Confusing Popular Bands, Pt. 1
After teasing it on my podcast, "Groupie and Harmony", a couple weeks ago, I finally have released part one of my Confusing Popular Bands Series. While the vast majority of artists who found commercial success make sense in either a historical setting or music sense, there are some where it is surprising they were popular either at that time or in general; this post focuses some of these artists. In this series I will discuss around 30 artists who are popular but I am confused by their popularity. This is not to say that I do not enjoy them or wish they weren't popular (on the contrary, I love several artists who are included in this series). I typically shied away from the cases where I was surprised that a group that wasn't as well-regarded became popular, since those are usually not surprising given the catchiness of their music or the time period it is being released (think an artist like Nickelback or The Chainsmokers; in a historical setting, their popularity makes sense given music trends). Rather, I focused more on artists who performed an unusual style, have found touring success that doesn't correlate with their studio releases, artists who seem to be more popular than their commercial success would success, artists whose popularity doesn't seem to make sense at a certain point in history, and more.
As I mentioned earlier, I previously discussed/teased this series in my podcast. In this episode, released on 4/13, I discussed several artists, including Nirvana, The Cure, Dream Theater, Foster the People, Chance the Rapper, and Chris Stapleton. I will be releasing part 2 in the next week. In this post, I will discuss several other artists, including Tyler, the Creator, Radiohead, Wilco, N.W.A., The Used, Deftones, and Weird Al.
Tool
The inspiration of this mini-series, Tool is the epitome of a
band that has a massive fanbase that feels safest calling it a cult-like
following because it is confusing that they would be a band headlining
festivals and massive tours. Their first
album, Undertow, had their most iconic radio song, “Sober”, which at
5:05 was the third shortest of their singles (only longer than “Hush”, released
on their record label debut EP, Opiate, that didn’t garner much
commercial attention at the time, and “Prison Sex”, also from Undertow). Even this album, their album that likely
sounds closest to a mainstream album, still averages more than 6 minutes per
song. Their next album, Ænima, clocks
at 77:18 for 15 songs, averaging more than 5 minutes even while including multiple
interludes that are less than 2 minutes.
This trend has continued for their remaining albums as they all shifted
more towards progressive metal; Lateralus was 78:51 with 13 songs
(including 4 shorter tracks), 10,000 Days was 75:45 with 11 songs
(including 1 shorter track), and Fear Inoculum was 79:10 with just 7 songs
(capped with the 15:43 Grammy winning “7emptest”). What’s crazier is that their 3 most recent
albums all debuted at number 1 in the U.S.
They also had 2 songs that charted on the Billboard 100, “Schism” and “Fear
Inoculum” (which at 10:21 is the longest song to chart). On top that they finally allowed their music
to be on streaming services in summer 2019 prior to the release of Fear
Inoculum. It typically does not work
this way when building an audience, but Tool has made it work this way somehow.
Grateful
Dead
Prior to the Grateful Dead, there were not many artists that
had a large fanbase win terms of touring.
In a historical setting, I liken the massive success they found to what Beatlemania
eventually obtained. The big difference between
these is that the Beatles found massive commercial success during this stretch while
the touring following preceded the commercial success for the Dead. For albums, their first top 40 album was
released in 1970 (with Workingman’s Dead reaching 27), their first top
20 album came in 1973 with Wake of the Flood hitting 18 (as a note, American
Beauty, released in 1970, reached 19 in 2020, but reached 30 initially),
and their first and only top 10 album with 1987’s In the Dark, a
commercial success nobody saw coming.
While they had a surprise top 10 hit with “Touch of Gray” in 1987, they
didn’t have any other top 50 hits. While
it isn’t as much of a surprise now given the presence of many jam bands (including
Grateful Dead), it wouldn’t make complete sense for them to have this big of a
following prior to this outside of that time in history they emerged (the late
60’s).
Eminem
Some would argue that Eminem’s fame made perfect sense given
his skill and the success of hip hop and rap at that time, but there is one
main reason I consider this such a surprise.
Up until this point, there were
few white rappers who found commercial success, few who found sustained
success, and few who weren’t viewed as more of a comedic or novelty
artist. Some of the white hip hop
artists who found commercial success prior to that include Vanilla Ice (who had
hits with “Ice Ice Baby” and his version of “Play That Funky Music”), 3rd
Bass (“Pop Goes the Weasel”), House of Pain (“Jump Around”), and Beastie Boys
(who was a bit different due to their extensive use of rock samples, but still
weren’t regarded as good rappers). Even
Eminem’s breakthrough single, “My Name Is”, was more comedic in nature. While he had several singles that were
serious and received acclaim, most notably “Stan” and “The Way I Am”, his next
two top 10 hits were “The Real Slim Shady” and “Without Me”, both of which were
more comedic. He didn’t have a top 10
hit with a darker song until the follow-up to “Without Me” in “Cleanin’ Out My
Closet”. He showed this wasn’t a fluke
by getting his first number one hit with “Lose Yourself”, but the result wasn’t
expected considering the history of white rappers up until that point and his career
path to reach that point.
Bonnie
Raitt
The blues/rock musician Bonnie Raitt has found continued
success since late 80’s with her massive hit album Nick of Time that hit
number 1 and earned her 4 Grammys, including Album of the Year. Since this album, she has received 23 Grammy
nominations and won 10, never fell out of the top 20 in albums, had multiple
top 40 and top 100 singles, and has consistently been a massive and respected
name in the industry. The reason she is
included in this post is because Nick of Time was her 10th
album; up until that point, she never had a top 50 single, had no top 20
albums, received 3 Grammy nominations, and often released albums that were not viewed
as positively as her later releases (with the exception of Give It Up). Even her album Nine Lives released in
1986 got mixed reviews and peaked at 115 in the US. What caused this shift? After being dropped by Warner Bros. (where
she released her previous 9 albums), she participated in some collaborations/appearances
before receiving several offers and chose to go with Capitol. Tim Devine (who also signed/discovered Katy
Perry, Mazzy Star, John Hiatt, Blind Melon, Lloyd Cole, and Concrete Blonde,
among several others) took notice of Raitt and signed her. After the record label initially didn’t
promote Nick of Time, Devine took issue with it and bought a full-page
ad for several magazines. The result
worked and the rest is history. While
this shouldn’t be surprising or confusing given how talented Raitt is, there
are many other talented musicians where this doesn’t happen, and their career
is closer to the first half of Raitt’s.
The
Struts
I heard Gary Spivack from Danny Wimmer Presents once
describe The Struts as a band that went from being a band that would be early
in the day on a side stage to being one of the later bands on the main stage
(in other words, one of the more popular bands theoretically). In the Boston Calling 2020 lineup (which was
cancelled), they were listed as the 5th name on Friday, after Foo
Fighters, Jason Isbell, Brittany Howard, and Noname (and ahead of artists with
more commercial success like Sharon Van Etten, Ian Dior, Pup, and Andrew
W.K.). How on earth did a band that has
only 1 of their 3 albums as top 100 hits (peaking at 99), recently releasing an
album that didn’t chart in the US (but peaked at 11 in the UK), and in 2019, on
their headlining tour, performed at a standing room only venue of 1200 people
become a heavily sought band by festivals?
First, they have found success on rock radio, led by singles such as “Could
Have Been Me”, “Kiss This”, and “Body Talks”.
More importantly, they have received acclaim as a live band due in large
part to their musicianship, presence, and energy (I have seen them live and it
lives up to the hype). Also, the fact
that their last album didn’t chart in the US but charted at 11 was absolutely a
fluke; they weren’t able to tour to promote the album and featured some artists
popular in the UK on the album, so I think reaching top 10 in the UK for their
next album is more likely than not charting in the US again. What isn’t a fluke is the reasoning why so
many festivals love them; that said, it is strange for that to work this way.
Panic! at
the Disco
During the episode of “Groupie and Harmony” where I teased
this segment, I discussed how I was confused by the fact that Foster the People
took a weird premise of their music and made it weirder in their second
album. Enter Panic, who gives a new spin
on this by totally changing their style for their second album. Their debut, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out,
made them beloved by emo/pop punk fans and often hated by others, but it still reached
13 due in large part to the massive success of “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”,
which hit 7 in the US. Then came their
second album, and the title says it all:
Pretty. Odd. This album
contains hints of genres such as psychedelic pop, baroque pop, and folk rock,
and was a far cry from their debut.
While it was better reviewed by critics than their debut and reached number
2 in the US, their second effort was confused by fans alike. Their third album, Vices & Virtues,
attempted to shift back to their former sound, it only hit 7 in the US and
received mixed reviews. They didn’t truly
regain their footing until released their fourth album, Too Weird to Live,
Too Rare to Die!”, which marked another genre shift, this one to more of a
pop sound. While it is not surprising to
see bands try something new, it is uncommon to see a band try something as drastic
and risky and Panic did, as they had just acquired a fanbase that was used to a
certain sound prior to changing styles.
The String
Cheese Incident
I previously discussed how some bands have had surprising
live followings despite a lack of commercial success. The String Cheese Incident is probably the
epitome of this in terms of live festivals.
They have just 4 albums that have charted on the Billboard 200 (none in
the top 100), but this is not a good representation of the progressive
bluegrass group’s success. Rather, look
at the fact that they are one of the premier jam bands at this point. There are many big jam festivals that book
them and have them perform several sets during the time (I saw one where it was
a big deal that they were performing 5 sets across 3 days). Usually, there is a certain level of
commercial success that is needed to have this kind of status. Of course, jam music is a different animal;
that said, other massive bands in jam music have found commercial success. Somehow, The String Cheese Incident seems to
have totally broken this logic.
Ben Folds/Ben
Folds Five
Ben Folds Five are often considered a one-hit wonder due to
the massive success of their single “Brick”, but both them and Ben Folds in his
solo career have had a bit more success with album; the group’s reunion album
in 2012 hit number 10 and their last album prior to breaking up hit 35 while
Folds has 2 top 20 albums. That said, what
brings them on this list is their song selection during shows. For the group, “Brick” is their 6th
most played song according to setlist.fm, behind fan favorites “Song for the
Dumped”, “Underground”, “Philosophy”, “One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces”,
and “Battle of Who Could Care Less”. While
“Underground” and “Philosophy” were both released prior to “Brick”, the other
four were all listed on the same album, Whatever and Ever Amen, but are
still more popular at shows. As for
Folds’ solo career, this song is the 16th most played song, even trailing
several fan favorites never released as singles, including “Zak and Sara” (his
most performed live song), “Not the Same”, “Annie Waits”, “Effington”, and “The
Luckiest”. On top of that, he typically
performs “Brick” in the middle of his set and, in recent tours, has typically saved
Ben Folds Five fan favorite “Army” for the encore and sometimes added “One
Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces” and “The Luckiest”. It’s safe to say he has always marched to the
beat of his own drum, which is just enough for him to wind up here.
Pavement
Pavement is one of the least popular bands on this list, but
they still found commercial success, especially for 90’s indie bands, and left
behind a massive legacy in the genre. The
reason I am so surprised that they even obtained the following they did can be observed
by listening to Quarantine the Past: The Best of Pavement (I do love them
and this album in particular, so I’d recommend it if you’re interested in
them). As much as I love them, I can’t
deny that the songs that were deemed the greatest hits by label that released
it featured several songs where lead vocalist Stephen Malkmus cannot hit
several notes. While Malkmus is without
question an influential and essential indie musician, it is surprising to hear
this with a band that had 4 albums chart in the top 200, including 2 in the top
100. While this is not uncommon in indie
music, it’s interesting that a band that wound up obtaining some commercial
success still included songs outside of the lead vocalist range on multiple occasions.
Meshuggah
There’s no denying the importance of Meshuggah in metal, but
their popularity is a little bit shocking.
While it took until their fourth album, Nothing, to reach the top
200, and their sixth album, obZen, to reach the top 100, their last two
albums reached the top 20 and they have remained a popular band to book for
festivals. The reason this is so
surprising is because it might be more surprising to find somebody who can
properly identify what style of music they are best described as. While it might be easiest to group them with
extreme metal, experimental metal, and avant-garde metal, their Wikipedia page
also mentions technical death metal, groove metal, death metal, thrash metal, math
metal (while being careful not to use the terminology of mathcore there),
progressive metal, experimental jazz, and alternative metal; they were also
influential in the development of djent music.
On top of that, they frequently mix strange time signatures in polymetric
fashion, frequently having guitars play an odd time signature while drums were
played in more traditional time signatures.
While bands like Gojira, Between the Buried and Me, Periphery, The Dillinger
Escape Plan, and Animals as Leaders have all found commercial success with
weird time signatures and the use of polyrhythms, but Meshuggah paved the way
for them and have somehow remained popular while they were at it.
De La
Soul
This is an interesting case for this list: I am not surprised that they are held in the
regard they are now, and I wouldn’t be surprised of the success they had in
their career in most alternative universes.
The reason they are on this list is because it is surprising in a
historical sense that they found the commercial success they found so early in
their career. Their debut album, 3
Feet High and Rising, is a legendary hip hop album and received critical
acclaim upon release, but it also charted at 24 in the US, due in large part to
the single “Me Myself and I” reaching 34.
The reason this is so surprising is because they’re an alternative hip
hop group and this was released in the late 80’s prior to the genre becoming commercially
successful in the early-mid 90’s. Add to
the fact that they incorporated psychedelic music and jazz into their music,
and it is a wonder how this was competing with the music of the golden age of
hip hop style and early gangsta rap. Had
they been releasing this music in a different era (like had they competed with
Outkast in the late 90’s/early 2000’s), they would not be on this list, but
they found success years prior to notable early alternative hip hop groups like
A Tribe Called Quest, Digable Planets, Digital Underground, Arrested
Development, Outkast, and Goodie Mob; their early success seemed out of place
in a historical setting, as it took them releasing another top-30 album in De
La Soul Is Dead before any other major alternative hip hop releases found
commercial success.
The
Strokes
The Strokes have found worldwide fame and success and have
become a typical band to see headlining major festivals (including Lollapalooza
and Coachella). Now that this has been
established, name a studio album by them.
Okay, you probably thought of Is This It. Can you come up with another? If you can’t, that’s okay, try this
instead: name 5 songs by them. For a band in more of the indie/garage rock
sound, it’s interesting that it is so difficult to name music that they’ve done
outside of “Last Nite”, and maybe “Someday”, “Reptilia”, and “Juicebox” but yet
they’re so famous. Even with their
albums, while their debut album received critical acclaim, their others didn’t
receive anything close to these kinds of reviews (though all of their releases
have received positive reviews from critics).
They’re a band that has found a place with hipsters and somehow has
managed to have continued success.
Sufjan
Stevens
There are some artists that are so eclectic and varying with
their musical styles that it can confuse many listeners. Typically, these artists do not find much commercial
success, but Sufjan Stevens is the prime exception of the contrary. While his first four albums didn’t find commercial
success, he achieved substantial critical acclaim with the releases of Michigan,
an indie folk album that branched into some other genres, and Seven Swans,
a folk album that was possibly his most straightforward release. He then released arguably his best album and
commercial breakthrough with Chicago, which reached 121 in the US. Over the next 5 years, he released a compilation/outtakes
album that hit 71 with The Avalanche, a compilation album of Christmas EP’s
in Songs for Christmas (which hit 122), an experimental/somewhat
avant-garde soundtrack album with The BQE (which hit 171), and the
experimental EP All Delighted People, where 5 of the 8 tracks on it were
more than 5 minutes long (it peaked at 27).
His first top 10 album was the experimental electronic album The Age
of Adz, which finished with the 25 minute long “Impossible Soul”. He followed that up with Carrie &
Lowell (which has a case for being his best album), which hit number 10 on
the charts and went back to a folk sound; of course, this came one year after
being a part of the experimental alternative hip hop/trip hop/electronic supergroup
Sisyphus for their 2014 self-titled album.
Since then, he released an award-winning song for the soundtrack of “Call
Me by Your Name”, an electropop/electronic/somewhat experimental album, a
new-age album, a classical soundtrack album, a live album, an outtake album,
and part of his newest album, a 49-track instrumental album reflecting on his
father’s death. Remember when I said Ben
Folds marches to the beat of his own drum?
I think Stevens might put Folds to shame in many ways.
Circa
Survive
Circa Survive is probably not the most popular band who releases
music that sounds like some blend of progressive rock, post-hardcore, emo, and
alternative. While their style is a
little more eclectic than many bands who performed Warped Tour multiple times,
what confuses me is that they were able to sustain a strong following despite
record label volatility. After releasing
their first two albums, including their breakthrough album, On Letting Go
(which hit 24 in the US), with Equal Vision Records, they signed with Atlantic
Records for the release of Sky Blue Sky, which was their highest
charting album at 11. They left the
record label and self-released their next album, Violent Waves, which
still charted at 15, which especially surprises me since usually there is more
of a drop off when self-releasing their first release. Their next two releases were also with two
different record labels, as Descensus was with Sumerian Records and The
Amulet was released on Hopeless Records, but both still found commercial
success, charting at 50 and 26 respectively.
I’m not entirely sure how they have pulled off this commercial success
despite being signed to so many record labels, but I find it interesting.
Limp Bizkit
This one is probably the most straightforward addition and
the one that breaks the trend I have been trying for here. I did not include any other artists who are
considered “bad” by a lot of fans because of how subjective music is and it
makes sense why most of those artists since thy performed catchy songs (as much
hate as artists like Nickelback, Creed, or Chainsmokers get, it is tough to
deny the catchiness of their music, resulting in popularity). Limp Bizkit is a different one: while many music fans criticized their music
in their prime and even critics doubled down on these views, they still thrived
commercially. I understand the
popularity with albums like Three Dollar Bill, Y’all and Significant
Other, as both of these received decent reviews and had multiple fan
favorites. Even though Chocolate
Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water was not well-reviewed critically,
it did have multiple hit songs in “Rollin’” and “My Way”, so that makes
sense. The one that throws me off is Results
May Vary; it was critically panned and is considered by some to be one of
the worst albums of all time (it has the third worst score on Metacritic for
albums). On top of that, the most
successful single from that album was a cover of The Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes”,
which was panned and considered by some to be among the worst covers of all
time (I think that characterization is harsh, but it wasn’t best single
quality). Admittedly the album didn’t
sell anywhere near as well as their previous albums, but it still reached
number 3 in the US. It doesn’t make
sense to me that everyone seems to realize that this was an awful album yet still
ate it up.
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