Your Would-a, Should-a, Could-a Artists of the Rock Era?

When examining the many chart-ers of the Rock Era, I wonder if certain artists strike you as....shall we say....never having been adequately recognized, celebrated...

You think, "If only X had happened to them, then they'd be remembered as huge stars today."

Maybe:

• Their timing was wrong within the industry

• They had lousy promoters

• They were themselves self-destructive, or prima-donna-ish

• They made a powerful enemy within the industry

• They died too soon

• They couldn't be pigeonholed into a then-viable style

• They were greatly overshone by a larger-name artist who soaked up all the limelight

• They ran out of effective song vehicles

• Internal band squabbles sundered the whole venture

• They could not get their act together when it mattered...

• They, or their styles, were ahead of their time somehow

• Their physical image was not that striking

• Fickle happenings in the political world stopped their trend dead

In my case, I've always wondered how Gayle McCormick, lead singer of Smith, could not have gone onto bigger & better things. She was built like a brickhouse, had a super-hot face, and had a super-powerful, one-of-a-kind voice to go along with it...

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Other names I hear tossed around in this context include:

Badfinger

Bobbie Gentry

Phil Ochs

Evie Sands

Dee Dee Warwick

Timi Yuro

Wall Of Voodoo

Wang Chung

Laura Nyro

...I know you can think of more, and I know you carry a personal exemplar of this phenomenon around in your musical memory...

-Lucky Boy's Confusion [Came during the whole pop-punk/emo scene, but had too many other elements to blend in and be another nameless group of kids who market themselves to Hot Topic. Also very great guys..]

-Barenaked Ladies [okay, they had some pretty good success, but they honestly deserve more.]

-Elliot Smith [again, was recognised a bit, but was better than JUST Miss Misery.]

There's more that just slip my mind at the moment.

"They were themselves self-destructive, or prima-donna-ish"

Terence Trent D'arby

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October Project -- why, is a mystery to me. Their lyrics were too intelligent, cut too deep? Or maybe Sony just couldn't figure out which pigeonhole they fit into...

Nick Drake...

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nat whilk ii

Mother's Finest, of course!

Some of the most gifted musicians I know are relatively unknown... even completely unknown.

The idea that the best will somehow be discovered... it's never worked that way, hard work paying all the dues and whatnot doesn't matter.

One I know died too soon... suicide (officially, but suspicious circumstances IMO). He was one of my best friends. I think he was right on the verge of the big time too... very sad.

Robert Rottet. I think had he lived I would not have to tell you that name... you would know it.

No... they were too intelligent to be huge. I have this same fatal love of intelligent pop, so my "should have been huge" list includes:

And in a slightly different vein, Slade should have been beyond huge. They were big in the UK, nowhere in North America. Later, a band ripped off their sound but with substandard songwriting, put on Kabuki makeup, and rode that horse into the ground.

js

And to think--if he were coming up now, he'd be Kanye West.

Finally looked at the video, and thanks for this. I'd forgotten all about this cover of "Baby, It's You". Off to ITunes as we speak.

js

Geesh. Way too many to name. Probably the best examples I can think of are Peter Case and Richard Thompson. Honestly, I don't think either of them would deal with massive fame too well, so it's probably just as well. But really, two of the best songwriters and performers you'll ever hear.

Jeff Buckley.

I'm a-tellin' ya.

When I think about Gayle McCormick and SMITH, I think they suffered because they were not druggy-dark enough to be considered "SF Acid/Ballroom" or "Progressive" or 'Underground", but they rocked too deeply to be considered AM Top 40 Pop (which was white-hot as a radio formula in 1970)

Failure to pigeonhole--- especially in 1970, maybe not so much today?--- can be the kiss of death. There was no MTV then, far fewer chances to commercialize on McCormick's good looks.

You know as well as I do, if MTV had her as fodder today, they'd be showing parts of her skin onscreen which there are no Latin words for.

While all that may be true, Smith's biggest problem is their entire catalog consists of almost(?) nothing but covers.

Also, I have heard a couple of times that Gayle was treated badly, by "show-biz", and as a result, became something of a recluse who wants no part of the music industry.

An older buddy of mine (I was only 7 in 1970) gazed at her picture recently, and said, "Yeah, and also she didn't age very hot."

I wore the vinyl off these tunes back as an undergrad....BTW this is one-man production ala Eliott Smith, etc...

I hear some crackly distortion on this YT set of tunes, but you'll get the idea. And the TRIVIA QUESTION....what movie featured his song "Lullaby"?

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nat whilk ii

King's X during their first four albums should have been ginormous.

But bad timing, their label and other things conspired to make them

the favorite of people who populate these boards instead of household

names.

I still love them though.

Absolutely. The Feeling is my favorite group at the moment. Though they do well in the UK...

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+1 on Gayle McCormick. She was a great singer.

Here are two more.

Judson Spence. He got a record deal, released an album in 1988, got married and then toured on only a limited basis in support of his album because he wanted to stay home with his wife. Admirable from one perspective but not too smart a career move. This guy was an incredible live performer. He played extensively in the middle Tennessee area just prior to getting his deal. I believe he has had some success as a songwriter in the intervening years.

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Jason and the Nashville Scorchers. At least one self-destructive band member, poor direction/lack of support from their record label and they didn't fit in well with any particular radio format. Below is a fun live performace from their last line-up.

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Jeez, the Jason and the Scorchers vid is great. I used to love them.

San Diego's Beat Farmers. My old band mate Joey Harris on guitar. Here's drummer Country Dick Montana (Dan McClain) out front singing in Dick style. He died behind the drums within that year. They really did live the life.

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But an insistence to "live the life" a little too hard, a lot too hard... and the confusion of 3 lead singers. Recipe for disaster. Anyone who'd been to a Beat Farmers show left thinking they'd just seen the best band in the world. And though that's just the 6+ Budweisers talking... there was something there too.

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There have been so many Minneapolis artists that should have been bigger than they eventually were (well before Prince).

Replacements/Paul Westerberg. What started out as a punk band morphed to some great pop/punk including their ode to Alex Chilton. They would destroy places in concerts and were well known for getting totally blown away and being very spotty because of the booze.

Husker Du had potential, but probably stayed a bit too punk as things evolved.

a cult band that I recorded a few times: d'Gadban Great writing, but didn't know where to go.

Crow had a couple regional hits that should have broken out. Label (out of Chicago) was too small to take them anywhere.

My favorite band from the era: Gypsy signed to Metromedia Records, but they had no idea what to do with them and the label eventually folded. These are off their first album (a double) in 1969. They were the house band at "The Whiskey" in LA for many months around that time. They were a self contained unit, writing all their own material. Their main writer/singer died in 1979 of drug related issues. They "commuted" between Minneapolis and LA and were the house band at the club 1/2 block from where I lived for quite some time.

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Other

I loved the Beat Farmers. Country Dick was great. I especially loved his version of "Karma Chameleon."

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That was done in a Karaoke booth in Japan. He was drunk (no, really?) and they spotted it from the street and went in. Boy Dick.