I have a friend that is the drummer in a band that had a couple big hits in the 90’s, not going to drop names, but their contemporaries are bands like Collective Soul, Gin Blossoms, that kind of stuff. They have a few gold records. To this day they still tour every year and make enough money off touring and royalties to make a good living. I grew up on punk and thrash metal, so had never heard of his band, so it surprised me how close to 30 years later they still get booked at Disney and on rock cruises, but happy he still gets to keep doing that.
Once you get into a heart of a teen, you remain there for the rest of his life. Many bands well past their peak have a revival of private bookings now, as people who were teens back then become rich people who can book a band for a party.
Interestingly, when I was in school, we were taught that "he" could be used both for male or for gender-neutral usages.
The shift to treating he/him/his as exclusively male seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon (last few decades) as American social progressives sought to change language to be explicitly-inclusive instead of implicitly-inclusive and to avoid confusion due to the context-dependent dual meaning of such words.
1970s - "he" means everyone
1990s - "he/she" means everyone
2020s - "they" means everyone
this is also occurring in a tonne of european languages: german, french, spanish, italian, etc. it's progressives and people who care for others, not just americans.
as is well studies, we know very concretely how language and word usage influences thought (because it is thought, expressed)
As a musician myself, who has also brushed elbows in coming up amongst friends within the industry, one of the most vital skills a musician can learn is that avoiding overexposure is the key to long-term survival, just as much as making great music that endures... I know many artists that were very prominent years ago, but now can barely climb that hill again because of overexposure and huge re-marketing costs, coupled with an ageing fan base.
People who follow trends, and try to sound like others is definitely an indication that their career is short lived, but in this day and age, with the way social media promotion works, too many artists compete to constantly be on trending lists, and that easily burns out audiences on them and their names... It's relatively easy to "look popular" if you dump tons of money into music promotion, and labels love it when an artists dominates online, but that also makes them flood out everyone else, and even more important trending topics than music at times.
There can be a huge backlash for bought popularity, and for promoting yourself as more important than other vital topics people care about in their daily lives, as on social media, there is only one timeline and trending list for everything.
Absence can potentially make the heart grow fonder for listeners towards a music artist when well timed, especially if every time the artist re-emerges they put out consistently great music projects... Modern musicians need to learn how to share the microphone, and social media needs to create a more even playing field for multiple artists to coexist in over time, rather than pushing just 3-7 celebrity artists all of the time... That's the key to longer careers in music in my opinion.
Yeah, one of the things I didn't like about this analysis is that it really didn't do a very good job of differentiating between a band that really is a "one hit wonder" and a band that may only be in the top 40 for a short time but still has a dedicated following and is able to make a good, long career of it.
Take his "prototypical example" of Of Monsters and Men. I am glad that he did mention that the band "has enjoyed continued success since their 2012 breakout", but as a big fan of this band, I'd say they have a really dedicated following. I think in their case they were more of the "quirky band shoots has an immensely mainstream popular single, then goes back to being a quirky band, just with a much bigger following".
Rather than just look at placement in the top 40, which is only going to be songs that have wide applicability and are usually heavily promoted, I think it's more applicable to see how long these folks can have a career in music. As another example, think of someone like Andre 3000. Sure, he may never surpass his fame from Outkast's "Hey Ya" in 2003, but he's been working prominently for 30 years.
There's an entire industry supporting former short-run chart names touring - and often selling out - small/medium venues and playing smaller festivals, nostalgia cruises, and so on.
There's also an entire industry of cover bands and impersonators.
for me this hits hard. I've literally made most of my whole career off one famous song called "Do you like Pina Coladas" (but actually it's called "Escape"). A good number of people know the tune but few could tell you who made it :(
George Thorogood and the Destroyers and others like it are bands that put a lot of hard work into small venue touring but keep on performing into old age. Their big break came when they did their 50/50 in support of the Rolling Stones.
I may have put them in a rung higher than they are, since I didn’t listen to them back when they were big and touring, so I only know them more by who they tour with now, but his band is Sister Hazel.
I'm glad you said who they were. I think the example of Sister Hazel perfectly fits the example I gave in another comment: it wasn't the case with them that they were a one hit wonder that flamed out quickly, but rather that they were a good band that made a lot of music that a lot of people liked, and one of their songs just happened to be a big radio hit.
AFAIK they really only had one song that "everybody" knows, "All for You", that got a ton of airplay. But they still put out a lot of records, they had a good devoted fan base of high school/college kids in the late 90s, and AFAIK are well respected for their music in the industry. Glad to hear they're still performing.
Belatedly coming back to this, but thank you for sharing! I'd not heard that name in a loooonnnngggg time and am currently enjoying the trip down memory lane.
Are they Better Than some of these other bands? Any connection to Ezra Miller?
Why do I think they're Better Than Ezra? Or possibly Candlebox? That feels about right. Probably more Better Than Ezra because Candlebox feels a little out of the Mouse's wheelhouse.
