What are some albums that exploded out of nowhere to massive comercial success

Voodoo_Chile · 04-12-2015, 09:37 AM

So I was watching a documentary and in it there was the tale of Peter Frampton. He had four albums released, each one doing worse than the one before (in his own words) and then all of a sudden he releases a live album entitled 'Frampton Comes Alive' and he breaks records for the biggest selling album of all time (or so I gather). This had me wondering, what are some other albums or singles from relatively unknown artists or bands that sold millions of copies from nowhere? What was their tales? Any input would be much appreciated ^^

Chula Vista · 04-12-2015, 10:22 AM

The massive audience response during the songs on that album were dubbed in after the fact.

Around the mid 70s is when payola was huge. Record companies would pay off radio stations to plug their fave artist of the moment with money and drugs (piles of cocaine).

You couldn't turn on the radio around that time without hearing 2 or 3 songs per hour from the band du jour. These are the most notable albums that benefited from the payola era.

Frampton Comes Alive - Frampton
Rumors - Fleetwood Mac
Hotel California - The Eagles
Fly Like an Eagle - Steve Miller

04-12-2015, 09:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
Voodoo_Chile Groupie Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 1	What are some albums that exploded out of nowhere to massive comercial success So I was watching a documentary and in it there was the tale of Peter Frampton. He had four albums released, each one doing worse than the one before (in his own words) and then all of a sudden he releases a live album entitled 'Frampton Comes Alive' and he breaks records for the biggest selling album of all time (or so I gather). This had me wondering, what are some other albums or singles from relatively unknown artists or bands that sold millions of copies from nowhere? What was their tales? Any input would be much appreciated ^^

04-12-2015, 10:22 AM	#2 (permalink)
Chula Vista Toasted Poster Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: SoCal by way of Boston Posts: 11,332	The massive audience response during the songs on that album were dubbed in after the fact. Around the mid 70s is when payola was huge. Record companies would pay off radio stations to plug their fave artist of the moment with money and drugs (piles of cocaine). You couldn't turn on the radio around that time without hearing 2 or 3 songs per hour from the band du jour. These are the most notable albums that benefited from the payola era. Frampton Comes Alive - Frampton Rumors - Fleetwood Mac Hotel California - The Eagles Fly Like an Eagle - Steve Miller __________________ “The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”