Artists that don't seem to have fanbases

[Justin_Bailey]

@shy guy

Off the top of my head - Crash Into Me, What Would You Say, Ants Marching, The Space Between, and Where Are You Going. DMB was all over the radio for the last half of the 90’s.

A few more big DMB hits off the top of my head: Everyday, Too Much, Crush and Stay (Wasting Time).

Wikipedia also has a few more of their hits: Grey Street, I Did It, Satellite and Tripping Billies (how could I forget Tripping Billies?)

Yeah, DMB is huge.

[Mahna_Mahna]

@eldowan

I don’t know of many people who like The Decemberists
I especially like the song “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”

Of course, they are rather obscure.

Obscure from a mainstream perspective, perhaps, but they’re well known in most indie circles (similar to the Belle & Sebastian example provided earlier).

Their last few shows in Toronto have all been packed to the rafters - as they should, considering they’re ridiculously fun from an audience perspective (if you like The Mariner’s Revenge Song, picture it with an audience singalong complete with moans and groans and wails of despair).

…and now I shall have Sons and Daughters stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Dagnabbit.

[fusoya]

Wow, I guess none of you lived in southwestern Connecticut in the mid-to-late 90s. DMB was undoubtably the #1 most popular band during that region and time. I myself hated them.

I am a huge Decemberists fan, and am still bummed out about their last NYC set of shows getting cancelled at the very last minute last November, and STILL not being rescheduled! I also wouldn’t say I’m a HUGE fan of her, but I have enjoyed some of Avril Lavigne’s work.

For the longest time, I wanted to know just WHO out there actually LIKES Carrot Top and would give him money. In 1999, I was at a Weird Al concert (there’s no denying that HE has a huge fan base) and the venue was announcing upcoming shows, one of which was Carrot Top. I sarcastically said to my friend “ooh we gotta go see THAT” when this guy in his mid 20’s sitting in front of us said to HIS friend in a completely unsarcastic voice “ok, this should be the next show that we go to. Are you gonna be free on that date?”

Now honestly, who the fuck actually LIKES Good Charlotte? They are without a doubt the worst band I’ve ever heard who has managed to actually get a successful career going. Their next album should be called Songs To Hit You Head Against a Wall To.

[Ike_Witt]

@fusoya

Now honestly, who the fuck actually LIKES Good Charlotte? They are without a doubt the worst band I’ve ever heard who has managed to actually get a successful career going.*.

No way. A Simple Plan is the worst band to ever get air-play.

FTR, I was just in Vegas and there were lots of things that referred to Carrot Top as the most popular comedian in Las Vegas.

[elmwood]

@adam yax

FTR, I was just in Vegas and there were lots of things that referred to Carrot Top as the most popular comedian in Las Vegas.

AFAIK, Vegas is a whole different world when it comes to the popularity of comedians, musicial acts, and so on. One example: The Scintias were a bar band in Buffalo that was locally famous for their performances on telethons, but in Vegas they’re a smash. Outside of Vegas, and those with long memories in Buffalo, they’re unknowns.

[neutron_star]

@Cazzle

I don’t think this describes me at all. I listen to Nickelback enough that they are ranked 31st on my “Most Played Artists” list at Last.FM. Alphabetically, they are between Nat King Cole and Nirvana in my MP3 collection. I like to think I have reasonably diverse music taste, but I can’t listen to Top 40 radio because it makes me want to claw my face off.

I didn’t say there weren’t any exceptions - and your last.fm is fairly Top 40-heavy, too. Well, okay, it’s everything heavy. That’s an awful lot of bands.

Also, you’re pretty cute!

[Sigmagirl]

Outside of Vegas, and those with long memories in Buffalo, they’re unknowns.

And at Tangier in Akron, Ohio, where they make a triumphant sold-out annual appearance.

[paffinity]

More of a genre than an artist, I don’t know anybody who doesn’t despise the kind of stuff they play in the supermarket.

 It's kind of like smooth jazz, but often with stupid new age-y sounding keyboards and some classical guitar.

 A friend I have works at Michael's, and everytime I go to visit her at work there's this horrible, bland music. I was wondering aloud why they couldn't play equally unoffensive but much less annoying classical or jazz, and she said that she heard that corporate office actually *commisions*  artists to come up with this dreck. Maybe there's a royalty issue or something.

[Cisco]

It became “cool” to make fun of and/or hate Carrot Top somewhere along the way. One obvious reason is because he’s ugly and some people might find his voice slightly abrasive. Another major reason, though, is that he’s a prop comedian and regular stand ups traditionally HATE prop comedians. Since Carrot Top is the most popular prop comedian, and has been for years, he’s got a huge target on his back. Dozens of comedians ripping on him × 10+ years = the meme that Carrot Top sucks.

I’m not a rabid fan or anything but he has made me laugh everytime I’ve seen him on tv, and I’ve found that most people who rip on him have never actually seen his act - they’ve just heard a bunch of other people ripping on him.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

God, I hate Dave Matthews. I was in college from 99-04, and pretty much every girl that wasn’t into hip hop was into DMB. I have a bunch of friends that take a couple weeks off every year to follow them around the Southeast.

It wasn’t frat-boy music, though. Frat boys listened to pop punk and O.A.R.

[Pork_Rind]

@eldowan

I don’t know of many people who like The Decemberists
I especially like the song “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”

Of course, they are rather obscure.

I dunno, they just drew a crowd of 75,000 to their last show in Portland. Of course, there was this other dude on the bill…

[neutron_star]

@Cisco

I’m not a rabid fan or anything but he has made me laugh everytime I’ve seen him on tv, and I’ve found that most people who rip on him have never actually seen his act - they’ve just heard a bunch of other people ripping on him.

For whatever it’s worth, I thought the guy was hilarious when I was ten or twelve. When I watched him again in my 20s, I totally understood why everyone ragged on him. His act was painfully unfunny, IMHO. Of course, I don’t know how representative I am, since I tend to have ridiculously high standards for stand-up comedians.

[shy_guy]

@fusoya

Now honestly, who the fuck actually LIKES Good Charlotte? They are without a doubt the worst band I’ve ever heard who has managed to actually get a successful career going. Their next album should be called Songs To Hit You Head Against a Wall To.

That’s easy: fourteen-year-old girls. Seriously; my sister was 14/15 when Good Charlotte was popular (they’re not so much anymore; their last album didn’t do very well, as I recall), and she was totally a part of that shop at Hot Topic, listen to Good Charlotte demographic. For Christmas 2002, I got her a Good Charlotte DVD wrapped in skull-and-crossbones wrapping paper I got from Hot Topic and she absolutely loved it.

It makes sense. Their music isn’t that bad by any means. Yeah, it’s full of super generic angst and incredibly silly, but their tunes are catchy and fun to hear on the radio once in a while. It helps that their front man - Joel Madden - is super cute, and they’ve got that whole faux-rebellious aesthetic about them.

For pop-punk bands, you can definitely do worse. Sum41 and the afformentioned Simple Plan come to mind.

[Marley23]

@elmwood

Noo Yawkers. Just like those from New Jersey all seem like Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen fans, it seems like I’ve met only a few people from New York City and Long Island that aren’t fans of Billy Joel.

Hi there, I’m from the area and I think his jaded schtick is really overrated. But I agree that on Long Island, everybody seems to be at least a middling fan.

I actually got stuck on a long car trip with a smooth jazz fan last summer, and it was really a mind-boggling experience: the music was really boring (the driver wasn’t any better), but he was a very enthusiastic fan. I’d never imagined somebody being that interested in this kind of stuff, which seems intentionally dull to me. I would have jumped out of the car if I hadn’t found a Woody Allen standup CD in the car. Of course he tried to talk over that too, but anyway…

[Cisco]

@neutron star

For whatever it’s worth, I thought the guy was hilarious when I was ten or twelve. When I watched him again in my 20s, I totally understood why everyone ragged on him. His act was painfully unfunny, IMHO. Of course, I don’t know how representative I am, since I tend to have ridiculously high standards for stand-up comedians.

He gave Shaquille O’Neal a basketball with a scope on it on live tv. As far as I’m concerned, anyone with the balls to do that is ok with me.

(And come on - the phoneless cord - how can you not laugh?!)

[Sleeps_With_Butterflies]

@Chimera

Sounds like you have an interesting thread in you. Have we seen that list somewhere?

I’ve never started a thread here on the ol’ Dope, so it hasn’t been up yet

[elmwood]

@paffinity

A friend I have works at Michael’s, and everytime I go to visit her at work there’s this horrible, bland music. I was wondering aloud why they couldn’t play equally unoffensive but much less annoying classical or jazz, and she said that she heard that corporate office actually commisions artists to come up with this dreck. Maybe there’s a royalty issue or something.

Ever shop at DSW? They play ONE SONG over and over again; some electronic instrumental with a kind of Manhattan-ish urbanesque Sex and the City lounge like beat. Goes something like:

da daa DA, da da,
da daa DA, da da,
da daa DA, da da,
da daa DA, da da,
da daa DA, da da …

I feel really sorry for the people that have to work there.

[eldowan]

@Mahna Mahna

Obscure from a mainstream perspective, perhaps, but they’re well known in most indie circles (similar to the Belle & Sebastian example provided earlier).

Their last few shows in Toronto have all been packed to the rafters - as they should, considering they’re ridiculously fun from an audience perspective (if you like The Mariner’s Revenge Song, picture it with an audience singalong complete with moans and groans and wails of despair).

…and now I shall have Sons and Daughters stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Dagnabbit.

Wow, I never figured they had such a devoted following. It would be freaking awesome to be at one of their concerts and have a full sing-along like that though.
On another note, I think they are local to Austin, but the White Ghost Shivers is a pretty cool band, and they put on a great show at a 20’s themed show we went to. There was even a guy going around with an old polaroid taking black and white pictures.

[WarmNPrickly]

Clearly DMB was a lot more popular than I remembered. I just remember one guy who would alway tell me how great they were. He would take out my Pavement CD and tell me how much I was going to love this. He wasn’t exactly the sort that was really into what I considered to be the music scene, which is probably why he didn’t know that DMB wasn’t going to appeal to me. I’d say in the late 90’s I didn’t listen to much radio. I don’t think I would recognize a DMB song if it were played.

One day I might like the DMB. I had great disdain for the glam rock that dominated my high school years. Now I can’t get enough of it.

[gaffa]

@Cisco

It became “cool” to make fun of and/or hate Carrot Top somewhere along the way. One obvious reason is because he’s ugly and some people might find his voice slightly abrasive. Another major reason, though, is that he’s a prop comedian and regular stand ups traditionally HATE prop comedians. Since Carrot Top is the most popular prop comedian, and has been for years, he’s got a huge target on his back. Dozens of comedians ripping on him × 10+ years = the meme that Carrot Top sucks.

Actually, other prop comics hate Carrot Top as well. Joel Hodgson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 would rip on Carrot Top every chance he got (“Funny or not funny floating - Carrot Top.” “Extremely unfunny!”). It dated back to an incident when Joel, working then as a brilliant prop comic discovered Carrot Top back stage at an event where they were both on the bill, rummaging through Joel’s prop trunk.