With at least one hit.
Red Rider.
Lunatic Fringe.
Great band.
Tom Cochran moved on.
And died.
/Conan the Grammarian]
What band should have become bigger?
[/CtG]
Well, but for the surgery, I’m pretty sure Carnie Wilson would have…
…never mind.
What’s your definition of a hit?
Red Rider was relatively big here in their native country. Similarly, Triumph, Max Webster and April Wine were all huge bands up here but had very little success south of the border (although most die-hard Rush fans know of the famous Max Webster/Rush collaboration song Battle Scars).
The Peanut Butter Conspiracy…
One minor hit and three Albums and out.
This was a '60’s band with a female lead singer and great harmonies. Powerful songwriters and musicianship. Signed to an under-achieving record label which eventually went belly-up and extensive touring (before MTV) the band broke up.
A new CD is do out soon with previously unreleasded material and some live gigs.
The Good Rats, a New York-area bar band, released several terrific albums but never got the kind of airplay or promotion they deserved.
Another example of making it bigger in your native country, but the Odds were about the best band of the 90’s with only 1 and 1/2 hits in America. For the genre (power pop), they were much better than Squeeze (whom, incidentally, I believe is one of the rare bands that did deserve exactly as much fame as they got.)
Speaking of power pop, I can’t believe Fountains of Wayne never became huge. I mean, I also think they got around the right amount of recognition, but they made the catchiest, hookiest 3 albums made in the past 10 years, so I’m surprised they never became mega-stars. (I saw them in concert, and there weren’t as many people there as an average indie-ish punk concert.)
But still, also oddly enough, there were MORE people there than the latest Dropkick Murphys concert, a band I also think would be more popular than, say, Something Corporate or Saves the Day, not due to being better but to being more catchy.
Little River Band would be my choice. I was just listening to them the other day, and yeah, their stuff is a little dated now, but it’s still really GOOD, and I never understood why they weren’t more popular. Were they bigger in their native (I think) Australia?
Time for me to make my usual tribute to Spirit.
Founded in the mid-1960’s, they were an incredibly talented group of 5 musicians who were fluent in all styles of music. Their biggest hit was “I’ve Got A Line On You” in 1969 and it made it to the “twenties” in the Top 40.
In 1971 they released “12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus” which met with critical success but received no airplay and almost no one bought it. The group split up shortly thereafter and through the years they re-united in various incarnations but success continued to elude them. What truly put an end to the group was the drowning death of their gifted guitar player Randy California in January, 1997 off the coast of Molokai, Hawaii.
Any other Spirit fans on the SDMB ?
My boss turned me on to Spirit last year. I really listen to a TON of music (remember the “ask the guy who knows everything about music” thread?), but had never heard of them. I really dig it - they incorporated some good, jazzy touches without giving over to prog, and they retained great pop songwriting.
There are so many bands that should have been bigger; my vote would probably be for The Dismemberment Plan, the Washington, DC post-punk band who released three great records and one magnificent one (“emergency and I”) before breaking up last year. They embodied the spirit and energy of punk, with the angular guitars offset by a very funky, Talking Heads-ish rhythm section and some of the synthesizer bounce of Prince or Zapp. I really thought that they’d get huge - they even were working on a deal with Interscope - but then it all dissolved before they got larger than the indie scene.
Trip Shakespeare and October Project.
Trip Shakespeare is a sentimental fave (I think they came from close to my hometown).
October Project put out two albums (“October Project” and “Falling Farther In”) that were just stunning. Highly literate lyrics that made you think (a song from the point of view of Ariel, from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, for example), very original instrumental arrangements, and the most unique lead vocals I’ve ever heard. But, the label chose not to promote them, the lead singer quit, and the band faded away.
Now, the songwriting duo who formed October Project are trying to revive the group, but I haven’t heard much about that. >sigh<
I’m a fan. 12 Dreams is one of the greatest rock albums of all time, but the group had broken up even before it was released, so the record company didn’t bother to promote it. Spirit also suffered from poor choice of single releases: “Nature’s Way,” though good, is not the hit material that “Animal Zoo” or “Mr. Skin” would have been (though both songs might have had censorship problems). There were also record label issues: they were signed by Lou Adler for Ode Records, a subsidiary of Columbia/Epic, but Adler left Ode to found Ode70 Records, and the group was orphaned. (BTW, their best-known song – “I Got A Line on You” – was not written by the group-- the songwriter was Steve Martin of the Left Banke, but he sold all rights to them).
I’ll add a few:
Emitt Rhodes – Called “The American Paul McCartney,” his album was filled with songs that would all have been top 40 hits. For some reason, though, nothing on the album was ever released as a single, and record company pressure forced him to put out a rushed second album that tanked.
Kak – First-class psychedelic pop that never caught on.
Flash and the Pan – A unique sound and two albums of great songs from two former members of the Easybeats.
I think Trip Shakespeare (or some of the members) went on to form Semisonic, who had a pretty big hit a few years ago with “Closing Time.” They’re both Minneapolis-area bands as far as I know–is that close to your hometown?
Ludovic, I agree on the Dropkick Murphys, a terrific Irish-punk barroom band. I see a lot of teenagers wearing their T-shirts and stuff, and I know Hot Topic sells a lot of their merchandise, but I’m stunned that all these sound-alike mallpunk bands are all over the radio and MTV while the Dropkicks are still relatively obscure. (I feel the same way about Flogging Molly, who also seems to have a Hot Topic/Warped Tour/teenage cult following these days.) I can only guess that some of it has to do with the Dropkicks’ skinhead fanbase. The overwhelming majority of those guys are the non-racist variety who just like to drink and mosh and have a good time, but I’ve heard that some real scary fringe elements have embraced the band as well.
“Fresh As A Daisy” was issued as a single, and got airplay in Canada. None of his other singles managed to chart. Emitt is a victim of record company politics. He could not tour, because he played all, or most, of the instruments and sang all of the voices on his records. They didn’t promote him, and began to hassle him about the amount of time he took to make records, and then dropped his contract but prevented him from recording for anyone else. The guy could have been HUGE if somebody with some brains and compassion had got behind him. His first album is just a pop rock masterpiece that most people have never heard.
Folks from Pittsburgh probably know the Clarks, and they have expanded their fan base to include most major cities east of the Mississippi. They have sold out the 9:30 Club in DC, and have played on Letterman.
They haven’t hit it really huge yet, despite some very strong material.
Oh, oh…Me, me!
I love Spirit. I love Jo Jo Gunne even more (with former Spirit members Jay Ferguson, the Andes brothers, and Curly Smith). And I love Jay Ferguson (former Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne) solo the most!
Heh!
Jay had a couple hits with Thunder Island and Shakedown Cruise, but he never really made it big, which surprised me. He had that perfect, sun-drenched, California soft-rock sound, which I thought was better than The Eagles!
Jay moved on, however, and is now a much sought after soundtrack composer. He worked on The Terminator and Tremors 2 & 4, among other things, as well as numerous TV shows.
Check out this great Jay Ferguson page, which has some info regarding Spirit and Jo Jo Gunne as well.
Two words Cowboy Mouth.
The greatest band you never saw. Even now, in their 40s, if you attend one of their shows you will come away a better person for it. It’s simple as Rock and Roll as atonement.
Only the band Big has right to become Bigger ( bands vs comparisons to forementioned bands Stolckhohm 1999)
Tom Cochran is dead?
Moby Grape
Pulp