Obscurity, much?/Music

As bad as Cartoon Network and its Canadian counterpart have gotten, the music industry may seem *even worse* when it comes to musicians falling into obscurity.

A few notes for this one:

* Just because a song didn't chart at first doesn't mean it's obscure. The Colbert Effect can and will make even the lowest-charted of songs (or even those that didn't even chart) well-known to the music community. In fact, a legacy example even had to be removed because it *did* chart upon its release (Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" was *number 11* on the US Billboard Hot 100 upon its release and it's become one of their greatest hits as a result).
* With the exception of legacy examples (those documented before January 1st, 2023, not counting the "Rhiannon" example since it was an error on Tropes Fanon's part), individual songs shouldn't be documented until 3 months after their initial release.
	+ Also, with the exception of legacy examples, if an entire band's been obscure, they really shouldn't be documented here (for example, the Slumber Party Girls' only album (released when KOL Secret Slumber Party was still around- the block has since been replaced) didn't even chart) unless at least one of their songs helped shape a music genre (i.e. Bitter Creek).
* With the exception of legacy examples, only songs recorded (and artists who recorded) from the rock and roll era onward should be documented.

* Despite them being one of the most influential bands of the 1960s, almost nobody would ever believe The Beatles had their own show. Why? It faded into obscurity when ABC got rid of it.
* There was a rock band called Lightning Strikes- what, never heard of them? Yeah, figured you wouldn't.
* There was *another* obscure rock band called Bitter Creek. Their only well-known song (as of 2016) is "Plastic Thunder", partly since it's often billed as part of the heavy metal movement.
* The Who's performance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour came close to this (and the show itself actually was fairly obscure), until Keith Moon delivered an exploding blast (really, he made his drums explode). The band itself have averted this, thanks to CSI and its spinoffs, and the band tours from time to time.
* Not exactly obscure, but most classic hits stations don't bother to play "She's Not There" by The Zombies, and if a classic hits station does play it, said song usually plays between 12AM and 7AM (when the target demographic of the classic hits format is generally asleep). On the off-chance it does play before/after those times, it's usually the Santana cover.
* Paper Lace. To the point where their greatest hits album only lists *four songs*, and their most played song on classic hits radio nowadays is "The Night Chicago Died" (which is, in fact, one of their greatest hits).
* Journey, before Steve Perry became their lead singer, fell into this. Only when Steve Perry joined did the band start releasing hit after hit. In fact, their "greatest hits" albums contained nothing recorded before Perry joined.
	+ Speaking of Steve Perry, his solo career was this, with "Oh Sherrie" being the only hit coming out of it.
* The Kinks: Their output between 1965's "Kinks-Sized" and 1969's "Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)" was this in the US due to the group being banned from live shows there during that time. It wasn't until *Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround* (officially titled *Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One*, despite a second part not being released) that The Kinks began riding a second wave of fame.
* Speaking of the British Invasion, The Animals was this for some time until they covered the traditional folk song "The House of the Rising Sun", earning them their first #1 hit (well, at least in the US) and having Bob Dylan accused of plagiarism (ironically, Dylan's version came out first).
* Today, Cream is widely regarded as influencing rock music, though it wasn't always that way. Their debut album, *Fresh Cream*, was *very* obscure in the US at the time of release; it's unknown whether its two singles released charted or not. However, the band became more widely known in the US with *Disraeli Gears*, and *Goodbye*- their final album- was released post-breakup, and reached number two in the US.
* Eric Clapton's post-Cream career is pretty much a different story. A few years after Cream's breakup, Eric and a few others formed Derek and the Dominos, which fell into this until 1972, when a version of "Layla" made the charts.
* The Yardbirds, which paved the way for Led Zeppelin, which would be regarded as one of the greatest rock bands of all time, started out falling into this, *especially* in their native UK. To the point where *Roger the Engineer* (*Yardbirds* in the UK) was their only album to make the UK album charts. Like other British Invasion bands, however, they've had more success in the US.
* After The Beatles' breakup, the former Beatles went on solo careers. While some aspects of their solo careers fell into obscurity, the Fab Four's solo efforts were successful to some degree. However, even before that, there were several Beatles members whose time with the band aren't as well-known as the "Fab Four":
	+ Pete Best's tenure as the Beatles' drummer isn't very well-known, but it isn't completely obscure, either. He *did* try to cash in on the Beatles' success, but he made several albums that failed to chart and became completely obscure afterward.
	+ Stuart Sutcliffe's time with the Beatles wasn't well-known either, but like Pete Best's time with them, it wasn't completely obscure.
* One-hit wonders are bound to have the rest of their work fall into obscurity, because they only had *one* hit during the time they were together (hence why they're called one-hit wonders).
* A good reason why neoclassical music is referred to as simply "classical music" nowadays; aside from knowing about musical instruments made in Ancient Greece, nobody knows about the "classical music" before neoclassical music.
* This is the reason why Canadian radio started to reduce the amount of foreign music played on Canadian airwaves in the 70s. In the 1960s, particularly because of The Beatles and the rest of the British Invasion, American and British acts dominated Canadian airwaves. Back then, Canadian artists were lucky to chart on the *US or European charts* (which acts such as The Guess Who and Rush were). Of course, by the 70s, enough was enough for the CRTC, so they made new rules on the spot, meaning that now Canadian Content Required was in play.