That might be the Residents. In Simon Reynolds' book "Rip It Up and
Start Again", he says in the early 70s, because of the bands' anonymity, rumours
circulated that the Residents were actually the re-formed Beatles
recording in secret. The Res' Beatles-parodying was seen as hinting
at their "real" identity.
Yep, thanks, this rings a bell, I'd had a feeling it was Lennon and McCartney-orientated... there must have been such constant hope throughout the 70s that the Beatles would settle their differences and come out with new stuff, I imagine people would've wanted to hang onto anything.
I'll check that book out.
Of course, time has worn a lot of this away. I imagine the reaction of most people to McCartney revealing that he was 'The Fireman' would've been "Yeah... whatever..."
When she first arrived on the scene, I remember you couldn't open a magazine or turn on a music channel without seeing her face and her music was being labelled 'groundbreaking' but she now believes her own hype and hasn't actually had a decent song since 'Bad Romance', IMO.
The funniest one I can remember will probably mean nothing to most people, a boy band called Big Fun back in the eighties. Launched as a rip-off of Bros, they had a hit single with 'Blame It On The Boogie', and their record company was convinced they were gonna be massive. I worked for Andys Records at the time, and remember literally box loads of the album coming in, along with tons of point of sale stuff. It genuinely wasn't far off what happened with Michael Jackson's 'Bad', in all but one respect...I think you can work out what that was . I've NEVER seen a commercial disaster like it
EMF were hyped a lot, mainly because their first single ('Unbelievable') was absolutely superb. A shame that no one at EMI thought to check that the album wasn't just the same track rejigged slightly ten times. That got a bit awkward.
King of Hype has to be Louis Walsh. Boyzone rather carelessly released their debut 'Love Me For A Reason' at the same time as a superior version by some other new band. The better version started out with more airplay and better reviews, but 'somehow' (ahem) Boyzone hugely outsold them, and that was that. Walsh then almost literally cloned Boyzone to get Westlife, thus managing to get two almost totally untalented 'bands' to mega success. I can't abide the man, but he's a marketing / promotional genius...
EMF were hyped a lot, mainly because their first single ('Unbelievable') was absolutely superb. A shame that no one at EMI thought to check that the album wasn't just the same track rejigged slightly ten times. That got a bit awkward.
Which reminds me that KLF have always been at the forefront of generating hype...
From constant changing of their name, to having all copies an entire album pulped because of legal issues over an unauthorised Abba sample (like they *didn't* know that was going to happen), to the dead sheep escapade at the Brits, supposedly burning a million quid, having a car to front the band for one release, writing a book with tips on 'getting to number one the easy way'....
I suppose Bill Drummond is almost as good as Louis Walsh as a hype master. Anyone who can actually get a hit out of reading from an atlas surely has to have something special...
(I really do hope the million quid thing was fake, though, because that's the one thing that would make me dislike them...)
Nothing original about her, hyped to heavens when she first came on the scene.
Dating Calvin Harris helps, I imagine.
I think Ke$ha had some stories about her and Calvin doing the rounds as well. Maybe Calvin hires himself out as a kind of 'rent-a-musical-boyfriend', an easy way for an up and coming female star to get talked about in the business. ;-)
"Wasn't there an example of a release years ago when the artist went under some unknown name, but cleverly released clues created a hype that made people speculate that it was really somebody famous like McCartney or Lennon or something? Can't remember the details - it may not have been Beatles related - but I'm sure I heard something along these lines."
The Knack ( 'My Sharona') were unfairly hyped as the new Beatles. This was mainly through the visual marketing of their first album 'Get the Knack' which bore more than a passing similarity to the cover of 'Meet the Beatles'. Both records being released by Capitol. They made No 1 with the album but managed to work their way downwards after that.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood have been mentioned. They were heavily hyped (by
journo/ZTT man Paul Morley especially) - their "Frankie Say" t-shirts were very popular
and have become an 80s symbol. Also, their ads provoked controversy because
they deliberately used strong homosexual imagery - something far more shocking
in Thatcher-era Britain than today.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood have been mentioned. They were heavily hyped (by
journo/ZTT man Paul Morley especially) - their "Frankie Say" t-shirts were very popular
and have become an 80s symbol.
He's a pretentious fellah. He's always appearing on Newsnight and late night arts programmes. He could deconstruct Steps and make them sound like an experimental Avant Garde act!
well, I guess that's what hype is all about. I was wondering whether to read his book about 'The North', as I enjoyed Stuart Maconie's, but I wonder if I'll be overwhelmed by all the Morley philosophizing.
Jake Bugg has received a fair amount of hype and I think it has gone to his head somewhat. He's great but I wish he had had to work his way up rather than being signed as a teenager.
The biggest hype from mid 00s was Arctic Monkeys. Their CD was bought by lots of media people to give to clients. They've sustained their success well but there's no doubt the hype of them being a new discovery / anti-manufactured act helped launch them.
She was hyped as Dusty Springfield meets Karen Carpenter (no pressure then) then for me,when she appeared on some daytime tv show with wild hair and one of those `stuff and nonsense` upper middle class accents and,sorry, a little uh, rotund, and the hype was over for me.
Last thing I know she had released an album of cover versions of songs sung and made famous by MALE artists.
Fair play to her,in most of her last interviews ( I don`t think we`ll hear from her again on the radio anytime soon) she admits she went a bit seriously mentally depressed/confused by her hype and success.
her career along with dusty and karen are dead....
Who are we talking about?
I got a bit annoyed at the hype comparing Rumer to Karen Carpenter. No-one compares to Karen Carpenter, end of. A unique voice. Maybe Rumer sang two consecutive notes that sounded a tiny bit like Karen, but that was it.
I got a bit annoyed at the hype comparing Rumer to Karen Carpenter. No-one compares to Karen Carpenter, end of. A unique voice. Maybe Rumer sang two consecutive notes that sounded a tiny bit like Karen, but that was it.
I agree there,Karen Carpenter was unique. Usually when people compare artists to her they`re usually referring to a genre--youngish women doing easy listening with lush orchestration (let`s give her equally genius brother Richard a big up for the sound too) was arguably a pop genre started by Karen Carpenter. Rumer was certainly aiming for that genre/sound. To me the Dusty Springfield comparison made far more sense as to the sound of Rumer`s voice.
I believe the founder of Sigue Sigue Sputnik was Tony James, married to the "inventor of yoof tv", Janet Street-Porter - So I guess she was helping with the hype.
Who is this quiffy lad from Yorkshire who gets so excited while singing, he ends up rolling on the floor? I smell hype.
I believe the founder of Sigue Sigue Sputnik was Tony James, married to the "inventor of yoof tv", Janet Street-Porter - So I guess she was helping with the hype.
Who is this quiffy lad from Yorkshire who gets so excited while singing, he ends up rolling on the floor? I smell hype.
John Newman? I like him. I think he's doing well to live up to any hype so far, given his sales.
Has anybody mentioned Spice Girls? That is a masterclass in marketing and hyping a pop group.
Agree. They even filmed the hype--all those clips of the girls pre-fame living together and rehearsing have been released,probably increasing the hype. Mind you they delivered with a great debut `Wannabe` --unlike the pretty much identically hyped `Girl Thing`.
Comments
Fair enough... Hardcastle was merely the first one I remember, lol, not that that is in any way definitive.
But it was just to illustrate that Sigue Sigue Sputnik weren't the trailblazers that the music press and radio were proclaiming them to be.
Yep, thanks, this rings a bell, I'd had a feeling it was Lennon and McCartney-orientated... there must have been such constant hope throughout the 70s that the Beatles would settle their differences and come out with new stuff, I imagine people would've wanted to hang onto anything.
I'll check that book out.
Of course, time has worn a lot of this away. I imagine the reaction of most people to McCartney revealing that he was 'The Fireman' would've been "Yeah... whatever..."
Well, they'd still be making good music. And it's not like an all-female rock band
is something new to the US-look at the Go-Gos or the Bangles.
When she first arrived on the scene, I remember you couldn't open a magazine or turn on a music channel without seeing her face and her music was being labelled 'groundbreaking' but she now believes her own hype and hasn't actually had a decent song since 'Bad Romance', IMO.
EMF were hyped a lot, mainly because their first single ('Unbelievable') was absolutely superb. A shame that no one at EMI thought to check that the album wasn't just the same track rejigged slightly ten times. That got a bit awkward.
King of Hype has to be Louis Walsh. Boyzone rather carelessly released their debut 'Love Me For A Reason' at the same time as a superior version by some other new band. The better version started out with more airplay and better reviews, but 'somehow' (ahem) Boyzone hugely outsold them, and that was that. Walsh then almost literally cloned Boyzone to get Westlife, thus managing to get two almost totally untalented 'bands' to mega success. I can't abide the man, but he's a marketing / promotional genius...
Nothing original about her, hyped to heavens when she first came on the scene.
Which reminds me that KLF have always been at the forefront of generating hype...
From constant changing of their name, to having all copies an entire album pulped because of legal issues over an unauthorised Abba sample (like they *didn't* know that was going to happen), to the dead sheep escapade at the Brits, supposedly burning a million quid, having a car to front the band for one release, writing a book with tips on 'getting to number one the easy way'....
I suppose Bill Drummond is almost as good as Louis Walsh as a hype master. Anyone who can actually get a hit out of reading from an atlas surely has to have something special...
(I really do hope the million quid thing was fake, though, because that's the one thing that would make me dislike them...)
Dating Calvin Harris helps, I imagine.
I think Ke$ha had some stories about her and Calvin doing the rounds as well. Maybe Calvin hires himself out as a kind of 'rent-a-musical-boyfriend', an easy way for an up and coming female star to get talked about in the business. ;-)
The hype about Rita came long before she and Calvin started dating. She did have history with Bruno Mars at that point though.
"Wasn't there an example of a release years ago when the artist went under some unknown name, but cleverly released clues created a hype that made people speculate that it was really somebody famous like McCartney or Lennon or something? Can't remember the details - it may not have been Beatles related - but I'm sure I heard something along these lines."
Klaatu was the band
journo/ZTT man Paul Morley especially) - their "Frankie Say" t-shirts were very popular
and have become an 80s symbol. Also, their ads provoked controversy because
they deliberately used strong homosexual imagery - something far more shocking
in Thatcher-era Britain than today.
He's a pretentious fellah. He's always appearing on Newsnight and late night arts programmes. He could deconstruct Steps and make them sound like an experimental Avant Garde act!
well, I guess that's what hype is all about. I was wondering whether to read his book about 'The North', as I enjoyed Stuart Maconie's, but I wonder if I'll be overwhelmed by all the Morley philosophizing.
The biggest hype from mid 00s was Arctic Monkeys. Their CD was bought by lots of media people to give to clients. They've sustained their success well but there's no doubt the hype of them being a new discovery / anti-manufactured act helped launch them.
Last thing I know she had released an album of cover versions of songs sung and made famous by MALE artists.
Fair play to her,in most of her last interviews ( I don`t think we`ll hear from her again on the radio anytime soon) she admits she went a bit seriously mentally depressed/confused by her hype and success.
well in a way there is a simularity
her career along with dusty
Who are we talking about?
I got a bit annoyed at the hype comparing Rumer to Karen Carpenter. No-one compares to Karen Carpenter, end of. A unique voice. Maybe Rumer sang two consecutive notes that sounded a tiny bit like Karen, but that was it.
I agree there,Karen Carpenter was unique. Usually when people compare artists to her they`re usually referring to a genre--youngish women doing easy listening with lush orchestration (let`s give her equally genius brother Richard a big up for the sound too) was arguably a pop genre started by Karen Carpenter. Rumer was certainly aiming for that genre/sound. To me the Dusty Springfield comparison made far more sense as to the sound of Rumer`s voice.
Who is this quiffy lad from Yorkshire who gets so excited while singing, he ends up rolling on the floor? I smell hype.
John Newman? I like him. I think he's doing well to live up to any hype so far, given his sales.
John Newman! Thank you miss!
Happy to help
Agree. They even filmed the hype--all those clips of the girls pre-fame living together and rehearsing have been released,probably increasing the hype. Mind you they delivered with a great debut `Wannabe` --unlike the pretty much identically hyped `Girl Thing`.
Check my cover of John Legends amazing song 'all of me' if you get chance
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkmho8yN5YI