Greta Van Fleet...Anyone?

Just listened for their LP for a third time.
It is really good. I still do not understand all the hate.

 

Manufactured? Hardly. They've been playing together since they were 13 - 14 years old and slugging away in Frankenmuth.

That a record industry exec with a long resume took interest in them is hardly their fault. Sheesh.

 

Didn't last? They've been putting out albums and successfully touring since the 80's.

 

So I knew next to nothing about them before seeing them last night.

In context, their performance was actually in line with the show. The show was awful and they fit right in.

I am sure they have had better performances, and presumably sound better on record, but this band has next to zero going for it that I could see. The songs they performed were not only uninteresting but they lack the musical skills to make a lot out of a little, so they just had practically nothing on offer. Their stage presence seemed genuine. More power to them on that front.

Someone mentioned it would be cool if this band helps more young people get into Led Zeppelin, but if I was a young man discovering the world of music, saw this band and someone told me they were like Led Zeppelin, I would definitely not seek out music by Led Zeppelin.

 

Non sequitur. Bands are manufactured once they sign with a management and a record company. How long it took them to get to that point is not relevant.

I remember "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Wildflower" at the time of release. Great riff songs by a band everyone had last heard of as a minor league goth outfit, now making a shameless retro play, half-convincingly. Then nobody ever heard of them again after "Electric". I'm sure they have their gaggle of dedicated fans who have turned out ever since to hear their oldies jukebox tours but as far as making an impact, they are long spent.

 

Wrong.

 

Wrong again. Never mind the fact they had their biggest hit album AFTER Electric...

 

And nothing since. QED.

 

Wrong. Their last LP was well-received and selected as one of the Top 50 in 2016 by Mojo. Album before that hit #1 in the UK too. And...

...never mind.

Feel free to keep moving those goal posts...

 

#1? Wikipedia has it no higher than #20. #153 in the USA. Greta Van Fleet are already more successful than that. You are making my point for me, you know.

 

Please read what I wrote again and get back to me...

Again, here's what you wrote:

"Then nobody ever heard of them again after "Electric."

I'm bored arguing facts.

 

Utter nonsense.

Their next two albums went platinum and they were headlining arenas. Singles from the albums were all over the radio and MTV.

 

Allow me to correct my colossal misapprehension.

Then nobody heard of them again after "The Cult" (1994), except a few dedicated fans, and their mothers.

 

Why did the Cult have to be taken down in this mess?

 

Yes, The Cult were excellent, and I don't think their story or trajectory is particularly relevant or instructive RE Greta Van Fleet. The Cult evolved through a few different stylistic phases, and they didn't go full-on hard rock until Electric and Sonic Temple - and at that point I don't know that I'd say they were anywhere close to a direct Zep clone, although on those albums they did often sound pretty much like a mashup of Zep plus some other hard-rock bands (AC/DC comes to mind - the main riff of "Love Removal Machine" sounds like it could've come straight out of Angus Young's amp). My understanding at the time was that their move into full-on hard-rock mode for Electric was something facilitated by their producer, and so partially "manufactured," but the band itself was never a manufactured act.

Personally my favorite Cult album is right before that phase - Love. To my ears that album is quite distinctive, fusing '70s hard rock with '80s synth influences and production style in a way that tilts alternative and post-punk, instead of the more common hair-metal direction that a lot of '80s hard rock went in. Along with Living Colour, The Cult are one of the few '80s hard-rock acts I ever listen to.

And while I do like Greta Van Fleet, I'd put The Cult's Love head and shoulders above anything GVF has done, precisely because it's more original and combines more disparate elements in a unique (or at least uncommon) way.

 

The Cult still sound great (Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy) I saw them live recently.

 

Who are GVF's core fanbase? Is it fans of classic rock (45+yr old ) fans or is it of the current younger generation. Just curious? I find it hard to see this band attracting the younger generation market which will probably mean that they won't last long anyways.

 

It's a mix:

greta van fleet fans - Google Search :

 

This is not a thread crap.

I think the SNL performance is the top of the arc of their career.

I can't see this band going much further based on what I have heard.

 

Just making it up as you go now...

 

Cameltoe much?

 

I think the 70 show/date world tour they are currently on would be the top of their career arc, at least for now.

 

You can fill pages with names of once promising and then falling to earth bands. Way more then long-tenured acts.
And reasons for that rarely related to musicians abilities and more to sudden fame, drugs, internal fighting, wrong direction choices, etc, etc.
No one is immune, and who knows what future will bring to GvF. I for example cannot predict the future, I can only appreciate what we have now.

 

The Cult are LZ imitators??

 

I don't like GVF because they're pretentious 'too cool for school' types. The bass player's bare feet and singer's sandals in one vid put me right off, and they're all too young for me like a rock-themed boy band.