I certainly wouldn’t have predicted that the era of Modest Mouse/Scissor Sisters/Pink/The Darkness/Ben Folds Five/The Flaming Lips would implode into a now 13 year long desert of crappy autotuned sound-alike shit not seen since the 50’s.
And yes that’s an immense generalization on my part.
I would add Jobriath, though I’m not sure if anyone outside of his “team” made such predictions.
Christopher Cross.
5 Grammys and an Oscar. 2 hit albums and then a lot of nothing.
Even Bob Dylan was never really Bob Dylan. There was just a period in the sixties when people wanted somebody like Bob Dylan to exist and he was put into that space. He was more of a cultural icon than an artist or a human being. And now that society has changed that space for Bob Dylan no longer exists. So nobody, not even Bob Dylan, can be Bob Dylan anymore.
Regarding the Go-Go’s: I can’t believe they’re all still alive. Belinda Carlisle has admitted to relapsing on heroin just within the past 5 years or so. :eek:
Liz Phair makes a big splash every time she releases an album, and then goes back into hiding. Yes, she is very perceptive WRT male/female relationships, but the woman cannot sing.
Can we use rappers?
Whoever called Vanilla Ice “The Elvis of Rap” deserves to go to hell. Elvis was immensely talented; Robert Van Winkle was a joke.
I see Shannon Curfman was already covered. I loved her first album and was surprised her second one made such a small splash. I thought she and Nikka Costa were headed for bigger things.
Also, Lily Allen, whose first album, “Alright Still” was brilliant, but her subsequent albums have nearly defined “diminishing returns.”
Only the little girls understood.
“He don’t even know who Liz Phair is.”
Unfortunately, I think his looks had a lot to do with it. Not that he’s a bad-looking guy, but visuals came heavily into play in the 80’s, and he looked… like an accountant who dabbled in farming. Or a farmer who dabbled in accounting, I’m not quite sure which.
I have to wonder if this is what happens to some of these fizzled stars. Maybe some find they don’t like the attention or suffer some sort of anxiety/stage fright. In addition maybe some find they don’t like the business and prefer to just go back to small venues. Maybe some just don’t want to deal with the pressure or work of fulfilling people’s expectations. Not everyone wants to be a huge star.
I am sure we have had the Cyndi Lauper vs Madonna debate before. Cyndi did not fade away, she is still performing. She is involved in charitable works. She is involved in Broadway, I believe she wrote or co-wrote a musical. I think she’s much more of a musical artist than Madonna. Cyndi isn’t the huge star Madonna was but I don’t think she wanted to be anything like Madonna.
Here’s the other thing about those two. Cyndi was cute and quirky, Madonna was pretty and sexy. Madonna parlayed her looks into getting more attention. She also tried to be controversial. She marketed herself as much as her music, including attempts at acting. Cyndi may have done a little acting but she never seemed to be into pimping herself for attention. She seemed to be more about the music.
This may sound like I don’t like Madonna but that’s not the case, I enjoy many of her songs. I think she knew what she wanted and went for it and she adapted herself and her music with the times. However, I am not a fan or her acting and her exploitation of her body. I also think at her age and with her gravitas as a performer she no longer needs to wear such outfits as she wore at the Grammy’s. Many other older singers have accepted their age and matured. So basically, I have admiration for Madonna’s long career and music but I really don’t respect her as a person.
But I do love Cyndi Lauper.
He looks like some guy you might see in the aisles at Walmart. In his youth, he was neither a pretty boy like David Lee Roth nor cute ugly like Joe Jackson.
Yeah, I did a double-take when I saw that comment about “testosterone” and Counting Crows.
Back in the mid-90s when they were at the height of their popularity, most testosterone laden music fans were probably listening to grunge, rap or death metal.
I hated Borderline. HATED. I hated the song. I hated the video. I hated HER. I think it tainted my feelings for her going forward. I only have one of her CDs, and it was a gift from a male friend who just adored “Papa Don’t Preach.” Weird.
I have at least 4 of Lauper’s CDs.
According to the makers of an actual documentary film they made about the guy, early 80’s one-hit-wonder Benny Mardones (“Into the Night”- “If I could fly, I’d pick YOOOUU up, and take you into the night…” as sung to a 16-year-old) was supposed to be huge but blew it on drugs. The filmmakers were on the radio here 10, 15 years ago promoting it as part of a film festival. Same title as the song. I still remember the interview, because I ended up wanting to see the film and never got to.
The first question the DJ asked was the first question that the filmmakers were asked in every interview: “Why Benny Mardones, of all people?” Apparently his squandering of his Next-Big-Thingness was so colossal that it was the stuff that most of a film could be based on.
(side note: The basis for the rest of the film was apparently the bizarre love relationship that one city- I think it was Buffalo- developed for the guy. He wasn’t from there or anything, but for whatever reason he could still sell out concert venues there, and there only, for years after his star had otherwise faded.)
Well, Prine did quite well overall, but just wasn’t a hitmaker (he also fell between the cracks of pop and country).
He was part of the New Bob Dylan Club mentioned by Loudon Wainwright III, which consisted of Wainwright, Prine, Bruce Springsteen, and Elliott Murphy.
Murphy is the most obscure of the group. His debut, Aquashow, was raved about, but he vanished after that and ended up moving to France, where he’s had a moderate career.
Expand, please.
Speaking of Joe Jackson, I wanted to ask since I was not around, but was he ever predicted to become a huge star?
On that note, who knew Eminem would be what he is? Of course, that’s a topic for the opposite subject of this thread.
For an artist everyone thought would be huge, maybe Candlebox. I love their stuff, but they didn’t have the staying power that other grunge bands of the 90s did.
Huge? Not really. Not like Prince or Michael Jackson or Springsteen, anyway.