Originally Posted by collideoscopic

The band that should have been huge:

SENSE FIELD

I'm sorry, but a lot of the bands mentioned here aside from a few just didn't or don't have the crossover appeal necessary to "blow up", but these guys did. When "Building" came out in 1996, it was exactly the right record in the right place at the right time, and they immediately got fucked huge by Warner Bros. and sent into a void for five years. The band returns in 2001 with a hugely accessible "Tonight And Forever" and even sees a little success on TV and radio, and then fizzle again. "Living Outside" comes out in 2003, and nothing. Bye bye band.

This band has always been the biggest question mark for me as to why some bands make it and some don't.

I'll agree. "I Refuse" is a clear winner for a breakout single, but there were a bunch on Living Outside that had potential. Love that album.

Originally Posted by Hagysaurus Rex

If New Surrender had been a better follow up to Cities than what it was, Anberlin would be much, much bigger I think. Also, I heard Impossible on the radio a lot when it came out, but I'm not sure if DitW spawned any more radio singles after that, though....

The only reason i said New Surrender is because it had a massive hit in The Feel Good Drag. Had a great amount of radio time and was on top on the rock charts.

Originally Posted by Gaugzilla

That's where the problem lies. Older crowds normally don't want to listen to music inspired by their generation, unless it gets really big. If they want to listen to Billy Joel or Tom Petty, they'll listen to them. And younger crowds just want something similar to EIIT, so they alienated their audience and pared it down to something they want to do, which is fine, but cost them in terms of fans.

Yeah, I guess I never thought of it that way. I mean, it could've been force-fed to older crowds by them performing on Letterman or whatever the fuck 40-50 year olds watch these days but that's very true. I still love that album and I was really hoping it would launch them into another stratosphere

Originally Posted by iseejosh

CARTEL

They were on the brink of becoming huge with 'Honestly', got bumped up to Epic, everything seemed to going in their favor....Then the damn fucking bubble. I dont want to say it ruined them, but took a lot of credibility away. 'Lose It' IMO was a great single that just got overshadowed by the Bubble and the reality show.

Then they tried again with 'Cycles' and the amazing single 'Lose It' and 'Faster Ride' is the single that should've brought them right back to where they are. But it just never happened sadly.

I refuse to drink Dr. Pepper because of it!

Haha, I do remember being called an asshole on that show though.

Originally Posted by Hagysaurus Rex

If New Surrender had been a better follow up to Cities than what it was, Anberlin would be much, much bigger I think. Also, I heard Impossible on the radio a lot when it came out, but I'm not sure if DitW spawned any more radio singles after that, though....

"You Belong Here" was used in promo for American Idol. "Art of War" with some clever editing could have been great for a single.

Brighten.

I miss that band. Such good tunes. They could have done it.

Originally Posted by Jason Tate

I refuse to drink Dr. Pepper because of it!

Haha, I do remember being called an asshole on that show though.

HAHA
I missed that part. I need to find that footage!

The Urge, Autopilot Off, Acceptance

Hey Mercedes probably could've been bigger.

Originally Posted by Anton Djamoos

I'll agree. "I Refuse" is a clear winner for a breakout single, but there were a bunch on Living Outside that had potential. Love that album.

I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that everyone wanted another "Save Yourself", and that's not really what that band was all about, even though it was a great single in its own right.

I thought "Living Outside" was great too - good combo of melody and just a bit of anger that their other stuff never had, but it just tanked.

Also, I think the band Far should have been a lot bigger. It always seemed as if their label never really knew what to do with them or that their timing was just a little bit off. Even their newest album At Night We Live felt like it was made for rock radio.

Originally Posted by Anton Djamoos

I'd argue that Something Corporate should have been bigger than Jack's.

However, from a shitty human being marketer perspective,his leukemia should have been played up a lot more to get Jack's more exposure. The story behind Everything in Transit is as compelling as the music.

I believe it did. They did as much as they could. I mean Andrew got interviewed and performed on "The Daily Show," which doesn't bring a whole lot of musical guests on. The problem was he just couldn't get the momentum from there.

Originally Posted by Anton Djamoos

Obvious argument against this logic is Gaslight Anthem and Bruce Springsteen.

Right, but that is way more the exception than the rule. Even in that case, Gaslight isn't huge, they're just known. And another band that tried to emulate Springsteen, The Killers on "Sam's Town," mostly fell on their face in terms of momentum. Younger fans didn't want to hear their version of "Born To Run."

Originally Posted by Jason Tate

I refuse to drink Dr. Pepper because of it!

Haha, I do remember being called an asshole on that show though.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Twice, if you count the remix of "Wasted" with Wyclef. Oof.

Originally Posted by quesosauce

punchline shoulda been bigger

Glad this was one of the first replies. They still should be!

Cartel and Valencia are the ones who first pop into my mind.