Howard & Roland & Curt

[Beatle Simon]

Timelines are very complex here though because the bands are in different phases of their rise and fall bell curve. At the start of 1982, Adam and the Ants were still huge and Adam had a solo #1 in 1982 so was still very much Premier League. Shakin' Stevens was kiddiepop but had more hits in the 80s than anybody. Duran Duran don't hit really big until Spring 83 by which time Human League are faltering (down to second tier I'd say) and Adam is yesterday's man.

1984 to me is a different period entirely than 1982 and there aren't many acts who were huge in both years. 1983 was thus very transitional with Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, Culture Club and Eurythmics becoming Premier League but many 1981-82 acts having peaked and starting to fall.

Thompsons, Kershaws, Joneses are more like teams who have a season in the bottom six of the Premier League and occasionally are big enough to go toe to toe with the big clubs but never look like hanging around. Live Aid kills them off (although to my surprise they still get TOTP appearances up to around 1987, when I'd assumed they were long dead).

Kajagoogoo - never in the Prem. One good cup run (i.e. one or two hit wonder). Ditto Nicks Heyward and Kershaw. Soft Cell - one season in Europe (Burnley?).

Style Council - really a cult band around Weller reliant on a loyal fanbase. Not sure they ever crossed over into pop acceptance where casual buyers would pick up their singles.

Lack of a #1 is significant. I think all the acts above who never established themselves as Premier League regulars never had a #1. Eurythmics had to wait until 1985 so were a slow burner really. A "top six" act is one you'd expect to go #1: Jam (1980-82), Police (1979-1983), Duran Duran (1983-84), Wham (1984-86), Frankie (1984), perhaps Shaky (1981) and Adam/Ants (1981-82), then obviously Madonna (1985-89) and Jacko (1983-mid-90s).

Wonderfully detailed post there, SD.

I wouldn't compare The Style Council as a football team, but I would compare Weller to Kevin Keegan. His Jam days are equivalent to Liverpool, Hamburg and er, Southampton. His TSC career is comparable to Newcastle - puposely dropping a league for a new lease of life. His solo career is his return to St James as manager.
If only the last TSC gig at the RAH finished with Weller leaving in a helicopter.....

[WOM]

You know who's baffling from the same period: Fine Young Cannibals. I don't know if anyone took them too seriously, but their first album was appreciated by me and my sort. And then four long years later, they blow the roof off the joint with a billion-seller LP. And after that, nothing but crickets. Granted, a collection of odd ducks, but you'd think it would have been hard to walk away from all that.

[Jah Womble]

In their homeland, they remained 'moderately successful' for a few years - a good crop of hits, but never likely to threaten the top table. Even with the cuts from The Raw and the Cooked, which I assume is the record to which you allude. Part of the problem was that as individuals, they were always far too busy doing other stuff, so when FYC split in 1992, it came as little surprise to anyone.

So the Puel era would be Watching The Wildlife then? Two or three years later, a bit dull and immensely disappointing.

Yep, pretty much that. Rage Hard would probably have been a couple of narrow victories at the start of the 2016-17 season.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Whenever I see this thread title I get an "I Can Sing A Rainbow" earworm.

[WOM]

I'm not sure of the actual chart stats, but She Drives Me Crazy was massive over here. That album was inescapable for a good year, IIRC. From what I've read since making that post, the success was the end of them. They got bigger than they wanted to and apparently couldn't handle it.

[Sits]

Here's a curve ball in the EPL/EFL analogy, very successful for a short while, and playing a different game to most: Big Country.

[HeavyDracula]

Here's a curve ball in the EPL/EFL analogy, very successful for a short while, and playing a different game to most: Big Country.

Ferguson's Aberdeen?

[Jah Womble]

Ha - that's pretty much it. (In terms of the PL, perhaps a consistently top-six side playing in a huge stadium, but never really winning the major trophies. Can't... think... of... anybody...)

I'm not sure of the actual chart stats, but She Drives Me Crazy was massive over here. That album was inescapable for a good year, IIRC. From what I've read since making that post, the success was the end of them. They got bigger than they wanted to and apparently couldn't handle it.

SDMC was a US/Canadian number one, as, remarkably, was the follow-up Good Thing (both going Top Ten in the UK). The former I believe went platinum across the pond.

I gather from some in the know that Roland Gift wasn't the easiest gentleman with whom to work, so that was likely also a factor in their sudden demise.