Artists whose careers evaporated overnight

[GulDukat]

So, not really like a fading over time, which is common. More like bands/singers who were on top of the world one day and then the public seemed to lose interest, seemingly overnight.

Here's what comes to mind for me:

Public Enemy- They could do no wrong in the late 80's/early 90's and then people just stopped paying attention. For a time not only were they popular, but their albums received a lot of critical acclaim and academic analysis. Now when they release an album it comes and goes with little fanfare.

R.E.M.- Are most people who bought Out of Time or Automatic For the People even aware that they put out an album after Monster? What happened?

Poison/Warrant/Skid Row/Extreme- There are really a ton of bands that I could list whose careers were destroyed by Nirvana, but I'll just go with those four as they were still pretty popular around 1990/1991.

Van Halen- Self-inflicted. They survived grunge and still had a thriving career until their lead singer fiasco and the resulting Van Halen 3 that torpedoed their career.

Limp Bizkit- Their popularity seemed to be waning by 2003's dreadful Results May Vary, but they were still popular (the album went platinum) and had a hit with their cover of the Who's "Behind Blue Eyes." By the time The Unquestionable Truth (part I) was released two years later, no one cared.

[otnavuskire]

R.E.M.- Are most people who bought Out of Time or Automatic For the People even aware that they put out an album after Monster? What happened?

They put out six albums in 17 years after Monster, and most of them went gold or platinum. I wouldn't exactly call that evaporating overnight.

[GulDukat]

They put out six albums in 17 years after Monster, and most of them went gold or platinum. I wouldn't exactly call that evaporating overnight.They weren't playing Six Flags, but they weren't the superstars that they were in the early 90's either.

[zecho]

They weren't playing Six Flags, but they weren't the superstars that they were in the early 90's either.

They were statistically more popular after Monster than before, with every single album besides their last one selling more copies than their music from before Out of Time, Automatic for the People, and Monster.

They were fucking huge until they broke up, they just weren't on the cover of magazines anymore because they weren't newly popular. The rest of the bands on this list are accurate to the title, but R.E.M. never stopped being incredibly successful. It'd be like saying that Radiohead's popularity torpedoed after Pablo Honey because they never had another top 10 hit in the US after Creep.

[GulDukat]

They were statistically more popular after Monster than before, with every single album besides their last one selling more copies than their music from before Out of Time, Automatic for the People, and Monster.

They were fucking huge until they broke up, they just weren't on the cover of magazines anymore because they weren't newly popular. The rest of the bands on this list are accurate to the title, but R.E.M. never stopped being incredibly successful. It'd be like saying that Radiohead's popularity torpedoed after Pablo Honey because they never had another top 10 hit in the US after Creep.

Going by this, there is a huge drop-off in sales after Monster. I'm not a hater either, and I'm not really talking about the quality of their music, but they definitely seemed to fall out of favor with the public after Monster.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.E.M._discography

[bobbie solo]

https://www.nin.wiki/Alex_Carapetis

[rampface]

https://www.nin.wiki/Alex_Carapetis

Ummm he's in The Voidz

[botley]

These questions are decidedly North America-centric. Public Enemy and R.E.M. were both extremely successful live acts in the rest of the world, and headlined huge crowds far more extensively than they did over here, beginning pretty much exactly with the demarcations you've suggested. Chuck D talks about this a lot, with England being their initial home base but they followed that with extensive touring of southern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, continuing for decades. Huge influence on the global domination of hip-hop.

Queen also 'evaporated' in this continent for about ten years following "Under Pressure" (though they had an enormous international audience and big stadium tours in '81, '82, '84, '85, '86... that stupid movie makes it seem like they didn't do dick-all between Hot Space and Live Aid). It wasn't until "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a hit for the second time (thanks in part to Wayne's World) in '92 that North America cared about them again.

[onthewall2983]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZvl2aqIyNg

[GulDukat]

These questions are decidedly North America-centric. Public Enemy and R.E.M. were both extremely successful live acts in the rest of the world, and headlined huge crowds far more extensively than they did over here, beginning pretty much exactly with the demarcations you've suggested. Chuck D talks about this a lot, with England being their initial home base but they followed that with extensive touring of southern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, continuing for decades. Huge influence on the global domination of hip-hop.

Queen also 'evaporated' in this continent for about ten years following "Under Pressure" (though they had an enormous international audience and big stadium tours in '81, '82, '84, '85, '86... that stupid movie makes it seem like they didn't do dick-all between Hot Space and Live Aid). It wasn't until "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a hit for the second time (thanks in part to Wayne's World) in '92 that North America cared about them again. Mr. Big was big in Japan throughout the 90's. And I think Citizen Dick remained popular in Belgium.

[GulDukat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZvl2aqIyNgThat's one goofy-ass video, even for the 80's.

[onthewall2983]

And it killed his career dead. Not even a hint of coming back to life since then either. Just one hot album at the dawn of the MTV era and basically one and done there.

[piggy]

And I think Citizen Dick remained popular in Belgium.
AND in Italy! LOL.

[elevenism]

Public Enemy headlined Smokin Grooves in 98 or so, with Flipmode Squad, Busta Rhymes, Gang Starr, Cypress Hill, Wyclef Jean, John Forte, and others rounding out the bill, so they were banging at least until the LATE 90s. That was one of my favorite shows of all time. I met Cypress Hill and got their autographs,, and Forte, who was my favorite rapper at that time, and Clef had just put out The Carnival, and I was obsessed with Flipmode.

SOrry, I got off topic.

Didn't Chuck D and them just mostly stop playing? I know they had a reunion a couple years back.

Edit: yeah, part of what happened with PE is that Griff left, and so did Terminator X. They don't even tour as PE anymore.

[GulDukat]

I don't know how I could have left this one off the initial list:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2AMojXb1lc

[botley]

Didn't Chuck D and them just mostly stop playing? I know they had a reunion a couple years back.

Edit: yeah, part of what happened with PE is that Griff left, and so did Terminator X. They don't even tour as PE anymore.
They didn't stop playing (https://www.concertarchives.org/bands/public-enemy) until recently. DJ Lord replaced X and they've had other S1Ws in Griff's stead.

[elevenism]

They didn't stop playing (https://www.concertarchives.org/bands/public-enemy) until recently. DJ Lord replaced X and they've had other S1Ws in Griff's stead. were they not actually playing as PE 2.0 or PE Radio, though? I thought that change happened a long ass time ago.

And, I'm sorry, but PE minus Griff or X ain't PE.

[botley]

The PE 2.0 project started around 2014, I think? Shortly after they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I believe. The original PE kept performing and recording, but then there was also Prophets of Rage happening... for me, the core duo of Flav & D was the main trunk, but there's lots of other branches out of it. I was out of town last year when Public Enemy Radio played Toronto, without Flav, so I don't know how well that works. But hell yes it's a Public Enemy show with DJ Lord and the S1Ws.