Bands/Artists who were huge and now mostly forgotten

I hope that Neil Schon has a portrait of David Chase hanging in his home, and that he thanks it at least five times per day.

 

Ragtime music, as exemplified be Scott Joplin, was ubiquitous in the USA from the late 1890’s through the first decade of the 20th century, faded gradually through the teens, and became virtually forgotten in the jazz age. Mini-revivals came and went at various times in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. It’s biggest revival peaked in the early 70’s when Marvin Hamlisch’s performances of the Joplin compositions “The Entertainer” and “Solace” became radio hits after being featured in the academy-award-winning movie “The Sting”.

 

Lol pussywillows was blocked...song title idiots....

 

sinatra...nuff said.

 

I know a lot of people are mentioning Grand Funk Railroad. I find it bizarre that they played the homecoming concert while I was in college. This was in 2012.

 

Especially since everyone, including Steve Van Zandt, was telling him (Chase) "No. Please God no. Not that song".

 

Agree that Time Out is a touchstone (and a great album), but I wonder how many people under 40 are getting into jazz at all? Not to be morose.

I could listen to Paul Desmond play “Popeye The Sailor Man” for hours on end, but I’m possibly odd.

 

And after ragtime, one of the most popular styles, for nearly 15 years, was “Hawaiian” music of varying degrees of authenticity.

 

a lot of jazz guys who sold quite a few records in the 60's : ramsey lewis, ahmad jamal are pretty much forgotten, only the really big names (Monk, Coltrane etc...) are really remembered

 

I’m more of a casual listener, but I do like jazz. And have at least four friends who are more invested than I, some of whom are younger (teens). Playing an instrument or having some interest in composition does help.

 

Tiny Tim..

 

Maybe they have a lot of fans in Iowa?

 

To bring up a cartoon again, he’s immortalized for all time by a song appearing in the pilot of Spongebob Squarepants.
More than most “novelty acts”, at least.

 

I socialize regularly with a group of about 50 friends and relatives ages 30 to 45. None of them know the Kinks, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Yes, Jethro Tull, Yardbirds, Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Traffic, Cream, Blind Faith, Mott the Hoople, T Rex—those are just a few of the artists who I have actually tried to discuss with them. I am sure there are many more. Basically, any artists from before 1990 are not really known to them. If an earlier artist did something after 1990 or was referenced in pop culture after 1990, they may know the name of the artist but not their music.

They are very nice people. An example—when I mentioned Jimi Hendrix, one of the fifty knew enough to ask “was he that black guy?” No one else literally had any idea who he was.

 

The Dave Clark 5 and Herman's Hermits might count - they rivalled the Beatles in the mid-'60s and racked up a bunch of hits, but are unknown to most people under 50.

 

Go earlier than 1960, and it's mostly ghosts.

When I was around 12 & 13 (mid 1970s) I was a fan of 1920s dance bands, and today I can recall only a tiny fraction of the bandleaders and musicians of that era, and I bet these names will mean nothing to 99% of readers on this board, let alone the average person.

Irving Aaronson
Jean Goldkette
Paul Whiteman
Bix Beiderbecke

 

Ace of Base - huge sellers for a year or so. They're (fortunately) forgotten now.

Three Dog Night - crazy success in the early 70s but, other than "Joy to the World", mostly gone.

Perry Como - one of the best-selling recording artists ever, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who can name a single song of his, these days.

Air Supply - they were huge in the early 80s. Good riddance.

 

That is completely insane to me. They seem extremely sheltered, or at the very least completely disinterested at attaining any sort of musical or pop culture knowledge, and I honestly think most people under 30 who’ve had access to the internet their whole lives and know how to use it (minus those whose exclusive interest is in modern pop, hip-hop, and EDM) would be more knowledgeable. Casual music listeners, at best. We call them “normies”

 

Tiffany

 

The first LP of Joplin's rags by Joshua Rifkin was the biggest seller of all time for Nonesuch Records, and was issued in 1970, before The Sting (1973). I suspect it influenced Hamlisch, and I'm sure it got an enormous boost from The Sting. I had it and played it constantly.

 

Billy Squire

Molly Hatchet

 

Soul Asylum

 

They are intense music fans. They know a great deal about rap from its beginnings to now, and pop music from 2000 to 2018, down to very obscure artists and deep cuts. They view the rock music of the 1970s the way I view pop hits of the 1910-1920 decade.

They are not sheltered at all. Most of them grew up in tough urban ghetto areas.

 

30- 45 year olds and not one who ever heard of Black Sabbath led zeppelin or Hendrix? did they not grow up with tvs or radios? theres no way they don't know those names and have a general idea (maybe not familiar with the music)

 

They know a tremendous amount about rap, from its origins to now. They talk about “going way back, going old school” and to them that means the early 1990s. They were 14 years old in 1987-2002. Many of them did not have a older rock music library in their homes when they grew up.

Not everyone in the United States has the same background as the people on this board.

When I talk about 1970s rock, they look at me like I am from another world—who is this senior citizen with his weird old stuff? Then they get back to comparing lists of their top 50 rap artists of the 1990s.