Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 09:51:08 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Acts who were tipped for success but never made it

Started by George White, April 30, 2018, 01:20:19 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

thraxx

Quote from: icehaven on April 30, 2018, 02:12:15 PM
About three-quarters of bands the NME breathlessly raved about in the mid to late 90s. Ultrasound are one that stuck in my mind as they're one of the very few* I can genuinely claim to be into before they were hyped, so I was surprised on going to see them at the miniscule Wolverhampton Varsity to find it packed and sold out, and learning they'd suddenly been all over the music press for about a week before so most of the tickets had been sold on the door. Think the much anticipated debut album was a flop so that was that although they still pop up every now and then. 

*The other one being Puressence, although they never really had a big '' They're gonna be huuuuge'' moment in the press, they were just sort of always there, never quite making it (apart from in Greece, where they're huge.)

Yeah, Ultrasound were hugely hyped, but they were shite.  I did laugh in John Niven's Kill Your Friends when they are continuously touted as the next big thing.

Puressence.  I first saw them at the Old Trout in Windsor in fuck knows when as 4th support behind 60ft Dolls, Catatonia and Marion.  Back in the day before anyone knew about these bands.  Puressence were easily the shittest out of all the bands that night, and got the hump because of the amount of abuse they got.

monolith

Hope of the States were given a big record deal by Sony after getting rave reviews for their live shows and early singles.

Their guitarist committed suicide before they ever really made it and whilst they did okay for a couple of years they never properly made it and certainly didn't do enough (in terms of record sales) to justify their huge record deal. Singer probably didn't have a strong enough voice either.

Shame, liked them a lot.

Quote from: sevendaughters on April 30, 2018, 10:36:20 PM
yes this is pretty much a perfect song. he's still famous on the continent but a lot of his music is tongue-in-cheek, very Gallic, and doesn't really work here. when he did Eurovision, it was a hilarious and deliberate car crash.

Even after posting that link after all this time I still listened to it 5 times in a row - absolutely incredible.

PaulTMA

The Steve Hoffman forum had this thread recently and The Strokes' name inevitably came up.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: monolith on April 30, 2018, 10:49:44 PM
Hope of the States were given a big record deal by Sony after getting rave reviews for their live shows and early singles.

Their guitarist committed suicide before they ever really made it and whilst they did okay for a couple of years they never properly made it and certainly didn't do enough (in terms of record sales) to justify their huge record deal. Singer probably didn't have a strong enough voice either.

Shame, liked them a lot.
Ehh, remember seeing them in the "New Bands" tent at V Festival, Stafford in 2004. I'm trying to remember who else was in there... Tim Booth, strangely enough (guess he was starting a solo career), ermm... some band whose name escapes me from Eastborne who had a female bassist. And maybe the Bees.

But, Hope of the States... I did remember enjoying that Enemies/Friends single, but they were pretty dire that day, not sure if this was before or after the guitarist did what he did. Maybe a couple of years ago, I found the album for £1 second hand, bought it and it's only had the one listen. Like you said, the singer's vocal abilities didn't match their ambitions - not that ever stopped Embrace having a few big hits, mind.

Wasn't that around the time labels were throwing around stupid advances to all manner of bands? I think it was a brief boom period brought on by bands like the Strokes and Libertines shifting some units and A&R men went a bit mad trying to find anyone, anywhere to keep the wave going.

sevendaughters

there was a band - and I realise maybe it is pushing it to say they were ever tipped for success - called Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia that made Hope of the States look original and powerful.

holyzombiejesus

My friends were in a band that got heavily hyped as one of the next big things. Charlatans' manager, major label, NME cover (albeit shared), video shoots in Spain, Coldplay support. It all came to nothing, even their rarest records now go for pennies and my friend cooks in an old people's home.

DrGreggles

Quote from: sevendaughters on April 30, 2018, 10:36:20 PM
yes this is pretty much a perfect song. he's still famous on the continent but a lot of his music is tongue-in-cheek, very Gallic, and doesn't really work here. when he did Eurovision, it was a hilarious and deliberate car crash.

His Eurovision song ('Divine') was great though. Not very Eurovisiony, but still a memorable performance.
I love his stuff anyway. 'Sexual Sportswear' is a personal favourite.

thraxx

Strangelove should have been massive.  They had the best looking and sound lead singer of all those so called britpop bands and tunes at least the equal of their peers.  Their brilliant 3rd album was weirdly just silently pushed out by the record company, not sure why, maybe because Patrick Duff was on the skag and the rest of the 10 or so odd people in the band all hated each other's guts.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: momatt on April 30, 2018, 04:20:46 PM
Is he the same guy as Thomas Ribero?
If so, I love his two appearances on Les Rythmes Digitales – Darkdancer.  Really sleazy and original electro-soul tracks

Oddly enough I rediscovered this album over the weekend.  I loved it when it first came out and it's still bloody great.
Still, I was always surprised that Thomas Ribero never became big.

I think it is the same guy.

Brundle-Fly

Irish band The Strypes were being hyped because of their precocious bluesy musicianship and Elton John's patronage but they seemed to disappear off the radar as quickly as they arrived.

non capisco

Quote from: DrGreggles on April 30, 2018, 11:06:10 PM
His Eurovision song ('Divine') was great though. Not very Eurovisiony, but still a memorable performance.

It's a testament to 'Divine' that I still remembered exactly how it goes before I clicked on the link despite having heard it a grand total of once in my life before, on the night of Eurovision 2008. Those backing vocals  are seared into my memory.

La Ritournelle is an astonishing song.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: sevendaughters on April 30, 2018, 11:01:38 PM
there was a band - and I realise maybe it is pushing it to say they were ever tipped for success - called Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia that made Hope of the States look original and powerful.
They're on a compilation of electo-type music I have somewhere, released by a label based in Aldershot, of all places. Can't remember a thing about it, but the name stood out at least.

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on April 30, 2018, 11:11:10 PM
Irish band The Strypes were being hyped because of their precocious bluesy musicianship and Elton John's patronage but they seemed to disappear off the radar as quickly as they arrived.
Sure I saw them on a poster as support for a Paul Weller gig in Manchester. I suspect being saddled with a duff singer never helped them, plus it seemed their fans were all Mojo/Uncut readers who aren't likely to take a trip down to a venue on a Wednesday night to watch them.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I have vague memories of an entire genre/scene called Romo that was hyped up to no effect.

Quote from: PaulTMA on April 30, 2018, 10:57:31 PM
The Steve Hoffman forum had this thread recently and The Strokes' name inevitably came up.
They were big, weren't They? At least for one album.

jfjnpxmy

Remember that weird fifty second period when The Vines were the new hotness?

marquis_de_sad

Quote from: monolith on April 30, 2018, 10:49:44 PM
Hope of the States were given a big record deal by Sony after getting rave reviews for their live shows and early singles.

Their guitarist committed suicide before they ever really made it and whilst they did okay for a couple of years they never properly made it and certainly didn't do enough (in terms of record sales) to justify their huge record deal. Singer probably didn't have a strong enough voice either.

Shame, liked them a lot.

Really can't stand that kind of early 00s busker dirge.




Elderly Sumo Prophecy

Razorlight "We're so sorry!"

I should fucking think so.

jobotic

Look at that shit. I'm glad the NME has gone. Good riddance.

At least Amber Rudd didn't hype Razorlight, Pete Doherty and The Thers, the Band of Will of The People.

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on April 30, 2018, 11:03:52 PMmy friend cooks in an old people's home.

Early-onset Alzheimer's is a bugger, as your friend named Cook discovered.

doppelkorn

Anyone remember Cajun Dance Party? I think they took a break so the lead singer could do his GCSEs or something (honestly) and they never came back.

thraxx

Quote from: thecuriousorange on May 01, 2018, 07:00:54 AM


It's a shame that the Verve/Cure/Northern Uproar crossover never caught on.

State of 'em.

non capisco

Quote from: doppelkorn on May 01, 2018, 08:23:26 AM
Anyone remember Cajun Dance Party? I think they took a break so the lead singer could do his GCSEs or something (honestly) and they never came back.

A few of them became Yuck! who I think are still knocking about.

Porter Dimi

Black Kids. They were hyped up by numerous publications when they were unsigned in 2007, their debut EP released on MySpace received rave reviews, and then they signed to Columbia in 2008, released an album produced by Bernard Butler, and had some chart success. Then nothing for nine years. Everyone had forgotten about them by the time the second album came around, but even by 2008 the hype machine had ground to a halt.

Enrico Palazzo

Whipping Boy seemed to be about to hit it big but they didn't really fit in with the Britpop shit scene. Heartworm was great.

Where it went wrong - https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/whipping-boy-the-once-future-kings-of-irish-rock-n-roll-remember-heartworm-1.2418295

Nobody Soup

I remember when Andrew WK started there were people who genuinely believed we were seeing the birth of the next Prince/Springsteen.

The NME is responsible for a lot of this stuff but Gay Dad had a huge amount of press that seemed to go beyond just your normal NME cover hype.

momatt


Shit Good Nose

#59
Quote from: Ignatius_S on April 30, 2018, 08:15:26 PM
I think they started a little later, but wouldn't swear it. In any case, I knew the bassist - he and one of my best mates became friends through work and we used to socialise a fair bit. My memory is a little hazy, but pretty sure this started before the band was formed.

Sadly, I can't really throw any light on the split - I don't think I had the full SP or anything near it. From what I can recall, it wasn't a happy break or one that had been mutually agreed. I think fairly soon after it happened, that I bumped into the bassist, who said next week he was moving to another country - his family had really strong links there, so it's not quite as drastic as it sounds, but even so...

I could swear to it - I was working there (MAFF) from early 1997*** to late 2000, and the band were already gigging regularly and appearing in the local music press when I started.  Pretty sure they were on Later after I left MAFF - I don't ever recall knowing they were going to be on there until it was actually on TV, and if I was still working there at the time I'm sure he would have told me about it.  We were never friends though, just casual acquaintances who shared a love of music (although his band weren't my bag, we both liked funk), so we didn't stay in touch, and this was before the likes of Facebook of course.  I know that the split happened unexpectedly and pretty much overnight, but beyond that...


*** - on reflection, it would actually have been August/September 1996 as I clearly remember it was the end of the summer when I started and I wasn't yet 18 (I'd be 18 the following March), and I also remember that first christmas party I went to, as I didn't know a lot of people there.