Bands and musicians come and go as the years go on and musical genres evolve. The following three bands found some substantial success in the year 1973, and then they virtually disappeared from the charts and minds of mainstream listeners. What happened to them? Each of these bands and duos produced some killer tunes, so why couldn’t they maintain charting success? Let’s dive into the details and explore a little corner of music history, shall we?
Videos by American Songwriter
Stories
Remember Stories? This pop-rock group from the 70s scored a No. 1 hit in 1973 with the release of “Brother Louie”. The song was a cover of a Hot Chocolate tune, but Stories really made it their own. They released a handful of singles after that particular song, two of which didn’t make it to the Top 40, and one that didn’t chart at all. Stories would be done for good just one year after scoring a No. 1 hit. What happened?
Well, it’s a tale as old as time. One of their core members quit, was replaced by someone else, and they just struggled to maintain their charting success. It happens all the time today, but it was particularly prevalent among “one-hit wonders” in the 70s. Sometimes, you have to quit while you’re ahead.
John & Ernest
How about a serious deep cut? Serious in the sense that it doesn’t get deep-cut-ier than this. The song itself and this duo couldn’t be further from serious. John & Ernest were a novelty song duo known for their takes on blaxploitation films of the 1970s. Their biggest hit was “Super Fly Meets Shaft” in 1973, which made it to No. 31 in the US. The ensemble produced a couple of additional tracks before disappearing entirely.
I’ve struggled to find out what happened to this novelty song group. It seems like it was a simple passion project launched by Jéan Free and Ernest Smith back in the day, and the two musicians went their separate ways shortly after 1973.
Skylark
How about some Canadian tunes? Skylar was a pop-rock outfit that was only together from 1971 to 1973. They make it to our list of bands that disappeared after 1973 via their megahit “Wildflower”, which hit No. 1 in Canada and No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year. They were set up to be huge. Their follow-up single, “I’ll Have To Go Away”, did alright on the charts, but their third follow-up failed to chart outside of the US R&B charts. By the end of the year, Skylark was no more.
Sadly, after the lukewarm reception of their follow-up 1974 album 2, Skylark broke up. Several members of the band have since passed on, and a reunion will (unfortunately) probably never happen.
Photo by Kama Sutra/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.