Bands that came up fast (and then stayed big).

Gay Dad

Grand Funk Railroad were not total nobodies before, but still…

First gigs: May '69
Debut album: August '69 - charts #27, goes Gold
Band is unstoppable thru '75 (6 Platinum, 4 Gold albums)

The Police were a grubby, late to the party punk band for a while before they hit paydirt.

Arcade Fire came to mind first, though their new record could be a dud.

Steely Dan, maybe

steely dan for sure. formed in either 1971 or '72, debut album came out in '72 and yielded two big pop hits. slight slippage with their second album, commercially speaking, but with their third, released 17 months after their first, they scored their biggest-ever hit. and then kept going steady and strong, and still growing, from there.

Vampire Weekend is a better example than MGMT:

VW formed in 2006,
3 big singles in 2007, opened for Animal Collective at sold out Webster Hall two-night stand
Huge since 2008 debut LP critically and commercially,
Sold out Barclays in 2013

i guess i would define staying huge as playing arenas/amphitheaters... MGMT definitely don't have the cultural relevance they used to, though it's not all downhill (Congratulations is Tusk-esque, lots of people love it. the 2013 s/t - their most recent record - i think passed just about everyone by). but they haven't downgraded venues... i think that could very well happen whenever they put out another record. but VW definitely are staying huge.

madonna

that stage where you think they aren't popular anymore but are actually way more popular than they were when they had "buzz"

^^^ perhaps relevant also.. lot of those acts could still play arenas just cause they have a large and loyal fanbase - not sure if that counts as hugeness though. otoh you have, say, Weird Al who imho might just qualify for the current thread though his concert bookings, I imagine, have never come close to arena-size. huge pop-culture presence, ppl who don't keep up with music know who he is etc.

Oh yeah that Elvis Presley guy

steely dan for sure. formed in either 1971 or '72, debut album came out in '72 and yielded two big pop hits. slight slippage with their second album, commercially speaking, but with their third, released 17 months after their first, they scored their biggest-ever hit. and then kept going steady and strong, and still growing, from there.

― fact checking cuz, Saturday, February 4, 2017 5:19 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

These dudes had a similar trajectory, down to the years of "Break Up" and "Reunion":

http://media.philstar.com/images/the-philippine-star/entertainment/20160125/Eagles-Poster-Rollingstone.jpg

The Cars: First Gig on New Year's Eve '76...Signed in '77...Debut released in June '78.

I was living in Nashville when Kings of Leon popped up out of nowhere, nobody in town knew who the fuck they were. They just materialized out of thin air.

Eh, Arcade Fire had a debut ep (the one with 'No Cars Go') and were a steadily touring/opening band for at least a year before Funeral. I saw them open for the Constantines in 2003. Hype rose up in Canada on the basis of that/college radio.

I imagine alot of boy bands fit this trope; either they get big fast or you never hear of them, and if they get big they often stay big for a few years. A longer run, though, is difficult for obvious reasons.

Westlife