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re: Why do some bands have multiple hits in a short period then continue for years without any
Posted on 7/21/25 at 2:19 pm to Revelator
Posted on 7/21/25 at 2:19 pm to Revelator
A lot of it is genre related and about what is popular at the time. Jeff Lynne could release the greatest rock song ever recorded and 99 percent of the population would never hear it, because he's an old white classic rock guy.
Also, ELO has had 20 top 40 hits and were successful for nearly a 20 year run, so perhaps they are a bad example, but your overall point stands.
Also, ELO has had 20 top 40 hits and were successful for nearly a 20 year run, so perhaps they are a bad example, but your overall point stands.
0
Posted on 7/21/25 at 3:54 pm to BogeyTX
quote:
It All Begins With A Song is a good watch on Amazon Prime. It’s about song writing and a group of people who write hits for top country artists.
I just watched it on Youtube.
Very good documentary about writers and their processes of writing songs, with some great songwriters.
A lot of it hit very close to home for me. Especially at the beginning when ( I think it was Rodney Crowell) mentioned the WSM radio tower sending out waves. It's absolutely true.
One of my best songs hit me as I was driving by that thing on I-65 south, headed home from pitching songs. I was kind of depressed because things hadn't gone well.
The song hit me out of the blue like a bullet, complete song, about a subject that I hadn't even really been thinking about.
I pulled over on the shoulder and wrote it down right then.
I got home and recorded it in my closet on a radio shack cassette recorder that evening.
I keep demoing that song trying to get it just right. Hopefully the 5th time will be the charm. We'll see.
Posted on 7/21/25 at 4:48 pm to Lee B
quote:
I noticed a long time ago that people "like" music from around age 12 until 21, or whenever they stop hanging out with their peer group all the time. Music is a social soundtrack for most people; they like what their friends like BECAUSE their friends like it. And whenever life disperses their peer group they stop liking new music, for the most part, and just listen to what they liked in those years and maybe stuff from earlier in their childhood that reminds them of their parents and happy times. They don't even want to hear new songs by the bands they liked in that time frame; they just want the old hits they listened to with their friends. That's all the music most people listen to over and over until they die.
This is spot on.
Posted on 7/21/25 at 7:42 pm to auggie
Glad you liked it. Hired Gun is another good film and it covers the studio musicians and how they go about their career/life.
I’m glad in the movie they talked about Whiskey Lullaby. I love but also hate that song cause of how close it is to me and my life. Brad and Alison sing so perfectly too. It’s one of my favorite songs.
I’m glad in the movie they talked about Whiskey Lullaby. I love but also hate that song cause of how close it is to me and my life. Brad and Alison sing so perfectly too. It’s one of my favorite songs.
Posted on 7/22/25 at 12:44 am to Ace Midnight
quote:
Most songwriters peak in their mid-20s. Most acts find their niche with a certain age group, typically high school/college. Then, whatever it is they do becomes (perceived or actually) old, stale, music belonging to an "earlier" time (4 to 6 years ago).
Obviously, some acts get a longer run or second/third careers. But, just taking a very specific example - everything the Beatles did was in their 20s. That's it. They turned 30 and the Beatles were no more. They all had varying degrees of success after that (Maca particularly), but nothing like that phenomenon.
Plus, success does rob you of a certain degree of hunger, that desperation that is sometimes essential in the creation of works of art.
Have you ever heard about the "Young Male Genius Theory?" I remember reading an article years ago that had a subtitle "What did Paul McCartney and a gang member have in common? The urge to stand out."
Young adolescent males are psychologically driven to find an area where they stand out to attract females to mate with... talent, athleticism, brains, personality and humor... something, anything. It's like competition with their peers for mates...
and when they don't find something "healthy," then being a bully who beats the crap out of everybody else, or a criminal will do... and the kids who have absolutely nothing tend to make up the school shooter types, believed by psychologists for a long tome to be a resentful attempt to eliminate the possibility of others reproducing because they can't.
Posted on 7/22/25 at 8:57 am to Revelator
Well, most bands have NO hits, so there's that. Some bands have A hit (your one hit wonders). Other bands have your topic--multiple hits in a short period then continue for years without any. Other bands have many hits over a long period of time.
Kind of the Bell Curve of music, except the biggest part is the NO hits part.
Kind of the Bell Curve of music, except the biggest part is the NO hits part.
Posted on 7/22/25 at 10:44 am to Revelator
Sometimes they blow their wad on the first album like Boston and also Hootie.....plus in the case of Boston, Scholz was a perfectionist who really thought he was the shite. Very few can reinvent themselves like the Stones did twice and remain relevant. Or have a sound that can continue to attract beyond a 7 year period. Think about it
Beatles were done after 1970
Elvis had about a 5 year span and a rennaisance about 8 years later
Beach Boys essentially burn out after 1966-7 and Pet Sounds
Most of Led Zeppelin's really good stuff is done between 1969 -1976
You can even throw in Michael Jackson 1983 -1990 and then he began his decline.
Few have been able to be really big beyond a 7 or 8 year period. Pink Floyd had a 2 decade run. Stones had a 30+ year run, Springsteen the same along with U2. The Who had about 20 years between 1964 and 1984. Along with Prince who had a really good 20 + year run ( 1982 -2007).
Beatles were done after 1970
Elvis had about a 5 year span and a rennaisance about 8 years later
Beach Boys essentially burn out after 1966-7 and Pet Sounds
Most of Led Zeppelin's really good stuff is done between 1969 -1976
You can even throw in Michael Jackson 1983 -1990 and then he began his decline.
Few have been able to be really big beyond a 7 or 8 year period. Pink Floyd had a 2 decade run. Stones had a 30+ year run, Springsteen the same along with U2. The Who had about 20 years between 1964 and 1984. Along with Prince who had a really good 20 + year run ( 1982 -2007).
Posted on 7/22/25 at 2:06 pm to Revelator
Marketing/commercial radio
Posted on 7/22/25 at 4:49 pm to Revelator
I was thinking about this last night when I saw Christopher Cross in Birmingham. His first album was a hit and by the mid 80's he crashed.
I hear there are many great songs out there that have been hidden, because the current sound is what the music executives want.
I hear there are many great songs out there that have been hidden, because the current sound is what the music executives want.
Posted on 7/22/25 at 5:38 pm to KiwiHead
quote:
Beatles were done after 1970
This doesn’t fit my topic, because Paul, John and George all made hit songs after the Beatles breakup.
Heck Ringo might have too.
Posted on 7/22/25 at 11:39 pm to Revelator
quote:
This doesn’t fit my topic, because Paul, John and George all made hit songs after the Beatles breakup.
Heck Ringo might have too.
In the first five years after they broke up, Ringo had the most Top Ten Hit singles... 8 top ten singles in the US between 1971 and 1975. He was making pop singles that teens and middle-aged people alike dug (many of which are not particularly memorable or timeless), with the help of others (including George as a songwriter), while George and John were more focused on albums that were inner-focused and personal, and Paul was Paul... he might've scored bigger hits than any of Ringo's during that time, but not as many made the top 10.
"You're Sixteen" #1 1974
"Photograph" #1 1973
"No-No Song" #3 1975
"Snookeroo" #3 1975
"It Don't Come Easy" #4 1971
"Oh My My" #5 1974
"Only You" #6 1975
"Back Off Boogaloo" #9 1972
Posted on 7/22/25 at 11:53 pm to Lee B
quote:
In the first five years after they broke up, Ringo had the most Top Ten Hit singles... 8 top ten singles in the US between 1971 and 1975.
I would have never guessed this, and was a big Beatles fan.
Thanks for the info.
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