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Biggest Acts that Cast the Smallest Shadows

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    Biggest Acts that Cast the Smallest Shadows

    I don't pretend to know a metric to measure this. The biggest-selling artists who are no longer heard or listened to, nor are beloved of critics.

    I'd posit Robson & Jerome, whose debut album, in the UK, was the sixth-highest selling of the 1990s.

    #2
    This may very well be a US-centric view, but some one called David Gray appears to have the 28th best selling album of all time in the UK.

    I was previously unaware of his existence.

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      #3
      I remember White Ladder (owned a copy as well, but got it by accident), it was absolutely huge in the late 90s, with Babylon being completely overplayed on commercial radio.

      I think there were one or two other singles from the album. I don't remember him doing anything else though, apart from playing in SoccerAid in 2006 for the England team.

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        #4
        My other thought was Peter Frampton. Admittedly he sold a shitload of Frampton Comes Alive LPs, but I'm struggling to remember more than about three records. I don't remember ever hearing The Herd or Humble Pie. From what I saw of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie, he wasn't a very good actor either.

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          #5
          In the US, both Tommy James and The Shondelles and The Loving' Spoonful were shifting huge quantities of records in the mid-late '60s, but I'm pretty sure you have to be 40+ to have heard of either of them.

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            #6
            Originally posted by WOM View Post
            In the US, both Tommy James and The Shondelles and The Loving' Spoonful were shifting huge quantities of records in the mid-late '60s, but I'm pretty sure you have to be 40+ to have heard of either of them.
            They're both stalwarts of Classic and Oldies stations though.

            John Sebastian wrote some pretty good songs.

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              #7
              Norah Jones sold 27 million copies of Come Away With Me in 2002. Since then... er... um...?

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                #8
                Originally posted by 3 Colours Red View Post
                Norah Jones sold 27 million copies of Come Away With Me in 2002. Since then... er... um...?
                I would argue Norah Jones redeemed herself on Daniele Luppi and Danger Mouse's Rome LP.

                Good singer. Blame her record company and producers.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by Stumpy Pepys View Post
                  They're both stalwarts of Classic and Oldies stations though.

                  John Sebastian wrote some pretty good songs.
                  Oh, for sure. But who's listening to Classic and Oldies stations? 15 year olds have heard of The Beatles and The Stones, but those?

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by WOM View Post
                    Oh, for sure. But who's listening to Classic and Oldies stations? 15 year olds have heard of The Beatles and The Stones, but those?
                    Me, two months ago in Norway on the car radio. For two weeks. Fräulein Pepys wouldn't budge.

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                      #11
                      Westlife. Thirteen UK number ones including nine of their first ten singles, the other topping out at number two. Third most successful band in the UK this century. Shifted 40 million records. In existence from 1998 to 2012 when they split.

                      Since then all their solo careers have bombed, though one of them got out in 2004 and had a bit more success. Never cited as any sort of influence. Don't (yet) do the revival tours. Never hear them on the radio, apparently they've had one play on Radio 1 in the last month (presumably either ironically or whatever they call that Golden Hour thing now) and more surprisingly the same on Radio 2 (chuff knows what that was, Ken Bruce's love song perhaps?)

                      For those who've never heard of them, they were a boy band. Simon Cowell never took them to the USA.

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                        #12
                        I was going to suggest that boy bands and girl bands are made for this category.

                        I also see Norah Jones as more akin to Lauryn Hill than someone who genuinely disappeared without a trace.

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                          #13
                          Yeah, I'd see boybands, girlbands and people off tv-shows to be a different category to the Peter Framptons and Norah Joneses and David Grays.

                          There's a whole raft of safe "adult" balladeers from the early 2000s who were once huge but who've vanished without trace. Dido, David Gray, James Blunt, James Morrison...

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by WOM View Post
                            In the US, both Tommy James and The Shondelles and The Loving' Spoonful were shifting huge quantities of records in the mid-late '60s, but I'm pretty sure you have to be 40+ to have heard of either of them.
                            Like many threads on this forum, it's extremely age specific. Even if you're under 40 and never knowingly heard TJ & Shondells tracks, you'll certainly have heard re-recordings of his songs which much qualify as a bit of a shadow. For example Prince and Joan Jett both recorded Crimson and Clover, and Tiffany had a massive hit with I Think We're Alone Now. The fact that you can't see The Shadow doesn't mean it's not there.

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                              #15
                              The Police - They were a band with a pretty distinctive sound yet how many acts have tried to replicate it since? And they were pretty much the biggest band in the world when they called it a day after Synchronicity

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post

                                There's a whole raft of safe "adult" balladeers from the early 2000s who were once huge but who've vanished without trace. Dido, David Gray, James Blunt, James Morrison...
                                James Blunt is the best musician on Twitter.

                                I'd stick Semisonic on this list. Secret Smile and Closing Time were massive at the time but who's heard of them now. (I have their albums; unplayed for years)

                                Nickelback sold shitloads of records but nobody would cite them as an influence. Not if they wanted any credibility, anyway.

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                                  #17
                                  The Osmonds. Sold shedloads in the seventies. Made one genuinely good single ("The Proud One"). Did a few tours and went to Branson. Or maybe I'm missing something.

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                                    #18
                                    This thread is weird. You might as well mention anyone who's ever had a hit and isn't in the small, select group of legends.
                                    Surely the idea would be to name acts that were mega-big and critically acclaimed, and now nobody thinks they were much good at all.

                                    So, Peter Frampton fits the bill perfectly. His legacy is two songs that get the occasional spin on the oldies station, but that's a meagre legacy in relation to the status he enjoyed in 1976/77. Whereas fellow behemoth of the era Meat Loaf is still regarded as a classic act because Bat Out Of Hell is still critically and (I think importantly) nostalgically relevant.

                                    I don't think many people treat the output by the Police as irrelevant. Do they influence people today? Maybe indirectly, via Puff Daddy's theft of Andy Summer's riff. But if we want to measure their irrelevance by direct influence and current popularity, then we might as well go include Sam & Dave or Hank Williams, because young people are not influenced by them or even listen to them, the way our generations might.

                                    Acts like The Osmonds never were critically rated, and they never aspired to leave a lasting legacy. They weren't Richard Carpenter (who has left a lasting legacy). But as teen act, they contributed to the template for all the boybands that were to come. So I think they are more than a footnote in music history. Plus, "Crazy Horses"!

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                                      #19
                                      Have to agree largely with G-Man's reading of this.

                                      I'd wager that Jeff Beck also fits here, since he has frequently been cited as one of the greatest guitarists of all time - mainly by fellow artists - but most of the public would recall little more than one semi-novelty hit from decades of his work.

                                      I can't see the point of including boy bands (or similar) here, since they are created solely to cash in on a particular zeitgeist. They may have shifted shedloads of product, but nobody would ever consider Westlife as any kind of 'marker' in terms of the music industry - they were merely a conduit enabling non-music fans to have a clutch of favourite songs in one place, regardless of quality. (NB They had fourteen UK number ones: their rise - or more accurately, their artificial propulsion into pop's upper echelons - pretty much flagged the death of pop music in this country. Empty, joyless and beyond cynical - the perfect flagship for Pop Idol and its identikit offspring.)

                                      The Osmonds were a whole(some) different 'kettle of', IMO - and for that reason, they perhaps just about qualify. Yes, they were teen fodder, but there was undoubtedly talent there - they wrote and played a lot of their own material. However, to suggest that The Proud One (of all songs) was The Osmonds' best moment can only ever be one person's opinion...
                                      Last edited by Jah Womble; 09-08-2018, 09:07.

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                                        #20
                                        Summer in the City by The Lovin' Spoonful is one of my desert island/all time top 20 songs. And it spawned some great soul-funk cover versions, too.

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                                          #21
                                          We were having a conversation at work along these lines a few weeks ago - acts who were huge and seemed set to join "the canon" (however you want to define that) but are now diminished in stature, for whatever reason.

                                          For example, at one point it felt like REM, given their gradual, multi-album rise from the alternative scene and eventual megaselling era, would always be inescapable. Half a dozen inferior albums later, manifold hobbyist side projects and a frontman who has chosen not to persue a solo career? Relatively forgotten, when compared to (eg) Nirvana.

                                          I guess what I'm trying to express is that they cast a smaller shadow than they did, or arguably deserve to.

                                          We now return to our original discussion.

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                                            #22
                                            No, that's a perfect example. And soon, someone will be along to tell you it's a shit example because a lot of 50 year olds have heard of them.

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                                              #23
                                              You know who casts a bizarre shadow? Fine Young Cannibals. Two (2) albums total; your average punter couldn't name a member; but even my kids know She Drives Me Crazy when it comes on or shows up in a movie.

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                                                #24
                                                Originally posted by George View Post
                                                The Police - They were a band with a pretty distinctive sound yet how many acts have tried to replicate it since?
                                                Nirvana.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by adams house cat View Post
                                                  The Osmonds. Sold shedloads in the seventies. Made one genuinely good single ("The Proud One"). Did a few tours and went to Branson. Or maybe I'm missing something.
                                                  What about "Crazy Horses"? Everyone knows "Crazy Horses"

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