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This comes off the back of my Herman's Hermits mention in another thread.

They were, so the history books tell us, (or from memory in Milchy's case ) rivals to The Beatles in terms of success early on. Nowadays people would struggle to name a couple of their songs. They'd possibly know Something Good and maybe another one or two if they were lucky.

What other bands/artists have fallen foul of this particular fate?

I'll start off by adding Pat Boone to the list. You don't hear much about/by him these days.

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Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

The list of bands that history hasn't been kind to must be almost endless. Every musical era and movement had it's third rate bands and bandwagon jumpers. What, I think, may be more interesting is music that history has been unfairly unkind to. For example, British rock 'n' roll and pop music prior to The Beatles is largely dismissed as Larry Parnes stable of pretty boy singers and little else, but there was plenty of great British music prior to 1963 (as well as a lot of dross).
Such as these:

Vince Taylor and His Playboys ... Brand New Cadillac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56XgO4MKIjI

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates ... Shaking All Over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n327ncoU_ZU

Shane Fenton & The Fentones ... Sparkling Brown Eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HYIOTOmLw8

Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages ... Til The Following Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQInIrlNAeo

Billy Fury ... Turn My Back On You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBDGd5DwyZU

Tommy Steele ... Drunken Guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3_T3zG_03E
(this one should more rightly be credited to guitarist Joe Brown, who also plays the excellent lead on the Billy fury track above)

Cliff Richard & The Shadows ... Dynamite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lptDgECajgk

Cherry Wainer ... Money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCeBClkAM2A

Mel Turner & The Mohicans ... I Can't Stand Up Alone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZhNidx3rfQ

Adam Faith ... Carve Up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtKo6g_7djI

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

There was a large feature on precisely what you just said in Record Collector last month, Milchy.

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Mod Supreme, Demon Headmaster

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

Might be tricky now as the new one came out last thursday. There's a miniscule chance I still have it at home but I think I chucked it out.

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Mod Supreme, Demon Headmaster

Anything good in the new one?

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

I say Cliff, Fenton, Fury and Kidd are all looked on reasonably fondly...

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Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

This is inspired by what Kev wrote in another thread but the classic slot has gone today so I'll hold back - there's a track definitely worth hearing by a band much mentioned in recent threads that people have now written off.

I like Milchy's list (well, bar Tommy Steele). A lot of those artists have suffered for what they later did, meaning you need to know where to look (like Michy does) for the good stuff. Cliff was fairly revolutionary early on but we now remember him for the easy listening, singing at Wimbledon and non-musical rumours. Shane Fenton suffers from his Alvin Stardust/ Green X Code days ("you kids must be out of your tiny minds") and Sutch for his politics.

I was going to say that history isn't kind to Gary Glitter but, actually, history has written out GG and the Glitter Band (and he brought that on himself). So I'll mention Dogs - sorta post-punk and too much in love with the Jam, but they had their moments. They never recovered from an NME character assassination on them (record company probably didn't pay enough that week). They're not a classic artist, and belong to the mid-2000s but deserve something better from the historical record. Here's their best song (which was a b-side): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VahGK6RMng

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Alas, not actually Gryff Rhys Jones...

"Little Jack Horner sitting on the corner
With no shoes and clothes
This aint funny, but he took his money
And sniffed it up his nose"

Can't post links (am in the pleb's end of one of those split carriages, nicking first class' free wifi). But the whole grebo/fraggle scene of the late 80s/early 90s gets barely a derisory footnote as a pre-grunge and Britpop aberration. Admittedly the Neds playing God Fodder as a classic album gig a year or two back is risible, but there's some good stuff.

I've always had a soft spot for the Gaye Bykers and their fellow Leicester sorts Crazyhead released some corking singles before a 'proper' rock producer got hold of them and ruined the songs on the Desert Orchid album. (There's apparently a book on those two in the pipeline.)

The first Senseless Things album, Postcard CV, is cracking powerpop. And the Mega-City Four were lovely, esp the early sigles and Transophobia.

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Pukka Pie pest

Embrace the margin
Always Changing at Retford http://sptxx.tumblr.com/
Not Changing at Retford http://sptxx2.tumblr.com/

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

_________________
Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

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Definitely isn't inbred...has the GCSEs to prove it!

REVOLUTION PURITY LOVE SUICIDE ACCURACY

http://www.thesoundofconfusion.com

A few UK punk 45s from 1977/78.
None of these bands (understandably) will ever be afforded the recognition and affection afforded to, say, Johnny Moped, Adverts, Nipple Errectors, Penetration etc, let alone the credibility of The Pistols, Clash, Ramones, Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex, Saints, The Slits etc but these are good (and in a few cases, great) 45s that don't deserve to be dismissed. Some of these bands have been largely forgotten, all are certainly underrated, except by a small band of fanatics.

Generation X ... Your Generation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSAbdmpNmK4

The Lurkers ... Shadow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sszqq0tWlVM

The Outcasts ... Just Another Teenage Rebel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWADHZBb48A

Some Chicken ... New Religion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcuQNn4fLlo

The Wasps ... Teenage Treats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDepOhemGbo

Eater ... Lock It Up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mubqx4tuaos

999 ... I'm Alive
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_fy_9yqRQ0

The Snivelling Shits ... Terminal Stupid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOnxqHNAcUA

The Carpettes ... Small Wonder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZxWQ6Z6uGE

The Killjoys ... Johnny Won't Get To Heaven
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QA8bemwerY

The Users ... Kicks In Style
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=admDtV9imJA

Menace ... GLC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L23I1xi7uR0

The Nosebleeds ... Ain't Been To No Music School
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jb-RzpubkQ

PVC 2 ... Put You In The Picture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQod5Qwjteg

Satan's Rats ... You Make Me Sick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyrqEffk5A8

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

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Mod Supreme, Demon Headmaster

Billy Idol had huge commercial success but has been written off as a peroxide poseur. I'd argue that all of Generation x/Gen x and his early solo stuff are still magnificent.

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Mod Supreme, Demon Headmaster

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If Ian Curtis had lived, and enjoyed the ale…

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Curmudgeonly Rock 'n' Roll time traveller from ye olden days

2nd verse same as the 1st...

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Crazy haired surfin' slacker