Talk:Sparks (band)

message: I've just nominated this for good article status, which I think it deserves.  Hopefully get some more eyes on it KaptKos 10:48, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  After reading, checking image copyright and 1 minor format using    if have promoted to GA status. Well done to all who contributed to the article Gnangarra 12:56, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Good Article 

message: Just completed an initial rewrite of the history section.  Please correct my bad spelling/grammer and factual insccuracies as well as expand everything, espicially the mid/late 80s early 90s bit as I can find next to nothing on this period.
Suggestion for what to do next appreciated.  I think a reputations section, influences and influence on sections, collaboration as well as tidying up the discographies and getting some pics/clips are all in order.
Please help - you know these guys deserve a proper article --KaptKos 15:01, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: My mistake, I rearranged the comment on the album covers so they flow like your edit--KaptKos 09:46, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  History Rewrite 

message: Just added some stuff bout the use of repeated lyrics on recent albums and seems to me this is highly influenced by Steve Reich, but I haven't come across any refs for this.  If someone could come up with something along these lines that would be cool, I'll drop a line on Reich talk as well KaptKos 09:37, 26 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Influenced by Steve Reich, maybe

message: All albums now have stubs.  Please expand and correct as you see fit--KaptKos 10:33, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Album stubs

message: The article Halfnelson (band) should be merged into this one, as it was the same band, under a different name. There's space for it in this article - I don't believe their earlier incarnation needs it own article. Terraxos 13:27, 3 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Merge proposal

message: :Image:SparksRollerCoaster.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is  other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot (talk) 05:23, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:SparksRollerCoaster.jpg

message: :Image:SparksBuckinghamPalace.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is  other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page.  Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot (talk) 05:44, 24 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:SparksBuckinghamPalace.jpg

message: Who cares about the bonus tracks? Why not list the singles of the album instead of bonus tracks?? 91.8.171.227 (talk) 20:24, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Singles in the album table 

message: The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman was broadcast on Swedish radio last night, August 14 - world premiere - and can be listened to here: http://www.sr.se/webbradio/webbradio.asp?type=db&Id=1898771&BroadcastDate=&IsBlock= (the rm file will be up for about a month) A stage version of this ironic, very Sparksy story is something the band hope to do in the future. I added a paragraph about this project to the Revival section. Enjoy! /Strausszek (talk) 23:42, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ingmar Bergman radio musical 

message: Any chance of a chart table of say UK, US, Germany as on the pages for several other bands?  It would show neatly how their career was resurrected by Giorgio Moroder and overall how it took a decade for them to achieve recognition in their own country. I must also take issue with the phrase 'Whilst never achieving peak chart success', pedantically this is correct, but 'This Town' getting to number 2 in 1974 is pretty damn close!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yacht Dance (talk • contribs) 17:04, 18 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Chart table 

message: Many pages have a section listing other references to the subject at hand. I think it is worthy to note that Paul McCartney 'parodied' Ron Mael in his 1980 video for "Coming Up". if it is okay to add this see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDBkySeyiDo  Ronster76 (talk) 05:55, 7 September 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I probably can't support this well enough to get it into the main article, but music fan Matt Howarth had a long running comic called Those Annoying Post Brothers about Ron and Russ Post. There is a degree of homage.Nickpheas (talk) 09:01, 25 March 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cultural References 

message: Whole article reads like it was written by die hard fan of a band. Charts topping singles (while not topped even single one), just ridiculous lines about pioneering plenty of musical styles and making major influences and so on - everything based on some kinda interviews. Come'on, one musician sad: yeah, Sparks are great - does it mean they exerted major influence on him?--Submixster (talk) 14:13, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I've got to admit, I noticed this, as well.   I know the thing's been on and off the 'Good Article' listings for a while; would improving the neutrality help?
Cuddy2977 (talk) 17:35, 11 December 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Neutrality 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified  on Sparks (band). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110506100011/http://www.filmthreat.com:80/festivals/35045/ to http://www.filmthreat.com/festivals/35045/
When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 13:40, 11 November 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Just changed the infobox image.
I don't think the FFS [Franz Ferdinand Sparks] image accurately represent Sparks very well; it can cause confusion to new readers when the article says it's formed by brothers Ron and Russell, so I replaced it with the AVRO image until there is an adequate image of Sparks in 2010s without the background of the other band.
Misterpither (talk) 23:45, 29 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Infobox image change 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 8 external links on Sparks (band). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061207233516/http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/shooting-off-sparks/12237/ to http://www.laweekly.com/music/music/shooting-off-sparks/12237/
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.epitonic.com/index.jsp?refer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.epitonic.com%2Fartists%2Fsparks.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060527033733/http://www.nypress.com/16/30/music/music1.cfm to http://www.nypress.com/16/30/music/music1.cfm
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://living.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=1882202005%2F
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=68772006%2F
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060329183846/http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=3781 to http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=3781
*Added  tag to http://sydsvenskan.se/kultur-och-nojen/article537268/Sparks-later-Bergman-sjunga-ut.html
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.filmthreat.com/festivals/35045/
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060128095916/http://www.music.com/group/sparks/1/ to http://www.music.com/group/sparks/1/
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 02:25, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I've added multiple sources but I haven't found anything for major bands like ABBA, Pixies and Arcade Fire. I think it is wiser to withdraw the following acts from the article:
Dax Riggs, Arcade Fire, MGMT, Panda Bear, Pixies and ABBA.
And obviously, Queen must have been influenced by them as Freddie Mercury & co were the support band of Sparks at London's Marquee in 1972. Plus according to Russell Mael, Brian May had been approached to play guitars on "This Town..." and he advised them another guitarist. This would need to be investigated as well. Woovee (talk) 21:14, 7 August 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: From the Queen's Concerts website (linked in the references) it appears that Queen played on Dec 20, 1972 with Fantasy, and Sparks played the next night, on the 21st.  I did not see evidence of Queen 'opening' for Sparks, although absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.  137.187.109.190 (talk) 14:36, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Agree. The Marquee poster image just says "Two Live Groups" for Dec 20, so I have removed that claim. But I've left that source in, as it has the poster image. Martinevans123 (talk) 14:46, 12 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Legacy 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 4 external links on Sparks (band). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060221080616/http://www.loadofold.com/boots/bright_sparks.html to http://www.loadofold.com/boots/bright_sparks.html
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.sacreddm.net/1980s/lkn051281/page1.htm
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.sacreddm.net/1980s/lkn121281/page1.htm
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060112032216/http://www.kittenpants.org/19_babyt/sparks.asp to http://www.kittenpants.org/19_babyt/sparks.asp
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 05:30, 9 September 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Sparks (band). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150923182641/http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=16809 to http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=16809
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 10:18, 20 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: This piece could still use some elaboration on the band's attempts to infiltrate the American (so-called) consciousness. Heck, until the 1990s I thought they were a Brit band.
I was a big Alice Cooper fan in the early '70s. When I saw that AB was going to feature the song "No More Mr. Nice Guy," that's all I needed to get me to tune in. Well, actually, it wasn't the AC band, rather a peripatetic singer & somewhat cadaverous pianist, in somewhat Cooperish clothing & makeup; at one point, the latter chased the former across the stage, wielding what I think was a large foam mallet. Dick Clark said they were Sparks, and the song of course was "No More Mr. Nice Guys."
THe second time I saw Sparks on AB, they performed (mimed?) "Talent Is An Asset." I have no idea which had the earlier original broadcast date.
Now that I think on it, I recall TV ads for Propaganda. Weeb Dingle (talk) 02:36, 26 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  on ''American Bandstand'' 

message: Are we sure that band membership was just limited to the Mael brothers? I'm seeing a lot of sites treat the musicians who played with them as full-fledged members. 72.208.178.248 (talk) 06:22, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: There doesn't seem to be a clean way to treat the matter. Clearly the Maels have always been the nucleus of the group, at least- the ones directing the group creatively and in business. Past them, the three other musicians who initially played with the band (the Mankeys and Feinstein) have a good claim to be members, as they performed as part of Sparks both on stage and on record, and are pictured on the covers of the band's first two albums; but they were not such principal members that they couldn't be left behind when the Maels relocated to England in 1973. (There are two other musicians who were members of Halfnelson before Jim Mankey and Harley Feinstein, but who left before the band cut any recods- Ralph Oswald on bass, and John Mendelssohn on drums. Neither is mentioned anywhere in the article as it stands.) Past that, it gets even murkier- there were full, regular Sparks lineups in the mid 70s and early 80s, that performed both on stage and on record with the Maels, but which were comprised, evidently, of hired musicians, who were let go at the Maels' whim. Are those guys members? Reliable sources tend not to delve into the minutiae of whether someone who played with the band was a full member, a touring member, a session musician, a guest musician, etc, so I don't think there's a clear way to solve this problem. The current listing of "former members and supporting musicians" is a kludge, but probably the best that can be managed under the circumstances. Yspaddadenpenkawr (talk) 14:11, 23 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Band members 

message: Sparks are just one of those bands that many more people just need to know about. It would be really awesome if this article could get featured somehow, one way or another. 2601:204:1:9430:6127:51B4:FC77:72D7 (talk) 02:45, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Just my opinion, but I honestly think that this should be a featured article.