Artists misinterpreted by their "one-big-hit"

Spambot

Spambot

Meme Lord
To elaborate:
How many times have happened to you to misinterprete an artist/group by a song that you've known for years? There are dozens artists/groups at this day that you've heard of and probably know a song or two by him/them and that's it. Usually his/their back catalogue goes in simmilar fashion to the hit that made them famous, but sometimes... Well, sometimes you start discovering their other songs/albums and they blow your mind in that manner that you ask yourself why don't they sound nothing like they're portrayed (or that you've thought them to be).

Here are mine 2 examples:

Van Halen: Jump - Now, if you never heard of them you definitely know the song "Jump". I mean, it's probably most played sports song that you usualy hear at half-time at every sports event. I even remember the music video - which made them even more like some pop/rock band. It's a OK catchy pop tune which never interested me in trying to listen something other from them. Then some 10 years ago there was documentary on TV where they showed Eddie shreding and I was like: Is that the same guy who plays synthysizer on that "Jump" song?! I got their first album and, since then, Eddie Van Halen is without a doubt my favourite guitar player. His guitar skills on those first 6 albums are unbelievable and still amaze me to this day. There are some great licks and composing between "Eruption" and "Jump" which people usually skip thinking Van Halen goes into same bin with bands like Bon Jovi and such (I still know few people that never payed any attention to VH just because of the "Jump" and Sammy Haggar no matter how much I tried to jam "Hot for Teacher" into their throat.)

Johnny Cash: Ring of Fire - A fun mexican tune that his wife wrote for him is definitely his most famous song and marked his career. After watching "Walk the Line" movie, I really dug the soundtrack so I started backtracking his albums. And despite his style doesn't differ much from "Ring of Fire" there are really awesome country singles that are in my opinion light years ahead from "Ring of Fire". And then I started to listening to "American recordings".... Without a doubt, "American IV" is my (and probably a lot of people's) best cover album ever with "Hurt" being the one of the best covers ever. Pretty different from "Ring of Fire". Whenever I mention/suggest Cash's American Recordings to someone their response is usually: "Ring of Fire, eh? No, thanks."

So, which artists/bands you think are misinterpreted by their hit?
Do you have simmilar experiences?
 
I'll start with the obvious:

Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills
Although representative of some of the band's earlier material, it's much lighter, sillier, and upbeat than the majority of their music (especially considering the dark lyrical content). The chord-based riff is not what I would define as an Iron Maiden staple and the overall mood is rather cheery, something that only appeared on the occasional Maiden song (and all but disappeared by the 90's).

As for Van Halen and Cash, @Spambot - I wouldn't say that either of those songs completely misrepresent the band. Van Halen writes upbeat, silly, pop/metal songs (with DLR at least). Jump definitely has less guitar pyrotechnics than some of their material, but it still sounds like VH. Same with Cash, whose American Recordings albums are far more of a stylistic divergence than the remainder of his catalog. Ring of Fire is a little quaint for Cash, who I would probably define by a song like Folsom Prison Blues, but it's still pretty Cash at heart.
 
I disagree with Jump sounding like Van Halen, but I also disagree with that song being their one "hit". They have several, at least in the USA. Will come back to this topic later.
 
Might be my anti-VH bias sneaking in, Mosh. :D I definitely hear Panama and Hot for Teacher on the radio far more than Jump. Both are equally grating to my ears.
 
Bah humbug, neither is a good example.

Yes, "Jump" was Van Halen's biggest hit single (though "Why Can't This Be Love" came pretty close), but Van Halen was a major, well-established band with many other hits prior to the release of 1984. If you weren't aware of that stuff before hearing "Jump," well, that's on you.

"Run To The Hills" is a VERY representative Iron Maiden song, as it introduced the trademark 'galloping' sound to the world, along with a rousing, melodic chorus that is fun to sing at concerts. Plus, it was proto-proggy in a way, as the verses had two different themes and two different lyrical perspectives. Folks on this forum are just tired of "Run To The Hills," but it's an awesome song that is textbook Iron Maiden.

A better example that comes to mind is "To Be With You" by Mr. Big. Other hard rock bands that had "power ballads" in the '80s will probably fall into this category too. Will consider this further and return.
 
I heard "Jump" many times in NBA games before, but it was unbeknownst to me that it was a Van Halen song.

"Silent Lucidity" by Queensryche was the first song to come to my mind.
 
Blur - Song 2. The song they wrote as a parody of grunge has become their most instantly recognizable hit, at least outside the UK.

The Kinks - neither You Really Got Me nor Lola are representative of the band, indeed.

Van Morrison - Brown-Eyed Girl. Anyone expecting more of the same (as I once was, I am ashamed to admit) is in for a world of hurt.

Extreme - More Than Words. Yes, the hair/funk metal combo with the virtuoso guitarist is mostly known by their least typical song. Similar to the Mr. Big example above.

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters. I have seen people anxiously waiting for the song in concert and leaving right after. Seriously.

The Police - Every Breath You Take. Though the song quite fits the album it's from (Synchronicity), the album itself was somewhat a departure from their regular sound, being more "contemporary" and "Stingy" than their usual "white reggae-stylistic mish-mash" style.

Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World. That's not his legacy, savvy?

Chicago - Both Hard to Say I'm Sorry and If You Leave Me Now. The first albums were full of guitar heroics, courtesy of the unfortunately prematurely deceased Terry Kath (one of the few guitarists that Hendrix allegedly has said he liked, along with Clapton, Rory Gallagher and Billy Gibbons - yes, I'm not kidding) and full on jazzish rock. Their debut is awesome!

Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
 
JudasMyGuide said:
The Kinks - neither You Really Got Me nor Lola are representative of the band, indeed.
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What is representative of The Kinks, though? They went through (and innovated) so many styles that it's not really possible to say. Both the songs you mentioned could be called representative of their respective eras.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
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Also a good example.

Another that came to mind was "Let's Dance" by David Bowie. Arguably subject to the same critique I leveled at Spambot's suggestion of "Jump," I suppose, but he really didn't have many hit singles in the U.S. before this (his previous singles charted much higher in England). I bring him up because, if you only got to know Bowie from this track, then you wouldn't have any idea why Bowie became huge. He evolved his sound a lot over the years, but he's most renowned for his 70s glam-rock music, not his 80s pop.
 
Yes is a strange one. I'm not sure what impact their 70s stuff had at the time, as far as FM radio goes, but I've Seen All Good People and Roundabout have become classic rock radio staples. Even Yours Is No Disgrace has gotten some airplay around here, but not as much. No denying that Owner of a Lonely Heart is their most famous song and the only one a lot of people know though. But it's also barely a Yes song. The 90125 album was written when Yes had broken up and Chris Squire and Alan White were looking for a new band. They found Trevor Rabin who wrote all the material and played it under a different band name. It's only when two other Yes members started getting involved that they decided it might as well bare the Yes name. So the band's most well known song isn't even really their own.

JudasMyGuide said:
Extreme - More Than Words. Yes, the hair/funk metal combo with the virtuoso guitarist is mostly known by their least typical song. Similar to the Mr. Big example above.
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This is the one I was going to name. I was a big Extreme fan for a long time, still enjoy them from time to time. More Than Words really ruined them, since that sound wasn't really what they were best at. It isn't even their best ballad. Even the album, which is very much of its time, had way more to offer than your average hair metal band. They weren't even really hair metal, except maybe their first album. Especially not the two after Pornograffitti. They were much more diverse, almost like a 90s Queen.

I could be wrong, but I remember reading that Harvest by Opeth was a minor hit in some countries and was a bit of a breakthrough for them. Definitely a misleading tune. :D
 
Harvest was the first Opeth song I heard, way earlier than when I actually got into Opeth. It's definitely their most well-known song.

In high school a girl who was a classmate of mine mentioned that she listened to Opeth from time to time. When asked "Which songs do you like?", her answer was "Harvest and Soldier of Fortune" -not sure if she knew the latter was a cover-. I then forced her to listen to In Mist She Was Standing, Demon of the Fall, The Moor and Bleak in a row. She liked them, too, surprisingly.

Dunno if she followed through and explored further, I managed to lose touch with all of my high school friends after just one year. :D
 
At the time it came out, Harvest was a bit of an anomaly in the Opeth catalog. Now there are at least 3 albums by Opeth you could appreciate if you like Harvest but not their death metal stuff. I wonder how long it'll be before there's a significant group of fans who only like the non-death metal stuff.
 
There already is a pretty big group of people who say "I like Opeth but not the growl parts". Not sure if they go as far as to say they're fans, though.
 
That was me when I first started listening to Opeth, but Heritage had just come out and I didn't really listen to it that much. I'd still listen to songs with growls but was more there for the instrumentals and clean parts. I mean more people who won't even listen to that stuff and exclusively like the last two albums + Damnation. Kinda like how there are Genesis fans who ignore what they did before the 80s.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
As for Van Halen and Cash, @Spambot - I wouldn't say that either of those songs completely misrepresent the band. Van Halen writes upbeat, silly, pop/metal songs (with DLR at least). Jump definitely has less guitar pyrotechnics than some of their material, but it still sounds like VH. Same with Cash, whose American Recordings albums are far more of a stylistic divergence than the remainder of his catalog. Ring of Fire is a little quaint for Cash, who I would probably define by a song like Folsom Prison Blues, but it's still pretty Cash at heart.
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Well they do write upbeat silly, pop/metal songs, but I consider "Jump" a complete pop hit (except the solo) due to it's simplistic synth riff and even more banal lyrics. Just compare it to the other songs on the same album (for example "I'll Wait" who is also based on synth is much more VH then "Jump"). Even Eddie Van Halen got pissed off in few interview stating that "Jump" is typicall Van Halen song which means that people/critics for some time have been saying otherwise.
Now, Folsom Prison Blues is a song that defines what Cash is all about. Still, majority of people associate his name with Ring of Fire completely oblivious of his other work.

Mosh said:
I disagree with Jump sounding like Van Halen, but I also disagree with that song being their one "hit". They have several, at least in the USA.
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Cornfed Hick said:
Yes, "Jump" was Van Halen's biggest hit single (though "Why Can't This Be Love" came pretty close), but Van Halen was a major, well-established band with many other hits prior to the release of 1984. If you weren't aware of that stuff before hearing "Jump," well, that's on you.
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This argument is valid only for those who were into music at that time (late 70's/early 80's) - VH had several hits before "Jump" and even more afterwards. For those who discover them post 2000 they would (at first) be unaware of the line-up and style changes. For example, let's say some 14-year old today starts listening to rock/metal and hears/reads something about Van Halen. Goes to Google and/or Youtube and types Van Halen - first result is going to be „Jump". If he listens to only that song he's going to easily label them as pop/rock group completely unaware of all the previous rock hit singles that made them famous. This is what I think about when I started the thread.
 
JudasMyGuide said:
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters. I have seen people anxiously waiting for the song in concert and leaving right after. Seriously.
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This is a good example. I know a girl who was saying she „loves“ Metallica and by Metallica she meant this song. When I let her hear „Master of Puppets“ she was looking at a speakers with a disgust.

JudasMyGuide said:
The Police - Every Breath You Take. Though the song quite fits the album it's from (Synchronicity), the album itself was somewhat a departure from their regular sound, being more "contemporary" and "Stingy" than their usual "white reggae-stylistic mish-mash" style.
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Also a good example when a ballad overshadows band's previous/current work.

Cornfed Hick said:
Also a good example.

Another that came to mind was "Let's Dance" by David Bowie. Arguably subject to the same critique I leveled at Spambot's suggestion of "Jump," I suppose, but he really didn't have many hit singles in the U.S. before this (his previous singles charted much higher in England). I bring him up because, if you only got to know Bowie from this track, then you wouldn't have any idea why Bowie became huge. He evolved his sound a lot over the years, but he's most renowned for his 70s glam-rock music, not his 80s pop.
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I noticed this was the case in USA (associating him with his 80's onward material). In UK/Europe however people associate Bowie with "Space Oddity" and his Ziggy Stardust phase.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Iron Maiden - Run to the Hills
Although representative of some of the band's earlier material, it's much lighter, sillier, and upbeat than the majority of their music (especially considering the dark lyrical content). The chord-based riff is not what I would define as an Iron Maiden staple and the overall mood is rather cheery, something that only appeared on the occasional Maiden song (and all but disappeared by the 90's).
Click to expand...

Cornfed Hick said:
"Run To The Hills" is a VERY representative Iron Maiden song, as it introduced the trademark 'galloping' sound to the world, along with a rousing, melodic chorus that is fun to sing at concerts. Plus, it was proto-proggy in a way, as the verses had two different themes and two different lyrical perspectives. Folks on this forum are just tired of "Run To The Hills," but it's an awesome song that is textbook Iron Maiden.
.
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RTTH is a good representative Maiden song, althought I wouldn't say it's the first song that "casuall listeners" associate Maiden with. In my experience people who aren't into rock/metal associate them with "The Trooper" – which is an excellent Maiden representative song. Also, „Fear of the Dark“ could be considered the most famous Maiden song, at least to general public. Take a stroll through any city in the world and after some time you're going to see a kid with „Fear of the Dark“ t-shirt. It's some kind of global conspiracy or something.
 
Spambot said:
RTTH is a good representative Maiden song, althought I wouldn't say it's the first song that "casuall listeners" associate Maiden with. In my experience people who aren't into rock/metal associate them with "The Trooper" – which is an excellent Maiden representative song. Also, „Fear of the Dark“ could be considered the most famous Maiden song, at least to general public. Take a stroll through any city in the world and after some time you're going to see a kid with „Fear of the Dark“ t-shirt. It's some kind of global conspiracy or something.
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Just curious where you live, Spambot? In the states, I've never met a single non-Maiden fan who know anything that Iron Maiden has done other than Run to the Hills.
 
RTTH, NOTB and Fear would probably be the most widely known here, I would have thought, followed by Trooper.
 
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