Bands That Almost Took Over The World, But Fell Short

Reformed ’70s rock legends Taste have just revealed their epic new single ‘I Am God’, alongside an apocalyptic film clip by acclaimed Australian director Clayton Jacobson (Kenny, Animal Kingdom). The group has also announced that their highly anticipated new album Life On Earth will be released on May 27.

The band will embark on a national tour to support the release, it’s a welcome offering from these lost legends of Australian rock, whose tragic story of mismanagement and parental control is not commonly known.

Fresh-faced and prodigious, the group was set to sign to Sire Records and tour America with Queen in 1977 when it all went wrong, and the group disbanded. But what’s past is past, and the group is ecstatic to be playing together once more in light of their progressive new album.

To celebrate the upcoming Taste tour we teamed up with the band to curate a list of bands that aaaaaalmost took over the world, but juuuuust fell short, check them out below.Tickets and info at www.taste-music.com.

THE RECORDS

Taste: Here’s a band I found in my record collection that were way ahead of their time. Looking like a modern Beatles and sounding like a new wave 80s leader, The Records had a cult hit with ‘Starry Eyes’ in 1978 although I prefer the glorious pop laden ‘Teenarama’.

Their album is beautifully produced and after they split we were treated to copyists such as Nick Lowe and Dave Edmonds and Blondie. Just found them on Spotify again so have a listen.

JOBRIATH

Taste: Acknowledged as the first openly gay solo ROCK performer (If you discount Little Richard’s raves). In 1969 Jobriath began a career of being overshadowed by David Bowie. He was first to dedicate an album to aliens, flamboyant characters and themes and created a cover almost identical to Bowie’s Diamond Dogs (Beating Bowie by three years).

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Always missing the mark he was somewhat of a genius musically. When he needed orchestration on some tracks he bought a book on Scoring and within a week had composed his own apparently stunning scores. Was revered by Morrisey, who re-released Jobriath compilation Lonely Planet Boy but unfortunately had died of AIDS before the two met.

Billy Squier

Tone Deaf: These days, Billy Squier is best known as the guy who did ‘The Stroke’, that awesome clap-along rocker at the end of Billy Madison and for being sampled in Eminem’s ‘Berzerk’. But back in the early ’80s, the Massachusetts native was set to be the next Bruce Springsteen, with a working class swagger that spoke right to the heart of the everyman. Then he ruined it all with a single music video.

The clip for ‘Rock Me Tonite’ is considered one of the worst of all time and features Squier shucking his rugged, manly image by performing “effeminate” dance moves in a pink tank top and writhing around a bed in pastel-coloured sheets. Squier’s fans were immediately turned off and the singer’s ticket sales and subsequently career went into a tailspin.

MARTY AND THE MEATBALLS

Taste: A basically unknown Northern Territory treasure, Meet the Meatballs released two albums on their own Meatball label ‘Where’s the cleaver Beaver?’ and ‘Drovers on Ice’ in 1974. Both albums sold poorly, attendance at gigs were largely family.

TV appearances were nil due to their looks, although one guiding light was that drummer Greg “Chumpy” Randall overheard a Slim Dusty comment after their performance “I’ve never heard anything like that before!” Strangely he took this as a compliment. They reformed in 1980 for Meet the Meatballs tour which did even less business than before.

Big Star

Tone Deaf: Lester Bangs once said that if critical opinion actually had an impact on record sales, The Stooges’ Raw Power would be the best selling record of all time. The same could be said of Memphis, Tennessee outfit Big Star, whose debut album, Number 1 Record, is one of the most critically hailed albums ever to be released.

“Every cut could be a single,” Billboard magazine famously said of the album, which still takes listeners on a journey through the band’s perfect pop rock alchemy. Like Raw Power, Big Star and their debut are now hugely influential and cited as influences on everybody from R.E.M. to Daft Punk, but the band always remained right on the precipice of fame and riches without ever really getting their due.

BADFINGER

Taste: Although technically they did leave a large legacy of work behind, the tragic story of Badfinger is an example of a band one step away from global domination. Signing a horrendous management deal in their early days the band remained broke despite hits all over the world. They were one of the few acts to have success on The Beatles’ Apple records.

Indeed George Harrison produced some of their recordings. Frustration and depression (in particular key songwriter Tom Ham) caused the band to whimper out after numerous personal changes. Ironically the main two songwriters both took their own lives due to financial pressure both hanging themselves.

They never lived to hear their song ‘Without You’ go to top of the US and UK charts twice. Once by Nillson and again by Mariah Carey which would have set them up for life.

Upcoming Tour Dates