No Hit Wonders

[antipodean]

As a companion to Brian's inspirational one-hit-wonder thread, I thought it might be fun to rack our brains and identify influential musicians and bands that never had major commercial success.

I nominate King Crimson - featured here early in their '80s incarnation:


And, of course, the Ramones at their raucous best:


Any favourites out there?

[sowhat]

Ramones — a no hit wonder?!

And here, i wonder — i understand this question may appear silly to most of you, but the thing is, hit lists only appeared in my country in 90s (the other thing is, i never cared for them). What's a hit, or rather what do we call a hit? A top ten chart entry? Or just a song that is well known by public, regardless of chart positions? (To me, it's actually the latter; that said, i wouldn't call the Ramones a no hit band.)

[antipodean]

Hi Sheena,

Many apologies!!!!!!!!!!!

I should have made my criteria a little more clear: in terms of hits, my definition is that a top 10 song is a major hit, a top 20 is a hit, and a top 50 is a minor hit, limiting ourselves to major charts. I love the Ramones and believe them to be a landmark act (hence the nomination), but I don't believe they ever received the chart action they deserved. I don't mean to offend! In my eyes, a nomination for "No Hit Wonder" is actually a great compliment - a badge of honour in fact.

I want to recognise and celebrate those great influential artists that never managed to achieve the commercial chart success that some talentless but heavily promoted acts have attained. I'm sure you can think of a few!

PS I really like the jaw-dropping emoticon.

[captsandwich]

[sowhat]

Evan, nothing to apologize for. I actually agree that a "no-hit wonder" is a cool tag, especially for such a great band as the Ramones.
Oh, and thanks for explanation!

[scotty]

Sheena i love your smilies

[winston]

Evan,

This is a great thread. "Rack our brains" is bang on. I thought of one or two bands and then when I did some research I found out that even though their CD releases did not produce a single, they actually charted as an album in the top 40. One of the bands I was going to nominate was BBM (Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Gary Moore). They only released one album "Around The Next Dream". But because their CD made the charts, albeit briefly (4 weeks) they don't quite fit the criteria.

Back to the drawing board I am afraid.

[antipodean]

Wow - BBM made it into the top 10 in the albums chart - which, alas, does rule them out. If they had just crawled into the top 30, I think they'd qualify, as the albums chart isn't a commercial behemoth like the singles chart.

Just to flesh out the criteria, to qualify an artist must not have had a top 30 single or top 20 album in a major chart. Having a hit in one of the "side" charts (e.g. the alt.country/disco crossover chart) would not necessarily exclude an act from consideration! An artist must also have been influential or prominent, and have actually released material. Otherwise a lot if us would automatically qualify!

[86kubicki]

+1 to King Crismson and more specifically to Adrian Belew. Here's a guy who has been a consummate sideman for Zappa, Talking Heads and David Bowie (to name a few), as well as a top notch solo artist. I would also highly suggest any of his work with his band "The Bears" - great weird pop music!

[phlemmy]

I could name 100 metal bands to fit this category.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

What about Rory Gallagher? I always remember his playing, but I can't think of a particular hit...I could easily be wrong.

[winston]

Well.....................Rory Gallagher may be an underground musician to some, but I'll tell you what I'll let an excerpt from his bio speak for him.

"Rory Gallagher is the man who, without question, spearheaded and influenced the entire Irish rock movement. Remarkably, nearly 11 years after his untimely passing in June 1995, Rory's music is as popular as ever with his legion on faithful followers.

Rory's music was his religion. The conviction and sincerity with which he projected it have assured him a place in rock history and earnt him critical acclaim as one of the greatest torchbearers of driving, effusive rock and blues. The new album augments what we already knew about Rory and multiplies it by performances that show him in a whole new light.

Born in 1948 in Ballyshannon and raised in Cork, Gallagher's rock 'n roll odyssey began at an early age when he saw Elvis Presley on TV and became inspired to get his first guitar. Rory would listen and learn from the likes of Lonnie Donegan, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters and Jerry Lee Lewis, many of whom Rory went on to record with.

While still at school during his early teens, Rory began playing with professional show bands throughout Ireland, whose repertoires included all the popular hits of the day. Not musically satisfied with this, Rory converted his latter showband The Impact into a six-piece R'n'B outfit and headed for Hamburg in the mid-1960s. On arrival, this line-up was soon trimmed down to his first trio.

Rory went on to form Taste in 1967 a band who soon met with wide acclaim, and subsequently headed for London where they were an immediate success at London's famed Marquee Club, counting among their fans John Lennon.

When Taste disbanded at the end of 1970, Gallagher went on to a successful solo career. From his first solo album in 1971 through to 1990's acclaimed "Fresh Evidence" and beyond, Rory Gallagher sold many millions of albums worldwide and toured the globe several times, mounting more than 25 tours in the US alone.

Following extensive tours of Europe, throughout 1972, Rory followed up with the album "Live In Europe," a top ten triumph both in the UK and internationally.
While touring the US solo for the first time, he was voted Melody Maker's Top Musician Of The Year, and to cap off 1972 "Live In Europe" became Rory's first gold album, and his second chart album success in the States.
In 1973 Rory changed the line-up of his band and released a further two successful albums, "Blueprint" and "Tattoo". Later in the same year he achieved another personal high when he was invited to guest on Muddy Waters' "London Sessions" album on Chess. At the end of '73, Rory toured his native Ireland, an almost legendary tour that happily was caught on film via a documentary made by Tony Palmer."

Rory to me, was not only one of the greatest blues/rock guitarists to ever live, but he was also a personal friend and I must add one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. It's still hard to accept that he is gone.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

As I suspected, I was easily wrong.

Brian, was that last paragraph from you? Did you know him? A friend of mine from Edinbugh, Big Jim Merrilees, also knew him and joined him on stage occasionally. He tells me that, with regret, he may have added to the "distress" of Rory's beautifully battered old Stratocaster.

[winston]

Yes Mark, that was indeed a personal note on the subject. I knew Rory because I toured with him. I got to play guitar with Rory and Gerry McAvoy in the dressing room and I even got to play his old Strat.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Wow, what an awesome thing to be able to say. Yes, Big Jim also comments at length about what a genuinely nice guy Rory was. It's a pity that seems to be somewhat of a rarity with "stars", so that when it's true, it becomes almost legendary.

Well, sorry we lost a great one. I wish we heard more of him on the classic rock stations...too bad his name isn't as well remembered as he deserves.