Biggest Bands ever at the height of their career.

[Hallucination]

1. The Beatles
2. Guns N' Roses

those two in my opinion are the top two in terms of popularity. I think the Beatles at their pinnacle were bigger than any band ever and I think that Guns N' Roses is the biggest thing we've since the Beatles. Now mind you Gn'R has faded quite a bit in terms of overall great big bands but that's not the point. At their height only the Beatles were biger in my opinion. Obviously I don't think any band has even come close to U2 in terms of being so big for so long, as well as relevant, yet even they haven't reach the same "peak" as The beatles or Guns N' Roses ever did. What do you guys think?

 

[IWasBored]

i think i don't really care. popularity means nothing to me in terms of enjoyment of bands.

 

[Hallucination]

i think i don't really care. popularity means nothing to me in terms of enjoyment of bands.

Yeah that's exactly what I was getting at. I was baseing my apprecaition of a band on how popular they are. That or I was just starting a thread for conversation.

 

[I'm Ready]

hmm i bet led zepellin was pretty popular in their prime

or the who

 

[Zoots]

GNR were fucking huge in 91, that's for sure!
But I'm not sure if these are the only 2 bands that qualify for this discussion. What about Oasis at that time in 96?

 

[Hallucination]

GNR were fucking huge in 91, that's for sure!
But I'm not sure if these are the only 2 bands that qualify for this discussion. What about Oasis at that time in 96?

Good point. Oasis was huge but here in North America they didn't even come close to the biggness of Gn'R I don't think or even Pearl Jam and Nirvana for that matter. Maybe though. Though Liam definately seemd to be the media's darling(target), ala Axl Rose. Yeah Oasis were huge everywhere else though. I wonder what the hugeness factor for Gn'R was in the rest of the world. I know it ws huge but to what level. No doubt at least here in North America nothing has been quite so big and hyped as Gn'R were in the early 90's. I might be wrong but I think when the Illusion albums came out it was the first time an album went on sale at midnight. Both albums went platinum simultaneously in a matter of 5 hours and they entered the charts at 1 & 2. I don't know much about Oasis but I do know that Gn'R went from playing clubs to selling out outdoor stadiums in a mere 3 years. Hell once the momentum of Appetite For Destruction finally kicked in Gn'R were drawing more fans to thier gigs as the opening act than the headliner. I once read an interview where Steven Tyler of Aerosmith said it was becoming harder and harder to take the stage after Guns N' Roses had opened the show becasue it seemd like it was actually their(Gn'R) crowd. That's hilarious.

 

[impy13]

New Kids On The Block circa 1990

 

[Hallucination]

New Kids On The Block circa 1990

So true! they were massive. Where the Spice Girls bigger? I remember When New Kids first came out all the girls loved them and all the guys were digging Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood album. That was the big arguement. Who's better? New Kids on the Block or Motley Crue. Hilarious. At least that was the scene in grade 8

 

[impy13]

At least that was the scene in grade 8

It's still my scene, I don't know what you're talking about.

Oh oh ohohoh the right stuff

 

[BVS]

I don't buy it. GnR were big but they still had somewhat limited audience.

You look at bands today and singer songwriters, rock bands, hard rock bands, electronic artist all have some Beatles background due to a wide audience. White, black, worldwide this band was loved.

Bands that will be influenced by GnR will remain hard rock and metal bands. That was their largest % of their audience. Mainly white kids in America and some of Europe.

U2 has a much bigger appeal and audience than GnR.

 

[Dulce de Leche]

oh man, New Kids on the Block

....I had a sleeping bag, posters, the whole 9 yards....my first obsession with a band (at age 7)....

 

[IWasBored]

it's got a lot to do with where you were and how old you were when [insert band name here] was at the height of their popularity. as someone who wasn't around when the beatles or zeppelin were at the peaks of their respective careers, my opinion is only influenced by what people say about them now. there's most likely bias there. it's extremely hard to gauge.

 

[Zoots]

I know GNR were fucking massive in India (where I'm from originally) in 1991/1992. The Illusion albums just sky-rocketed them into mega stars, not that Appetite hadn't done enough! Pretty much every high school/college kid who was into 'western music' would know at least a few songs by GNR, Metallica, Pearl Jam or Nirvana. And definitely November Rain! Everyone and their parents and family knew that song!

 

[Hallucination]

I don't buy it. GnR were big but they still had somewhat limited audience.

You look at bands today and singer songwriters, rock bands, hard rock bands, electronic artist all have some Beatles background due to a wide audience. White, black, worldwide this band was loved.

Bands that will be influenced by GnR will remain hard rock and metal bands. That was their largest % of their audience. Mainly white kids in America and some of Europe.

U2 has a much bigger appeal and audience than GnR.

Good points and there is no doubt that U2 has a wider range as far as audinec goes but I don't ever remember at any point in time them being what Gn'R were in 1991-1993. That was insane how big they were. When I lined up for Gn'R line up tickets(not the actual tickets) in 1993 in Red Deer it was -32 degrees celcius and I arrived at 6:00am. When I arrived there was already about 300 people there waiting. We waited for over 3 hours just to get our line up numbers and then had to come back the following week to buy the tickets. Tickets were being scalped in Edmonton from anywhere between $1100 - $1500 for $33 tickets. I agree that U2 and the beatles and other bands have a more cross generation, cross racial, cross gender appeal than Gn'R and I agree that the influence by Gn'R on new musicians is much more limited than that of The Beatles or even U2 for arguement sake but you have to remember how short a time Gn'R were actually around. 3 completely huge albums and the longest tour in music history(3 years I believe for the Illusion tour). they exploded like no other band. I can't agree that U2, as much as I love them, at any point in time had a larger audience than Guns N' Roses in 1991-1993. More diverse crowd? Yes. Larger? No.

 

[Hallucination]

It's still my scene, I don't know what you're talking about.

Oh oh ohohoh the right stuff

I hear ya! I'm still Hanging in tough.

 

[BVS]

they exploded like no other band. I can't agree that U2, as much as I love them, at any point in time had a larger audience than Guns N' Roses in 1991-1993. More diverse crowd? Yes. Larger? No.

Yes they exploded and imploded faster than any band in history, probably. And yes they were big, but I think you are letting your personal perceptions cloud your arguments.

Zoo TV and the height of GnR were about the same time. ZOO TV played to 5.5 million. U2 soldout stadiums worldwide. GnR sold out stadiums, but only with a double billing with Metallica.

There is no way that even at their height GnR had a bigger audience.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Led Zeppelin are the 2nd best selling rock and roll band after The Beatles, and they were a sensation when they broke and were pretty much always massive until they split up...I'd say IV was their high-point (it sold 20million+ right?) so I'd have them ahead of GnR definitely.

 

[Hallucination]

Yes they exploded and imploded faster than any band in history, probably. And yes they were big, but I think you are letting your personal perceptions cloud your arguments.

Zoo TV and the height of GnR were about the same time. ZOO TV played to 5.5 million. U2 soldout stadiums worldwide. GnR sold out stadiums, but only with a double billing with Metallica.

There is no way that even at their height GnR had a bigger audience.

False. Guns N' Roses toured alone with support bands(Soundgarden among them) for a long, long time. They sold out stadiums every where they went. The mini tour in which Metallica was apart of was very short and it resulted in a riot in Montreal. Guns toured for about 3 years in support of the Use Your Illusion albums and you're telling me they did all that touring with Metallica? Ummm no. U2 is my favorite band so how can you say I'm letting my personal perceptions cloud my judgement? I honestly don't remember U2 haveing anywhere near the hype surrounding them in 1991.

 

[BVS]

False. Guns N' Roses toured alone with support bands(Soundgarden among them) for a long, long time. They sold out stadiums every where they went. The mini tour in which Metallica was apart of was very short and it resulted in a riot in Montreal. Guns toured for about 3 years in support of the Use Your Illusion albums and you're telling me they did all that touring with Metallica? Ummm no. U2 is my favorite band so how can you say I'm letting my personal perceptions cloud my judgement?

No I didn't say the whole tour was with Metallica. But they did rely on big bands as supporters and co-headliners.

I'm saying your personal perceptions cloud your judgement because you are citing the specific time for you and your experience. You weren't a U2 fan until after Zoo TV, if you had personal experience of the Zoo TV days your judgement may be different.

The majority of the US legs of the tour they were not selling out stadiums unless they had a co-headliner. U2 at that time were.

 

[Hallucination]

http://forum.interference.com/t92715.html

Wow that link^^ provides some insight to the Use Your Illusion Tour vs Zoo TV. Long read though with alot of boring stats but the U2 stats were backed up fairly well where as the Guns N' Roses stats not quit as well. As for as who had the more successful tour it depends on how you interpret it I guess. I do know that AFD has sold more than any U2 album and the hype and build up for the Illusion albums was far bigger than Achtung Baby. Whether or not they had the bigger audience I guess is debateable. Oh well. That's what the thread was for.

 

[Hallucination]

I'm saying your personal perceptions cloud your judgement because you are citing the specific time for you and your experience. You weren't a U2 fan until after Zoo TV, if you had personal experience of the Zoo TV days your judgement may be different.

This is true. I wasn't a U2 fan back then and you're right I can only gauge this by my memory and experience. What I experienced was every kid in highschool seemed to own the Illusion albums where nobody ever really talked much about U2 in comparison. It wasn't even close. Maybe it's the way Guns N' Roses got so big that makes them seem bigger. it happend over night and it got so big so fast that it makes it seem huge in comparison to what was going on with U2 and Zoo TV. Remember even before the Use Your Illusion albums came out Gn'R toured arenas and a few stadiums on thier own(only headliner) on the backs of AFD and Lies alone. That's crazy. who does that after only one real album(AFD) and basically an EP(Lies)?

 

[indra]

I can't recall a single Guns n' Roses song.

I guess that means I'm both old and adept at blocking out stuff I don't like.

 

[Zoots]

^ not even November Rain? That song is like heaven!

 

[indra]

^ not even November Rain? That song is like heaven!

Nope. Not even that one.


Well, at least not by name. It's possible I've heard it on a commercial or in passing sometime, but I've never really connected a song to the name Guns N' Roses.

(there are a lot of popular bands I couldn't name a song of though. if it doesn't catch my interest, it just gets filtered out. )

 

[Jack In The Box]

I can't stand November rain (or any GnR song)

 

[Angela Harlem]

GnR weren't ever at the same level U2 have been. And U2 certainly haven't been the world's biggest band. They might be America's golden child, in an adopted sort of way, but that doesn't make them the world's biggest.

It does all come back to era and where you are as to who is the biggest in your neck of woods.

 

[IWasBored]

It does all come back to era and where you are as to who is the biggest in your neck of woods.

 

[TheQuiet1]

It does all come back to era and where you are as to who is the biggest in your neck of woods.

Exactly, and for the UK I think Oasis would certainly qualify into the top ten. They're one of the few bands that look likely to knock Sgt. Pepper's off the top spot of the UK's biggest selling album of all time. Knebworth (although surpassed by Robbie Williams now) was impressive. Even today concerts sell out in under an hour, an Oasis single is virtually guaranteed to hit number one (not even U2 can say that) and what Liam buys from Tesco's is still front page news.

I remember once reading a magazine article on the top 50 biggest bands ever (it was based on biggest gig ever, album sales, weeks in chart etc). They came up with Pink Floyd as the top band.

 

[Aardvark747]

I remember once reading a magazine article on the top 50 biggest bands ever (it was based on biggest gig ever, album sales, weeks in chart etc). They came up with Pink Floyd as the top band.

 

[LJT]

Would U2 not have been bigger than GNR ever was around the release of The Joshua Tree...i really have no idea how big they were then as i was just a year old...but i have always been led to believe that was when they were their biggest ever....