base talk Acclaimed artists/albums that didn't transcend their time period

[Wicked]

Music book I'm reading got me thinking.

 

 

Rosanne Cash, daughter of Johnny Cash, had a string of several acclaimed and relatively successful (highly, even) ~Country/Americana albums throughout the 80s and 90s. She still makes praised albums now; her last 2 albums have 87 & 80 metascores respectively and made some year-end lists.

 

The pictured album, Interiors is probably the most revered of her catalog, it was #8 in the pazz & jop poll of its year.

 

But she gets almost no discussion now, only 562k monthly Spotify listeners (granted, Amazon Music is the best platform for Country/American roots music generally). Her albums haven't made many all-time or decade end lists. I guess this is the critical bias/overlooking of American roots music post 1970s. It seems the latter works do not get canonized the same way. Similar to R&B in the subgenres that materialized after 70s soul.

 

Anyways, who are some other artists with similar careers? This is her most popular song, Seven Year Ache.

 

 

[sugarysunflower]

Janet Jackson …… 

 

though it's improving ……. 

[Devin]

most 90s/00s r&b artists sadly. 

[NoAngelus]

7 minutes ago, sugarysunflower said:

Janet Jackson …… 

 

though it's improving ……. 

Nothing's improving sis, that ship has sailed. 

[Wicked]

13 minutes ago, sugarysunflower said:

Janet Jackson …… 

 

though it's improving ……. 

Janet Jacksons work is revered in the present day and outside of constantly making publications decade & all time lists many artists in various genres cite her as an influence. 

 

She's not as popular as she once was but she absolutely transcended lol

[Attaboy]

The bluesy rocker chicks of the 90s, e.g. Melissa Ethridge and Sheryl Crow 

[Fancyhoodlum]

interesting topic, and intriguing to read the explanation, however I'm not sure I really understand what do you mean. 

it seems you're referring maybe to someone being overlooked by GP, while the critics value the music. 

or something similar?

maybe more examples would have been better. 

 

I also think that there's so many artists that are overlooked but I don't really understand the usage of "didn't transcend their time" phrase 

[poki]

Lisa Loeb, Sarah McLachlan

[Nickibaby]

Alicia Keys 

[makeawish]

41 minutes ago, Wicked said:

Janet Jacksons work is revered in the present day and outside of constantly making publications decade & all time lists many artists in various genres cite her as an influence. 

 

She's not as popular as she once was but she absolutely transcended lol

yeah, i think janet was just unlucky to end up on the wrong end of some weird american moral panic, she's certainly still well regarded and not forgotten imo

 

on topic, i think maybe someone like suzanne vega? was very much a big deal at the time, first two albums were huge, now her biggest song is a remix that ended up being a novelty hit

 

 

[Wicked]

13 minutes ago, Fancyhoodlum said:

interesting topic, and intriguing to read the explanation, however I'm not sure I really understand what do you mean. 

it seems you're referring maybe to someone being overlooked by GP, while the critics value the music. 

or something similar?

maybe more examples would have been better. 

 

I also think that there's so many artists that are overlooked but I don't really understand the usage of "didn't transcend their time" phrase 

What I mean by didn't transcend their time period is that these artists work didn't maintain the same reverence it got when it was released. Some artists names carry on through both a mix of GP interest and critical reverence decades after the fact; I'm mostly interested in artists who didn't get either of those things years later but were revered during their "heyday".

 

When music publications post their decade or all-time lists, it can renew interest in older albums (this happened with the apple 100), and also shows their work has managed to carry the same weight through the years and changes in musical evaluation (a new gen of journalists/critics/historians etc,. still admiring their work). Rosanne doesn't appear to have had her catalog do that with critics or the general public (but as mentioned this might be more of a subgenre bias than anything else)

 

tl;dr I'm referring to both GP/Critics but only artists that were critically acclaimed at some point of their career. Does their work still get the same praise today or was it more or less forgotten about?

 

57 minutes ago, Devin said:

most 90s/00s r&b artists sadly. 

 

34 minutes ago, Attaboy said:

The bluesy rocker chicks of the 90s, e.g. Melissa Ethridge and Sheryl Crow 

 

4 minutes ago, poki said:

Lisa Loeb, Sarah McLachlan

These are good examples of more of what I'm talking about. These artists worked in mostly subgenres that haven't aged the best in terms of critical praise or the GPs taste. Although Sarah at least has 'Angel' but people kinda meme that song now. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy is one of the most acclaimed female singer-songwriter albums of the 90s and she was pretty commercially successful (that album is 3x platinum, Surfacing is 8x platinum)

[ChooseyLover]

Let me add her to my endless list of bookmarked artists...

 

Interesting thread. It is kinda fascinating and I hate that I can't come up with any example right now. But I remember watching bits and pieces of old award show ceremonies and most of the names that get mentioned are literally nowhere today. I guess the unusual thing is trascending time, actually.

 

Aaliyah, who passed away very early in her career, truly trascended her time more than most artists usually do in their lifetimes.

 

I think maybe an example of an acclaimed artist not trascending time could be Solange. I loved A Seat at the Table, enjoyed it much more than Lemonade or Anti, but I don't see anyone talking about it these days. I guess we'll see in a couple of decades.

Edited 7 hours ago by ChooseyLover

[Julia Fox]

Beth Orton seems like a good example as artists.

 

But ATRL speaking-wise I must say a lot of the albums that came out in the pandemic were over acclaimed to hell  Chromatica for sure didn't deserve all its hype and it shows now that some years have passed. None of the songs kind of stick and it's just some units above ARTPOP -which was an underperformance and also lacked of HITS besides of Applause- on daily streams says a lot!

[Born to Run]

Leonard Cohen sadly.

 

Tricky

Beck

D'Angelo

M.I.A.

Public Enemy

De La Soul

Beyoncé

[dumbsparce]

Not enough time has passed to know for any of the artists we discuss in here. For example, Back to Black by Amy Winehouse is still a reference point almost 20 years after its release but the fact that her catogue is short and she's not.. uhmm.. active anymore might contribute to such an influential artist/album to get lost in time. On the flipside, Lana's BTD has the potential to be up there with some of the pre-90s classics as a guaranteed entry in future all-time lists due to her consistent releases and exposure.

[Into The Void]

I mean a lot of people for sure but there's too many artists and not enough time

[Sheep]

55 minutes ago, Julia Fox said:

Beth Orton seems like a good example as artists.

 

But ATRL speaking-wise I must say a lot of the albums that came out in the pandemic were over acclaimed to hell  Chromatica for sure didn't deserve all its hype and it shows now that some years have passed. None of the songs kind of stick and it's just some units above ARTPOP -which was an underperformance and also lacked of HITS besides of Applause- on daily streams says a lot!

Poor Lady Gaga and her billions of streams this decade couldn't transcend 2009 

 

 

OT: Marina is a decent modern pop example of this imo

Edited 5 hours ago by Sheep

[Kimi]

46 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

Leonard Cohen sadly.

i don't this this is accurate 

[Julia Fox]

9 minutes ago, Sheep said:

Poor Lady Gaga and her billions of streams this decade couldn't transcend 2009 

 

 

OT: Marina is a decent modern pop example of this imo

The post also asks for albums so I don't see your complaint on here. I didn't said she was overhyped at all but Chromatica, HER ALBUM is…

[secretgarden]

Dido 

[Aristede]

Jewel. Who talks about her anymore?

[Saint James]

Pat Benatar

PJ Harvey

[king_queen]

7 hours ago, Devin said:

most 90s/00s r&b artists sadly. 

I was listening to Joe the other day and thinking "how in the hell is he not on every movie soundtrack today?"

 

Like unless you're an R&B fan, the name "Joe" means absolutely nothing and that's a shame bc his voice is literally made of gold

 

[Saint James]

9 minutes ago, Aristede said:

Jewel. Who talks about her anymore?

i swear she gets mentioned here all the time especially that flop pop album  she should be more forgotten than she is 

[Suilen]

6 minutes ago, Saint James said:

Pat Benatar

PJ Harvey

Disagree. Stories might've fallen off but Rid of Me received a lot of recognition in the last 5 years.