Correction, "Doolittle" was a Platinum Record in the UK, but then it was a Gold Record in the US too.
Certified gold 6 years after it came out and 2 years after the band broke up, so sort of the exact opposite of this thread concept....!
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:04 (seven years ago) link
YES to Boston tho xp
Strokes didn't have to do anything, not even being able to play their instruments above par, to be hyped into this status already when they first came up. It was all buzz that shot them to fame.
― Le Bateau Ivre, Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:12 (seven years ago) link
Arcade Fire the canonical latter-day example for me. Also maybe The Strokes, but they didn't quite meet the sustain criterion.
― attention vampire (MatthewK), Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:41 (seven years ago) link
wu-tang clan
― voodoo chili, Saturday, 4 February 2017 20:50 (seven years ago) link
Roxy Music? Played only a handful of gigs before their debut album was released.
― new noise, Saturday, 4 February 2017 21:30 (seven years ago) link
MGMTVampire WeekendFleet FoxesBon Iver
― flappy bird, Saturday, 4 February 2017 21:42 (seven years ago) link
Steely Dan, maybe? The Police, surely. 50 Cent?
Interesting to think about what counts as ''fast'' and what counts as staying huge. MGMT were gigging around for a few years, but the debut album was bascally as big as they ever got... and then that was kinda it for them in terms of widespread awareness.
But I'm also thinking of someone like Ludacris, where there's the obligatory period of local popularity and struggling to get noticed, one album doing well regionally... and then blowing UP in a single album to a major, major star. Does that kind of time in the trenches disqualify, or are we just looking at success once they actually get a recording career going - the opposite of an REM ''each album does a little better'' slow snowball career?
― tales of a scorched-earth nothing (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 4 February 2017 22:10 (seven years ago) link
Gay Dad
― scott seward, Saturday, 4 February 2017 22:19 (seven years ago) link
Grand Funk Railroad were not total nobodies before, but still…
First gigs: May '69Debut album: August '69 - charts #27, goes GoldBand is unstoppable thru '75 (6 Platinum, 4 Gold albums)
― Josefa, Saturday, 4 February 2017 22:24 (seven years ago) link
The Police were a grubby, late to the party punk band for a while before they hit paydirt.
― MaresNest, Saturday, 4 February 2017 22:48 (seven years ago) link
Arcade Fire came to mind first, though their new record could be a dud.
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Saturday, 4 February 2017 22:54 (seven years ago) link
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.
― fact checking cuz, Saturday, 4 February 2017 23:19 (seven years ago) link
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 standHuge 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.
― flappy bird, Saturday, 4 February 2017 23:19 (seven years ago) link
madonna
― fact checking cuz, Saturday, 4 February 2017 23:45 (seven years ago) link
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.
― tales of a scorched-earth nothing (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 5 February 2017 00:13 (seven years ago) link
Oh yeah that Elvis Presley guy
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 5 February 2017 01:43 (seven years ago) link
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
― 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
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 5 February 2017 06:15 (seven years ago) link
The Cars: First Gig on New Year's Eve '76...Signed in '77...Debut released in June '78.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 5 February 2017 06:22 (seven years ago) link
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.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Sunday, 5 February 2017 06:23 (seven years ago) link
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.
― lion in winter, Sunday, 5 February 2017 07:22 (seven years ago) link
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.
― Lee626, Sunday, 5 February 2017 16:01 (seven years ago) link
Westlife
― Odysseus, Sunday, 5 February 2017 16:44 (seven years ago) link