which, since I was little simply assumed was sung by a black US female artist and had no idea was a British male singer - see also 'Everybody's Got to Learn Sometimes' by the Korgis

Bread is at least popular enough today for there to be a Bread tribute band.

And it’s called Toast:
https://youtu.be/QVVf9MSxBiI

someone needs the roll of keeping the music alive

where are the crust punks when you really need them

they all like lizzo now

I feel like Humble Pie was on that tier of 10 Years After, Cactus, Savoy Brown, James Gang etc

James Gang, speaking of a fucking amazing band that doesn't get enough credit

Ahem, somebody started a Buckinghams thread way back when which was sparsely attended but it was all good company: The Buckinghams - C/D?

I used to hate when the AM DJ would announce Bread on the radio unless it was "Guitar Man." Speaking of the Ben Monder cover thereof, Come On-a This Thread:Skronky Jazz Guitar Versions Of Country Pop Classics

Bread kind of epitomized a certain strain of soft rock of the '70s, iirc. There's some local radio station I discovered here that plays tons of deep cuts from basically the '50s to the '80s. So I've heard multiple songs from, like, BJ Thomas and the Bee Gees and, yeah, John Denver and all sorts of stuff. The other day I heard an Eric Carmen song, "Make Me Lose Control," from the '80s I hadn't heard since the time it was a hit. Anyway, this station plays all sorts of stuff that probably fits this thread. Here's the website: https://www.metv.fm (Now Playing: SHEENA EASTON Morning Train (Nine To Five) (1981)).

"Make Me Lose Control" gets some love here: Eric Carmen solo

Listening to Humble Pie this morning, thanks thread! Here's a thing I totally didn't know:

Current members:

Zoot Money – keyboards (2001–2002, 2019–present)
Nigel Harrison – bass (2019–present)
Andy Summers – guitar (2020–present)
Graham Bonnet – vocals (2020–present)

wow! nigel harrison from blondie? the man who wrote 'union city blue'?