Bands that were Big Time acts, but then ended up later in shit venues

[Rabrrrrrr]

I saw Head East, after their heyday, at a 4H county fair (ca. early 80s). Also saw Dr. Hook and Pure Prairie League at the county fair (ca. early 80s, also).

A couple years ago (2000, maybe? Perhaps 2001?), I saw a poster at a grocery store in a town of 7,000 for Quiet Riot playing some local bar. I saw Quiet Riot when they opened for Black Sabbath in 1983 or 1984 when "Cum On, Feel the Noiz" and "Slick Black Cadiallac" were all the rage).

I remember Nazareth being a top dog (or top "Hair of the Dog"?)stadium band in the late 70s, and then them playing some bar in Madison, WI, in the early 80s.

[chicagojoe]

1. Blue Oyster Cult is on tour forever.

[politicat]

2. Bad Religion would play backup in the bathroom if you paid them...

Not that I mind, it means I get to see them regularly, though seeing them at the County Fair was weird... 900 punks surrounded by 3000 rednecks.

Pcat

[norml]

3. Jefferson Starship

Jefferson Airplane was great! Jefferson Starship was still great in the 70s. In the 80s with "They Built This City On Rock And Roll" they made money, but totally sucked. I last saw them at the Nebraska State Fair.

[Seabiscuit]

4. all "Boy Bands"

[Floogeldy]

5. All of those bands were great at a key point in time for pop culture

I prefer to remember them that way.

[Philostopher]

6. This one made us cry.

Here's a link to a page about Uncle Vito's -- it's in a little town called Amherstberg on the southern Ontario wine route, about twenty miles outside Windsor (which is across from Detroit):

http://www.unclevitos.ca/

Apparently, Dr. Hook also have played there. From the cover of the Rolling Stone to Uncle Vito's. Wow.

There also was some bizarre incarnation of Foghat that played a little dive of a bar where we used to hang out in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, but none of the regulars would go. I don't know if any of the original members of the band were performing in it at the time (mid eighties), and I don't know who did actually go see them. Nobody I knew.

[regnaD kciN]

7. One thing you have to remember...

...is that, in a lot of these cases, most if not all of the principals from when the band was big quit some time ago, and the current incarnation is merely the replacements (or, in some cases, the replacements of the replacements of the replacements) essentially doing a cover/impersonation act.

In fact, it's not unknown for a band to break up entirely, but have the rights to the band's name remain with the agent or manager, who, some time down the road, hires some complete unknowns and bills them as the former great band. As a matter of fact, at one point in the early 70s, there were two different bands named "Fleetwood Mac" touring the U.S. at the same time -- the actual group and a band put together by an ex-manager who claimed the rights to that name. Similarly, back in 2000, I recall one weekend in Reno where "Jefferson Starship" was playing one casine while another had "Starship" booked for the next week. In each case, the band contained one of the original members. (I think it was Paul Kanter in the former and Mickey Thomas in the latter.)

[faithnotgreed]

9. thats exactly what i was thinking

[Jersey Devil]

8. Chuck Berry

In the late 60's I saw him performing solo on a bartop in a dance joint called "The GoGo Lounge" in Congers (Rockland County), NY, $3.00 cover, beer in paper cups, that sort of place.

[Jersey Devil]

16. PS - correct that to 1965-66 (nt)

x

[enigmatic]

10. David Lee Roth

At The Popcorn Festival in Marion,OH in 1995, I think. Mucho pathetic.

[jdots]

11. Spinal Tap opening for a pupet show

It's a sad bizz.If you watch the Spinal Tap film with musicans,laughing and crying is what happens.

[kayleybeth]

12. Now playing at the Grand Casino

in Biloxi, Mississippi:

Dionne Warwick
Three Doors Down
The Commodores
Air Supply
Pat Boone

I know they're from Biloxi, but what a shame that Three Doors Down (remember them?) is now relegated to the same shitty venue as Air Supply and, most embarrassingly: PAT BOONE.

[Atlas Mugged]

13. Three Doors Down?

Of 'Kryptonite'? The last I heard of them they were gushing about Bush and his invasion of Iraq. They're all perfectly suitable to enlist, so why the hell are they in Biloxi watching their career go down the toilet and not in Iraq?

[kayleybeth]

14. I did not know they were Bush supporters

Very sorry to hear that. In that case, they deserve to be relegated to the same crappy venue as Air Supply and Pat Boone. Fuckers.

[Atlas Mugged]

17. I know it for a fact.

I was on the verge of buying one of their CDs, was doing a little research, and, *wham*, ran into an interview with them supporting the invasion. I was sorry to hear it, too, but it saved me $15. I've ignored them ever since - which isn't too difficult when they're playing Biloxi. BTW, Keith Richards has a catch phrase for a lousy band, "They couldn't play Biloxi".

[huellewig]

15. I saw Quiet Riot on my birthday a few years ago.

At a place called the Hollywood Taxi. It was horrible, they served beers in plastic cups. And the bands sucked too.