Which artists legacies have improved/worsened during the 2010s?

we've established that critical cache/coolness and commercial appeal are different things, but for fun here's some legacy acts and their monthly spotify listeners

Michael Jackson: 22.2mil
The Beatles: 20.2mil
Elton John: 20.1mil
Whitney Houston: 19.9mil
The Rolling Stones: 15.4mil
Fleetwood Mac: 14.9mil
Nirvana: 13.4mil
Stevie Wonder: 13.1mil
Led Zeppelin: 12.9mil
Eagles: 12.4mil
U2: 12.4mil
The Police: 12.4mil
Billy Joel: 12mil
Marvin Gaye: 12mil
Tom Petty (combined with Heartbreakers): 12mil
Pink Floyd: 11.2mil
REM: 8.5mil
Van Morrison: 8.4mil
ELO: 8mil
Bob Dylan: 7.9mil
Prince: 7.8mil (prob deflated by his stuff hitting tidal first)

oh and Queen: 32.9mil

meant to include Bowie too: 12.4mil

Queen: 900mil

oops, Queen were there

Police above Petty and Floyd is a big surprise, as I see t-shirts all the time for those two, and Police feel like they're in the same dwindling regard as REM.

Looking at that list, The Who clearly have clearly gone down. In the 80s they were a firm #3 or #4 in the classic rock canon, behind only the Beatles and Stones and possibly Led Zeppelin.

The Police are a weird one, I never hear anyone really talk about them and you don't hear any of their songs in revival stuff like Stranger Things. and yet that 2007 reunion was wildly successful, I went to one of those shows and was kinda floored at how many young people were there

on a similar note, Phil Collins? was a punching bag throughout my entire childhood but it seems it's okay to like him now

Has Kate Bush's status gone up in the past ten years, or is it around the same as it was circa 2009?

Seems like Neil has maintained steady levels of reverence - reliably dependable stock

Whitney Houston is definitely having a moment.

The Police are a weird one, I never hear anyone really talk about them and you don't hear any of their songs in revival stuff like Stranger Things.

Here’s an interesting recent citation:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/ariana-grande-thank-u-next-savan-kotecha-interview-791280/

That one came from: What would happen if Ari did a Police kind of melody? When I was coming up with the melody it was more that kind of thing, and a Police kind of guitar with a trap beat. What would that feel like?

Which Neil? Young?

Phil Collins: 11.6mil
The Who: 7.4mil
Neil Young: 5.2mil
Kate Bush: 1.6mil

those are very interesting Spotify counts, thanks

Has Kate Bush's status gone up in the past ten years, or is it around the same as it was circa 2009?

https://variety.com/2019/music/news/billie-eilish-kate-bush-1203260731/

Yeah sorry Neil Young- despite or because of wildly inconsistent (but frequent) output, he seems to be just as beloved as he ever has been

We need a token 17 year old for interrogative purposes.

And a token 27 year old with a really good memory?

My 14 year old niece loves Queen, Prince & Bowie but I suspect that her mother’s tastes may have played a role

Or even a token 25-year-old.

(sorry, xposts – the app screwed up my zinger)

Regarding The Police, Magic!, who had a transatlantic #1 in 2014 with "Rude", cited them as a huge influence.

2014 is some time ago though, and Magic! were a one hit wonder.

I feel like Prince's death def increased his cultural cache

nu metal has def been reassessed, in its cheesiest/commercial forms too not just "respectable" stuff like SOAD/Deftones ... gentrifier cafe was playing Limp Bizkit the other day ... "Butterfly" is a certain classic (maybe not metal-qualifying but visually). but the whole of commercial rock from the early 00s sounds better now than it did initially IMO, heard puddle of mudd in the gym & it jams, Korn are obv good etc

I think Sublime's critical profile has certainly risen to the extent that turgid crit lodestars like lana del rey are covering them

Prince's death also made his music more readily available.

I would say Nirvana's standing has gone up now that we're further from neo grunge movement

thanks, Lil Nas!

Speaking of Rocketman and Bohemian Rhapsody, and on a slightly different tangent, it seems like stocks in music biopics and films with pop-music-centred narratives have skyrocketed (A Star is Born, Yesterday). I thought that by the end of the last decade, Dewey Cox had had the final say in highlighting the stupidity of many music films and was a pretty perfect spoof.

But now it seems like music/film nerds and critics are actually taking these films seriously again. I haven't seen any of the recent ones so I can't comment on their quality or whether the tired tropes usually contained within them remain the same, but the trailers seem just as woeful as anything released in earlier years. What's behind them gaining more respectability? Are these movies actually good? Are they adding something of value and truth to the story of these artists' careers? Or are people desperate for comfort food in an otherwise remarkably depressing era?

Like, if that Runaways biopic with Kirsten Stewart and Dakota Fanning was announced in 2019, the internet would melt down. No one gave a shit in 2010.

Yeah Nirvana have gone up for sure. At least, some of my high school students are very into them. Feel they are like Stones level at this point

NIN/Reznor has to have gone up a bit given his soundtrack work combined with the very recent Black Mirror and Lil Nas X

But now it seems like music/film nerds and critics are actually taking these films seriously again

no.

the general public is flocking to them, but most critics/music nerds/film nerds aren't embracing them. (academy awards excepted, but then again they don't fit in with either of those three categories)

now it seems like music/film nerds and critics are actually taking these films seriously again.

no

Haha fair enough.

Looking at that list, The Who clearly have clearly gone down. In the 80s they were a firm #3 or #4 in the classic rock canon, behind only the Beatles and Stones and possibly Led Zeppelin.

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, July 10, 2019 10:43 AM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

The awful 1989 Who tour dealt a huge blow to their legacy, from which they've arguably never recovered. Every tour after that was, "how many 'reunion tours' are those guys gonna do?" Their late-'90s tours played to more than a few half-empty arenas in the US.

And then their songs were on every CSI show all the time, so people got sick of "that YYYYYEEAAAAAHH! song" pretty quickly.

re: mixtape rap mentioned upthread, I don't think it's just the rise in profile of Gucci but also a series of rappers from that era (Max B, Boosie, etc.) & also the way the streaming industry legitimized the popularity of that stuff by forcing Billboard to acknowledge what had been off the book streams on LiveMixtapes, DatPiff, etc

The Police are a weird one, I never hear anyone really talk about them and you don't hear any of their songs in revival stuff like Stranger Things.

I just watched season 2 Stranger Things finale and "Every Breath You Take" is the last song played

nu metal has def been reassessed, in its cheesiest/commercial forms too not just "respectable" stuff like SOAD/Deftones ... gentrifier cafe was playing Limp Bizkit the other day ... "Butterfly" is a certain classic (maybe not metal-qualifying but visually). but the whole of commercial rock from the early 00s sounds better now than it did initially IMO, heard puddle of mudd in the gym & it jams, Korn are obv good etc

idk man. "butterfly" def qualifies, i'll concede that (even though it approaches rap metal through an rhcp sample... for a song i hate with all of my heart it's v smart)

imo the peak cultural cachet for "butterfly" was its recurring appearance in the movie orange county

Feel like Fleetwood Mac's sacking of Buckingham is already causing a substantial tumble in their standing.

I never see people my age (41) wearing Nirvana shirts, but do see quite a few youngins wearing them.
But after asking a 22 yr old "Oh cool there's still Thrasher magazine and young people read it??" and getting a "huh? oh I just like the design of the shirt" response, I'm not sure if they even listen to Nirvana!

dunno if that's true but it took more than twenty years for people to stop their sexist yapping about Buckingham at the expense of Nicks + McVie.

re: nu-metal, again i guess it depends on whether you think this thread is assessing its critical or popular reputation. chocolate starfish is i assume still p radioactive for most critics (i'd love to write a retrospective piece about it lol) whereas people who grew up with it are... making music now, or at least own gentrifier cafes

The Who are one of those bands where their legacy didn't carry over to the next generation of listeners. Led Zeppelin, the Doors, the Beatles, the Stones, Pink Floyd...they've all picked up new listeners along the way to varying degrees. Not sure why that is but as someone who really grew up listening to classic rock The Who were the one huge band that i distinctly remember not appealing to me and i knew zero kids growing up who listened to them.

The Breeders' rep has improved to the point that i think a lot of ppl consider them superior to the Pixies

So-called 'extreme' metal is seemingly less prized now than it was in the mid to late 00s.

xp I certainly do (and did)

Not sure why that is but as someone who really grew up listening to classic rock The Who were the one huge band that i distinctly remember not appealing to me and i knew zero kids growing up who listened to them.

cosign

i think they're like a crusty uncle band and they're a bit too corny

The Breeders are better than the Pixies btw

I always thought so!

Fleetwood Mac probably only lost some critical standing...I've seen a number of pans or at least mixed reviews of the current tour. But those shows are still selling.