We live in an era in the music world where record labels have very little patience for artists who don’t hit it big immediately. If that had been the case back in the 70s, we would have missed out on some incredible music from acts who became superstars. The following four classic rock acts and artists took a while to find their commercial footing. But once they broke through, they did so in a massive way.
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Bob Seger
Bob Seger is the one name on this list that has to come with a bit of an asterisk. After releasing a few singles with different collectives throughout the 60s, the Seger song “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” broke through to hit the Top 25 in 1968. But then came a long fallow period, at least in terms of his commercial prospects. In the mid-70s, Seger assembled a steady backing group he dubbed the Silver Bullet Band to play to his loyal audiences in the Midwest. It was with that outfit that he recorded the album Live Bullet, which started to draw mainstream attention. He followed that up with the studio album Night Moves in 1976, his ninth overall LP. The title track brought Seger long-overdue chart success, kicking off more than a decade of pop hits from him.
Steve Miller Band
Just because you weren’t having success on the pop charts in the 60s and 70s, you could still build up quite a following. The Steve Miller Band came from San Francisco with an interesting formula that melded bluesy rhythms and psychedelic flights of fancy, both in the melodies and the lyrics. At one point, they ripped off four straight Top 40 albums from 1968 through 1970. But then their next two albums failed to do anywhere near as much business. Luckily, Capitol Records kept the faith in Miller and company. In 1973, he released the album The Joker, featuring the wry, self-referential title track. That song shot to No. 1. For the next decade or so, few rock artists churned out as many hits as this outfit.
Journey
This is the one band on this list that needed some personnel changes to help them ascend to the heights. The original version very much followed in the fusion footsteps of Santana, the group that included Journey founding members Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon. After three albums, the band decided they could stand out a bit more with a dedicated singer and frontman. They found a great one in Steve Perry. Journey immediately started gaining rock radio momentum on the 1978 album Infinity, their first with Perry. In 1979, “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’” went hurtling onto the pop charts. Things really took off with Departure, which introduced keyboardist/songwriter Jonathan Cain and his pop-leaning sensibilities.
REO Speedwagon
The patience of Epic Records was finally rewarded after a decade of shepherding the career of REO Speedwagon. Their first six albums didn’t make a lot of waves, as none of them contained a Top 100 single or did any better than No. 74 on the album charts. There was even a stretch when frontman Kevin Cronin left the band, only to return after a few years away. In 1978, small progress was made with the album You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish. But it wasn’t until two years later when REO enjoyed their long-belated breakthrough to the spotlight. They rolled the dice on a ballad that the label didn’t particularly love. “Keep On Loving You” went to No. 1, and REO was on their way to massive pop chart success in the 80s.
Photo by Fin Costello/Redfern
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