20 Grammy winners whose careers fizzled

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by ralph7109, Jan 14, 2019.

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  1. Timmy84

    Timmy84 Forum Resident

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    North Carolina
    Very interesting. :)
     
  2. SJB

    SJB Beloved Parasitic Nuisance

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Galley

    Galley Forum Resident

    I saw them this summer. They still draw a crowd, but they were the opening act for Lindsey Stirling. The odd part was Lindsey playing vintage video of her as an Evanescence fan girl, and now they are opening for her!
     
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  4. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    The country success in the early 1980s for Debby Boone resulted in a #1 with Are You On The Road To Lovin' Me Again in 1980.
     
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  5. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    John Denver did continue to have some success on country and Adult Contemporary radio in the 80s.
     
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  6. Timmy84

    Timmy84 Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Well John Denver is a legend by now lol

    Of course he would. :)
     
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  7. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    We've explored that subject previously - IIRC, there's an entire thread devoted to the reasons for Cross's career decline.

    No one can ever prove anything either way, but I don't think video killed the radio star.

    For one, Cross still had hits in 1983, which was firmly "the music video era". His star didn't plummet as soon as MTV hit the air in 1981.

    Also, there are plenty of average-to-unattractive looking musicians who prospered in the "music video era".

    Being ugly wasn't the issue as long as you had good videos. Were Ric Ocasek and the ZZ Top guys less attractive than CC? Nope, but they prospered in the video realm.

    Some people are super-successful for a while and then fizzle simply because audiences no longer find themselves interested in the music.

    That's what I think happened to CC, not that his semi-unattractive mug turned off buyers...
     
  8. Timmy84

    Timmy84 Forum Resident

    Location:
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    Well beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :) Those guys like Christopher and Ric weren't ugly, they just weren't conventionally beautiful. And that's not me being PC. LOL :)
     
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  9. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

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    He did...kinda. "All Right" hit because anything with Michael McDonald's voice on it was going to hit in 1983. It was also hot on the heels of his debut album and the Oscar-winning "Arthur" theme. "Think of Laura" hit because of "General Hospital". It was tied to the biggest romance in daytime television at that point The album was actually dying until then. Promo like that which the #1 soap opera in the country was offering got him that hit. It wouldn't have happened otherwise.[/quote]

    Cross was nothing like either Ocasek or ZZ Top. He didn't have a "look" or a "vibe". Both of those entities did. He was just an average-looking guy who wrote melodic pop/rock music. That likely has a lot to do with why he didn't last.

    Ed
     
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  10. Hadean75

    Hadean75 Forum Moonlighter

    I saw that article yesterday and was absolutely floored when I saw the Bee Gees listed and what they wrote about them. I can only guess that the writer of the article is only familiar with their SNF-period given how many albums and hits the Bee Gees had previously between 1965-1976, plus all their post-SNF work and albums. :rolleyes:
     
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  11. Hadean75

    Hadean75 Forum Moonlighter

    Agreed!
     
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  12. cgw

    cgw Forum Resident

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    Upstate NY
    Coincidentally I just saw this morning that Boone will be appearing at a casino near me. (I won't be going.)
     
  13. Jerquee

    Jerquee Take this, brother, may it serve you well.

    Location:
    New York
    I just can't muster the will to click through 'slideshows' in 2019.
     
  14. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member

    They always pick the same targets, but what about Starland Vocal Band? Sheena Easton? Jody Watley? Hootie & The Blowfish? Shelby Lynne? (And I am a fan of Sheena, Jody and Shelby, but I'm just sayin'!)
     
  15. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    Yes, she still occasionally records and tours as well.
     
  16. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    On the other hand, Cross's style of music didn't require him to have a "look" or a "vibe".

    That's the other reason I'm reluctant to blame MTV for his commercial decline: his music appealed to an audience that didn't watch videos anyway.

    Cross was for the moms and the grannies, not the teens who watched videos.

    Like I said previously, many careers decline commercially just because people aren't interested in the music any more. There doesn't need to be some bogeyman that harpooned Cross's sales - look at how many "videogenic" fizzled after a short period of success!
     
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  17. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Here's what Cross himself has to say about the whole thing:

    "Ride Like the Wind" wasn't for Granny at all (turns out he'd done acid before writing the lyric) and Cross didn't start out that way. Of course, I get what you're saying and it makes sense to me. I mean Hall & Oates didn't really love them either but they adapted and look what happened. 'Course, they also had the tunes to back the whole thing up. Cross simply didn't over the long haul (to your point).

    Ed
     
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  18. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    She was also not prolific enough nor did she care enough to play the fame game.
     
  19. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Sounds like CC likes to blame his ordinary looks on his commercial decline. I can't blame him - it's easier to blame external factors rather than "I didn't make music people wanted to hear"...



    I'm a bad judge of whether he "had the tunes", as CC wasn't - and isn't - my cuppa.

    Stylistically, I see no reason he couldn't have adapted to changing times, as other middle of the road artists like Chicago rolled with the punches.

    So I guess he didn't "have the tunes" - at least not the ones people wanted to hear.

    Like I said, artists fade from commercial relevance all the time, even when they do have the tunes. Look at Crowded House - the 2nd album is arguably better than the debut but it flopped.

    And they made good music videos! :D
     
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  20. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
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    If she wanted to strike while the iron was hot, Paula probably should've taken less than 3 years for a follow-up to "This Fire".

    That said, "This Fire" had long legs, as "I Don't Want to Wait" wasn't even released as a single until the album had been out for a year.

    So "TF" may be a 1996 album, but her commercial peak was late 1997/early 1998, so that makes the "wait" for "Amen" seem less extended...
     
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  21. gotblues

    gotblues Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    This "article" is so lazy it can't rouse itself to bother to be worth a damn. Quite a few cheap shots, too.
     
  22. MarcS

    MarcS Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    They forgot these guys; they won a grammy for a soundtrack album in 1971 and didn't release another new song for almost 25 years:
     
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  23. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    It's the 8 years before her next album that shows she wasn't interested in being in the spotlight.
     
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  24. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    This seems to be written from a very American perspective.
     
  25. pghmusiclover

    pghmusiclover Senior Member

    The Grammys are American, so why wouldn't the perspective be American?
     
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