Going back there was Anna Sten, who in the early 1930s was promoted heavily as the next Greta Garbo by Samuel Goldwyn. Since you’ve probably heard of Greta Garbo, but not Anna Sten, you can see how well that worked out.
I remember back in '79, '80 The Knack being called “The Next Beatles”.
Errr… no. Sorry 'bout that.
ETA: Didn’t see Bup’s post, since I left this thread open in a window for about 4 hours. Sorry!
To be fair, The Knack deserve credit for having one huge hit (“My Sharona”) that delivered the mortal blow to disco.
A lot of bands from the 70s through the mid 90s were dubbed “The Next Beatles” and they all pretty much flopped or saw their careers fizzle the second the title was bestowed on them. In fact, it seemed that if you wanted to curse an up-and-coming band and guarantee their failure, calling them “The Beatles” would most certainly do it.
Well there was Klaatu - who were incorrectly much rumoured at the time to*** be*** the Beatles.
Known mostly for one song covered ny the Carpenters of course.
As an example, I recall Fountains of Wayne being compared to the Beatles after “Stacy’s Mom” became their first (turns out, only) hit single in the U.S.
“The next Beatles” deserves a whole thread (if not an entire forum) by itself. My favorite was Badfinger.
Julia Ormond was going to be the next Audrey Hepburn. Not that she hasn’t continued to work, but she’s no Audrey Hepburn.
Electronica.
Starting around 1994, you couldn’t pick up a music magazine, newspaper entertainment section, alt-weekly, or log into a Usenet newsgroup without being inundated with multipage articles insisting that rock was dead, hip-hop was played out, and a huge seismic shift in popular music was coming and it was going to be electronica.
In 1995, we got the same sources insisting “Well, maybe we jumped the gun, but it’s big in Europe, and it’s going to take America by storm this year.”
In 1996, it was “No really, this year for sure, just you wait and see”
In 1997, Prodigy headlined Lalapalooza, and the Chemical Brothers got a Gap commercial. Meanwhile, there was a ska revival.
In 1998, Moby scored a ton of commercials. Swing revival dominated the airwaves.
Then teen pop took over and that was it for the mainstreaming of electronica in America.
The “Next Bob Dylan” title was given to several people, most notably Bruce Springsteen (who became a big thing), Loudon Wainwright III, John Prine (both of whom were successful, if not big stars), and Eliott Murphy, who you’ve probably never heard of.
And who can forget “The Bosstown Sound”? It was a vastly hyped musical genre that was supposed to have Boston replace San Francisco as the center of the rock worldplace. But whereas San Francisco has The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Sly and the Family Stone, Boston countered with Orpheus, The Beacon Street Union, The Ultimate Spinach, Earth Opera, and Eden’s Children. Note which list of groups sounds more familiar.
It was hype, and the groups had little in common other than originating in the Boston area. Some were good, some were not, but the hype made sure they would fade away. Now when people think of rock from Boston it’s either Boston or, perhaps, the J. Geils Band.
Yep. MTV actually had a really bizarre and on-point bumper that they used to play of a woman washing a chicken (live chicken) by hand, standing in a laundry mat. She talked about how everyone thought electronica was going to be the next big thing. “Going to a Chemical Brothers show is as exciting as walking through a COMPUSA.”
I’ll argue about Roxette, they had several singles that were played on the radio.
How would that sideline a Hollywood career?
Is it just me or was Geovanni Ribisi supposed to be the next big “IT” star for a year or two there back in the early 2000’s, until finally dropping off the radar completely a few years ago?
He was everywhere for a bit and then, nothing…
[Re: the actor Wes Bentley]
From the article:
He was just in a little movie called… “Avatar”
Gack! I came here knowing I’d be first to mention Klaatu. I should have known you can never count on firsts in th SDMB!
Gretchen Mol, exactly who I thought of. She appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair along with her erect nipples. Did that help, or hurt?
Among mystery fans, apparently Raymond Chandler is the Holy Grail, and every couple of years someone comes along who is “the next Raymond Chandler” or “What Raymond Chandler was to the 50s, ____ is to the _____s.”
And then the writer in question goes along a different path. A few years later, you can’t even remember their names. (Well, I can’t; that actually may not mean much.)
It certainly ensured that I’ll never forget the name Gretchen Mol.
The NME always used to be terrible for promising untold fame and fortune for tiny indie bands who never actually got anywhere. Sad, really. Personal favourite of this: Hipsway. Band from the mid '80s who made the cover of the paper on the basis of one top 20 hit. “HIPSWAY: BORN TO BE KINGS!”, the cover proudly and confidently declared.
As Stuart Maconie was later to wrly comment during the NME 40th anniversary issue, “HIPSWAY: BORN TO HAVE 2 TOP 60 SMASHES AND THEN DIE LIKE DOGS” would, in hindsight, have made a more accurate headline.
Pretty much any artist that wins Best Newcomer Grammy.