Bands/singers that never really floated your boat

[mdf]

saw them in concert at that same time.

We saw the [surviving-and-still-talking-to-each-other members of the] Beach Boys a few years ago. There were young guys filling in for the missing members, and each of the survivors playing an instrument had a young double standing behind him. I found it amusing and honest when Mike Love told the audience "We recruit the musicians from tribute bands. They already know the songs!"

At a different concert we saw an old 1960's group that had a different take on the question of "is this the real band, or a tribute band with rights to the trademark?" (Wish I could remember who -- maybe Canned Heat?) The band leader somewhat angrily noted that this was the real band, since "We had 37 different mebers during the 1960's and 70's and nobody complained then."

 

[Ogg]

Lilly Allen is quite smart and would have been legit indie pop rather than bubblegum in another era.

Some EDM stuff like Hot Chip and The Two Bears is brill though technically maybe they are maybe ADM or synthpop.

Yeah “EDM” is all over the map and I have a hard time separating the sub genres. Have you ever heard Ralph Myers and the Jack Herren band? I’m not sure what genre they would fit in but you might like them. My wife’s cousin is the drummer. He also plays with Datarock.

 

[Ogg]

"We had 37 different mebers during the 1960's and 70's and nobody complained then."

The audience was probably too stoned to notice.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Great song. Shhhh ('cause it isn't like this is public on the internet, lol), I like Cher - as both a singer and an actress, I grew up watching The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, but she was wonderful in Silkwood, Mask, Moonstruck, Witches of Eastwick.

I'm the same guy that said Madonna was yucky. Cher is in the same vein, but since she goes back to my childhood I kind of have a warmer feeling about her. And yes, she's a scrambler/survivor who's had serious success on several different levels and over a long time. She really belongs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but has been spurned I guess because the powers-that-be don't think she's cool enough?

 

[Jim Kenney]

I'd be interested in @fatbob 's take on why some successful Brit artists/bands break big in America and some don't? The old guy Cliff Richard who was huge in Britain, but almost unknown in America first comes to mind, but I'm sure many newer artists also fall in this category? Conversely, what British acts are minor stars at home, but seemed to find a bigger audience in the USA?

 

[fatbob]

Cliff Richard though was objectively terrible, a poor attempt to produce an ultra sanitized puritanical MOR Elvis for the British teenager.

I think the conventional wisdom is that bands that didn't do the hard yards with repeated US tours never really broke the US but certainly there are some 80s relatively one hit wonders that always amaze me with the amount of radio play they get in the US. Guess it was the real influence of college rock stations. Bands like Depeche Mode are still huge in the US and barely remembered in the UK.

 

[fatbob]

But history is also complex. Hendrix basically built his success after relocating to London. Pixies were a hugely influential band but predominantly got big on a UK label and popularity in Europe.

Yet bands like Bush wouldn't even be recognised as British.

 

[markojp]

Can we talk about the Stooges and MC5?

 

[Scruffy]

Has anyone mentioned Oasis? I know they were loved by many, but at the end of the day , I felt they really didn't bring anything new to the table.

 

[Ogg]

Has anyone mentioned Oasis? I know they were loved by many, but at the end of the day , I felt they really didn't bring anything new to the table.

OMG! I didn’t even think of them. Imo they are one of the most overrated, derivative, whiny crap bands ever.

 

[PinnacleJim]

6At a different concert we saw an old 1960's group that had a different take on the question of "is this the real band, or a tribute band with rights to the trademark?" (Wish I could remember who -- maybe Canned Heat?) The band leader somewhat angrily noted that this was the real band, since "We had 37 different mebers during the 1960's and 70's and nobody complained then."

Doubt it was Canned Heat. Heard them a year or two ago and the key members were still there. They sounded good too!
But it's rare for a band from the 60s, or even the 70s and 80s to still have essentially the same lineup. Many have just one or maybe two founding members.

 

[fatbob]

Has anyone mentioned Oasis? I know they were loved by many, but at the end of the day , I felt they really didn't bring anything new to the table.

2 great riff/hooktastic albums to start with albeit heavily influenced by the Beatles then got carried away by their own egos. Some of Noel's High Flying Birds stuff recently is a return to great hooks.

 

[Scruffy]

Patty Smith is another one. I wanted to like her, I really did. She played a lot around my hometown in the mid to late 70's. I saw her at least six times in concert ( all small halls ) because one of my friends was into her. And Horses was an interesting album, but she lost me when she use to arrive very late totally shit faced and spat at the audience.

 

[Scruffy]

How about Yes? I could take them or leave them, mostly leave them.

 

[Ogg]

arrive very late totally shit faced and spat at the audience.

That’s punk rock AF!

 

[Scruffy]

Peter Frampton. Liked him in Humble Pie, but Comes Alive: yawn.

 

[Scruffy]

Anyone remember Twisted Sister? Saw them at least a dozen times in small halls before they broke big, if you could even call it breaking big. They filled the time of a misspent youth, other than that...

 

[Ogg]

Anyone remember Twisted Sister? Saw them at least a dozen times in small halls before they broke big, if you could even call it breaking big. They filled the time of a misspent youth, other than that...

Dee Snider still lives fairly close to me afaik. Their popular stuff was meh but their early albums hold up as well or better than most metal of the same era, IMO.

 

[mdf]

Doubt it was Canned Heat.

My wife remembered. It was Blood, Sweat and Tears.
I just went to wikipedia and counted. They had 55 members before 1980....
...and 84 since then.

Well, I suppose the New York Philharmonic has had about that many, and nobody calls them a tribute band.

 

[bbinder]

Boz can bring it! He has quite the range.

We saw him a couple of years ago in a local club - unlike a lot of his peers, his voice has not deteriorated at all. Great show.