Artists That Suffered From Van Gogh Syndrome

That’s a real stretch. Especially in Billy Joel’s case.

 

The Trashmen? The “Surfin’ Bird” guys? Cool tune, but “knocking on the door of the HoF?” Maybe it’s just me, but I know nothing else about them. Can’t say I ever see or read much (anything) about them either. I will have to check some more of their stuff out.

Definitely right about The Monkees (And they DEFINITELY should be in the HoF). But, as far as keeping Rhino in business goes I’d say the Grateful Dead are doing more than their share of that. Probably more than The Monkees these days.

 

Big Star and the Monkees aren't as canonized elsewhere as by certain elements on this forum.

 

Maybe he means physically, to get in from the elements or something.

 

It wasn't even the critical failure it's made out to be. It got that one really negative review in Rolling Stone, but it also received positive reviews in major publications. There was no critical consensus on it at the time.

 

I was too young when it came out to know for sure but I've always heard it was not a critical favorite. Maybe I'm completely off base. I sure have been before.

 

Had they made it to the United States things would have been different. They were already getting popular in England and a U.S. tour would have broken them here. Not gigantic mind you, but certainly very popular and able to fill medium size halls.

 

Oddly, Drake is one of my all-time favorites, but when I saw this thread, I instead thought first about intrepid insurance salesman Charles Ives...and all those innovative compositions he just stuck in his desk drawer...

 

There seems to be this myth that Queen weren't successful in the US. They were very successful through 1980 or so.

Yes, they were bigger in other parts of the world, but they were still very big in the US.

And they make no sense at all for this thread...

 

Definitely.

 

Big Star were canonized from the 70's. Not in unit shifting terms, but they were one of those bands that people in the know always mentioned and pushed. There was a reason why Alex Chilton could pack clubs in NYC in 1975.
The Monkees have always been popular with a certain segment of the music collecting audience. Again this would be from the 70's, when power pop became a thing and the Monkees were seen as part of that.
Mags like Trouser Press, Who Put The Bomp and The Rock Marketplace were on those bands from the start.
So, not just here, and not just now.

 

Perhaps not, but when people like Tom Petty (RIP), Costello, Little Steven — and all the folks who collaborated on the last couple of Monkees albums — are taken into account, I think the people still trying to dismiss/deny them can finally stop. Not to mention their unlike renaissance(s) decades after their initial run says it all.

As for Big Star, I am not nearly as familiar with them but their acclaim and influence has been well noted elsewhere. One of their songs was the theme of a popular sitcom that ran for several years, and another well-regarded band (from the 80’s) wrote a song about Alex Chilton as well.

 

The Ramones are weird because they were that close to "breaking through" for most of their career and just couldn't do it for whatever reason. You'd think the early 90s with grunge and punk revivals going on would've been their time to shine. Or even in the 80's when they could've fit into the more hardcore kind of scene. Sucks they never fully got what was due them.

 

If only I could understand why they've been canonised.

 

Queen’s popularity in the U.S. was substantial up into the early-mid 80s, but it definitely took a dive after after that (Backlash towards the video for “I Want to Break Free”? It’s one thing I’ve read over the years). They stayed popular throughout much of the rest of the world though.

I don’t think they ever toured/played the States again after The Works was released? Never had another Top 40 hit single in the States after “Radio GaGa” either, not couting the “Bohemian Rhapsody” reissue after Wayne’s World of course.

A case can be made for them in this thread in that their popularity rose again after Freddie’s death, in large part thanks to Wayne’s World. And now, of course thanks to the Bohemian Rhapsody film (Regardless of the movie’s actual merits).

 

You're wrong and they do. Talk to any American on the street circa 1988 and ask them if they think Queen will rival the Beatles in sustained popularity in 30 years. You'd get laughed at, or even "who's Queen?"

 

As a teenager in 1988 I can tell you everyone I knew was at least a casual fan of Queen. They were played on the rock stations here in Cincinnati all the time. They were plenty popular in the US in the late 80s at least where I lived.

 

I don't see the Ramones as a band that ever would've reached a mass US audience.

Given they're in the Rock Hall and viewed as one of the all-time great bands, I think they got their due...

 

Are younger people under the impression that nobody knew The Ramones while they were active?

 

Fair enough - they got their due, but way too late. They deserved success during their active years.


I don't see them as a band that would reach mass US audience either, but for a while there around 1978-1980 it seems like things were on the verge of breaking open and then by Pleasant Dreams in 81 it's like it just....stopped. I think they could've achieved mainstream success in the early 90's though.

 

The thread is about musical artists who were ignored in their day and didn't earn their place in the "rock pantheon" until they were long gone.

Acts with multiple top 5 albums and singles in the US don't count.

And no one in the US over the age of 12 would've said "who's Queen?" in 1988.

They're not even a remote fit for this thread. They were enormously successful in their day, not some ignored band that toiled in obscurity until fans noticed them years later...

 

I concur. As OP I would never ever had considered Queen as a fit for this thread.

 

You got that right. Seeing them around that time you couldn't help but think they were ready for bigger things. That it never happened is just one of those musical disappointments that happen a lot.

 

Well, I'm only 23 and in my 10 years of being a fan and all the things i've seen and read, I can only come to the conclusion on my end that they were a band people obviously knew, but they weren't as successful as they could''ve/should've been. They are oddly under-and-over the radar at the same time. Pop culture is totally on board but your average suburban housewife that knows Stairway To Heaven and Tom Sawyer probably has no idea about the Ramones.

That's kinda where I'm coming from, at least. That's just the way it seems to me. Now also, it might be different in different areas. I grew up in the deep south not New York City or Chicago, so who knows ya know?

 

People seem to have stretched this thread from "bands ignored in their day" to "bands who might possibly be a little better known after they ended".

Ramones never achieved commercial success in the US, but they unquestionably were "known". Crud, they were even used as the focal point of "Rock 'n' Roll High School"!