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Post by Russg on May 11, 2018 8:22:39 GMT
Is there anyone else, besides Janet Jackson, who you can think of who has had a similarly dramatic decline in popularity/relevance? I'm not talking about flash-in-the-pan artists (Terence Trent D'arby) or one hit wonders (Vanilla Ice). I mean an artist (or band) who was once hugely popular, revered by the public and the critics, who all of a sudden took a massive nosedive in popularity and never truly got their mojo back?
I can't think of a single artist in the history of popular music who can compare to Janet in this regard. |
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Post by ghost on May 11, 2018 8:44:58 GMT
There's loads.
Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, Duffy, Sisqo (mind you, you said critically acclaimed, although I'm not sure Janet ever was tbh). None of these artists have had a hit for years.
Although I would argue that Janet and Mariah are in the "legend" bracket, whereby, it doesn't really matter if they've stopped having hits, they will always be a massive live draw and have a following based on their past influence and the strength of their back catalogue. The others? Not so much.
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Post by HIStoric on May 11, 2018 9:05:33 GMT
Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Duffy, Sisqo (mind you, you said critically acclaimed, although I'm not sure Janet ever was tbh). None of these artists have had a hit for years. Mmmm Gaga's still holding on alright. There's no doubting she's lost some popularity, but to say she has completely fallen out of public favour and never recovered, or that she hasn't had a hit in years isn't true. Her latest album Joanne reached #1 in at least 5 countries, reaching the Top 5 in at least 17 further countries for a total of 22. Her album before that, Artpop, reached #1 in 10 countries whilst reaching the Top 5 in at least 18 further countries for a total of 28 countries. Plus she sold out every show on her tour that ended a few months ago so she's not struggling for ticket sales either. She's definitely not at the height that she was with The Fame Monster or Born This Way that's for sure but her albums still do well in the charts and she headlined the Superbowl Halftime last year - increasing viewership by millions when she came on. She's down, but not out just yet. Least I hope so, I admit I'm secretly hoping for a comeback because she released some mega pop classics. |
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Post by bedroom on May 11, 2018 9:23:56 GMT
I think Sinead O'Connor. Although I guess she can be considered a one hit wonder but still, she was critically and commercially acclaimed. So it counts. I love her regardless.
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Post by mjjfan810 on May 11, 2018 10:41:29 GMT
Nelly Furtado was a massive for a while when she did Maneater and that album that was produced by Timbaland. But she completely fell off the radar after that.
Same with Shakira. You never hear anything from her these days.
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2018 12:01:23 GMT
TTD is hardly flash in the pan, he eschewed commerical success for artistic statements and has some bloody devoted fans. So watch who you name there.
I would say Elton John did between 1976 and 1990 at least in the USA. Between 1970 and mid 1976 Elton had at least 10 Top 5 hits and 10 Top 5 albums in the USA and stations had competitions over who could play the most Elton John music. However in October 1976 he came out as Bisexual in the Rolling Stone magazine and conservatives and mostly Christian fans of him switched off. Elton could not have any more Top 5 anythings and no more Top 5 hits came until one song in 1980 and one in 1983, both about women.
Seriously up to 1976 Elton John is everywhere in the American charts and then 1977 to 1979 and 1981 to 1990 he is practically invisible, but at least he was more popular in the UK, Asia and Europe.
People seriously got over Celine Dion after 2002, when she went into her 1000 year Vegas residency, seriously she was everywhere in the mid 90s to early 2000s and now who even mentions her name anymore.
Many boy band and trend groups also had a few years of commercial prominence and then faded off. Examples like the Monkees (1966 - until Head in 1968 killed off their fandom), Bay City Rollers (Huge 1974 - 1976, then people outgrew them yet they made albums under the name Rollers up to the mid 1990s). The Kinks are another one, hugely massive in the UK 1964 to 1967 and then a series of creative and innovative albums that had no success in the UK charts except for Lola and Apeman in 1970/71 were brief hits and Come Dancing in 1983, yet the Kinks made albums up to the mid 1990s. Same with their success in the USA between 1970 and 1977 as a touring rock group.
T Rex were huge in the UK between 1970 and 1973 and then people lost interest, yet Marc Bolan continued to make music up to his death in 1977. A TV show and David Bowie help still could not revive his career.
Cyndi Lauper was another one - her 1st album sold 16 million copies, her second 6 million, her 3rd sold 1 million and her 4th sold 119,000 copies. She still makes music today that is critically acclaimed, yet has not had a sniff of a hit in nearly 30 years.
Hammer made albums up to the 2000s and like Lauper saw diminishing numbers, he has not troubled the charts since 1995.
Prince also really lost a lot of commercial clout when he changed his name to a symbol in 1993. He was a very popular touring artist up to his death, but apart from a few big charting albums, his last real chart success was in 1994.
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TonyR
The Legend Continues
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Post by TonyR on May 11, 2018 15:37:35 GMT
It'll be interesting to see what happens with Gaga.
I thought at one time she was going to be as big as Madonna, but seems to have peaked too soon (tell me about it).
Also, like I've mentioned before in a different thread a ten year career is the longest most can ask for.
E.g. Janet primarily 86-96, Mariah 90-96 outside of US I'd say.
Madonna & MJ really are/were anomalies.
Even legendary artists like Stevie & Springsteen only really had commercial success for a limited time. As did Prince really 84-94?
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2018 23:27:58 GMT
Bowie was a bit longer, he was pretty much in his chart prime from 1972 (Starman) through to 1986 (Absolute Beginners) after 1986 he fell off commercially, but had a big revival near and after his death. He had on and off successes, but between Ziggy and Labyrinth every album he did was a commercial smash with at least one Top 10 hit a year and sometimes more.
I agree about Madge, and now feel she is falling off finally, as Bitch I'm Madonna only got to #84 on the pop chart and it was her first single off a new album not to go Top 20 since Everybody back in 1982. Luv Madonna was a Top 20 hit, but her last Top 10 success was 2005's Hung Up, there was a period from Borderline in early 1984 through to Music in 2000 where she had like 40 Top 10 hits in a row in the USA and UK.
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Post by HIStoric on May 11, 2018 23:36:32 GMT
Bowie was a bit longer, he was pretty much in his chart prime from 1972 (Starman) through to 1986 (Absolute Beginners) after 1986 he fell off commercially, but had a big revival near and after his death. He had on and off successes, but between Ziggy and Labyrinth every album he did was a commercial smash with at least one Top 10 hit a year and sometimes more Yeah, you're right about the near death thing. Blackstar was actually already on course for #1 before his death - his passing just secured it. I feel in this thread we can just broadly say almost any legacy artists tbh. Most have their commercial phase then slowly fade out, some having small resurgences here and there, and they can still definitely sell out shows but y'know. |
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TonyR
The Legend Continues
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Post by TonyR on May 12, 2018 11:00:57 GMT
In terms of massive debuts and then nothing commercially, Alanis Morrisette has to be the biggest.
25 million sales of Jagged Little Pill, and deservedly so, as it is a stunning, stunning album. But never troubled the charts since as future works were decidedly less commercial..
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Post by Snow White on May 12, 2018 13:45:34 GMT
The title of this thread is misleading, falling out of public favor and not having massive popularity are two different things. If we're talking about of what the title thread refers, Jerry Lewis and Gary Glitter come to mind. Many of these people you mentioned but Janet Jackson haven't fallen out of public favor, they just don't possess the popularity and don't have the huge commercial success they used to but people still like/love their music.
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Post by Russg on May 15, 2018 8:44:05 GMT
The title of this thread is misleading, falling out of public favor and not having massive popularity are two different things. If we're talking about of what the title thread refers, Jerry Lewis and Gary Glitter come to mind. Many of these people you mentioned but Janet Jackson haven't fallen out of public favor, they just don't possess the popularity and don't have the huge commercial success they used to but people still like/love their music. Well, to be fair, falling out of public favour and being publicly disgraced are also two totally different things.
Janet Jackson fell out of public favour after Nipplegate. I think claiming that someone like Gary Glitter fell out of public favour is a bit of an understatement. He was rightly publicly vilified and disgraced for despicable crimes against children. That's a hell of a lot more than falling out of favour with the public.
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Post by respect77 on May 15, 2018 10:03:54 GMT
It's natural that artists have their peak and then fade after a while. ALL of them go through that cycle. Bruce Springsteen isn't as popular as he was in the 80s. Not even Madonna. But I wouldn't call that fallig out of public favour. Though their albums don't sell that well any more, but they still quickly sell out tours.
With Janet on the other hand this went down all too weird. Like her fans all of a sudden disappeared. Because it is not just that her albums didn't sell as well as before - that's just the natural life cycle of any artist - but that she couldn't even sell out tours. THAT was weird because usually these classic acts always have touring to fall back on. But she didn't seem to have that.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2018 22:08:23 GMT
Gary Glitter. Poor guy...
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Post by Liberian Girl on May 17, 2018 11:28:21 GMT
Gary Glitter. Poor guy... Seriously? Poor guy? I'll save my sympathies for the underage rent boys he abused in Thailand. |
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