Bands that promised so much

Xavi6

So I was flicking through the oul iPod today looking for something I hadn't listened to in a while when I found a real blast from the past - Hundred Reasons - 'Ideas Above Our Station'. What a cracking album. I remember hearing them first in 2001 as a 16 year old Melody Maker reader just getting into 'proper' alternative/indie. Singer Colin Doran had this mad hair that combined brilliantly with his onstage presence.

Now I know they've released a few albums since but none were as good as this offering. Songs like 'Silver' and 'If I Could' are brilliant. They toured with Enter Shakari last year apparently but have been dropped from labels and lost their lead guitarist/backing singer. Not exactly what they had hoped for back in 2002 I'd say.

Another from that era is My Vitriol. People might remember their tune 'Always Your Way'. One of my favourite songs of the last ten years easily. They played all the big festivals and every gig they've played in London has sold out. The album 'Finelines' is brilliant and gets played regularly on my stereo. After the early success though they just disappeared! For 5 bloody years! They're back gigging since last year and have released an EP but only made 1500 copies. Again, another band who promised so much.

So to my question. Who did you think would make it huge? Who let you down big time?

Crumble Froo

im still astounded that the likes of elbow, clearlake, and, in their day, the tea party aren't massively massiver than they are. tbh, i kinda like it like that, but it does still baffle me a little that more people havent copped on to them. i know i've gotten tonnes of mates etc into them, andthey've all fallen in love, and yet, they never seem to capture the public in general.

i know there's some much better examples, but i cant think of any now, and my fingers are minutes away from crampng up with the cold

ChuckProphet

I thought The Coral would be huge after seeing them live before the first album came out. I still think the first album is very good as is their last one but they'd some mediocre stuff in between.

ZakAttak

Ireland's very own Kerbdog are an example of this. But there are bands who make a brilliant song and then not much else, ex. 'Punishment of Luxury' and their song 'Puppet Life'- brilliant song, but they didn't do much else.

BarryCreed

The Cooper Temple Clause. I think their first album "see through this and leave" is great, second is good as well, but their third and final one ain't so hot. But I thought after the first, they'd be pretty popular...

sweetie

delakota 'one love.' debut was like the best bits of primal scream, the charlatans and the roses and is still in my personal top albums but they never released another.

dawn of the replicants had an amazing debut but never reached those heights again.

i was gutted when I heard that the immediate had broken up too. They had a great album in them waiting to get out.

Captain Darling

ZakAttak wrote: »

Ireland's very own Kerbdog are an example of this. But there are bands who make a brilliant song and then not much else, ex. 'Punishment of Luxury' and their song 'Puppet Life'- brilliant song, but they didn't do much else.

End of Green f**king ruled.

fillmore jive

remember vex red? some english indie band that promised sooooo much with a good sound and a nice few singles, till the album came out and then people realised that they were in fact sh!te. a shame really.

Creamy Goodness

finch, great debut album was expecting good things for the follow up.

how wrong was i?

Bubs101

The Vines debut was very good, the follow up, not so much. They'd be the biggest example for me

ZakAttak

Infononymous wrote: »

End of Green f**king ruled.

The 2 albums I had (did they do more?) were both really good- not only that but they sounded as though they were going to go on and do better things. They really needed good promo and management, but it never came.

Wilt (Cormac Battle's band afterwards), was a bit of a dissapointment.

Howard the Duck

The Moldy Peaches

The Chicks...remember them? i saw them on the Jo Whiley show they were great i thought.

loyatemu

the Strokes

Captain Darling

ZakAttak wrote: »

The 2 albums I had (did they do more?) were both really good- not only that but they sounded as though they were going to go on and do better things. They really needed good promo and management, but it never came.

Wilt (Cormac Battle's band afterwards), was a bit of a dissapointment.

Am not too sure how many albums they had. End of Green was an EP as far as i can recollect. I saw them support Therapy? in 1993(4ish) in Galway and they were brilliant. It was the first concert i was ever at.

They probably didnt get any support from their label because of the arrival of Oasis and Blur and the whole Britpop thing.

Wilt were ok, nice catchy songs, but lacked a little something. They were a bit too 'transatlantic' for my liking.

JLemmon

The Stone Roses
The La's
My Bloody Valentine
All sidelined for various reasons in mid flow, but maybe it was better that way.

gogglebok

JLemmon wrote: »

The Stone Roses
The La's
My Bloody Valentine
All sidelined for various reasons in mid flow, but maybe it was better that way.

Did the La's have another song? I'm not being snide, I really don't know.

Miguel_Sanchez

You know what? I thought Franz Ferdinand were going to turn out to be great after their first few singles. I thought they would really up their game with the second album.

Nope.

all the stars

Scheer were excellent...

Miguel_Sanchez

gogglebok wrote: »

Did the La's have another song? I'm not being snide, I really don't know.

Their debut album is pretty good alright. Could have been a great band.

Although there's a story about another song that Lee Mavers wrote that is supposed to be absolutely amazing but only a few people have ever heard it. I read an interview with him once where the interviewer claimed that Mavers played it for him but I can't seem to find a link or remember the name of the song.

Captain Darling

JLemmon wrote: »

The La's
.

+1

da Poet

What about Juniper? Surely potentially the greatest band to ever grace these shores??

Captain Darling

all the stars wrote: »

Scheer were excellent...

Shea was a great song. There was a class acoustic b-side on the single. Think it was called Demons.

ZakAttak

Jeff_Lebowski wrote: »

You know what? I thought Franz Ferdinand were going to turn out to be great after their first few singles. I thought they would really up their game with the second album.

Nope.

This is very true- That 'take me out song' was really good; I was surprised to hear an indie band make such a cool record. But after that, what happened? They sounded like a comletely different band.

Do you, Do ya, Do ya wanna?! No I don't Franz Ferdinand, now fvck-off.

ZakAttak

Wilt were ok, nice catchy songs, but lacked a little something. They were a bit too 'transatlantic' for my liking.[/quote]

Although I didn't like them I'm surprised they didn't go anywhere- He's perfectly capable of writing catchy pop tunes, you'd wonder why it didn't work.

Captain Darling

ZakAttak wrote: »

Wilt were ok, nice catchy songs, but lacked a little something. They were a bit too 'transatlantic' for my liking.

Although I didn't like them I'm surprised they didn't go anywhere- He's perfectly capable of writing catchy pop tunes, you'd wonder why it didn't work.[/QUOTE]

Very radio friendly alright, but still slightly too edgy for mainstream. It was hard to pigeonhole them, they were sort of punk, kind of rock and a little bit of pop thrown in as well. That doesnt bode well for success!

Miguel_Sanchez

da Poet wrote: »

What about Juniper? Surely potentially the greatest band to ever grace these shores??

But they spawned Damien Rice. :mad:

da Poet

Too true for that reason alone they should have stayed together

What about soundgarden?

youcancallmeal

loyatemu wrote: »

the Strokes

This is the first band that came to my mind. First album was amazing but their subsequent albums made it very clear how much depth they lacked. Always the same chords and guitar rifts.

nyarlothothep

The Darkness, its down to taste but I like this band, their first album blew me away with the amount of quality songs but then came a decent but ordinary second album, Justin left.

Suede-first album: ok, 2nd album incredible, they were evolving into something really cool, I liked the progressive rock film noir direction they took with DogManStar, but unfortunately it was released at the wrong time, 1994 when Britpop lads down the pub heads down rock and roll was in the ascendant so the public sniffed at it, was in the top ten for something like a week before dissapearing. Coming Up is a great pop album but once Bernard Butler left it wasn't the same.

gary the great

My vitriol! Havent heard them in years, Finelines was quality and then they just disappeared. i saw them support Placebo years ago and thats what got me into them. Thougt they would go onto great things.

deaddonkey

ZakAttak wrote: »

This is very true- That 'take me out song' was really good; I was surprised to hear an indie band make such a cool record. But after that, what happened? They sounded like a comletely different band.

Do you, Do ya, Do ya wanna?! No I don't Franz Ferdinand, now fvck-off.

y'know, it's hard to rip off the talking heads and sound good for 2 whole albums.

the first one was great.

deaddonkey

oh, and who killed the zutons?

seriously, who did kill the zutons? they were so much fun while they lasted.

youcancallmeal

deaddonkey wrote: »

oh, and who killed the zutons?

seriously, who did kill the zutons? they were so much fun while they lasted.

I dunno I think they're still going strong. Their second album Tired of Hanging Around sold a lot more than their first and I think their 3rd album is out in June

Kold

Muse. Talented musicians until they decided to make emo friendly pop and Matt decided that he was Freddy Mercury the 2nd.

Amazotheamazing

deaddonkey wrote: »

oh, and who killed the zutons?

seriously, who did kill the zutons? they were so much fun while they lasted.

Going to see them live in Limerick tonight, I'll let you know if they make it out alive. Their second album wasn't amazing, but it wasn't a disaster either.

ZakAttak

deaddonkey wrote: »

y'know, it's hard to rip off the talking heads and sound good for 2 whole albums.

the first one was great.

==>On the recent BBC 'ages of rock' (it was called something like that) they had the singer (Greek name-can't remember) on giving his piece about anything and everything- all I could think was "I thought this documentary was about established rock acts, not 1 hit wonder half-talents". He sounds like a cross between talking heads and the deep baritone of right said fred.

Miguel_Sanchez

deaddonkey wrote: »

y'know, it's hard to rip off the talking heads and sound good for 2 whole albums.

the first one was great.

I'd say more Gang of Four than Talking Heads but there you go. Anyways.

mehfesto

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, for me were amazing first time round. Second album sounded rushed and forced, major disappointment.

Also Green Day have done nothing new since Dookie :pac: and The Hives are peddling the same stuff since day one.

It'll be intresting to hear Klaxons new one, based on this thread!

Pacifico

mehfesto wrote: »

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, for me were amazing first time round. Second album sounded rushed and forced, major disappointment.

Some Loud Thunder is better than their first imo!

djfitzerjnr

the strokes
kaiserchiefs? their first album was ok, but the second....so boring! every song the same and repetitive

djfitzerjnr

deaddonkey wrote: »

oh, and who killed the zutons?

seriously, who did kill the zutons? they were so much fun while they lasted.

they've a new song out, 'always right behind you'. good song, uptempo, kinda sounds like the proper version of valerie!;):p

JC 2K3

Kold wrote: »

Muse. Talented musicians until they decided to make emo friendly pop and Matt decided that he was Freddy Mercury the 2nd.

QFT+1,000,000,000

Still kinda angers/saddens me to think about it. Hopefully their next album will be better.


Blind Melon would be another band that come to mind. Lead Singer Shannon Hoon was amazingly talented, and yet, they only released two albums due to his untimely death in 1995.

Listening to the B-Sides and previously unreleased demos on Nico are really haunting and saddening when you realise how much talent this young man actually had.

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ-yw3OzsLw

Affable

Hurricane #1 and Step into my world was an awesome tune. They never did much else as good IIRC.
There was also Top's 'She's got all the world'. One hit again.
Inspiral Carpets had a few great tunes and could have done more.

Crumble Froo

what the hell ever happened to S*M*A*S*H? selfabused, awesome album, but... where'd they go? they just disappeared

pennypixie

My Bloody Valentine!!

Stump - All their videos have been posted online recently! Amazing stuff!

The Pale - they promise more -playing in whelans at the end of the month.

__plec__

Melaton...thought they'd be huge by now,had so much potential,still think peripherique is a fantastic tune, but then they just seemed to fall apart,i know they had some trouble with the record label or whatever,could have been one of irelands greatest thought

Xavi6

__plec__ wrote: »

Melaton...thought they'd be huge by now,had so much potential,still think peripherique is a fantastic tune, but then they just seemed to fall apart,i know they had some trouble with the record label or whatever,could have been one of irelands greatest thought

+1 to that. Saw them supporting Feeder one time and they were brilliant. I still know all the words to Peripherique! Don't suppose you know where I could get my hands on it? MP3 or anything.

chris d

im pretty sure i have it. send me a pm and i'll rapid share it to you or summit.

it's probably sh!te though.

__plec__

XAVI6 -Have a few of their songs on mp3,no problem giving them to you,mail me if you still havnt got them by now

machiavellianme

The Wildhearts, up there with Kerbdog and Therapy?. Started off wonderfully and just disappeared before their big break. Reunion shows and get together for one last album (thats just a throwback to what might have been) dont count the same.

AssaultedPeanut

Jj72