Countdown 100: Bands that got megahyped that failed spectacularly...

100. Deaf School

Darn. Will move to ILM in ...

99. Gay Dad

98. Menswear

97. Freur AKA "Elephant with a stick of rhubarb" AKA "that dumb squiggle logo band"

96. Moby Grape

... commercially that is, not artistically

95. Terris

94. Babylon Zoo

93. Brinsley Schwarz

... this is the British example that was always brought up, pre-punk at least, not sure what went on with them tho

94. Brinsley Schwarz, for similar reasons to 96

xpost OK, 93 then.

92. Puddle Of Mud

91. Black Kids

90. Jobriath

... artists count too?

re: 93. They had a gig at the Filmore, supporting Van Morrison I believe, they ferried the UK press out with a "free trip to the best new band ever" ticket, but the trip was a nightmare and the gig was over when the press got there. no forgiveness.

89. Tapes N Tapes

88. Supercharge

87. Nasty Rox Inc.

86. Campag Velocet.

85. Sigue Sigue Sputnik

84. Spelt Like This.
83. The Roaring Boys.

(Not Sigue Sigue Sputnik though, a number two hit, followed by a bunch of stuff that did OK, as well as could be expected)

xpost, funnily enough!

92. Puddle Of Mud

― Les centimètres énigmatiques (snoball), Thursday, September 23, 2010 9:56 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

only 5 million copies? FAIL

82. Ultrasound.

3 Sigue Sigue Sputnik Love Missile F1-11 Single Mar 1986
20 Sigue Sigue Sputnik Twenty-First Century Boy Single Jun 1986
10 Sigue Sigue Sputnik Flaunt It Album Aug 1986
31 Sigue Sigue Sputnik Success Single Nov 1988

81. Fischerspooner

80. Fischer-Z

79. Animal Collective

79. Jimmy the Hoover

78. Advertising

The EMI band that was going to save them after the Sex Pistols debacle.

83. The Roaring Boys.

Wow, had forgotten that lot!

78. Advertising

Tot Taylor, right?

77. King Trigger

76. Doctors of Madness

75 a) Orlando; b) Plastic Fantastic; c) Dex Dexter; d) and so forth

Minty!

There's almost like a whole subgenre of just-before-punk British flop bands from 1975-1977, when the record companies had no idea what they were doing anymore. About 5 of them have already been mentioned. Almost all the Pub Rock bands for a start

73 RPLA
The RPLA Debacle

72. Canibus

71. Mick Jagger solo

78, yep.

The biz being so london-centric, a whole host of pub rock bands got signed because they worked well in a pub, but outside of that, no-one cared. none got megahyped though, aside from the Brinz, as mentioned. Oh, Dr Feelgood did, but hey: Success or what?

70. Theaudience

I didn't realise Deaf School got megahyped - they were a brilliant band!

69. Lone Star.

68. S*M*A*S*H

67 Blue Rondo a la Turk

66 Animal Nightlife

65 King

64. Funkapolitan

63. Ultrasound

63 already 82.

63. FMB

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/lottery-win-inspires-failed-band-to-reform-514521.html

62. Campag Velocet

^ been done

62. Slade (in the USA)

no it definitely is, if you look at most of the bands posted itt they're all either average or fucking awful.

Terris still remain the best example - endless hype in the UK music press from 1999 to 2001, even landing an NME cover without having released all that much. Their singer, if I recall, was giving it the big licks onstage a lot and totally thought his band were the mutts nutts. They didn't have a Top 10 single, the album performed dreadfully and they got dropped. The NME suddenly were like "meh, fuck 'em" and moved onto The Strokes.

yeah that's a perfect example

idk Sheer Mag seemed to be getting a push from p4k and Rolling Stone in 2015 and 2016 and they dropped a debut album this year that I'm not seeing on any EOY lists

To this day, I've still never heard a Terris track. Gay Dad were similarily hyped, and utterly shit, but I still managed to hear the singles from the first LP without even trying.

I was going to say--hippie alert--Blind Faith, but I didn't realize their debut hit #1 in both the States and the UK. They didn't get a second album out, though.

How about Rita Ora's US career? (I know she's actually had success elsewhere but I don't think "hook singer on the Iggy Azalea single people barely remember" qualifies in the US as spectacular success.)

Well the NME had just came from helping these guys take over the world:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Yksb7SyiQWQ/UHf4digZMxI/AAAAAAAAL64/nsUwk2Pf7xE/s1600/tiny2.jpg

I don't think the NME were banking on them putting out overblown, progged out double CD debut album, which they promptly gave a middling review to.

They certainly crashed and burned quite spectacularly. Split up about a year after that cover - which may have contributed to their demise.

I'd say the fact that they didn't get on too well with each other was the main reason they split.

I want to say JJ72, but they managed to make it to a second album. God, the late '90s/very early '00s were a fucking strange time.

Then how about Kelly Clarkson?

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, December 5, 2017 3:27 PM (forty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

is this trolling

Sheer Mag = jury is still out, but yes I could definitely see them becoming one of these bands. Another contemporary that absolutely fits the bill is Downtown Boys.

oh!! and METZ. huge p4k push circa 2012, nice festival slots, solid tours, each album has essentially been ignored. when I was in Toronto recently (their hometown), I saw a poster for their new record and realized I hadn't thought about them in years.

Sheer Mag not capitalising on large rock publications writing about them probably has something to do with their having zero interest in the perceived benefits of that

or their profound stupidity

yeah those idiots probably think they're actually enjoying being in their band

FISCHERSPOONER

^otm

yeah moka imho yr thing is interesting and might yield some good groans and lols, but different enough to have its own thread. equivalent or overlapping with bands that got megahyped and it was enough to give them a moment of success but the public didn't really buy it and they disappeared back whence they came - your duncan sheiks and jimmy rays, and their indie equivalents (where mgmt miiiiiight qualify but idk then we're just doing one-album wonders... they have fans and still put out music).

kelly clarkson is ludicrous though.

Not trolling on Kelly Clarkson it’s been years since I heard about her didn’t know she was still huge in the US.

Color me underwhelmed...from Justin to this!??

But yeah my examples are on the wrong thread was thinking of diminishing returns rather than undelivered promises.

Kinda happens with most artists

I've not listened to it in donkeys years but I remember quite liking the Terris debut EP. Live they were very good too, in an intense way. The debut album was fucking awful, though.

I've literally never heard of Voxtrot before today.

I've literally never heard of Voxtrot before today.

me neither.
i am going to have to try and find that terris album this weekend aren't i.
pretty sure i found a skinny promo cd-r in the bins around the time they were being hyped, but not sure i ever actually listened to it.

I'd say the fact that they didn't get on too well with each other was the main reason they split.

― Gholdfish Killah (Turrican)

maybe. they got back together some years back. they do pretty well as a cult prog band appealing to the cardiacs set - they were just never going to be the Monsters of Britpop the NME thought they were after hearing "Kurt Russell".

Jimmie Ray..... my god, flashbacks

What was that guy all about

who wants to know

Metz seems kind of unfair to list here. They have a niche and they fill it.

I'm guessing the new freebie NME doesn't have the space to hype obvious chancers any more, I kind of miss that now it's gone.

I'd always assumed The Vines were an answer to this question but fuck me their debut sold 1.5m copies. How big do you need to be to do that these days?

ha, the Vines were my first thought when I saw this thread title, too.

Would someone like Jay Electronica count? He got a ton of hype and co-signs back in 2007 but then has released 2 solo songs and about a dozen guest verses since then.

Jay Electronica is a great pick for the niche level of hype he got

Jimmy Ray was hyped? Moreso than those other 90s one-hit-wonder acts like Marcy Playground or the “This is the story of a girl who cried a river and drowned the whole world” band?

Obie Trice
Lupe Fiasco

Did anyone care about Obie once?

Normani (after all that hype her debut album only got up to #91 on the album charts. oof.)

Canadian version, circa the turn of the millennium:

- J. Englishman
- his sister Esthero
- Robin Fucking Black
- Jordy Birch's Fun Machine

I knew I was forgetting one:

- Adam Cohen

Lauryn Hill

I joke I joke

The concept of this thread is a bit confusing to me. Usually when an artist is getting megahyped is at the peak of their fame - which is accompanied by a massive hit single or album -, and failing miserably implies not following it up with a great single or album. So this makes every one hit wonder and artist that failed to get a successful follow-up album eligible for this thread. And that makes pretty much 99 out of 100 artists eligible.

Some artists do fail upwards where their follow up albums/singles are huge financial failures but are adored by critics or viceversa.

Mika hosted Eurovision in 2022

Isn't MIKA's mega year and then subsequent dropoff pretty consistent with other BBC Sound Of/BRITs Critics Choice Award types? Makes me think of Emeli Sande, James Bay, La Roux (who I don't think held either of those titles and is obviously the best of this bunch but)

MIKA had no fewer than six songs I must have heard a hundred times in 2007 and early 2008 though. Man he was big.

And yeah I haven't contributed to this thread til now because I feel like it can be interpreted from so many different ways or at least enough that I feel the list is endless beyond endless.

Actually I do want to mention Jonathan Wilkes. Such was Robbie's cultural cachet at the time that his mate could get a deal with Virgin amid a lot of forced publicity but the first - and only - single failed and it was curtains for him.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/jonathan-wilkes-1374575

ROBBIE WILLIAMS‘ flatmate JONATHAN WILKES has reportedly been dropped by his record label after failing to breach the Top 20 with his debut single ‘JUST ANOTHER DAY’ earlier this year.

The singer, whose career was launched with a flurry of publicity around his friendship with Williams and an intensive promotional campaign which included a Los Angeles video shoot and US junkets for journalists, may yet attempt to pursue a pop career in Europe, according to The Sun newspaper.

The single only reached Number 23 in the UK charts in March. Today’s (July 30) Sun, quotes an insider at record label Virgin, whose offshoot Innocent Wilkes was signed to, as saying that bad timing was to blame for his lack of success.

This might qualify for the other thread actually.

Wilkes then went on to host You've Been Framed! for under a year before the show got rid of having a visible host or set altogether.

“We were very disappointed with Jonathan’s chart position and it was just no longer right for us to continue our relationship with him. The timing was not right for him but it has been an amicable end of the contract,” they said.