# bands or musicians who used to be popular, then were mediocre or forgotten, then hit it big again **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478 "2019-04-13T01:35:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/61 "2019-04-16T09:19:56Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Their resurgence came earlier than that. The delightfully-titled _Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins_ came out in 1994, and got quite a bit of airplay as I remember. Yeah, I was a lonely Sparks fan when that album came out, and it did get played, and was even featured on MTV. Still, it was far from a _genre-defining opus_, or _really one of the best albums ever made,_ as Lil’ Beethoven in 2002 was. And it was after the latter album that they started regular touring even in far-flung places, that persists to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Flare4roach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7cd45c/32.png) [@Flare4roach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flare4roach)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/62 "2019-04-16T12:07:08Z")
The Allman Brothers were huge by the time the Fillmore Album was released. Duane dies and then they release Eat a Peach. Still riding high but they slowly slipped down the infighting and drug trials to absolutely ruin what they had. As albums were released the band was so poorly received by the 80’s (along with accusations of internal betrayals) they hated each other so much that they broke up and vowed never to record with one another. Some years pass and then in 90’ the band gambles and regroups and the band releases “Seven Turns” and get back on the road. They not only won their audience back but picked up another generation of fans and critics. They become bigger than ever and ride out their career on their terms until just a few years ago. They had it all, lost every bit of it and then fought their way back. Quite a story. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/63 "2019-04-16T12:51:07Z")
In the US, Queen. While they remained more or less consistently popular in the UK and much of the rest of the world up until and through Freddy Mercury’s death, they completely disappeared in the United States for most of the 1980s. They had two #1 hits in 1980 with “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites the Dust,” but their next albums/projects _Flash Gordon_ and _Hot Space_ were not well received, and they last played in the US in 1982. They basically did not exist to Americans until the **Wayne’s World** movie came out in 1992. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/64 "2019-04-16T13:31:10Z")
I think Rick Astley has to come into the list, as a serious competitor for the ‘most unlikely comeback’ award. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/65 "2019-04-16T13:58:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > They basically did not exist to Americans until the **Wayne’s World** movie came out in 1992. That’s a bit of an overstatement. You’re right that _Hot Space_ was not well-received, but _The Works_, though not a mega-hit here, was something of a return to form, and I distinctly remember seeing the “Radio Ga-Ga” video and hearing “Hammer To Fall” played on the local rock station. And of course many Americans saw their performance at Live Aid. One thing I love about the 80s, when I musically came of age, is that there were so many classic acts of the 60s and 70s who were releasing vital new music that got played alongside the work of newer acts, either because they were experiencing comebacks of a sort or because they just kept on keeping on. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/66 "2019-04-16T14:04:05Z")
Forgotten then a spectacular comeback, never mediocre: [Compay Segundo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compay_Segundo) ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/67 "2019-04-16T22:40:11Z")
Many of the rock bands of the late sixties and early seventies seem to have gone through a period of making it big for several years, then going throuhh a period of decline, often with band members dying or have substance abuse problems (or both, but not in that order) or leaving, and then coming back for another spell of relative fame, and in some cases repeating the cycle once more. The pop press was always saying that so and so was washed up and finished because he or she had not produced a new LP for a couple of years or more. Or that a particular performer had changed his style completely and had a new audience. Plenty of those, Bowie and Madonna come to mind, for starters. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2019, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/68 "2019-04-16T22:46:57Z")
The Beastie Boys were everywhere in the 80s, then disappeared in the 90s and 00s, but then started showing up again in the 10s. Mostly, I think, due to nostalgia from my peers. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/69 "2019-04-17T14:26:25Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > One more is Black Sabbath. Ozzy leaves in 1979, they continue with 5 lead singers with mixed results until reuniting in the late 90s, and are bigger then ever including a #1 album. What about Ozzy himself? Big with Sabbath in the 70s, as a solo artist in the 80s, took the 90s off, came back as a reality TV star in the 00s ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/70 "2019-04-17T15:23:51Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > In the US, Queen. > > While they remained more or less consistently popular in the UK and much of the rest of the world up until and through Freddy Mercury’s death, they completely disappeared in the United States for most of the 1980s. They had two #1 hits in 1980 with “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites the Dust,” but their next albums/projects _Flash Gordon_ and _Hot Space_ were not well received, and they last played in the US in 1982. They basically did not exist to Americans until the **Wayne’s World** movie came out in 1992. Queen was very popular in the U. S. The local rock station was always playing their latest hit, right up to [Headlong](https://youtu.be/zhyaAPsT1LU) just before Freddie’s death. And of course his death was big news, comparable to Bowie’s or Prince’s deaths. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/71 "2019-04-17T19:41:25Z")
The Righteous Brothers came roaring back from the oldies station to top 40 airwaves when their 1964 song Unchained Melody was used in the 1990 movie Ghost. > [@Chronos](#): > > The Beastie Boys were everywhere in the 80s, then disappeared in the 90s and 00s, but then started showing up again in the 10s. Mostly, I think, due to nostalgia from my peers. Check Your Head (1992) and Ill Communication (1994) were pretty big with Hello Nasty (1998) not quite so big. The song Sabotage was particularly popular. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/72 "2019-04-17T19:50:27Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Tom Jones kind of disappeared for a while, and did a “hip irony” thing with Prince’s “Kiss.” My theory is that he finally ran out of ladies’ undergarments and needed to start touring again to restock. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/73 "2019-04-18T06:36:05Z")
King Crimson had an earth-shattering debut with _Court of the Crimson King_ and wound up with three great mid-'70s albums: _Larks’ Tongues in Aspic_, _Starless and Bible Black_, and _Red_. Then they went on hiatus. Six years later a whole new KC came back strong with _Discipline_. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/74 "2019-04-18T06:51:03Z")
On the classical front, how about Vivaldi? Superstar in life, reputation dwindled in death, revived in the early 20th century, now a star again. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478/75 "2019-04-18T12:12:10Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > The Righteous Brothers came roaring back from the oldies station to top 40 airwaves when their 1964 song Unchained Melody was used in the 1990 movie Ghost. > > Check Your Head (1992) and Ill Communication (1994) were pretty big with Hello Nasty (1998) not quite so big. The song Sabotage was particularly popular. When Hello Nasty came out there was a huge buildup, the single Intergalactic was everywhere (top 40 pop hit, won 2 Grammys) and the album went to #1 selling 681,000 in the first week alone. One of the Righteous Brothers, of course, had a #1 single a few years before that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-or-musicians-who-used-to-be-popular-then-were-mediocre-or-forgotten-then-hit-it-big-again/832478.md?page=3)