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

Remember that one too, Wikipedia said it reach #39 on some kind of chart. Never knew they were Welsh.

The Call song I remember is "Let the Day Begin."

They did a college tour that was sponsored by AT&T (get it?)

Or maybe not that chart. Original link had the word “Hot” in the front.

The Alarm ones I know from memory: "The Stand" (based on the book, kinda like the Clash), "68 Guns," "Strength" (very U2 crossed with, yeah, the Cult, worse hair), "The Spirit of '76" (kinda like Springsteen roots rock crossed by way of, yeah, U2), "Rain in the Summertime" (kinda a cool song, very U2/Simple Minds), "Rescue Me" (very U2 by way of Bryan Adams AORy), "Sold Me Down the River" (yeah, very Rattle & Hum). That's a lot for a band I don't listen to!

Jeezus folks, The Alarm were Clash ripoffs! They had tons of hits in the UK and are not at all forgotten by people who were into them during the 80s. I know guys from school who still follow the ex-members' solo careers!

Perhaps only Bananafish readers might know this bit of trivia, but the bassist of The Call (Greg Freeman) went on to engineer (and play on) records from Pell Mell/Steve Fisk, Virginia Dare, World of Pooh, Barbara Manning/SF Seals, TFUL282, Royal Trux (TWIN INFINITIVES!), Icky Boyfriends, Vomit Launch, etc.

He talked mad shit about the main guy in The Call in one of the early Bananafish (#2?) zines, oh and he has a thread on here of course:
the PELL MELL/Steve Fisk/Greg Freeman/etc. thread

xpost Their highest charting "hit" in the UK was 17!

xp Interesting, I have always sort of wondered who Greg Freeman was.

there's some crossover with this thread

that stage where you think they aren't popular anymore but are actually way more popular than they were when they had "buzz"

i've seen large quantities of alarm records in used bins for DECADES and have never heard a note. i had to go listen to '68 guns' because of al's colorful description and this is freaking hilarious! that's easily the worst clash song i've ever heard. man what a horrible, horrible thing.

also, idk, early u2 (like up to and including unforgettable fire) always seems to hold some serious hipster cred. i'm guilty myself; i love those records and play them semi-regularly.

I listened to “68 Guns” just now for the first time since its heyday. Was enjoying it until the false ending and reboot in the middle (presumably the album version). Now listening to “In a Big Country,” which sounds like Motörhead in comparison.

U2's another massive rock band where I just don't connect with them like so many people do. I listened to Zooropa a lot at the time and still like it OK; they have a few songs I like a lot.

Frickin MONSTER rhythm section on "In a Big Country." The bagpipey guitar thing was a novelty that grated really quickly but the drums and bass on that track are killer.

I heard "In A Big Country" at the dentist last week, sandwiched between Phil Collins and I think Laura Branigan, and was amazed that it is considered easy listening dentist's office music now. But then a few songs later heard Bowie's "Let's Dance," which was really weird.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMRoRcy0yz4

they have a few songs I like a lot

I'm not a U2 fan by any stretch of the imagination but I'll never tire of 'New Year's Day' and 'Mysterious Ways'.

Drummer from big country also played on the second album by the Cult after the original guy got jailed for armed robbery

'In a Big Country', on the other hand, is among the worst songs ever devised by human hands.

xp

"New Year's Day" is my OPO, yeah.

Thanks for that bass track, ymp. It's cool that I can't hear in my head how it fits with song at all.

Yeah, Mark Brzezicki (and Tony Butler) also did some good stuff with Pete Townshend. I went down a rabbit hole some months back and found this guy, who has done a whole bunch of Big Country drum covers, which are among the clearest examples of what Brzezicki is up to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kREc3HZWm_M

Do you guys know the Rogue Wave cover of "In a Big Country" or any of the other covers from that project?

Yeah, Mark Brzezicki (and Tony Butler) also did some good stuff with Pete Townshend.

“My City Was Gone” too, apparently.

I could go for a Japanese Breakfast cover of “in a big country”

a totally unnecessary (and subtle as a room clearing fart) D-minor in the chorus while the entire song is in G-major

are you putting down just this particular instance ?

xpost: maybe i'm outting my own lameness here, but i honestly believe big country's steeltown is one of the more underrated records of the 80s. i generally prefer their first album, but steeltown rules.

You're not the only one. There was even a POLL, with a lucky number of voters! Big Country - Steeltown POLL

beatles also did "Words Of Love"

― Piven After Midnight (The Yellow Kid), Sunday, August 16, 2020 12:54 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Not really an official release, but the Quarrymen recorded "That'll Be the Day" in July 1958 (in a terraced house in Liverpool that I once lived a few doors down from). They recorded it while Buddy Holly was still alive, which seems incredible to me. I wonder what the earliest-released Buddy Holly cover was.

Not that they won’t ever not be canonical but when i was young the Sex Pistols were pretty much the iconic punk rock band. Now they get half the monthly listeners on Spotify that the Stranglers get, and the Clash are way ahead.

Sex Pistols are, again, a band I knew about BECAUSE of history books. If anything, they probably have more exposure in North America than they did in the 80s and early 90s. "Rock the Casbah" and "Should I Stay or Should I Go" were actual hit songs. In terms of critical respect, too, London Calling was RS's #1 album of the 80s in 1990. ("London Calling" and the cover of "I Fought the Law" are the ones the classic rock station here plays in regular rotation now.) I also totally heard actual music by the Stranglers before the Pistols. They weren't in heavy rotation but a local rock station played a couple of their songs. They fit in OK with other new wave guitar bands.

Not really an official release, but the Quarrymen recorded "That'll Be the Day" in July 1958

It was, um, pretty hard to hear to The Pistols on the radio in the US at the time, to say the least.

If you told me the Clash had more plays than the Police, I'd be surprised.

The Sex Pistols are way, way behind both (rightly so, might I add).

Spinning off from the Steely Dan thread: The Osmonds. Several hit singles I never heard on Oldies radio when Oldies radio started playing '70s stuff, and 100 thou Spotify listeners a month.

late 80s/early 90s seemed like a big period for the Sex Pistols-- movie, documentary, tons of archival releases, Sid Vicious t-shirts everywhere. I think maybe Nirvana holds that niche for later generations?

Spinning off from the Steely Dan thread: The Osmonds. Several hit singles I never heard on Oldies radio when Oldies radio started playing '70s stuff, and 100 thou Spotify listeners a month.

I got wind of them in my late teens and they sounded cool on paper but the music itself did (and still does) zilch for me. Now, early PiL on the other hand…

xp

there are no retrospective Pitchfork reviews of the Sex Pistols, as there are for the Clash, Ramones, Buzzcocks, the Jam, etc. Just a 3.8 rating for "Spunk"

a totally unnecessary (and subtle as a room clearing fart) D-minor in the chorus while the entire song is in G-major

Pres. Keyes, I would be v surprised if that added up to more people in the general public knowing "Anarchy in the UK" than "Should I Stay or Should I Go" in 1991.

Yes that’s what I claimed

Idk what you were claiming; thought your point was surprise that the Pistols had fewer listeners than the Clash or Stranglers but I'm just waking up tbf. I prefer them myself tbc.

I’m talking about a general sense of importance. In the lates 80s Rolling Stone put Never Mind the Bullocks at #2 on their list of the best albums of the last 25 years. I doubt anyone rates them as highly these days.

Listening to “68 Guns” for the first time. Initial thoughts:

1. Far more a Clash ripoff than a U2 one.
2. Where’s this “minor chord” in the chorus? Is it “68 GUNS! can never die”? Urgh I don’t know jack shit about music theory.
3. This song is absolutely horrid!!!

The fact the Pistols are behind the Clash isn't surprising at all! The Clash stuck around and became a successful band and had pop hit.

Pistols are so great I think it's a testament to the fact, they still to this day, midtempo rock and all, be comfortably fit into a playlist at a coffee shop, Rotten still sounds to deranged, the guitars are to harsh...

Also saying that as far as year zero British punk bands go the Clash Seems to hold the popularity crown. Not surprised, just that they viewed as equally important as one time, and the Pistols were cooler

Never Mind is so classic, it sound huge compared to the first Clash record, so vicious

I was more surprised about them having lower numbers than the Stranglers. I think I've heard them before, but I'm not sure.