the Dave Clark Five are probably the best example. Anyone under 50 will probably think you're talking about the techno guy but apparently they sold almost 200 million records!
― Siegbran, Tuesday, 13 May 2008 21:16 (sixteen years ago) link
the Dave Clark Five are probably the best example.
Having your records being out of print for much of the past 20 or 30 years certainly can cut down your chances of being reappraised.
― Hideous Lump, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 02:47 (sixteen years ago) link
I've said this before, but, in the UK, Showaddywaddy. Have you heard of them? They had more hits than The Clash!
Position Artist Title Format Date Details 2 Showaddywaddy Hey Rock And Roll Single May 1974 15 Showaddywaddy Rock 'N' Roll Lady Single Aug 1974 13 Showaddywaddy Hey Mister Christmas Single Nov 1974 9 Showaddywaddy Showaddywaddy Album Dec 1974 14 Showaddywaddy Sweet Music Single Feb 1975 2 Showaddywaddy Three Steps To Heaven Single May 1975 7 Showaddywaddy Step Two Album Jul 1975 7 Showaddywaddy Heartbeat Single Sep 1975 34 Showaddywaddy Heavenly Single Nov 1975 32 Showaddywaddy Trocadero Single May 1976 1 Showaddywaddy Under The Moon Of Love Single Nov 1976 4 Showaddywaddy Greatest Hits Album Dec 1976 3 Showaddywaddy When Single Mar 1977 2 Showaddywaddy You Got What It Takes Single Jul 1977 4 Showaddywaddy Dancin' Party Single Nov 1977 20 Showaddywaddy Red Star Album Dec 1977 2 Showaddywaddy I Wonder Why Single Mar 1978 5 Showaddywaddy A Little Bit Of Soap Single Jun 1978 5 Showaddywaddy Pretty Little Angel Eyes Single Nov 1978 1 Showaddywaddy Greatest Hits (1976-1978) Album Dec 1978 17 Showaddywaddy Remember Then Single Mar 1979 15 Showaddywaddy Sweet Little Rock 'N' Roller Single Jul 1979 39 Showaddywaddy A Night At Daddy Gee's Single Nov 1979 8 Showaddywaddy Crepes And Drapes Album Nov 1979 22 Showaddywaddy Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts Single Sep 1980 32 Showaddywaddy Blue Moon Single Nov 1980 Notes 33 Showaddywaddy Bright Lights Album Dec 1980 39 Showaddywaddy Multiplication Single Jun 1981 33 Showaddywaddy The Very Best Of Showaddywaddy Album Nov 1981 31 Showaddywaddy Footsteps Single Nov 1981 37 Showaddywaddy Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp-A-Bomp-A-Bomp) Single Aug 1982
― moley, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 03:46 (sixteen years ago) link
(Stealing argument from Elijah Wood in Escaping the Delta):
Leroy Carr
― Jake Brown, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 04:33 (sixteen years ago) link
Surely it's the other way round - them not being (re)appraised is the reason why they're out of print.
― Siegbran, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 08:21 (sixteen years ago) link
There was a nineties TV series which had lots of (at the time) rare 60s footage and was supposed to be the definitive take on the decade. It appeared to have the agenda of elevating the Dave Clark Five to the canon. The running order of every show would go something like this: Beatles on Ed Sullivan - Dave Clark Five - Rolling Stones - The Who - Dave Clark Five - The Hollies - Dave Clark Five - Hendrix - Dave Clark Five. End credits: Dave Clark Five. I watched it with my mum and she was scathing, as it had been obvious even to a thirteen-year-old that they were rubbish.
The show was produced by Dave Clark.
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 08:50 (sixteen years ago) link
Wings. They were huge in the seventies. Who talks about them now?
― Zelda Zonk, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 09:00 (sixteen years ago) link
Both Nik Kershaw and Howard Jones were huge in the 80s and no one even retro-likes them nowdays, which is a bit of a shame.
― Trayce, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 09:12 (sixteen years ago) link
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band was relatively successful at one point, right?
― shieldforyoureyes, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 09:18 (sixteen years ago) link
That TV series mentioned above was "Ready Steady Go", the rights to which had been bought by DaveClarke. There was indeed too much 'DC5' inserted, but hey you can tell the bobbins from the gold.
― Mark G, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 09:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.
Not ignored by any means.
― Tom D., Wednesday, 14 May 2008 10:02 (sixteen years ago) link
Melissa Etheridge
― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 10:44 (sixteen years ago) link
George Michael will soon be an answer to this.
Yeah, wouldn't it be more interesting to predict which big contemporary bands will have been written out of history in 20 years, i.e. Muse?
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 10:44 (sixteen years ago) link
U2, hopefully
― Tom D., Wednesday, 14 May 2008 10:48 (sixteen years ago) link
Stone Temple Pilots weren't liked, but they were popular, but Scott Weiland's antics effectively made the band obscure.
― youcangoyourownway, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 11:16 (sixteen years ago) link
Barclay James Harvest were actually rather critically acclaimed around 1970-71 at the start of their career.
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 11:26 (sixteen years ago) link
I loved Howard Jones at the time, and still consider several Kershaw songs brilliant. And as for Jones, his first three singles will always remain classic. "Hide & Seek" in particular.
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 11:27 (sixteen years ago) link
U2 won't be written out of history - Simple Minds were instead.
Are there other examples of this? Two bands with similar popularity, fanbase and reputation in a fight to the death, the loser slinking off into oblivion. Human League/ABC maybe. Sisters of Mercy/the Mission (both in oblivion, but at least people remember Sisters occasionally).
― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 12:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Hootie and the Blowfish.
The biggest band in America for a year or two. It's a testament to how forgotten they are that it's taken this long for them to get mentioned.
― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, 14 May 2008 14:08 (sixteen years ago) link
Dave Matthews Band : Name Your Reasons Why They Are So Bad & Hated. Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (2523 of them)
― Tom D., Wednesday, 14 May 2008 14:10 (sixteen years ago) link
No, I thought it was legal problems, like they're simultaneously owned by Allen Klein, Phil Spector and Shel Talmy or something.
― Hideous Lump, Thursday, 15 May 2008 01:33 (sixteen years ago) link
Bush.
― YouandIknowthedeal, Thursday, 15 May 2008 01:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Two bands with similar popularity, fanbase and reputation in a fight to the death, the loser slinking off into oblivion.
Madonna/Cyndi Lauper
― Siegbran, Thursday, 15 May 2008 15:01 (sixteen years ago) link
jessie matthews
― Hello Everyone!, Thursday, 15 May 2008 15:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Obviously people who were around in the early '90s still remember East 17, but I wonder what's their current status in the boy band canon? At the time they were the biggest rivals of Take That, and while not as successful still sold tons of records, but it feels like people nowadays mention only Take That when talking about the era.
Apparently East 17 reunited over 10 year ago, and they still technically exist as a group, but both Brian Harvey and Tim Mortimer have since left it. None of this made the news here in Finland, unlike Take That's much more succesful reunion.
― Tuomas, Monday, 28 October 2019 10:54 (four years ago) link
Nobody knew who the other guys in E17 were, so a reunion without them is pointless. 'Stay' is still a staple Christmas radio hit in the UK. I guess Take That had more of a Radio 2 factor and regularly get featured on mum and dad stations, whereas E17 were more faddy and bad-boy so maybe haven't aged as gracefully
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Monday, 28 October 2019 11:00 (four years ago) link
Nobody knew who the other guys in E17 were, so a reunion without them is pointless.
Yeah, but apparently Harvey, undoubtedly the main face of the group, was in the reformed group from 2006 to 2010, yet that didn't seem to translate to any kind of success comparable to Take That's reunion.
― Tuomas, Monday, 28 October 2019 11:05 (four years ago) link
― Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, May 13, 2008
This has turned out completely opposite.
― Siegbran, Monday, 28 October 2019 11:46 (four years ago) link
The US equivalent of East 17 is 98 Degrees, I guess - huge at the time, signed to motown, nick lachey was one half of a stupidly popular reality show marriage, but people only seem to remember NSYNC and BSB now. Does "I do" still get played at weddings?
― Roz, Monday, 28 October 2019 12:01 (four years ago) link
There are so many of these from the first half of the 20th century, acts who were the biggest in the world at the time.
Like this guy, the Elvis of his day, and the singer of the first song to mention jazz.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/ArthurCollins.jpg
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 28 October 2019 12:09 (four years ago) link
Who is he?
― Tuomas, Monday, 28 October 2019 12:11 (four years ago) link
Tuomas otm.
― Michael Oliver of Penge Wins £5 (Tom D.), Monday, 28 October 2019 12:12 (four years ago) link
Arthur Collins
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 28 October 2019 12:14 (four years ago) link
Ok, dunno if I could name any other ragtime singers either, tho. Is he ignored in histories of early 1900s popular music in the US?
― Tuomas, Monday, 28 October 2019 12:19 (four years ago) link
There aren't really many of those, they understandably tend to focus on jazz. Only singers you may have heard of from the era are Enrico Caruso, Bert Williams and Al Jolson, who was around from 1910 or so.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 28 October 2019 12:22 (four years ago) link
Obviously people who were around in the early '90s still remember East 17
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Monday, 28 October 2019 12:24 (four years ago) link
Are the names Billy Murray, Eddie Morton, Ada Jones, Billy Williams or Harry Lauder familiar?
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 28 October 2019 12:25 (four years ago) link
Sorry, should've qualified that as "Europeans". I don't think East 17 made any impression on the other side of the pond?
― Tuomas, Monday, 28 October 2019 12:27 (four years ago) link
Xpost
I feel like genres/scenes that have fallen into obscurity as a whole is a somewhat different phenomenon than individual bands becoming forgotten, even if others in the same genre are still remembered.
― Tuomas, Monday, 28 October 2019 12:32 (four years ago) link
yeah, maybe that's right. But I feel this is already the not-too-far-off fate of most jazz too. I went to see the new Miles Davis documentary at the cinema last week, think I may have been the only person under 60 there.
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 28 October 2019 12:42 (four years ago) link
Big & Rich
― Maresn3st, Monday, 28 October 2019 12:52 (four years ago) link
Wings and Stone Temple Pilots seem like interesting answers upthread. I still hear both regularly on rock radio but idk if they get written about much in canonical history books. Neither is obscure, certainly.
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Monday, 28 October 2019 12:57 (four years ago) link
Arrested Development? Midnight Oil (in North America)?
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Monday, 28 October 2019 13:03 (four years ago) link
Tbh, canonical histories were never meant to reflect contemporary popularity. Selectivity is the whole point of canonization (unless you are asking about history books that are themselves canonical). My answers are more like "artists who were popular and critically feted and are now comparatively ignored in both popular and critical outlets".
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Monday, 28 October 2019 13:14 (four years ago) link
Bruce Hornsby once seemed like a pretty big deal.
― o. nate, Monday, 28 October 2019 13:16 (four years ago) link
i just googled Ben Folds because i couldn't remember what he was called
― Xia Nu del Vague (Noodle Vague), Monday, 28 October 2019 13:18 (four years ago) link
unless you are asking about history books that are themselves canonical
Basically what I meant are history books that are supposed to be fairly comprehensive histories of a certain era/scene, yet they ignore certain artists despite them being popular in that scene/era. I'm not talking about "rock canon" or "jazz canon" type of books, which of course are already quite selective in who they choose to celebrate.
― Tuomas, Monday, 28 October 2019 13:28 (four years ago) link
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bruce-hornsby-absolute-zero/
― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Monday, 28 October 2019 13:29 (four years ago) link