Meat Loaf had bat out of hell in the 70s, then his music wasn’t too popular, then with bat out of hell II he became famous again.
Other bands or musicians like this? Maybe ones that used to be very successful and then either disappeared, or did music the public weren’t interested in, then broke back into the mainstream years later?
Meat Loaf may be a decent example, but don’t forget that Dead Ringer was a #1 album in the UK.
Several bands were re-invented in the 80s, including Heart and Cheap Trick, but I don’t think that they meet your requirements. Boston took 10 years to release their (his) third album, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that the first two albums weren’t appreciated in the interim.
So…I’m going to pick the Moodies. Seventh Sojourn was released in 1972 and they weren’t (IMHO) big again until 1986.
OK, I have just been properly chastised by my wife. She reminded me that “The Voice” from Long Distance Voyager was very big in 1981. My defense is that it was generally considered to be a one-off from a band past its prime. I still maintain that the Moodies weren’t “back” until 1986.
I first got into the Moodies at the time of their 1983 album The Present. I kept paying attention after that, but I like 1981’s Long Distance Voyager and 1983’s The Present better than anything they did after that.
How about Roy Orbison, who hit it big again in the late 1980s, shortly before his death, with Mystery Girl and the Traveling Wilburys.
Yes were very successful in the early and mid seventies with over-sprawling prog rok, but the commercial success wound down til their massive comeback and biggest hit album 90125, with a very different sound.
That’s one example. There are a lot more. Of course he never was gone, but Bob Dylan scored his first #1 album in the UK in 40 years with “Together Through Life” and his first #1 in the US in 31 years with “Modern Times”.
Cher. Maybe the biggest resurgence ever from an American pop star?
The Bee Gees had a string of Top 20 hits in the U.S and U.K from 1967-1969 and then fell off the face of the earth. Robin went solo, then Barry and Maurice split up. They reformed, had a couple of hits, and then pretty much disappeared again by 1973. Finally in 1975, they turned to disco, Barry started singing in falsetto and they ended up selling 200 million records.
The Grateful Dead had a resurgence in popularity near the end of their run with Touch of Grey.
Aerosmith. Drug addiction and internal conflicts hit them and Joe Perry and Brad Whitford left for awhile. It wasn’t until Perry and Whitford returned to the band in 1984 and they collaborated with Run-DMC on “Walk This Way” that Aerosmith became popular again.
A Baltimore band did a parody of “You Got It”: Just when things got good, I bought it
The Beach Boy were considered has-beens by 1969. Brian Wilson’s projects were delayed and he withdrew from the band. I went to see them about that time and they couldn’t even draw 150 people to a free outdoor concert. They switched record labels in 1970 and then rebranded themselves as a nostalgia act and had a rebirth.
Mott the Hoople had success with their debut, but was on the verge of breaking up when David Bowie gave them “All the Young Dudes” and made them stars.
The Bee Gees were considered passe until they made a comeback with “Jive Talking.” It was originally pitched to radio stations without telling them the artist so they would give it a chance.
Tony Bennett might fit: he was big in the 50s, but struggled to even find a record company in the 70s. He started recording again in 1986, and hit it big in the 90s, singing standards.
Also, Brian Wilson finishing Smile in 2005 when he had been unable to in 1967.
Considering the title says “mediocre or forgotten”, can we include bands that remained somewhat successful, but who’s output went from acclaimed to mediocre and then back to acclaimed?
In other words, can my answer be Weezer? Even though their return to form was sadly short lived.
Roy would be my first nominee for this thread, as well. He had (I believe) ninteen top-40 hits in the US between 1960 and 1966, then only one song which even made the top 100 (#55, in 1980) between 1968 and 1986.
His re-recording of “Crying” with k.d. lang made #28 on the Adult Contemporary chart in '87; in '88 and '89, he hit #9 as a solo artist with “You Got It,” and had two top 100 hits with the Traveling Wilburys, with two of those three songs charting after his death.
Kinda similar to Cher - Tina Turner, but with a smaller gap than Cher. Ike & Tina were over by 1976. She did not do well at the start on her own, but by 1983/84 she was a mega-star. I’d say she’s one of the stars from the 80s that I would know as a star from the 80s, but my parents (Boomers) would consider her a star from the 60s.
Steely Dan had a great run in the 70’s, didn’t release anything for 20 years, then came back and won their only Grammy for an album that wasn’t particularly good.
At least part of that was the direct result of the Moodies taking a three-year break from '74 to '77 – though, the fact that the break came on the heels of a long world tour, and that it took them six months to record their first album after coming back together (Octave), meant that they effectively went for six years (1972-1978) without releasing new music.
How about Kiss? They were huge in the 70s, fell off in the 80s, then went huge again (at least as a touring band, if not records) in '96 when they returned to the original guys and the makeup. Even after letting Peter and Ace go again, they are still a pretty popular touring band as they wind through their final tour.
Blondie is arguably another. They were huge in the late 70s - early 80s then disappeared (due to Chris Stein’s health issues) until reforming in '97 and having a top ten hit (in Europe) with “Maria” a couple years in. Not quite as huge as they were, but respectable.
Santana hadn’t been doing so hot for some time, then released Supernatural.
I agree, that’s another good example. While their peak was the early '70s, they were still consistently charting through the late '70s, into the very early '80s. But, then, for most of the '80s and '90s, they fell off the radar, until the huge success of Supernatural in 1999.