Bands that were 'of their time' and then disappeared

flip side to the above
The Charlatans – saw them a few years back at V, went to the tent to get in for the Chemical Bros and they were on before, they were great; good songs, good playing and entertaining on stage

Also Ash – the kind of band you forget how many good songs they have written over the years and decent live

Art and ambition are ruined by comfort.

But there are a lot of good second albums out there too…

Killers is arguably better than Iron Maiden, and Evil Empire is angrier than Rage Against the Machine (although this could be to do with production values, to be fair).

Then I suppose there’s Jilted Generation as well. 🙂

I reckon you could find a bunch of people who’d call Ash one hit wonders but they’d all choose a different hit. Berm Baby Berm, nah nah man, Kung Fu, don’t be daft it was Shining Light, no it was…

Fair point, But you’re wrong of course. It was Orpheus 🙂

Oh bugger that was 2004. Okay 2 good albums.

Suede – although they did have quite a long run and have just reformed according to wiki. They do gain bonus points for all of their former members going on to form other bands which were the darlings of the music industry before disappearing shortly afterwards into thin air.

Reef – although still going, had that moment in time, helped by tfi Friday, it’s your letters. Been to see them a couple of times in the last few years still good in my eyes.

Starsailor, and for something really terrible I give you limp bizkit.

Also the levellers? Have you run mad? Awesome band that I still look forward to hearing their tour dates.

James are still around. They played the rugby league ground final last year

anyway, back on topic, may I present:
Sisters of Mercy are still going aren’t they (well, he)?

No, he’s recently announced the end of that and that he’s now involved in another project. Allegedly

I knew of Terrorvision when they were Spoilt Bratz.. That was their original name c1986-8

James are very much still going. They toured last November for their new album (and we saw them at the Albert Hall). Just getting betterer and betterer.

john_drummer – Member

I knew of Terrorvision when they were Spoilt Bratz.. That was their original name c1986-8

Tried to be hipster. Instead was just old 😉

Yes James are still around, I must of been to at least 3 “last ever” gigs. The first was in Brighton with support from (then relatively unknown) stereophonics and Turin Breaks. True story.

I think the more pertinent question is about bands/artists that have endured the test of time. 98% of acts are ‘of their time’ and a good number of those listed in this thread have had very successful careers in music long after they have left the mainstream.

Charlatans just released a new album a couple of weeks ago after the tragic death of Jon Brookes…

Republica.

Dare I say the stone roses. One classic album then a long wait for the next and then split?

Surely the most band of their time band then all went off to do other stuff (granted with a recent reform)

Tried to be hipster. Instead was just old

Moi? Never tried to be hip, I was a punk then a goth 😉 would be deeply offended if anyone said I was a hipster 😯

Just old? Yeah, heading that way. 50 weekend after next

Ride. Probably all of those early 90’s shoegazing indie bands.

I saw Ride at Derby Assembly Rooms, probably ’91? They were suitably upstaged by a support act called ‘Verve’, who shortly after had to change their name to ‘The Verve’ to avoid copyright issues with Verve records…

binners – Member
Catatonia

They supported Pulp at their big Finsbury Park gigs. They were bloody awful! Mercifully short-lived though. I don’t mind Cerys as a DJ. Just don’t sing. Or attempt to write songs.
Short lived?
Well, they were around from 1991 – 2001, had four chart albums, two number one, one Gold, one Silver, two Platinum, a bunch of chart singles, and Cerys has released eight solo albums, and tours regularly.
You may not like her voice, but she’s a bloody good songwriter by anyone’s standards, and I’ll never miss an opportunity to see Cerys when she plays locally.
I’ve probably seen her more than a dozen times with Catatonia and solo, she’s an outstanding performer, better now she doesn’t drink like she did with Catatonia; there’s a story about how she broke the sink and flooded the band green room at Moles in Bath which may or may not be apocryphal. They were allegedly banned afterwards…
Some more bands who sadly disappeared after one or two albums during the 90’s – early 00’s:
Tiger
Dark Star
Curve
Linoleum
Bellatrix
Tiger were fantastic, saw them several times, released one great album, ‘We Are Puppets’ followed by ‘Rosaria’, which is available, but was never promoted.
Dark Star the same, released a great album, ’20:20 Sound’, gigged a lot, were fantastically loud, with a drummer who used maraccas as drum sticks, then broke up before ‘Zurich’, their second album was even finished. Found a version on-line which wasn’t the final mix, still very good, though.
God, how I loved Curve! The amazing Toni Halliday! (Swoon). Saw them a bunch of times, particularly the Doppelgänger and Cuckoo tours, I can hear their influence in lots of newer bands.
Linoleum were fun, followed them around a few gigs, they released an album and 12″ single in hand-made parquet-effect Lino sleeves.
Bellatrix were an Icelandic band, gorgeous lead singer who played amazing electric violin, one album then seemed to just vanish.
Such fond memories, sadly no photos, before the days of camera-phones and cheap digi-cameras, venues wouldn’t let 35mm SLR’s through the doors.

Tenpole Tudor
Haircut 100
Heaven 17
Big Fun
Fun Boy 3
Pepsi and Shirley
Amazulu
Martha and the Muffins

welsh band sang 69 guns….?????
Big Country……?

Betty Boo
Echobelly

on the matter of the THE THE possibly the greatest UK band of the 80s…..Soul Mining was the sublime and Infected the great album of the 80s

Such fond memories, sadly no photos, before the days of camera-phones and cheap digi-cameras, venues wouldn’t let 35mm SLR’s through the doors.

Yes, the good old days when everyone was able to enjoy the experience of a gig without some dickhead with a screen in their hand

Fischerspooner

although I think “Emerge” is a fantastic track

I love their second album! (Odyssey).. i think I’m in a minority though.

69Guns was the atrocity that was The Alarm. Joke band.
And Ride have reformed after Andy Bell left one of the Gallagher’s bands. Didn’t like Ride personally, but their were other “of the time ” shoegaze bands
Catherine Wheel
Lush
er.. Mint 400?

The Magic Numbers, Badly Drawn Boy, Gnarles Berkley / Cee Lo Green, Paramore, Chase and Status, Bjork, Duffy, LMFAO, Jet, The Hives – one minute they’re everywhere and the next – nothing, they’re always the ones that catch me out – you hear something on the radio and remember you liked them and Google tells you they haven’t made a thing in ten years.

Stackridge

Galliano hahahahaha

Bjork

Beg pardon?? 😆

Anyone remember Electrasy?

These annoying idiots definitely deserve a mention too:

Disturbing fact #1: One of them had Liv Tyler’s baby!!!!!!

bands that did one great album (IMO) then ‘disappeared’:-
The La’s, The Seahorses (note..NOT shirehorses !)

somebody mentioned Skunk Anansie but they have done a handful of albums

DezB thanks the Alarm, saw them several times in Wales as they seemed to have a monopoly….truly terrible band

Galliano, saw at Glasto worse were
Spin Doctors Two Princes

4 Non Blondes….though Linda Perry rules the song writing female world

Arrested Development…great album though first one

Len….Canadian rappers

Presidents of America….peaches

The only band mentioned that I remember fondly are CSS. Loved the first album, wife said it sounded like a shit female version of LCD Soundsystem

elsh band sang 69 guns….?????
Big Country

The Alarm was listening to them on Spotify, seen them live a few times when at school. First album still has few good tunes.
Sure I was told they merged with Big Country and tour now. This may not be correct

I think Mike Peters is doing lead vocal for Big Country, but not a merge per se. I could be wrong of course

Milli Vanilli – one album and they were gone….. 😀

Some great reminders here , I’d almost forgotten about Linoleum…

The Longpigs?

Their album, The Sun Is Often Out, is still one of my all-time favourites!

Heard Radio6 play ‘Far’ the other day.

Bjork
Beg pardon??

That’s just edged past The Beautiful South in my list of silliest nominations in the thread…

artful dodger

then Craig David

How about these guys, part of that whole Keen-Coldplay-Snowpatrol axis of bland in the early noughties:

Another example from the Acid Jazz smugplosion in the early nineties

I was mad about My Bloody Valentine in my yoof. Very influential but very ‘of the late 80s’.

the levellers? Have you run mad? Awesome band

I saw them at some folk festival or other (might have been Brampton). All I wanted to do was push them into a bath tub and scrub them down with a stiff-bristled broom.

Going back a bit, may I add Ram Jam? They made a great album (the one with Black Betty) but I never heard any more from them.

I saw them at some folk festival or other (might have been Brampton). All I wanted to do was push them into a bath tub and scrub them down with a stiff-bristled broom.

Ha! I saw them at Brampton too and one of my friends described them as a compelling argument for Sheep Dip.

Reef – although still going, had that moment in time, helped by tfi Friday, it’s your letters. Been to see them a couple of times in the last few years still good in my eyes.

Saw them at Reading ’95, only knew “the one from the minidisk advert” (It possibly had a different title)… They saved it for the encore, bastards….

Someone above mentioned the Hives, I’d rank them with lemonysam’s definition of Ash. You forget about them, think they’ve only done one song, then you see them, mid-afternoon, at a festival and the set list is BAM, BAM, BAM, one excellent poppy-rock track after another.