Bands/artists that never lived up to their potential.

[3-LockBox]

Some bands/artists get marketed the right way and exist despite a lack of talent. Some bands manage to get contracts and have impressive debuts, but fall off the face of the earth.

David & David's Boomtown is as good as any album that came out in the '80s. But they were a one-off album for various reasons (one of those reasons was drugs). I've read that one of these guys went off and made a decent album or two on his own.

Freddy Jones Band - Waiting for the Night was southern-tinged rock album that recalled the Alman Bros as well as not-so-country acts like Blue Rodeo. But they may have been too prone to jamming than some people wanted in the mid '90s, and they weren't grunge. I bought their 1997 Lucid album and it was anything but lucid.

Any others?

[Dusty Chalk]

AC/DC.

(Sorry -- electricity joke..."potential"...geddit? Never mind...)

[3-LockBox]

AC/DC.

(Sorry -- electricity joke..."potential"...geddit? Never mind...)

hey man, gimme a break! This weeks "album that changed the world" thingie is a rap album and I'm just trying to kickstart some conversation 'round here.

You geezer

[superpanavision70mm]

This is a thread that is nearly impossible to answer for several reasons...

First, it's tough to say what a bands so-called potential is. What is the basis for that? Nirvana had loads of potential, but that just didn't happen. However, The Foo Fighters may have never been without the death/murder of Cobain. So the potential was taken somewhere else. Death seems to end most potential, The Doors, Joplin, Hendrix, Nirvana, Marvin Gaye, Ritchie Valens, Elvis, etc etc etc. Now some of these were certainly able to have loads of success for many years, but it's hard to say what could have been if they lived even longer.

The other thing is that many bands are hyped up and never live up to the 'potential' that is placed on them by society/people/etc. The pressure gets to some bands/people, but that's just part of the game. Talent then becomes a huge factor along with the ability to go the long-haul and also be able to adapt your own gifts and abilities to the tastes of people. There is a fine line between being an individual and making music for yourself and also catering towards your fan base.

[3-LockBox]

Death seems to end most potential, The Doors, Joplin, Hendrix, Nirvana, Marvin Gaye, Ritchie Valens, Elvis, etc etc etc.

[sarcasm]Gee, I wasn't going to hold it against a person for dying, I mean, have a heart guy, its not their fault cuz they died...ok, except for those who commit suicide, but otherwise...well, there are those who accidentally overdosed...but just cuz a guys loses a coin toss...[/sarcasm]

It's a purely subjective statement and you can make of it what you will, no parameters, no fences...just let go...it's a one-or-two-posts-per-day board for pissakes (I think its too slow to even qualify as a message board anymore). I don't think I'm taking up too much bandwidth here.

Whaddiya want, a list?

[kexodusc]

Pain of Salvation - all the talent in the world. Entropia was solid, and promised better things to come. The Perfect Element I was ok, but nothing great and Remedy Lane were good, but was starting to get repetitive - "Be" could quite possible be the absolute worst prog album I've ever heard - way to much cheeseball and pretentious forcing of the concept - far worse than any Scott Stapp/Creed Jesus posing alternative crap. Bleechh...Seriously, did Yngwie Malmsteen write this stuff?

I think all those bands that saw members kill themselves or OD etc, was a blessing in disguise. I'd hate to see "The Doors" end up like Aerosmith, the Stones, or put out some of that 90's crap like Pink Floyd did. Same with Zeppelin - sometimes there's only so much you can do - it's not very often a group can endure and keep pleasing fans like the Allman Bros, Grateful Dead, or even Pearl Jam. Best to make your mark, and go out on top of the world in blaze of glory.

[Stone]

This is a thread that is nearly impossible to answer for several reasons...

First, it's tough to say what a bands so-called potential is. What is the basis for that? .

Well, as already said, it's subjective, but it could be based on live performances, previous recordings, knowledge about how talented one or more band members were (for instance if they were in previous bands), etc.

I would have to say Everclear. Their first couple of records had some catchy, and somewhat edgy, tunes. Unfortunately, they softened up (not that they were that hard to begin with) and went the way of the Goo Goo Dolls instead of really exploring new sounds and trying something different.

Another one, and a bit more obscure, is the Lime Spiders. The Slave Girl EP was a fine piece of garage rock, which they never duplicated. They really polished their sound and the tunes were never as strong after that. I think they could have been a relatively popular college radio band in the 80s, but like Everclear, they didn't retain that edge that they had in their early recordings.

[bobsticks]

Kexo already mentioned one of my picks. I'd say Yngwie Malmsteen. After a first album of tour de force virtuosity each successive time he has touched a guitar has led to a new apex in crap for the instrument. He displayed enough raw compositional skillos and technique to follow in the footsteps od DiMeola and Holdsworth. Instead, we got twenty years of seventeen-year-old-in-a-bedroom musical masturbation. I don't think he ever recovered from the car crash.
A decent case can probably be made for pop music's The Verve Pipe as well. That was a very talented band with a huge back catalogue of excellent material. Many of their best songs were never even recorded. Of course, it's an odds on bet that they were victims of their own initial success. I mean, if I had to go to the auditorium and hear "The Freshman" in the green room, and then go on stage and play "The Freshman", get in the tour bus to go back to the hotel and hear "The Freshman", enter the hotel lobby and hear "The Freshman", and go to my room, turn on the TV and hear...well you get the idea. I'd probably want to start killing people including my bandmates included.
Actually, the two names that are most prominent on my list have nothing to do with pop or rock.
What about blues icon Robert Johnson. With just over thirty songs recorded before his murder, I think that qualifies as unrealized musical potential.
...And just imagine what Jaco Pastorius would be doing today!

Cheers