Barking Spiders

I could've also rephrased the question' there's been lots of hyped up next big things who've had the right ingredients -the tunes, looks, image, record company backing, media interest - so how come they bombed so early.? There must be a common reason why they slipped through the net

not I'd say. There are thousands of bands and performers with talent x hard work = relative obscurity. I could reel off the names of 100s of virtuosos in the jazz, folk and other acoustic genres who gig hard, put out lots of albums and a unknown outside their niches

Coming back from a biz trip this morn , i was listening to Jeremy Vine on the car wireless. he played some plodding U2 song., probably one of their later ones as it had some plinky piano and little guitar. Got me thinking, what is it about them that they've managed to be one of these mega-sellers. What do they have in common with other mega sellers liker Coldplay, Oasis, Adele, Ed Sheeran, Dido, Michael Buble, Blunty, Eminem, Beyonce, Amy Winehouse, Rihanna. Eminem is the odd one out here, hardly summat your old gran would sway along to at the xmas family bash. If you were a record company MD what what would you look for and what would you avoid. Clearly having the instrumental chops doesn't county for a hill of beans and being original or innovative is probably a hindrance. Reminds me of that old TV ad with some music exec saying to a young band something along the lines of 'you can't sing, you can't dance and you can't play......you'll go far'. Is there something in this?!

Good point. Prepared 'banter' is usually painfully obvious, just like you see on the many dire comedy panel shows. You can best tell by the way the bantering band members stand on stage in relation to eachother and feign shock/surprise/amusement/whatever. When it's older blokes whose gags are seriously dated it's time to crawl off and die

A quick gander on Wiki to check out DB's album sales I'm surprised just two of his albums went platinum in the US, Let's Dance and Tonight and even in the UK he never went multi platinum except 2 x for Rise and Fall of... Says to me he had a large fanbase rather than mass appeal

Both in bands I've been in and in chats on other fora to me there's a divide between those who like to put on or see a bit of a show and those aren't fans of what they see as gimmicks i.e.g. dance routines, costumes, fancy lighting, audience banter you name it. I'm of the view that if bands just stand there and play I might as well have saved myself the dosh and stayed at home and listened to their CDs. At this year's Download I was disappointed that two bands I like quite a lot - Mastodon and System of Down - barely said 'owt and walked around the stage rather than leap about etc though the lighting etc was good. No faulting the music but for audience participation and badinage bands like Five Finger Death Punch and Sabaton were better value. I expect views here will differ. So then?

Bass-ically I'm the eye candy

To be fair this is the only album of theirs where reggae is a more dominant influence. Little sign of it on the other four

Not sure how you'd define rock but in it's broadest sense and stuff I regularly give a spin House of Love debut - way better than others of their ilk like The Smiths, U2 etc Mastodon -Once more round the sun - hard hitting, very melodic, great playing with no self indulgence Killing Joke - Millennium . Gotta have a Killing Joke album in any top of list

Took a fair few goes to get the bit with the brass section on Sir Duke nailed but got the in the end.

I've always liked the first four Police albums and i learnt a lot from learning basslines to tunes like It's Alright For You, Regatta de Blanc, Canary in a Coalmine , When the world is running down and Voices in my Head. Always found them very fitting, memorable and essential for the songs. Yep, an underrated player IMO.

+1 for RATM and Bodycount and add to that Prophets of Rage. Blimmin mutts nuts and Download this year.

Classic rock & pop tunage + orchestral re-arrangements = goddam' , firkin awful. Heard some of the Elvis stuff..mamma mia and ay caramba!!!

Agreed , a bit like Bowie he seems to be one of those you're not allowed to have negative opinions about in Netforaland. For me Prince's best albums are Dirty Mind and sides 3 & 4 / Disco 2 of Sign of The Times. After SOTT his output is pretty patchy. As for DB, he had a run of cracking albums between 1975 and 1983. But IMO both before and after that time his albums are generally hit n miss affairs

perhaps the #1 irritant for me on music fora is people who come out with the '(c)rap ' type of comment probably thinking they're so witty I'm a huge fan of 80s -early noughties hip hop and have around 100 CDs from that era ..Wu Tang, Public Enemy Tribe Called Quest,Run DMC, NWA, Dr Dre, Ice Cube, Ice T, EPMD, Ultramagnetic MCs, House of Pain, Snopp, Tupac, Naughty by Nature, The Roots, Boge Down Productions, Eric B & Rakim, Cypress Hill, Pharcyde,. Couple of faves here

Well there've been ziillions of virtuosos , a few very famous and most known to a few or who have toiled away in obscurity. So I'd say we have to speak of those who are all rounders, i.e. have a back catalogue of highly acclaimed albums that they've written and produced by themselves, who've shifted loads of units and who are highly accomplished on several instruments. So, I don't know. I'm more interested in those who are not only accomplished in music but who've excelled in other areas. One great example is Alexander Borodin who was not only a leading composer in is day but was no slouch as a pioneering chemist. Dude!

They have got recognition, loads of punters shelling out for their albums, merch, gigs plus broadcast royalties, freebies from sponsors and advertisers. What more recognition do they need?

Bobby Farrell from Boney M mainly for seminal vocal work on Daddy Cool, Rasputin and Ma Baker

Yep, often the most fun bands I've been in have been with blokes who are good to be around but may only have been modest players. I've also played with self-obsessed bellends who are convinced by their own genius but who admittedly know their stuff

The again, Joe Public isnt the one buying the bass and a bass newbie will usually buy/be given an entry level budget instrument and not a value added signature model. Most of us amateur/hobby bass players will be familiar with great session and niche genre players unknown to the rest of the world. Surely signature models are targeted at more experienced players who know their instruments and are not gonna be swayed by marketing gimmickry Also viz AC, I guess if he was coming out with Billy Sheehan lines it would jar seeing as the Edge is no Steve Vai and the drummist is hardly in Mike Portnoy's league

The fact I referred to myself as a pleb could indicated the thread isn't meant for earnest discussion

Thread here on Gene Simmons Lobue bass inspired this thread. I might be letting my views on KISS being woeful and on GS being a repellent individual get in the way of being objective but I've heard enough of his bass playing to leave me unimpressed. I guess he's rich enough to endorse whatever bass he likes but I was always under the impression you had to be pretty advanced with a respected back catalogue of work to have a signature instrument. Mind you I've seen many other signature basses -e.g. Adam Clayton, Nikki Sixx - around leaving me scratching my noggin wondering what it takes to get one made , other than money and /or fame or is that enough?

Some replies here fail to note that I put the word mature in inverted commas,. This is because there is a commonly held view among younger people, that CM and jazz are for 'old people' .

Errm, it was intended to be a bit lighthearted. I use the word 'mature' loosely. People often think of CM and jazz as being for older people, whether that's right or not. It don't matter , as it's perception that counts. Cripes. I don't really take music seriously. For me it's all about entertainment, nowt more. A lot of people don't really start bothering with jazz or CM till middle age once they think they're possibly a bit too old for raving or headbanging. Simple as that.

A great drummer is someone who sounds better on a four piece than a so so drummer whose kit almost fills the entire stage