Musical acts who were really big at on time but eventually vanished from mainstream p

[Lencoboy]

What about that Crazy Frog thing back in the mid 2000s?

That started off as a ringtone around 2004, then ended up being a hit single; a dance remake of the 1985 hit 'Axel F'.

I recall this one staff member some 5 years earlier playing on the computer there this still image of a racing car with what eventually became the Crazy Frog sound (A dingdingdingding, blah blah blah) superimposed over it, which I thought was dead funny and amusing at the time, but the creator and supplier of the Crazy Frog ringtone (Jamster, I think they were called) obviously stole and hijacked the sound, and eventually it did my nut in, plus it was also a reflection of the increasingly dumbed down culture of that era.

More recently (at the end of 2021), Crazy Frog released a comeback single 'Tricky', which bombed spectacularly (thank God)!

So much for 2000s nostalgia then, unlike the decades that came before, in the context of the typical 20-year cycle!

[Peter A]

The Beatles having a number-one in 2023 was heartwarming. This feat happened some 50 years after their last chart-topper.

The band will always be influential.

[Lencoboy]

The Beatles having a number-one in 2023 was heartwarming. This feat happened some 50 years after their last chart-topper.

The band will always be influential.

Absolutely, even though said single 'Now And Then' only managed just one solitary week at the top.

Though chart wise it still outdid 'Free As A Bird' and 'Real Love', both of which failed to top the UK singles charts and only managed #2 and #4 respectively back in 1995-96, and were also much maligned at the time.

Probably one of the longest-running gaps between #1 hits by given artists releasing technically 'new' material.

[Lencoboy]

Going back to the very late 80s there was a duo called London Boys who seemed to be mega-massive in 1989, had about 3 or 4 smash hit singles and a big selling album called 'The Twelve Commandments Of Dance', which incidentally my mom bought me as a present (on vinyl) for my 12th birthday that year, but I haven't played it for donkeys years. Then after 1989 they suddenly faded into obscurity, despite still recording and releasing further albums and singles right up until both members tragically died in a car crash in 1996.

There was also another act who also had a very brief spell of commercial success that same year (1989) with about 2 or 3 hit singles who were incidentally on the same label as the London Boys. They were Fuzzbox, a West Midlands-based girl group whose lead singer Vix Perks now actually lives near us in Tamworth, who I have actually met a few times, and is a truly lovely lady.

They also suffered the same fate as the London Boys after 1989 where they still recorded and released material, but it bombed spectacularly.

1989 was a rather interesting but 'mixed' year for popular music as far as I was personally concerned at the time.

I seem to recall it as SAW's 'swansong' period, as their hits still continued to heavily dominate the charts during the first half of that year, especially as the then-Neighbours superstars Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were battling it out on both the singles and album charts, especially in the wake of their colossal duet smash 'Especially For You' at the end of 1988.

Also as the year of 1989 wore on, the influence of rave music (aka acid house) was also rapidly gaining traction and of course rap music was also starting to rear its head in the UK charts by then too (a la Double Trouble and the Rebel MC, De La Soul, etc). All of which genres never really appealed to me at the time and still don't now 35 years later.

Personally as far as popular music was concerned, I think the 90s, style-wise, actually began rather prematurely during the very late 80s as I already noticed certain sounds and styles that went on to become staples of typical 90s pop (and still even in the decades that followed) had started appearing during the latter half of 1988, even though many of the keyboards, drum machines, etc, that they originated from no doubt actually predated 1988.

[Peter A]

I am very fond of music released in 1980 up to 1985. My mate hates the 80s, but even he agreed that this is the best years of that decade.

Plus, look at the endless amount of cool movies this era boasts of. Whether that's action, horror, comedy or whatever. The 80s was otherwise rather drab, with all the political crap that went on, and John Lennon was killed. AIDS was a thing. The fashion was kind of embarrassing, but I guess acceptable at the time. Hence that cheesy song about it.

[Lencoboy]

I am very fond of music released in 1980 up to 1985. My mate hates the 80s, but even he agreed that this is the best years of that decade.

Plus, look at the endless amount of cool movies this era boasts of. Whether that's action, horror, comedy or whatever. The 80s was otherwise rather drab, with all the political crap that went on, and John Lennon was killed. AIDS was a thing. The fashion was kind of embarrassing, but I guess acceptable at the time. Hence that cheesy song about it.

Yes, 1980-85 is one of my favourite eras for popular music, despite only being 3-8 years old for the duration of that time.

Technological developments were rapidly advancing during that same time period, especially as the very first ever CDs and players started appearing at the end of 1982, even though vinyl remains the most enduring physical music format of all time, still even today.

However, I always thought the 90s was (and still is) a vastly overrated decade that I generally struggled to gel with, in terms of both its popular musical trends and its popular cultural aspects in general, nor did I think the 2000s and 2010s were much cop either for pretty much the same reasons.

[Lencoboy]

However, I always thought the 90s was (and still is) a vastly overrated decade that I generally struggled to gel with, in terms of both its popular musical trends and its popular cultural aspects in general, nor did I think the 2000s and 2010s were much cop either for pretty much the same reasons.

While on the subject of the 90s, I recall it being a decade full of short-lived fads and fashions, both musically and in general popular culture.

Said decade seemed to have several 'micro-eras' scattered throughout that were quite distinctive, though some overlapped others by about a year or two.

Although music-wise, dance-pop was pretty constant throughout the entire decade, around 1995-96 Britpop was all the rage, then in 1996-98 it was Girl Power (Spice Girls, All Saints. etc), then at the end of the decade (1998-99) I recall acts like The Corrs and Shania Twain being mega massive with a couple of albums and a flurry of hit singles from them but then both suddenly dropped like hot potatoes by the popular music-buying public from around 2000 onwards.

[Peter A]

My sister used to have the official Boyzone dolls. Seriously!

[Lencoboy]

My sister used to have the official Boyzone dolls. Seriously!

Yes, the late 90s did seem to be a vintage era for Irish pop acts.

Boyzone, B-Witched, The Corrs, Samantha Mumba, Westlife, to name but a few.

Although I wasn't necessarily crazy about most of said acts myself (they were just OK IMO), those names just evoke a certain sense of nostalgia nonetheless, and now take me back to what seemed like more innocent and carefree times, even though they probably weren't in actual reality.