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

Cake comes to Milwaukee every 2 years or so and I always want to go but the tickets seem to sell ridiculously fast. Was kinda floored that their latest album seems to be selling well. They haven't had a good single in a decade and I would think their fans would be over them by now. And yet here we are.

holy shit, I thought Short Skirt, Long Jacket was like 5 years ago. wrong

Guster

talking to some friends the other day re: Ben Folds, I realized that he almost certainly fits this category — critically panned, artistically irrelevant, and unfathomably popular among people we will never associate with (the phrase "bro-rock circuit" was used)

xxp yeah and the weird thing about that was that most Cake fans at the time thought it was kind of a self-parody, which it is (still a great tune though)

i dunno, i've always been a fan, i guess there are a lot of people to whom this band really MEANT something like, 10-15 years ago. that's why I don't find it surprising that TMBG still is a huge draw, because i know what it's like to be 14 and obsessed with the band, and their albums hold up as you get older. Cake on the other hand; I don't really see myself ever anticipating a new release by them again.

the elephant itt: U2

I see the Violent Femmes are touring again

Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness is #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Does that count?

jimmy eat world just sold 4500 tickets in nyc

the elephant itt: U2

They can't be MORE popular than they were in the late 80s and early 90s, can they?

and yet...

post-buzz records All That You Can't Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb both outsold trailing-buzz records Zooropa and Pop, and their last two tours (2009-11, 2005-6) are both among the top five concert tours of all time in inflation-adjusted gross and very nearly in actual attendance as well even though neither you nor i know a single person who would consider themselves a fan

by contrast, they pulled in slightly fewer dollars and butts on the 1987 Joshua Tree tour than NKOTB managed in 1990.

Wow.

the U2 thing is tough to quantify because, while the last couple records have sold pretty well for classic rockers, they're still very much in that Stones zone where it's all about their back catalog and their 'brand.' not really what this thread is about.

joan osborne

Weezer?

I dunno, Weezer was selling out summer sheds on their own ten years ago, but they've been doing theaters/package tours recently.

They're definitely not bigger than when they had 'buzz' but they're bigger than most people would probably assume they are at this point. The massive success of any/all of those post-reunion albums just boggles the mind. There was probably a point around 'Beverly Hills' where they were 'bigger' than the Blue Album although I'm not sure by which metrics.

Could they have seriously gotten away with doing things like the Weezer Cruise around the time of the first record?

I never really knew much about Passion Pit but a friend is working for them and they play really big gigs

I think they were popping before they had internet buzz actually

Ok yeah I don't have a frame of reference but they sound like they are pretty huge on the tour circuit

Death From Above 1979 have a charting single right now, in 2014

I dunno, Weezer was selling out summer sheds on their own ten years ago, but they've been doing theaters/package tours recently.

― Uncle Cyril O'Boogie (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, August 15, 2013 10:52 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Egg on face.

An easy answer to this thread is: everything that has an RSD exclusive release specifically for Black Friday

mass appeal ≠ critical acclaim

For UK people of a certain age.

Ocean Colour Scene released SIX studio LPs between 2001 and 2013, all six charted, their next one will too.

They are playing Birmingham O2, Manchester O2, Dublin Olympia, London Roundhouse and a four-night residency at Glasgow Barrowland this December. Two of the Glasgow dates are sold out.

huh that is wild

hold on no, those dates are for next year. the dates are sold out *more than a year in advance*

Tame Impala is playing Toyota Center (Basketball arena) in Houston next summer.

Maybe that goes here: How did they sell out THAT place? - venue size shocker

I'm starting to think Ween are one of those bands

yeah Push the Daisies isn't even in their top Spotify tracks

Tame Impala is playing Toyota Center (Basketball arena) in Houston next summer.

― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, December 9, 2019 10:47 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

headlining coachella

Every Eminem album is massive and just not a critical event at all. Obviously he's not MORE popular than when he was at his peak but he's still the best selling artist on the century despite having been officially past his best for most of it.

Bloc Party are still reliably filling up decent sized venues 15 years after their moment of peak buzz and at least a decade since any real hype dissipated.

the best selling artist on the century

waht? is this really true?

yes

that's bizarre. I assume some of that is because he was still releasing huge albums pre-streaming era...

ah I see. Yeah his leader status is all because of his 2000 and 2002 albums.

hell, even during the download era (2009-2013) he was doing phenomenal numbers comparatively

sure. but it's also obvious that Adele will overtake him when her next album comes out.

When you raised the question, I had to look up the sales totals of Adele's three albums.

Just found out that at the end of the month Greta Van Fleet is headlining Toyota Center in Houston, a venue that recently hosted/will host Springsteen, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Bad Bunny, and Paramore.

lead singer came out last month, was talked about a bit

That alone doesn't get you into touring basketball arenas.

Like, Paramore is a way more popular band, and even they are having some issues filling up that place.

GVF has that big boomer dollar

GVF has a bafflingly huge fanbase somehow.

Joe Bonamassa fans ready to step up to something a bit more fresh and exciting.

Tame Impala is playing Toyota Center (Basketball arena) in Houston next summer.

― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, December 9, 2019 4:47 PM (three years ago) bookmarkflaglink

This show didn't happen for obvious reasons, and when they did return to Houston in '21, they played The Lawn At White Oak Music Hall, the same place they played at here in 2019.