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Rock groups that hit their commercial peak when their best work was behind them

YellowSnowYellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 35,437 Founders Club
@Swaye and I were podcasting a bit back and forth the other week on the subject of Metallica and our noble, hatchet packer made an interesting observation. The thought was has there every been another rock group with a similar career trajectory- i.e., a long slog of nearly a decade from 1983 to 1991 of being a moderately popular, but sill somewhat niche group, to then becoming one the most successful and popular groups in the world? I struggled to think of another example; it seems like more artists either hit is fairly big early on or they never do.

Take a look at the peak US Billboard Album chart position for all of their albums from Kill 'em All to Reload.

Kill ‘em All (1983) - #66
Ride The Lightning (1984) - #48
Master of Puppets (1986) - #29
And Justice for All (1989) - #6
Black Album (1991) #1
Load (1996) #1
Reload (1997) #1

We also agreed that Metallica's best work was in the rear view mirror, but the time of the breakthrough into the rock main stream- i.e., the Black Album in 1991.

The closest analog I could think of was AC/DC. They were considerably less commercially successful than Metallica at first - arguably due to their being an a foreign act - but their journey from unknown to mega band / superstars only took roughly 4 years in the US (i.e., 1976- 1980). But like Metallica, AC DC's artistic peak had already come and gone by the time of their first #1 record.

High Voltage (1976) – #146
Let there Be Rock (1977) - #154
Powerage (1978) - #133
Highway to Hell (1979) - #17
Back In Black (1980) - #4
For Those About to Rock (1981) - #1

Another comp, I wanted to pull was Van Halen. By comparison, the were already one of the biggest acts in rock by the second album, but didn't actually top the charts until the shitty, Van Hagar era.

Van Halen I (1978) - #19
Van Halen II (1979) - #6
Women and Children First (1980) - #6
Fair Warning (1981) - #5
Diver Down (1982) – #3
1984 (1984) - #2
5150 (1986) - #1
OU812 (1988) #1
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Comments

  • RaceBannonRaceBannon Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 105,990 Founders Club
    Good call on AC DC

    I think Yes has a place on this

    From prog rock to dance music stars. Their later hits boosted sales on their earlier better work

    The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge were their peak

    Those ended up with pretty good US sales but barely cracked top 40 when released

    FM radio baby
  • YellowSnowYellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 35,437 Founders Club

    Good call on AC DC

    I think Yes has a place on this

    From prog rock to dance music stars. Their later hits boosted sales on their earlier better work

    The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge were their peak

    Those ended up with pretty good US sales but barely cracked top 40 when released

    FM radio baby

    Fragile was a #4 Album and Closer was #3. So I'd argue this was actually their commercial and artistic peak happening concurrently.

    90125 was #5.
  • SwayeSwaye Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 41,496 Founders Club
    edited December 2022
    Yeah the biggest interesting point to me with Metallica is not only the duration of them toiling in "relative obscurity" (they were not at all obscure to hardcore metal heads but the broader world had no idea at all who they were until One went on MTV in 89), but the point that the best music they ever made was during the 8 year period they weren't super popular. The Black album was the inflection point - probably the worst (or second worst) album of the first five, but the one that launched them to be the biggest global touring draw of the entire 90's and a bonafide icon status.

    Just a weird career arc. Yella and I podded back and forth quite a bit on this. ACDC was the most analogous we could come up with.

    edit: You look at the other MEGA bands of the last 60 years - Beatles, Stones, Who, Zeppelin, CCR, GnR, etc. - and they were all big right out of the gate.
  • dfleadflea Member Posts: 7,233
    Hard to argue with any of that.
  • Fishpo31Fishpo31 Member Posts: 2,426
    edited December 2022
    I think a case could be made for ZZ Top...

    ZZ Top's First Album (1971) - #201
    Rio Grande Mud (1972) - #104
    Tres Hombres (1973) - #86
    Fandango (1975) - #91
    Tejas (1976) - #124
    Deguello (1979) - #58
    El Loco (1981) - #141
    Eliminator (1983 - #5...I want my mTv

    No #1's, but still...

    It is certainly subjective, but at their commercial peak, I stopped listening to the new stuff
  • alumni94alumni94 Member Posts: 4,858
    I think a lot of this has to do with the popularity of the music video in the 80s and early 90s. Just think how many bands would have never been big without a music video, and others died due to not making one or making a bad one.
  • YellowSnowYellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 35,437 Founders Club
    Fishpo31 said:

    I think a case could be made for ZZ Top...

    ZZ Top's First Album (1971) - #201
    Rio Grande Mud (1972) - #104
    Tres Hombres (1973) - #86
    Fandango (1975) - #91
    Tejas (1976) - #124
    Deguello (1979) - #58
    El Loco (1981) - #141
    Eliminator (1983 - #5...I want my mTv

    No #1's, but still...

    It is certainly subjective, but at their commercial peak, I stopped listening to the new stuff

    This is a pretty good pull. Clearly, early to mid 70's ZZ Top was better than 80's MTV ZZ Top and it's not close.
  • YellowSnowYellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 35,437 Founders Club
    alumni94 said:

    I think a lot of this has to do with the popularity of the music video in the 80s and early 90s. Just think how many bands would have never been big without a music video, and others died due to not making one or making a bad one.

    MTV was the Ed Sullivan of the 80's.
  • DerekJohnsonDerekJohnson Administrator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 63,537 Founders Club
    alumni94 said:

    I think a lot of this has to do with the popularity of the music video in the 80s and early 90s. Just think how many bands would have never been big without a music video, and others died due to not making one or making a bad one.

    Like David Lee Roth said on Rogan in 2019, if you look at any rock or rap video of today, there's a little bit of David Lee Roth in all those videos.
  • YellowSnowYellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 35,437 Founders Club

    alumni94 said:

    I think a lot of this has to do with the popularity of the music video in the 80s and early 90s. Just think how many bands would have never been big without a music video, and others died due to not making one or making a bad one.

    Like David Lee Roth said on Rogan in 2019, if you look at any rock or rap video of today, there's a little bit of David Lee Roth in all those videos.
    I think was the only Rogan pod I ever got the whole way through. Just never got into his show for what ever reason (nothing Tug related or anything like that).
  • El_KEl_K Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 1,222 Swaye's Wigwam
    These are just off the top of my head. Not sure about the numbers and such

    Aerosmith. I remember buying Permanent Vacation on a whim. Turned out to be I was onto something. Then Aerosmith became huge again.

    Heart. I liked early Heart. Then it got really MTV-ized.

    Sammy Hagar.

    Cheap Trick. Granted their #1 song was it. They then went back to making not good albums.
  • JoeyJoey Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 6,700 Founders Club
    El_K said:

    These are just off the top of my head. Not sure about the numbers and such

    Aerosmith. I remember buying Permanent Vacation on a whim. Turned out to be I was onto something. Then Aerosmith became huge again.

    Heart. I liked early Heart. Then it got really MTV-ized.

    Sammy Hagar.

    Cheap Trick. Granted their #1 song was it. They then went back to making not good albums.

    I think The Flame is Cheap Tricks only number one hit and they had to get an outside songwriter for it.
  • Fenderbender123Fenderbender123 Member Posts: 2,983
    The Beegees album sales peaked with Saturday Night Fever, but their stuff from the late 60s and early 70s is way better.
  • CFetters_Nacho_LoverCFetters_Nacho_Lover Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 30,395 Founders Club
    El_K said:

    These are just off the top of my head. Not sure about the numbers and such

    Aerosmith. I remember buying Permanent Vacation on a whim. Turned out to be I was onto something. Then Aerosmith became huge again.

    Heart. I liked early Heart. Then it got really MTV-ized.

    Sammy Hagar.

    Cheap Trick. Granted their #1 song was it. They then went back to making not good albums.

    I feel like Aerosmith’s comeback was fueled by not only letting Run DMC do Walk This Way but making it a joint effort.

    If you find a greatest hits album from Run DMC, it’ll have Walk This Way on it but Aerosmith’s greatest hits will only have the original version.
  • chuckchuck Member, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 11,057 Swaye's Wigwam
    El_K said:

    These are just off the top of my head. Not sure about the numbers and such

    Aerosmith. I remember buying Permanent Vacation on a whim. Turned out to be I was onto something. Then Aerosmith became huge again.

    Heart. I liked early Heart. Then it got really MTV-ized.

    Sammy Hagar.

    Cheap Trick. Granted their #1 song was it. They then went back to making not good albums.

    Great suggestions. I never liked Aerosmith and still don't, but couldn't agree more that their peak period was pre 80s.

    Heart owned the 80s big hair, power ballad genre. They weren't as prolific as Chicago (another candidate for this) or Foreigner, but better than both.

    I hated them for it back then. Nowadays I even appreciate how good they were at that.

    In reality the best thing either Wilson sister did after the 70s was when Anne joined Alice In Chains on the Sap EP.
  • Fishpo31Fishpo31 Member Posts: 2,426
    I didn’t even think about Aerosmith, who I loved right up to Draw the Line, when they had the v.1 meltdown. Toys / Rocks was the peak for me…
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