Acts that you thought would make it....

I often say that my possibilty of being a full time jazz musician was prevented by my financial circumstances growing up.

If my family had been "rich" (define that how you will) I would have just moved to NYC and let Mommy and Daddy support my scuffling lifestyle till I started making it (or not).

If I had grown up dirt poor, I would have moved to NYC and said "well, I already lived 8 people to a three room apartment with no heat in the winter, I can handle scuffling in New York".

But I grew up middle-middle-income; we always had what we needed but not a lot extra; so I compared going to NYC and scuffling for several years versus getting a useful degree and coming out at 22 with a secure job, benefits, retirementn plan, and enough left over every month to put some savings away and afford a few luxuries; and the choice was stark.

 

The Blueberries...

 

Psychefunkapus. I saw them do a CD release party at the Record Plant in the early nineties and then they were gone. I thought they would be big.

 

Heartless Bastards

 

I honestly thought my friends’ band were going to make it. They were brilliant and had a good buzz around them.

Then i joined, and it was all downhill from there!!

 

The Rutles

 

The Fast. High energy glam punk band contemporary with Blondie and The Ramones.

Man 2 Man - Wikipedia.

 

The Producers.

 

I thought a band called Irving would hit it. Their disk "Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers" had some catchy tracks, but now it is harder to find.
Joanna Newsom -- her modest success does not measure up to her talent as a music writer and player.
I know some very talented musicians. Regardless of how great your musical talent, the chance of making it big seems very small, hey? Thankfully, lots of talented people keep playing for the love of music. And fortunately, some of those talents are patient enough to play with hacks like me

 

Sons and Daughters

 

Every band I was in!!

 

Fishbone.

One of the most powerful live bands I’ve ever seen. They just could not quite break through with a hit song/video.

 

There was a period up through the early or mid-90s was probably the last time the major labels displayed real interest in signing performers who didn't conform to conventional pop expectations, and it might have been the best/worst time to be in a guitar band doing what you want rather than trying to do what will chart. Grunge made the biggest dent, but there was so much else going on, and any one of them might've made it big if circumstances had allowed it.

Late 80s, white kids being silly while playing funk? No, not the RHCP, but Dogzilla.


It feels like in the early 90s every city and college town had a singer-songwriter guy writing catchy fun pop songs who couldn't quite break through, either as solo acts or bandleaders. Like the rest of them, Frank Allison & The Odd Sox were intensely popular for a couple years in a few isolated parts of the rust belt but never managed to get farther than that.


New Zealand was like a rock/pop factory in the 80s. For every Finn brother who made it big there were, I dunno, eighteen bands doing something nobody'd ever done before and managed to be hugely influential to certain people in early 90s American rock but noone else. The entire city of Dunedin was turned over to the production of great weird rock singles that disappeared into the crates of obsessive record collectors without seeing the light of day again.

 

I saw The Silent Comedy a few times when they toured, loved their live shows and I thought their album Common Faults was great. Never broke through but the brothers are still at it. . Also James Durbin. He has done ok, joining Quiet Riot after American Idol and doing his own album. He lives in Santa Cruz and I recently saw him do a local show. A down to earth guy. My kids knew his wife growing up. Amazing voice and range.

 

Hothouse Flowers.

 

What is making it ?

 

I know they already “made it” but I would have loved to see more touring and maybe a few more albums than just one.

-Oysterhead
-Antemasque

 

My wife would often remark (as have most of us), 'THOSE guys are way better than what's on the radio', as have most of us at one time or another. You have to remember, this ain't the Olympics: Otherwise the best would be first, then second, etc. Those guys probably are 'better'. But . . . .

They did not have the luck and/or plan to work into 'the business'. Then if they did, could they stay there? Anyone you can think of that's had a long, many years career is the exception, and it's a far different band than the original situation: Now, they're a real business with CPA's, attorneys, employees, taxes, everything required for a company to do business across America or the world. That is a huge change for guys that would pool their money to argue over a bag of White Castles to survive to now studying the tax implications of where to park their money.

'It's Only Rock and Roll' only goes so far . . . . .