I thought they would have had a better career...

1. Cool thread. Penny is a great call, as someone who grew up a big Magic fan in that era.

2. As a middle schooler in Central Florida, Dookie and Smash (Offspring) put punk on the map and made for easy tablature, but you had to move quick to Elitph, Nitro, or Fat Wreck Chords if you wanted to avoid the poseur label -- Pennywise, NOFX, Guttermouth, Good Riddance, Lagwagon, No Use For A Name, Rancid, Less Than Jake, Bad Religion... and you were begging to be mocked if you wore Airwalks (and eventually Etnies and the like) and weren't a skater.

3. Tim Armstrong of Rancid is actually Billie Joe's brother. Also known for Operation Ivy. EDIT: I'm a dumbass.

 

One of the best concerts I ever attended featured Lone Justice opening for U2 on one of the first few dates of the "Joshua Tree" tour in 1987, at The Summit in Houston (being mentioned in the news today for entirely different reasons, of course). Fantastic show from start to finish.

I loved Lone Justice.

 

I saw the same tour. I thought LJ really had the goods to be big but they got sidetracked by shitty management plus, as I mentioned, somebody told Maria McKee she deserved to be a superstar right away.

Which she probably did, eventually, but she needed a solid group behind her to do it.

 

I think sometimes people have some success and realize that it doesn't mean to them what they thought it might, or they make enough money to be comfortable and not have to do anything else, and creative work especially requires a lot of self-motivation. Once you lose that drive and discipline, it's over, and formerly ascendant people disappear.

 

People in the know around Nashville spent most of the 90s proclaiming that BR5-49 was going to have a massive breakout. Fun band, but it just never came together for them commercially.

 

Chuck Mead, and maybe a few of the others, I don't remember, is from Lawrence, Kan. About the time BR5-49 was hitting that point, Rolling Stone had Lawrence on a list of the potential "next Seattles." But none of the bands that were seemingly on the verge of making it big ever really broke through.

 

BR5-49 were incredibly solid, but probably a marketing conundrum for the Nashville folks, where it's all about radio play. Probably too country for country radio. Not urban enough for "rock" stations. They drew probably the most interesting crowds I've ever seen at their concerts. Somewhere between hippies and hillbillies. Figured they would have been a solid opening act for Willie Nelson.

 

Another LSU guy I thought would be a superstar was Kevin Faulk. Hell of a running back, versatile, and I think he's still in the top two or three in SEC history in total yardage.

He had a great NFL career. Played about 12 seasons, all with the Patriots, and won three Super Bowls. Almost any player would kill for that career. Never ascended past role player status, though, which is especially baffling given that the Patriots system helps those guys thrive.

 

They aren't related.

 

I loved his first album -- wore out the cassette my freshman year of college.

Speaking of bands I loved in college, I also thought that Living Coulor were going to be massive.

 

I'll be damned.

Well, at least I can remain certain that Jack and Meg White are siblings and Marilyn Manson had ribs removed so he can partake in self-fellating.

 

Great call on Living Colour, I thought they had it all, solid frontman in Corey Glover, great, great guitarist in Vernon Reid and a shitkicking rhythm section but they could never put it all together again after their great debut. Oldest axiom in the music bidness: you have a lifetime to make your first record, six months to make the second one.