Bands/Artists who were huge and now mostly forgotten

Just thinking about the bands everyone seemed to be listening to back when I was in high school (New York, late 70s) and how they're remembered by today's music world (by all listeners, young and old).

Basically, I can break it down into 3 categories:

* Artists who were big back then and are still beloved (Bowie, Stones, Beatles, The Who, Elton John, Queen, etc.)

* Artists only some us knew but are now beloved (Ramones, Velvet Underground, Runaways, etc.)

and the one that fascinates me -- good artists that were HUGE but now mostly forgotten (especially among young fans). It fascinates me because I wonder if there's some formula that provides for longevity, and these guys just didn't have it:

• J Giels Band -- Great band and *everyone* had their records. Lots of hit records and radio play in NY. They were an arena band once. Now they're a pleasant but faded memory

• Average White Band -- There was a time when you couldn't go to a party without their S/T record getting played.

• Peter Frampton -- For about 3 weeks, Frampton Comes Alive was the single favorite record of everyone I knew

• Supertramp - It's hard to imagine that they ever played arenas in the States, but they did. And I saw them. Madison Sq Garden on the Breakfast in America tour. Great stuff.

• Grand Funk Railroad - Forget arenas. These guys played STADIUMS. For a little while, at least.

Who else fits this mold?

 

Spin Doctors.

 

I would add The Alan Parsons Project to this list. In the late 70s to mid 80s they were all over the radio. I bet it's been 10 or more years that I've heard them on the radio.

 

Quiet Riot would fit, wouldn't they? They were HUGE for about a year, first heavy metal record to go to number one, and now they are seen as second tier at best

 

Yeah, Blues Traveler, too.

Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors both got their start in a tiny bar on the east side of NY. I forget its name. So, there are three bands playing this little s*hole rotating through the week. Spin Doctors, Blues Traveler and The Worms.

My buddy latches on the 3rd band and falls in love with the Worms. Drags us to see them. Thinks they're gonna be huge. Not so much.

To this day I give him a hard time for missing a 66.6% chance of getting hipped on a big band by going to this bar, and he falls for the one that goes nowhere.

 

Yes, great call. They were a big deal, especially with the prog folks. And there were actually quite a lot of those. More than we punks.

 

I'm 21 and I'm familiar with multiple songs by every single one except the Average White Band, and none are really in the niche of classic rock I'm fond of. There's got to be some more obscure examples.

Know these guys too! But probably mostly owing to the Pocket Full of Kryptonite CD being buried in my dad's car disc binder and having listened to it a few times in childhood.

"Sirius" gets used in movies and commercials A LOT. And there's that hilarious Austin Powers joke.

 

Jethro Tull. People know them now, but they're not really that big a factor these days. Back then, they were also playing arenas.

 

Yeah, but you're clearly someone who pays more attention to older music than most of your peers. You probably wouldn't be hanging out here if you didn't!

Also, ask anyone under the age of forty to name a Grand Funk Railroad song besides "American Band". that's what I'm talking about....

 

Christopher Cross. He was everywhere for about 2 years then that was it. Completely disappeared. Even from the radio. At least none of the 80s stations around me play him.

 

My buddy, who I otherwise have great respect for musically, freaking loves Christopher Cross. Cross is coming to some theater near here and the guy is excited as if it were Dylan.

 

Basically a one-album wonder. I don't think you could call them huge.

 

I don’t listen to much radio or many of the streaming services... But I’ve long had a hunch that the Steve Miller Band has fallen mostly off the radar. In the 80’s and early 90’s, their Greatest Hits was pretty much unavoidable, but I bet most 20-somethings aren’t that aware of them these days.

I reiterate my theory, made in other past threads, that Eric Clapton’s reputation has declined considerably over the past 20 years. Over time, the tastes of younger audiences have moved farther & farther away from most of what Clapton embodies.

 

Blue Oyster Cult. Growing up in the 70s they were huge. Nowadays to anyone under the age of 30, if they know of them it's because of the "More Cowbell!" sketch instead of their music.

 

The biggest drop off in popularity would have to be Bing Crosby.

 

Good calls on both points. Fly Like an Eagle was a massive album. Ubiquitous at one point. And I think Clapton is one of those guys who loses favor over time because so many similar have come in his wake that it's hard to appreciate how unique he was at the time. Only the musicians who absolutely couldn't be copied -- Hendrix, Davis, Coltrane, I'd argue John Bonham etc. -- maintain their status over the decades.

 

Yep. And they're a band that someday will be rediscovered, I think. For young fans of bands like King Gizzard or QOTSA, there's plenty in the BOC catalog to make them really happy.

 

Anyone who’s spent more than a couple of minutes listening to classic rock radio is well familiar with “Fly Like An Eagle”, “The Joker”, and “Take the Money and Run”, and anyone who pays any attention whatsoever to rock music would be able to identify them as something they’ve heard before. The pedistrian name of the group probably has prevented them from being seen as more than a singles band though.
And I do think you’re right about Clapton, those who play guitar will know of him but in general blues rock has fallen out of favor with us youths. Except The Stones, they’ll always be cool.

 

I would have to say the Beatles. A pop combo from Liverpool England who had quite a measure of success in the 60s but now rarely get a mention around these parts.

 

Jefferson Airplane fits this bill too. They were huge in the late 60’s, but I guess you had to be there, man. I can’t imagine they have much of a following under age 50. They’ve become a two-hit wonder with younger audiences... if younger audiences are aware of them at all.

 

I wouldn't say they're forgotten, but bands like Styx and Boston and Kansas don't seem to have won over new generations of fans.

 

And yet... Journey endures.

 

Ok there was a time there, in the 90s - early 2000s anyway, when the kiddies were getting into Steve Miller.

 

No freaking kidding. Somewhere, the dudes from Kansas can only shake their fists at the sky.

 

It's that one song!