Rock and Roll Flashpoints

Fuckin' Touchheads.

 

The Joshua Tree album -- and this was the first single -- and the subsequent tour did take them to another level, where they've remained ever since.

But, as others have pointed out, their Live Aid performance was the breakout performance that brought them to a wider audience.

And, I think Under a Blood Red Sky had already given people a taste of their live performance, and made people want to see them.

 

The opening credits of "Blackboard Jungle."

 

"Pride (In The Name of Love)" hit pretty big in 1984.

I don't think they were "alt-rock curiosities" after "War" in 1983.

 

Good call.

 

Mother Love Bone -- not Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice 'N Chains, or Pearl Jam -- was poised to be the first of the Seattle grunge bands to hit it big.

Then came March of 1990, when lead singer Andrew Wood dropped dead. Possibly the best lead singer of all those Seattle bands was lost to a heroin overdose. Some of the surviving members went on to form Pearl Jam. Chris Cornell and many others (Lane Staley not among them, sadly) were scared straight. 1990's rock 'n roll history changed its course in a hurry.

 

That's a great one.

Two more from that era -- Geffen keeping Butch Vig on the Nevermind recordings and PJ playing with Neil Young at the VMAs.

 

Can't believe nobody beat me to this: Rock history can be divided into two parts: Before the Beatles landed in NYC and went on Ed Sullivan, and after. Anyone have any firsthand memories of that, or any other Beatlemania?

 

The Beatles arrival from England was bigger more for the string of other British imports it inspired, than for their future success. You could say the Beatles didn't flash over into an "important" band for a few more albums. On Ed Sullivan, they were just another pop sensation like Elvis (though on a bigger scale).

 

Good point, although the Beatles' arrival in America (and the flood of their music which hit the radio afterward) inspired a ton of American musicians, too.

This is an interesting thread idea. Artists with long careers (Neil Young, Prince, Santana, even recent Hall O'Famers like Heart and Rush) have had several turning points in their careers.

 

Someone mentioned REO earlier. The band gradually was shifting from Richrath-oriented to Cronin-oriented. And Keep on Loving You, which virtually invented the power ballad for better or worse, was a key indication of who was starting to win, though Richrath's guitar solo was the best part of that song and High Infidelity still had rockers like Tough Guys. Good Trouble, the following album, was just an out-and-out bomb. Afterward, Richrath's health problems escalated and Cronin became a health nut. The next album had Can't Fight This Feeling, which I think was the permanent turning point, because it was even more treacly and keyboard-oriented than Keep On Loving You, and Richrath's trademark solo was much less assertive in the mix.

 

had a twitter exchange with a music writer about the 92 vmas. nirvana crossing paths with guns n roses; chili peppers blow job acceptance; pearl jam. it was a real crossing of paths in music.