3 Rock Bands of the 1970s Who Were Everywhere—Then Suddenly Nowhere

Some of the best rock bands of the 1970s were everywhere, then suddenly nowhere. Such is the nature of the music industry. Even the most talented outfits disappeared from mainstream consciousness and the charts in what felt like a very sharp career downturn. I think some of those bands that couldn’t quite make it to the 80s deserve some love.

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Foghat

What would boogie rock be today if it weren’t for Foghat? Best known for their biggest hit, “Slow Ride”, Foghat had a really great time in the mid-1970s. Their music was everywhere, and not just “Slow Ride”, either. That song was a No. 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, but they enjoyed a handful of Top 40 hits on that chart through the rest of the 70s. They were quite “in.”

And then, when 1980 rolled around, it was like they disappeared. Only one of their songs that year charted (“Stranger In My Home Town”) before Foghat experienced a sharp drop in charting popularity. We can blame this on natural musical evolutions of the time. Kids in the 80s wanted new, fresh 80s music; not more of the same. Thankfully, though, this bluesy rock outfit is still together today and tours occasionally.

Kansas

Here’s an example of a band that managed to stay around past the 1970s and into the 1980s. Sadly, for the progressive rock band Kansas, their talents couldn’t get them to survive into the 1990s.

The band is best known for the albums Leftoverture from 1976 and Point Of Know Return from 1977, which both peaked at the Top 5. They continued to hit the Top 40 with their albums through much of the 1980s. And, sadly, by 1988, they couldn’t break the Top 100. And after 1988, they would not reach the Billboard 200 again until their reunion album The Prelude Implicit in 2016. They will likely always be known for songs like “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust In The Wind”. But from the 1990s onward, rock music had just changed too much for them to maintain a place at the top of the charts.

Three Dog Night

If you were around in the early 1970s, you know that Three Dog Night is worthy of a spot on our list of rock bands that were everywhere at the time. Their songs were catchy, perfect for radio, and dependably reached the top of the charts with every release. 

However, Three Dog Night didn’t write a ton of their own music, instead opting to rework other writers’ tunes. They could have built a signature “vibe” or sound, but instead faded from the charts as listeners began to latch onto more original music. It’s a shame, because this trio of stellar vocalists had a lot of talent.

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