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

I was really into the dot-com era cyberbiz band, SEO Speedwagon

Do the Isley Brothers meet the thread’s premise? Some days I think they’re the best band ever.

REO Sweedwagon had at least two substantial hits in Aus ("Keep On Loving You", "Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore") though I could easily believe that folks under 30 could have escaped hearing them before a recent TV advert that makes use of the latter for "LOL '80s" vibes. There doesn't seem to be any popular radio format here to accommodate them or Journey in the 21st century.

Do the Isley Brothers meet the thread’s premise? Some days I think they’re the best band ever.

Elijah Wald's How the Beatles Destroyed Rock n Roll is good for a lot of these.

― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r)

Speaking of which: I thought Mylo was going to have a big career based on his 2004 Destroy Rock 'n Roll debut album, quid non.

BST arrangement of "Symphony for the Devil/Sympathy for the Devil" kind of cool and uses a 12-tone row in the intro.

― No language just sound (Sund4r)

"kind of cool" not a phrase I've heard used to describe the BST "Sympathy for the Devil" before... mind you probably still a patch on Louis Prima's "Symphony for the Devil" where there's all this moog and Jesus Christ Superstar and fucking hell Louis what are you even _doing_

I occasionally check out a message board largely populated by millennials, I've given up potsing there because it's far too depressing but the other day there was a thread on favorite horn rock. The first five posts all mentioned Chicago independently. Nobody seemed to have mentioned Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

Anyway it's all nonsense, everyone knows the _real_ best horn rock record is Flamengo's "Kuře v hodinkách", I can't imagine _why_ the canonical history books ignore it...

Chicago had really effective branding i guess, and very good cover art.

_Elijah Wald's How the Beatles Destroyed Rock n Roll is good for a lot of these.

― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r)_


Speaking of which: I thought Mylo was going to have a big career based on his 2004 Destroy Rock 'n Roll debut album, quid non.

I inherited my grandpa's music collection several years ago, and he seemed to have gone through a horn rock phase - he had a bunch of stuff from the late 60s/early 70s that looked like it could be some kind of cool psych band but a lot of it was horn rock. Some of it was cool psych bands tbf, but not a lot. So I own a 2xLP of Blood, Sweat & Tears 1st and 3rd LPs. why they packaged them up like that and omitted the 2nd LP I'm not sure. tbh I am not a fan.

one hell of a cover for their last album

https://img.discogs.com/kXyY47z-ClGv31kTFiGvjsAyiME=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1679289-1391201203-5175.jpeg.jpg

Fwiw Journey's career arc into the 80s is discussed in Covach, with a picture of the band. I've been hearing them p much my whole life, although I feel like "Lights" and "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" got as much as play as "Don't Stop Believin'" (still, a top 10 on initial release in the US, Canada, and Ireland) when I was younger. I remember driving across upstate NY in the late 00s and hearing that song 10 times on different radio stations (I counted) during the one drive. Covach actually gives close musical analyses of Boston's "More Than a Feeling" and Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time". I can think of eight Foreigner songs that I hear on US/Canadian classic rock stations ("Feels...", "Cold As Ice", "Hot Blooded", "Double Vision", "Urgent", "Jukebox Hero", "Dirty White Boy", "Head Games").

So I own a 2xLP of Blood, Sweat & Tears 1st and 3rd LPs. why they packaged them up like that and omitted the 2nd LP I'm not sure. tbh I am not a fan.

The second one was still a pretty big seller on its own. Columbia/Epic did a ton of those twofers as budget releases in the 70s, bundling together slower-selling catalogue titles on big artists.

I think in the US there was a resurgence of interest in Don't Stop Believin' in 2007 because it was prominently featured in the final scene of The Sopranos

I feel like it was building up by then? I know I bought Escape in 01 largely on the strength of that song, which already seemed like the main Journey song on the radio. Scrubs did an episode built around that song ("My Journey") in 03.

a bunch of stuff from the late 60s/early 70s that looked like it could be some kind of cool psych band but a lot of it was horn rock.

The crate-digger's bane

The first few Chicago records are pretty good. I got the first three on vinyl years ago for like $5 bucks. I've loved listening to Danny Seraphine's drumming on "Make Me Smile" and "25 to 6 to 4" since I was a kid, the drum fills on those tunes are awesome. The tunes where Terry Kath is the lead singer and has more guitar are usually the best ones.

for those interested in the resurgence of "Don't Stop Believin'" see:

rolling "why is this old song suddenly on a digital sales chart" thread

songs that weren't a bands biggest hit, but have gone on to be their legacy song and biggest iTunes seller

Tunes that became hits only long after they were first released - and why

^haha, thanks — I read Dan S’s post, and was like, “noooooo... not again”

lol sorry! I didn't realize

I occasionally check out a message board largely populated by millennials, I've given up potsing there because it's far too depressing but the other day there was a thread on favorite horn rock. The first five posts all mentioned Chicago independently. Nobody seemed to have mentioned Blood, Sweat, and Tears.

I saw one very sad mimed tv performance (Solid Gold maybe?) In 86 or 87, in which the horn players were all there on stage but there was no horn part in the song. They were each standing in front of a Yamaha DX7 and pretending to play it.

And it was a ridiculously small circular riser as well, so they were like crowded inside a weird triankle of non-plugged-in keyboards. I was sad for them in that moment.

I was imagining all the horn players huddled around a single DX7 like a trash-barrel fire.

Oops, I should have been clearer. The three of them sharing one DX7 would also have been embarrassing, but in a different way.

"Hey Pankow, stay outta my octave!"

"Fuck you, Walter."

I saw a Chicago/REO Speedwagon double bill with my mother last year. My mother and father attended the Carnegie Hall show that was released as a live album in the 70s. She's a lifer.

Also they were playing the entirety of Chicago II, and half the fans didn't seem to know this as it wasn't heavily publicized. The REO heavy crowd looked confused the whole night as they were expecting the 70s soft rock hits and the 80s power ballads, which came much later in the set.

So it was a steady stream of people headed towards the exits the entire show. My mom got visibly angry and basically kept muttering that they were poser Chicago fans the entire show.

"Question 67 and 68 - You call yourself Chicago fans? Why did you even fuckin show up?"

Wow.

Lol, Tarfumes.

So it was a steady stream of people headed towards the exits the entire show

The band should have admonished them as follows: if you leave us now, you'll take away the biggest part of me. Oooooooh baby please don't go. How can we end it all this way?

Lol otm

Ooh, ooh, I thought of another one. War! The band War. The World is a Ghetto topped the US chart in 1973 and was apparently the best-selling album of the year in that country, and they had a string of gold records. I've always had the impression they were a big thing at the time but in the UK they were a speck, even including the early version with Eric Burdon. The only song I remember hearing in the media was "Low Rider" and probably only in a commercial.

I've always loved the way on the original version of "Spill the Wine" Eric Burdon almost sings the first line, but then immediately gives up and just speaks the rest of the lyrics, as if he decided that he couldn't be bothered:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i0DMbCKnAg

In the US, I still hear a couple of War songs fairly regularly on oldies stations (mostly "Low Rider," but also "Why Can't We Be Friends," and once "The World Is A Ghetto"). And on two occasions within the last year or so, I've heard "Cisco Kid" in the supermarket.

War is amazing and their songs have been used in TV and movies *a lot*

Looks like some lineup shenanigans happening with War, too: the only original member in the current lineup is keyboardist/vocalist Lonnie Jordan, while four other original members tour under the name The Lowrider Band.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0911271/#soundtrack

I think any critical discussion of west coast funk would include them

checks out https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0109912/soundtrack

"Slippin' Into Darkness" gets play too. Especially in Vietnam/Watergate docs

Killing Joke...

https://www.you.tube.com/watch?v=HSeXkoakaLI

... were certainly familiar with War...

https://www.you.tube.com/watch?v=Oa-87PfFT4A

'Spill the Wine' memorably used in the pool scene in 'Boogie Nights'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-vmdBKX40I

"Low Rider" is in Friday and Dazed and Confused ("Why Can't We Be Friends" also in the latter), "Pass That Dutch" is in Mean Girls, "Cisco Kid" and "Me and Baby Brother" in the Wire, etc etc

also really heavily sampled and referenced in rap up to the present

problem with the metric is obv if Ashley doesn’t know War’s music, then even if they watch The Wire and Friday they’re not gonna come away going “heard War in another movie/TV show!”

the point is they are not culturally forgotten, as their music is still in circulation in very popular media. I don't think their critically neglected either but I don't have textbooks handy.

(this is a very hard band to search for info about)

don't think their critically neglected either

yeah the entire thread premise is flawed by the lack of a defined canon really, we should pivot to establishing this first

(salute to sund4r’s valiant efforts in this regard already)

well they've never been reviewed by Pfork lol

Never realised War were such a deal in the States, in the UK they're completely unknown really

Hmmm, three Top 30 singles, "Low Rider" got to #12.

Mostly unknown then (i.e. I don't know them)

Never realised War were such a deal in the States, in the UK they're completely unknown really

― Cornelius Fondue (Matt #2), Monday, November 4, 2019 2:16 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

I feel like they're mostly a west coast phenomenon? My parents and their friends all (rightfully) LOVE them.

In AZ you could an outdoor party and put on War or Santana and the neighbors wouldn’t call the cops