Joe Elliott declairs Soul Asylum "one hit and gone"

[philipgar]

Phil was the coolest

+1

[sheryl]

Phil is VERY nice.....our Phil too

And very tactful.

I wasn't particularly upset by his remark, it just struck me that the man has just turned 50, and you'd think that after 50 years of his mouth getting him in trouble, due to unfortunate remarks, he'd have grown a clue by now.

In attempting to sound knowledgable he's not only declaring active, working bands "gone" but he's choosing bands I like!

I'm a Def Leppard fan and have been since 1980, but I've taken exception to Joes mouth the entire time.

[Closer]

SA has always been a one hit wonder for most people and probably always will be. That's the curse of having such a huge massive hit all around the world and never reaching that popularity again, even though I believe that Misery sold more copies than Runaway Train in the States, but Runaway is the one song that the band will always be remembered for to the masses. And that's fine... at least they are remembered in the first place... I've been in several bands and I'm sure that no one will remember any of them.

That being said... it is unfortunate that the band doesn't get the respect and credit they deserve. When I look at a band like, for example, Pearl Jam who also raised to fame in that alternative scene in the early 90's... then I see how it could have been. They don't even sell 1/4 of the copies they managed to sell with their first two albums but they're still huge... they still manage to sell out arenas all around the world and Pearl Jam's new album that is coming out soon has already gotten more attention than SA's last two albums combined. While SA is playing free shows in the States at rib festivals or whatever, where maybe a handful of people show up that actually come just to see the band. But I don't think that they mind that and they're just happy to still be making music and they don't want to tour a lot anymore probably, and that's the only way to reach an audience nowadays, because even when the Silver Lining came out they didn't tour a lot, so I'm sure that they're fine with it all. Someone made a comment on here about how Michael had said that the band is just a hobby for them and that shows and as long as they're happy with that it's all good.

I am curious, though, what's gonna happen in the near future because of Benny's comment on "Soul Asylum's exposure to the world can get back to where it deserves to be." They'll never be huge again like in the 90's but I doubt that they'd ever want that, but it'd be cool to see them get a little more attention and actually being able to tour properly, if they choose for that themselves, of course. Wauw, this is kinda a longish post... I don't remember what it was about... oh yeah, one hit wonders... who cares...

[CrazyLittleWoman]

On the subject of "one hit and gone," I once read an interesting essay by a philosopher on why some songs connect with huge audiences and others don't. The essay was called "To Find A Song That I Can Sing: What Philosophy of Language Can Tell Us about Popular Success" by Theodore Gracyk and appeared in U2 and Philosophy: How to Decipher an Atomic Band, p.163-177. Don't let the essay title fool you: this essay is written for general readers, not philosophy majors.

It's just an alternative theory, not the definitive answer, that attempts to explain why some songs are huge hits and others, even by the same band, never find a big audience, using U2's albums as the examples.

Gracyk contrasts and compares Joshua Tree, Pop, and All That You Can't Leave Behind to explain his theory. He also makes a distinction between casual music fans who know very little about Bono and U2 and the devoted fans who know perhaps too much about them.

What's attractive about the theory is that it gives the much-maligned "masses" (whoever that is ) credit for being more than just mindless dupes of omnipotent, evil recording industry executives. The author also sees those same recording industry personnel less as master manipulators and more as often-baffled bumblers who get it wrong as often as they get it right.

Gracyk sets up his approach on p.164-165. The gist of his argument runs from the second paragraph on page 175 through page 176. If you check it out on amazon, searching on With or Without You will bring up the pertinent pages.

[sheryl]

You KNOW I'm gonna have to buy that book, right?

[matrok]

I see the band as being in a very enviable position. As far as I know, none of them have "day jobs" to stay alive. They can make the music they want, have a hardcore following, and can still go the grocery store without it causing a public scene. As a musician, that's where I always wanted to be. Bono and the Edge are public figures, but I'm sure Larry and Adam can still walk down the street in peace.

"One hit wonder"? We know it's not true and so do they.

[GraveDancer]

joe would be nothing without sir mutt

[sheryl]

joe would be nothing without sir mutt

true that.

[Judgmental Patient]

Soul Asylum is my favorite band, without question. I'm a devoted metalhead who hates pretty much all things 90's (as a matter of taste, not principle), but Soul Asylum just trancends everything. With the exception of SWYW, I could listen to any of their albums all day every day for a year and not get sick of it.

That said... if you ask someone on the street about Soul Asylum, better than 99/100 people who have heard of them will cite 'Runaway Train'. Guys, that's the definition of a one-hit wonder. Contrary to what a lot of people have said, a lot of one-hit wonders DO play for a long time and have hardcore fanbases.

I can understand the indignance- Several tracks from Grave Dancer's Union and Let Your Dim Light Shine did quite well on the charts. But these sorts of things are the domain of the court of popular public opinion. And based on my experience, outside of Minnesota the best band in the history of everything has an unfortunate seat in the one-hit wonder category. You and I may disagree, but in the end it doesn't matter, as long as they keep making music solely for their own amusement

[danger girl]

I don't see Weird Al parodying any Def Leppard songs.