Some bands are known for frequent line up changes, people quitting and rejoining, break ups and reunions, lawsuits over who owns the band name, etc . Which bands have the most convoluted history?
Im thinking the Drifters may be the best example with dozens of members over the years, splinter groups and lawsuits. I think at one point two contesting versions were touring at once .
It occurs to me that the distance from the early-2000s ‘rock revival’ to now is the same as the distance from the Summer of Love to the beginning of the grunge era.
So The Killers releasing an album as heartfelt and powerful as Pressure Machine is like the equivalent of Lou Reed making a comeback with New York. But it doesn’t feel that way, because The Killers are a band of my lifetime! They can’t be that old!
What are some other examples?
Radiohead comes to mind
I think Neil Young's "Weight Of The World" is the most hilarious shit I've listened to this week. The song itself is catchy, but the clunky, dated production, from the cheesy synths to the odd drum machine percussion makes it feel more like a shitpost than an actual song made to be taken seriously.
The B-52s qualify here. Rock Lobster and to a much lesser extent Planet Claire and Private Idaho are the only three widely known songs from when Ricky Wilson was with the band, and none of them cracked the top 50 with Planet Claire never charting at all in the US.
But after Ricky Wilson died they had two songs hit #3- Roam and Love Shack while Deadbeat Club hit #30. They also charted with Meet the Flintstones. And not that it charted, but they also did the Rocko's Modern Life theme.
Plus I think Cosmic Thing is their best album even as I overall prefer their earlier period.
Found in a vintage clothing shop.
Now’s a good time to broach this subject: we’re roughly halfway through the year as Billboard counts it, and there’s a good chance that something from Drake’s album bomb becomes the Worst Hit frontrunner once it officially hits the Hot 100 next week.
Remember that SNL sketch with Garth Brooks where he sells his soul to the devil for a hit, only for Lucifer himself to be an awful songwriter? At one point, the devil thinks he’s onto a hit, only for Garth to point out he’s just repeated the melody of Smash Mouth’s “All Star” with different lyrics. This is how I feel every time I hear Stella Lefty’s “Boston.” It’s literally “Stick Season” with different lyrics: how is this song in the top 40? There are probably less pleasant songs to become hits this year, but none feel less essential than this.
HONORABLE MENTION: Speaking of unpleasant songs, I don’t think “Fabulous” by MEEK is charting anywhere yet, but watch out if it does. Based on the couple of times I’ve come across this song, it’s aiming to be this year’s “Messy:” it’s not.
I'll get two of the more serious ones out of the way first so we can discuss goofier or completely misleading covers:
Scorpions did not like the original cover of Virgin Killer for obvious reasons.
Not really cover art, but Warner Bros. put an insert of a inverted cross in Black Sabbath's first album, something the band did not want there (especially considering most of their music, including their title song, is pretty much ANTI-satanic).
Weezer - Pinkerton
This was the group’s first album after Lindsey Buckingham jumped ship. In Lindsey’s place, they brought Rick Vito and Billy Burnette. This album was not only significantly less successful than their last album together (Tango in the Night), but the critics were harsh on this record. However, FM is arguably more popular than ever today. That’s why I hesitate labeling it as a true “failure”.
I feel that when discussing possible episodes for Todd to do, we are very stuck in the now, with a lot of stuff so recent that the badness of the album is a meme. What are some real old ones? Some true "The artist was on top, put out this, never recovered", and because it's so old, they are very unlikely to recover.
I understand Todd is not a historian; he is a critic, but I do love the mini history lessons we get on things like Solo Ringo, John Fogerty (twice), and Edgar Winter. Love all that stuff
My mom absolutely loves Camper Van Beethoven, and while they aren't extremely obscure, I'd say they're on the lesser side of well known in regards to 80s alternative rock acts, especially compared to more commercially successful alternative rock artists from the 80s like R.E.M and 10,000 Maniacs.
He referred to him as "If Micheal was horny!"
Thoughts on this?
It honestly felt both hilarious and ironic when everyone trashed "Daylight" by David Kushner and got Hozier his highest charting song the next year. It was a case of "we have Hozier at home/we don't care, we want the real thing"
So, it makes me wonder, given how Malcolm Todd has been dividing listeners with his Temu Steve Lacy style, is there a chance we could get lightning to strike twice?
George Thorogood and the Destroyers have recorded some of the stupidest songs but they're also really fun songs about drinking and being a badass with tight bluesy guitar riffs. Just good time party rock.