bands/acts with significant fanbases who seem to be from a parallel universe

i remember when i heard that a friend of a friend was a huge fan of a band called Alt J and I was like who? Apparently they are huge!

last night i worked a sold out show (1 of 2) by a singer songwriter whose career began in 2006 and apparently had garnered him a huge loyal fanbase. Andy Schauf? Literally never heard that name in my life.

when i was younger i used to assume if an artist had a huge loyal fanbase and i had never heard of them, they must be Christian -- this does not seem to be the case anymore.

i have never felt so siloed in my own interests. this is a thread for those moments.

This is how I feel about so many young artists who I only first hear of after they've already got 40 million monthly streams or whatever. But I'm young too so why this rock I'm always under, etc.

i've liked some of andy schauf's music. he seems to consistently get good coverage on pitchfork so that's probably boosted his audience.

I had no idea who Jeff Rosenstock was until late last year

No doubt I would have seen his name before but I clearly just glazed over it

Bump this thread when you come across somebody hugely popular you didn’t know about

this is just part of getting older. however, i do think there is a tendency to frame this negatively (ie i'm so out of touch) when really it comes from knowing yourself and your interests and tastes better. in my early 20s i made more of an effort to listen to a wider array of music and that taught me what i enjoy and what i don't enjoy and now i get to enjoy the fruits of that labor, not having to waste time trying to force myself to like stuff i'm not interested.

oh whoops
well i guess i will post there then

i don't think it's entirely about age though -- and i don't frame it negatively or feel bad about my lack of knowledge. it's more that i am disoriented by the landscape. maybe that is age but i don't see it that way.

With me it's definitely aging, and also not really knowing what counts as popular. Right now there are a bunch of artists in RYM's 2024 top 40 that I've never heard--Sierra Ferrell, Friko, Tapir!, Willi Carlisle, Rosali, Julianna Gattas. I have no idea if these acts are popular or just some online ephemera.

Quickly looking into I see that Sierra Ferrell has a duet with Zach Bryan that made it to #37 on the Billboard 100. So that means she's popular--I guess?

I think I know 4 of the artists in the RYM Top 40 this year, don't feel bad

I think with Andy Schauf it was shocking to me that he had been around for 18 years and I had never even heard of him to my recollection. I do not believe I was out of touch 18 years ago or in the interim. The fans were not all young, though many were.

Same with Alt J -- that happened about 11 years ago and I didn't feel out of touch then either. I really feel like there is some parallel reality I haven't been privy to.

Not through malice or intentional exclusion, I just don't happen to live in that silo

I think Shauf started getting hyped when The Party came out in 2016. That's around the time I first heard of him.

lol:

President Barack Obama featured the title track, Neon Skyline, on his 2020 summer playlist.[12] Commenting on this honor, Shauf stated, "It’s cool to think that Obama, or the Obamas together, have listened to my music. It’s a really nice feeling to think my music has gone that far."

I wonder how much of this would be illuminated if we gave ourselves up to the big Spotify pop playlists and algorithms, or if younger people are just as siloed based on what tv series these songs are in etc.

I learned yesterday that several of my siblings are big Noah Kahan fans. I'd never heard of him in my life.

I work with a small team of 20-somethings, I'm going to run the 'how many acts do you recognize on schedule for the 2500 cap venue in town?' experiment this week.

Noah Kahan- Call Your Mom

Noah Kahan- Dial Drunk

Noah Kahan- She Calls Me Back

I asked a youngish co-worker a while back if he'd heard of Black Country, New Road, because I had a hard time believing they were really famous and not just some RYM thing. but indeed they are huge.

RYM's 2024 top 40: I count six artists I have heard of. Yet I suspect the majority of these acts might be older than me.

I knew 8 of the 40

lol 12 for me, that will also be a good resource for my young person experiments.

Actually seven for me, I missed Adrianne Lenker right at the start

I work with a lot of young people at both jobs and it is always interesting to see what they're into.

I also remembered an early time this happened to me and it was circa 2000 or so, when I was certifiably young.

I was working as music editor/writer at a weekly and I interviewed a musician who was coming to play in town -- John Vanderslice. I had enjoyed what I heard of his album he was promoting, so I went to the show and introduced myself. I can't remember exactly how the question came up, but we were talking about bands we were obsessed with and he said Mountain Goats, who he described as having an ardent and sizeable fanbase. I had literally never heard of the Mountain Goats. Then he told me it was really one guy and I was like oh ok.

(Side note: Millions of years later, I saw JD at my current workplace when he played there to a sold out and super ardent crowd and thought of that time all those years ago. Also just looked up Vanderslice and he is still at it! And actually older than me?!?! Wow)

I can't help but think that the thing I am talking about with the parallel universe feeling is more a feature of siloing than age -- I get recommended all kinds of unfamiliar stuff on spotify due to playlists for various things like camp playlists or playlists for songs my students analyze in class. Hence, somehow, I know who Melanie Martinez is.

Looking through the upcoming indie shows in Philly--the ones that are already sold out are:

Ray Bull
Owen
Spraynard
Orchid

more a feature of siloing than age

absolutely agree, this all goes along with the fragmenting/balkanization of music scenes/fanbases in general

We're Ray Bull, the indie pop duo from Brooklyn. Along with being an emerging indie band, we are content creators and influencers.

cool, bruh.

Can you guys feature my hydration drink at your merch table?

this was my feeling re: Lorna Shore. like...I didn't even hear that name until 2022. the band Aborted was an opening act at a show and dad was in respite care so I had a free night to do something and I went to go get a ticket and it said sold out, and I was like what, and I said who the fuck is the headliner that sold THIS venue out, and I look, and it's Lorna Shore, and I'm like Lorna who?

only to find I have several friends into them talking about OMG LIKE I WOULDN'T BE GOING TO THIS SHOW OF THE YEAR, BEEN WAITING A LIFETIME FOR THIS type posts. and after that, I couldn't stop hearing about them from any friend who was into deathcore, seeing memes about them on social media, having friends go to see them and sharing videos, even having a stranger at a bar tell me "OH YR INTO METAL? I JUST SAW LORNA SHORE". and they weren't a new band, had been around since 2009.

I know they're not big like the other examples itt but was pointing out that even though I'm not into deathCORE, it's adjacent to the music I listen to the most and even though I hate most deathcore, I'm very aware of the biggest players in the genre, and yet one of the biggest of them all completely slipped by me even while I was actively paying attention. like they were retroactively invented and everybody knew but me.

also they suck.

i think it's definitely siloing, to echo the posts upthread

right, I mean I don't think I've ever really been aware of what was popular. closest I came was probably in like 2007 when LCD Soundsystem suddenly became one of the biggest bands in the country.

like I feel like the phenomenon is less "big successful act that I somehow hadn't heard of" and more "act that seemed like something I would have encountered prior to now if they truly are as big as people say, to where I think this is some Twilight Zone trick where like they actually didn't exist before 5 minutes ago and suddenly poof they've always been here and only I didn't know"

What I’m more fascinated by is how so many of these people use their utterly unremarkable names instead of some cool stage name.

Just remembered Jeff “Guitar” Elliot from that classic “Name Bands at an Open Mic Night“ thread

(xp) Where are the Engelbert Humperdincks of today?

still love that Michael Bolton's real name is Michael Bolotin

He goes Country: Michael Bolotie

For me this is Fink. A few years ago I noticed that he was playing mid-size venues all over Europe and I had never heard of him. I started a thread about him but it got no replies at all.

Is that the Ninja Tune guy?

when LCD Soundsystem suddenly became one of the biggest bands in the country

Did this even really happen? I always got the impression that LCD Soundsystem were arena-sized in NYC, because that's where all the music critics and middle-aged tastemakers lived, but in the rest of America they were a 1000-1500 cap room act at best.

they were in between those two categories, i think. LCD played the 5,000-seat Aragon Ballroom when they were in chicago in 2010

had an album that peaked at #10 on the charts that year--not exactly a big arena act but good mid-sized fanbase

their fans are lowest common denominator imo

rym test: heard of 18, heard 12 (still need to press play on that adrienne lenker record!)

re: lcd soundsystem you can argue that their stint as one of the biggest bands in the world came 10 years after their supposed heyday, when they headlined a summer's worth of festivals, including coachella

my latest radio station chart just came out, here are the acts in the top ten I have never heard of:

Jalen Ngonda
Arlo Parks
Crumb
Alison Goldfrapp
Willow Avalon

Wasn't Alison Goldfrapp in a popular electronic group? I can't remember their name.

haha I was not sure if there was any relation there

Arlo Parks is one of those British singers who wins Mercury prizes

The world might heal a bit if people* stopped their everlasting memeing wrt Weezer or Cuomo. Then again the band have had 'fun' encouraging it.

*those under 40 at least. Do fans the age of the band care?

I tried to listen to Weezer’s emo-classic Pinkerton once but it turned out it was a Weezer album.

I think the Khruangbin thing is their self-assurance; they’ve offered a very specific thing from the get-go, if you want to appreciate that’s cool, but they don’t feel the need to change or seek an audience. It’s pretty charismatic.

'pretty charismatic' is some of the most high-quality damning with faint praise I've read of late, kudos

'pretty charismatic' is some of the most high-quality damning with faint praise I've read of late, kudos

― imago

you sure do love you some prog rock

i love a lot of the ambient, new age, and balearic vibes music that imago hates, but i agree with him that khruangbin sucks. i don't need things to happen in music, but they do the same sort of demographic-crossing blandness that cigarettes after sex does, only for when people want to feel that "life is good" rather than "i am cool and sexy"

He's been mentioned on ilm before and I've been aware of him for some time so perhaps not totally in the spirit of the thread, but I continue to be shocked by the size of Billy Strings fanbase. I did not predict a jam-adjacent bluegrass kid to reach such huge heights - he's playing two nights at Allstate Arena, around 18,500 capacity, later this year and I see he's got sold out two night engagements at a lot of other arenas and big outdoor sheds.

Love Billy Strings, not at all surprised by the huge leap in popularity. Deadheads were already well-primed by other jamgrass bands (Greensky, Yonder Mountain) but Billy's group and shows are next level

i saw him on tv at pithfork festival and i was surprisingly impressed! i had never heard him before. he really knows how to get a crowd going. and his blend of country/rock is one that i kinda always wished was more of a thing. not truck commercial rock welded onto country. bluegrass rock with power and good playing. i'm all for that guy. you go, billy!

Oh yeah, no shade at Billy. He's a talented dude that deserves all the success. I just never would have imagined he'd hit back-to-back sold out nights in basketball arenas big.

i can't say that i listen to him on my own or anything. but for that one moment in time i was a big fan! same thing happened when i saw japanese breakfast at that fest. so much fun! just a really good time. but not my thing really. but you can see why people like it so much.
i think its cool when genuinely talented people playing upbeat music get big. its kinda nice. there is a lot of dreck out there.

it WAS probably a bit of my old rockist side coming out. it does occasionally for sure. "hey, these kids can play. now this is REAL music..."

but they did just seem to being enjoying themselves and enjoying the fact that they were rocking a crowd. i couldn't be a grump about that.

This isn't really a parallel universe thing, but I'm always surprised at just how big Mitski is. It makes sense to me that her music is critically acclaimed and that she gets the amount of media coverage she does, but I don't get how that translates to the sheer number of Spotify plays her songs have -- "My Love Mine All Mine" has 833 million, and she has 11 other songs with more than 100 million. Basically, I don't know why an "indie" musician who isn't played on the radio (AFAIK) has ended up with so many teenage fans.

Yeah, Mitski was even on the Billboard 100. I guess people really love Teenage Dirtbag.

that's like, one of her less impressive songs too. i get the feeling that she encapsulates a sort of gnomic downer glam vibe that has accidentally connected with whatever it is tiktok is doing. and it's this vibe above all that's being celebrated, more than the songwriting

My students LOVE Mitski — she writes about difficult stuff they can relate to and also it sounds palatable.

She's about 3 times as popular as Phoebe Bridgers on Spotify

what the kids, who are wrong, not me, don't understand is that be the cowboy is peak

I don't get how that translates to the sheer number of Spotify plays her songs have

She's about 3 times as popular as Phoebe Bridgers on Spotify

Four out of five of her Spotify listener locations are in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia. Like, if Wikipedia population #s are right, somewhere between ~1 out of every 10 or 35 people in Jakarta listen to her.

There's an article about Khruangbin in the New York Times this week. (Gift link.)

This Jacob Collier person keeps showing up in guitar trash youtube shows I watch. I have no idea who he is, but popularity is implied.

Cigarettes After Sex have been blowing up. Two years ago, they played DC at the 9:30 club (1,200 capacity). Last year, they upgraded to Anthem (6,000 capacity).

I knew this band had a sizeable fanbase, but I was shocked to see the listing for their upcoming show at Rogers Arena in Vancouver (19,000; other upcoming shows there include Olivia Rodrigo, Pearl Jam, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg...)

Was also kind of surprised when The 1975 were at the same venue last fall.

I feel like ILM voting Real Lies AOTY and them having zero coverage anywhere else is our own microcosm of this phenomenon

feeling this way about Chappell Roan who seems to be everywhere right now, and I still have no idea who she is. my stepkid listens to some band called The Neighbourhood who also seems to have a weirdly massive fanbase.

then there's former youtubers like Conan Gray who I've been aware of for years but have never knowingly heard a note of their music, and it's mostly because he always seems to be hanging in the background around other bigger popstars.

Roan got a big popularity boost for opening the first half of the Olivia Rodrigo tour, but I knew about her because she already had an ILX thread!

This Jacob Collier person keeps showing up in guitar trash youtube shows I watch. I have no idea who he is, but popularity is implied.

― 145 feet up in a Jeffrey Pine (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 12 April 2024 05:18 (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Nor did I until a few years ago when a few close friends had already, passionately, settled on him as the absolute worst. So much so that it drove me to hear his latest album at the time (Djesse Vol 3). I didn't think it was up to much but nor did I quite hear why it/he angered my friends so. But he gets nominated for Grammys a lot right?

I don't hate or even dislike him. Maybe I don't know him well enough. But he dresses like Pauly Shore and pulls out multiple name guitars which were custom made for him, yet I have no idea who he is. The stuff he plays while noodling around on said trash guitar youtubes is pretty, and he seems to know what he's up to.

He's a favored disciple of Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock because of his grasp of harmony and virtuosity (and probably because he made himself a youtube star through being conventionally virtuosic), made a bunch of videos playing all the instruments, and makes fucking terrible music. Sort of the apotheosis of the Youtube-era virtuoso musician who has been able to absorb a huge amount of musical information, but without the unique aesthetic of a Louis Cole or Domi & JD Beck, or respect for minimalism and funk of a Vulfpeck.

For me it's when I think I've discovered some deeply obscure or underground act only to find they're bloody huge, verging on mainstream. Happens a lot with Afrobeats stuff especially.

xp ok, guitar youtubes make sense theb. To clarify, he dresses like Pauly Shore would dress in colder weather. If there's a movie where Pauly lands an internship in the Big City or must face mountain nature.

so many hip hop people i've never heard of with 50 zillion views. but they can also come and go pretty fast.

can't believe nobody's mentioned ICP yet

never heard of them

haha I think most ppl have accepted ICP as part of the consensus reality universe

people cutting Jacob Collier a break now? ILX really is losing its touch

Shakey Jake Collier

that's a roundabout way of admitting you like Pauly's style

Why has no one mentioned Juggalos?

I learned yesterday that several of my siblings are big Noah Kahan fans. I'd never heard of him in my life.

This guy's headlining two (2) nights at the Hollywood Bowl this summer... I had also never heard of him, tho he and Olivia Rodrigo are releasing a split single (for RSD) covering each other's songs.

(thread fave Khruangbin are also headlining two nights at the Bowl)

its a new world order.

What we are looking at is good and evil, right and wrong

You guys are thinking of Marvel Studios’ Infinity Saga Concert Experience, a two-night extravaganza at the end of August (You may think you’ve seen these stories before, but never like this. Join the Los Angeles Philharmonic as we embark together on a live concert and cinematic journey through the Marvel Infinity Saga – beginning with the Tesseract being hidden on Earth by the Asgardians all the way to Tony’s ultimate sacrifice – from an all-new perspective.)

It’s a Ring Cycle for the 21st Centiry!

Tony's Ultimate Sacrifice is the name of my No Doubt tribute band, btw

i don't know that fans of the extremely popular marvel movie franchise count as being from a parallel universe

Earth 619

the bad earth

Billy Strings has gotten pretty popular but he is playing two nights at Rupp arena in Lexington in June, which I found surprising.

(Thought Khruangbin's Coachella set was fantastic on the livestream, but I won't try converting the unconvertible.)