that stage where you think they aren't popular anymore but are actually way more popular than they were when they had "buzz"

The Shins

are they still putting out records??

the lead singer put out that dangermouse collab but that's all i've heard lately?

oh god that song is so dull

loooool

guys, every band that you and everyone in your office know the name of can sell out 30 800 seat clubs on a tour regardless of their level of quality or how recent they had an album released.

nope.

if that were only true ... *sigh*

name the band you're thinking of.
cuz winger can do it.

nb: i mean anyone who had at least one major radio single

forks, i work for a contemporary classical music non-profit.

there should be an "office full of hipsters/subculturists" caveat

like, I'm sure that if I started a company with my high school friends, we could spend hours talking about Grotus and Savage Aural Hotbed and everyone would know who they were, but they are not filling 30 800 seat venues across the country

Yah I do mean an "average" office
Sara where do you work?

that's the most detail i'm giving about my day job, sorry.

lol, u think the internet is real

lol, i'm being chided by a kitchen utensil embedded in a meat substitute

http://ranger.gamebanana.com/img/ico/sprays/thats_racist.gif

I know they've already been mentioned but Cake kind of owns this thread

Nick upthread - The Bluetones are splitting up! They're playing a farewell tour including Shepherds Bush Empire which is the same as they have done almost every time in the last ten years. Not quite big enough for this thread, honestly surprised that it's happening now and hadn't before.

Most amazed I've been at seeing a gig listing apart from the aforementioned Placebo at the O2 is usually US bands that I thought never had any UK chart or radio presence but still sell out big shows - e.g. Brand New playing Wembley Arena.

savage aural hotbed is such an amazing show, esp an outdoor show when they can bring the 15 foot drums made out of industrial sewer pipe

Sigur Ros

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/stopthepresses/392201/jon-bon-jovi-still-rockin-and-making-a-killing/

Didn't Bon Jovi have the top grossing American tour last year?
And that "Who Says You Can't Go Home?" song is on country radio every other hour still.

perennial stadium acts still playing stadiums is kind of a different deal imo

don't believe winger can actually fill as many 800-seat rooms as is being asserted upthread

Conversely, you'd think They Might Be Giants or Ween would be able to pull off a headlining UK tour, but they just don't arrive.

So also: latter-day Weezer (who are a considerably bigger draw)

The 17 year olds Kip was singing about in 1988 are now 40, and I'm sure they're just as desperate for his attention now.

i have personally witnessed kip winger sell out a standing room crowd of 850 or so in times square.
and yeah, it's almost invariably a special variety of woman living out th' dream.

Winger and Kip Winger
at Havana



Havana
New Hope, PA, US
Friday 03 June 2011
Winger and Kip Winger
at Crazy Donkey



Crazy Donkey
Long Island, NY, US
Saturday 04 June 2011
Winger and Kip Winger
at Recher Theatre



Recher Theatre
Towson, MD, US
Friday 15 July 2011
Kip Winger and Winger
with Soft Parade at Showcase Live



Showcase Live
Foxboro, MA, US
Buy tickets Saturday 16 July 2011
Winger and Kip Winger
at The Cube



The Cube
Newark, DE, US

would go to all these crazy donkey winger shows.

Yeah, Winger would be a way more fun show than, say, Fleet Foxes, or whatever (seriously.)

one of the best shows i ever saw was ace frehley at a bar in brewster, new york. kicked ass. ace! and he was like five feet from you. this was before the whole reunion thing. obviously.

the Recher Theatre is a pretty big place! they used to get the same kind of cool acts as the 9:30 club, but then they got a new booking guy or something and started leaning real hard on nostalgia acts and tribute bands.

I remember loving a Vinnie Vincent Invasion show in, like, 1986, even thought the rest the audience was booing (or boo-urnsing.)

thought= though (duh)

Sure, it was ages ago (pre-"Dookie"), but Green Day used to be underground critics darlings at one stage too. They aren't anymore, yet they are more popular than ever in terms of live appeal and album sales.

Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson, Ben Harper et al will be popular for as long as PUA types in Australia use their music to lure gap-year girls away from the campfire.

does reb beach still play for winger? that dude can shred! (would pay approx $5 to see him shred)

Sometime in the mid-to-late-nineties, Kip Winger came and played at the Stone Balloon (RIP) in Newark, DE so my friends and I got high and went down to Main St. to see what kind of people would come to see Kip Winger solo in the mid-to-late-nineties. (answer: lots of people.) Two metal dudes and a woman with huge hair metal hair were walking towards the venue when they got into a loud, raucous screaming fight. Finally, one of the dudes broke away and stalked angrily towards the venue while the other dude pulled the woman back towards the car. She turned and reached her one free hand toward the Stone Balloon and cried wrenchingly, "WIIIIINGEEEERRRRRR!!!!!"

Jack Johnson, Ben Harper et al will be popular for as long as PUA types in Australia use their music to lure gap-year girls away from the campfire.

― broodje kroket (dog latin), Friday, May 20, 2011 7:27 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

didn't really need to even say "in Australia" here

^ t bomb

Cake comes to Milwaukee every 2 years or so and I always want to go but the tickets seem to sell ridiculously fast. Was kinda floored that their latest album seems to be selling well. They haven't had a good single in a decade and I would think their fans would be over them by now. And yet here we are.

holy shit, I thought Short Skirt, Long Jacket was like 5 years ago. wrong

Guster

talking to some friends the other day re: Ben Folds, I realized that he almost certainly fits this category — critically panned, artistically irrelevant, and unfathomably popular among people we will never associate with (the phrase "bro-rock circuit" was used)

xxp yeah and the weird thing about that was that most Cake fans at the time thought it was kind of a self-parody, which it is (still a great tune though)

i dunno, i've always been a fan, i guess there are a lot of people to whom this band really MEANT something like, 10-15 years ago. that's why I don't find it surprising that TMBG still is a huge draw, because i know what it's like to be 14 and obsessed with the band, and their albums hold up as you get older. Cake on the other hand; I don't really see myself ever anticipating a new release by them again.

the elephant itt: U2

I see the Violent Femmes are touring again

Lana Del Rey's Summertime Sadness is #16 on the Billboard Hot 100. Does that count?