* '''Little Big Town''': The vocal quartet has long been a victim of "try, try again" syndrome. They first signed to Mercury in the late 90s, but achieved nothing more than a backing vocal credit on a Collin Raye album. Moving to Monument in 2002, they got only a couple low-charting singles from a debut album subject to all sorts of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. Three years later, Music/ClintBlack picked up the group and signed them to his own Equity label. They got a dark horse Top 10 hit in 2005 with "Boondocks", followed by three more hits (including the #4 "Bring It On Home") which helped boost their first Equity album to platinum status. However, the lead single from their next Equity album stalled out in the mid-30s, and the label closed soon afterward. Capitol Nashville then took control of that album, but failed to get a hit out of the two singles they chose. And just when it looked like the #6 hit "Little White Church" (the lead-off to their fourth album) might finally be their breakthrough, ''that'' album's next two singles fizzled out just shy of Top 40. In 2012, LBT ''finally'' got that breakthrough with "Pontoon" (the first single off their ''fifth'' album), which became their first #1 hit and netted them several awards.

Added line(s) 137 (click to see context) :

16th May '13 1:15:09 PM Twentington

Send Twentington a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 139 (click to see context) from:

to:

Changed line(s) 141 (click to see context) from:

to:

* '''Music/KeithUrban''': The New Zealand-born Australian cut an album in Australia in 1991, and spent the next several years finding some bit parts in Nashville. He founded a short-lived band called The Ranch, which scraped the bottom of the country charts with two cuts from their only studio album in 1997, and followed with his first American solo album for Capitol Records in 1999. The album was somewhat successful, getting him a Top 20 right away with "It's a Love Thing", followed by the top 5 hit "Your Everything", the #1 "But for the Grace of God" (which ended a nearly three-year spell in which no artist on Capitol's Nashville division topped the charts), and the #3 "Where the Blacktop Ends". After a nearly year-long hiatus, he returned in late 2002 with "Somebody Like You", a six-week #1 hit that started a streak of Top 10 country hits that remains unbroken more than a decade later. "Somebody Like You" was named by ''Billboard'' as the biggest country hit of the 2000-2010 decade, and everything before it has long since been forgotten.

16th May '13 1:04:36 PM Twentington

Send Twentington a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 116,120 (click to see context) from:

* '''RonnieMilsap''': Although he had two top 10 hits beforehand ("I Hate You" and "That Girl Who Waits on Tables," both 1973), those songs are largely forgotten today. His third top 10 hit – "Pure Love," which topped the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in June 1974 – is often considered his true "breakthrough" and is, as a result, the oldest Milsap song in many country music libraries.
* '''Eddie Rabbitt''': As with Milsap, his "breakthrough" hit came after he had already scored a number of moderately successful songs. For Rabbitt, the breakthrough was 1976's "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)," and that put two other top 15 hits – the ballads "I Should Have Married You" and "Forgive and Forget," both 1975 – off everybody's minds. The two earlier songs are available on iTunes, but they are all but forgotten otherwise.
** Some even consider his 1970s songs "forgotten," looking at his early 1980s crossover hits – first, with "Drivin' My Life Away" – as his true breakthrough.
* '''Music/{{Alabama}}''': As with Rabbitt, Milsap and Springfield, the Fort Payne, Alabama-based country supergroup did have some chart success prior to their early 1980 breakthrough, "My Home's in Alabama." The first song, "I Wanna Be With You Tonight" from 1977, was but a blip on the radar, but "I Wanna Come Over" from December 1979 got Randy, Teddy and Jeff into the top 40 for the first time. Despite CD availability, "I Wanna Come Over" rarely gets airplay these days, leaving "My Home's In Alabama" as the oldest Alabama song in many country libraries; both songs are on the band's breakthrough album, ''My Home's in Alabama''.
* '''HankWilliamsJr''': Ol' Bochephus had a long history in country music prior to 1979, when he scored with his autobiographical country-rocker "Family Tradition." In fact, he had had 11 top 10 hits, including two No. 1 singles (1970's "All for the Love of Sunshine" and 1972's "Eleven Roses," both soft ballads) prior to his landmark "Family Tradition." Yet, few seem to be aware of Hank Jr.'s countrypolitan-sounding material of the 1960s and 1970s, even with the occasional glimpses of his looming southern rock stylistic preferences ... and often, those early Bochephus songs are ignored today by many country stations. With all that in mind, "Family Tradition" is sometimes considered to be the breakthrough, and his true breakthroughs – either "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" from 1964 (sung by a then-14 year old Hank Jr.) or "Standing In the Shadows" from 1966 (and a then 16-year-old Hank Jr.) – are forgotten today.

to:

* '''Music/{{Alabama}}''': The Fort Payne, Alabama quartet did have some chart success prior to their early 1980 breakthrough, "My Home's in Alabama." The first song, "I Wanna Be With You Tonight" from 1977, was but a blip on the radar, but "I Wanna Come Over" from December 1979 got Randy, Teddy and Jeff into the top 40 for the first time. Despite CD availability, "I Wanna Come Over" rarely gets airplay these days, leaving "My Home's In Alabama" as the oldest Alabama song in many country libraries; both songs are on the band's breakthrough album, ''My Home's in Alabama''.
*'''Rodney Atkins''', "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)". Also a "first single from second album" type (he had a top 10 hit in 2003), although well before his ''first'' album, he had a single way back in 1997 that went nowhere.
*'''Music/LukeBryan''': Although his debut album was a modest success, the first single off his second album ("Do I") went to #2 and became his first Top 40 pop hit, thus helping to launch him into the mainstream for good.
* '''Glen Campbell''': Already, this handsome young native of Delight, Arkansas had been the part an instrumental group (a post-"Tequila" Champs) and was a member of TheBeachBoys during their many tours. He was also a much-in-demand session musician, showing superb guitar-manship. In the mid 1960s, he began recording solo hits, and had his first top 15 country hit in February 1967 with "Burning Bridges." A well-done ballad written by Walter Scott, that song is largely forgotten today ... and ironically enough, the follow-up, a John Hartford folk song called "Gentle On My Mind" (released in July 1967) fared ''even worse'' on the charts – it barely even broke into the top 30, and in fact didn't even make the Hot 100's top 40. Yet, "Gentle on My Mind" (which has since become an iconic country music hit, and has been covered by dozens of country ''and'' pop/rock superstars) is the one that's remembered today as Campbell's breakthrough hit and sparked a career that's won him international acclaim.
* '''Music/KennyChesney'''. Already one of many in the "hat act" boom of the mid-90s, Chesney had three albums under his belt by 1997, but none had produced any really big hits. Although "She's Got It All", the first single off his fourth album ''I Will Stand'', was a three-week #1, he stumbled a bit after that, and finally locked himself in as a hitmaker with the six-week chart-topper "How Forever Feels" in 1999. The subsequent years would find him moving from mainstream country to a unique style more influenced by arena rock, Music/JimmyBuffett-esque island tunes, and introspective ballads.
* '''Music/EricChurch''' had great commercial success with his first two albums, but neither produced a major hit — the second album had two songs barely sneak their way into Top 10. But his third album, ''Chief'', got him into #1 territory for the first time with "Drink in My Hand" and "Springsteen". These songs were also crossover successes, getting him into Top 40 on the Hot 100 for the first time. "Springsteen" remains his best-selling single.

Changed line(s) 122,124 (click to see context) from:

to:

* '''Music/LadyAntebellum''', "Need You Now". Technically, "Love Don't Live Here" was a major hit on the charts, and "I Run To You" hit #1 beforehand; it also hit the Hot 100's Top 40. However, "Need You Now" was their breakout on pop radio. In fact, many people are unaware that they had a full album out before that song..
* '''Music/MirandaLambert''': She had already scored two platinum albums by late 2007, but the biggest hit off either was "Gunpowder & Lead" at a mere #7. Finally, ''Revolution'' brought Lambert her first Top 5 hit with "White Liar"[[note]]although she had to call a mulligan with the #37 "Dead Flowers" first[[/note]], and her first #1 with "The House That Built Me", which spent four weeks on top. Since then, her career has been nothing but high notes.
* '''Loretta Lynn''': Speaking of Conway Twitty, her breakthrough came in 1960, when the Butcher Holler, Kentucky native and "Coal Miner's Daughter" had her first major hit, "Honky-Tonk Girl." Success didn't become sustained until her second big hit, titled (incidentally enough) "Success," and thereafter came her iconic series of hits that pushed the boundaries of country music.
* '''Martina [=McBride=]''', "My Baby Loves Me" in 1993. It was the first single from her second album, ''The Way That I Am''. This album also included her SignatureSong "Independence Day". Although the next album (''Wild Angels'') got Martina her first #1 with its title track and another Top 10, she kind of went quiet after that, only to experience a second breakthrough in late 1997 with "A Broken Wing". This song became another #1 and pushed her into the pop-friendly territory that made her a force to be reckoned with through 2003.
* '''RebaMcEntire''' – Two years after signing her first recording contract in 1976, she had yet to come close to achieving her first hit single. In 1978, the pretty, red-headed 22-year-old native of Chockie, Oklahoma, was paired with a successful country artist of the time, Jacky Ward, for a song called "Three Sheets in the Wind." (This was a somewhat occasional tactic used by recording labels at the time – pairing a well-known artist with an unknown or up-and-comer on a series of duets.) The song broke through and soon became a top 20 country hit for Ward and [=McEntire=] ... but the even more amazing thing is, the song would mark a turning point in both singers' careers. Ward – who also had two successful covers of old pop hits in 1978 ("A Lover's Question" and "Rhythm of the Rain") – would see his career fade less than two years later; [=McEntire=], however, had her breakthrough solo hit in 1980 with "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven," and she has never looked back. While Ward is largely forgotten, [=McEntire=] went on to a career that's included 24 No. 1 hits (amongst more than 50 top 10 singles), gold albums, a lucrative acting career with starring roles in two situation comedies, duets with many more artists – in addition to her early hits with Ward, she's recorded with Hank Williams Jr., Vince Gill, Linda Davis and KellyClarkson – and, due to her influence on countless up-and-coming female vocalists, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Changed line(s) 126 (click to see context) from:

* '''RebaMcEntire''' – Two years after signing her first recording contract in 1976, she had yet to come close to achieving her first hit single. In 1978, the pretty, red-headed 22-year-old native of Chockie, Oklahoma, was paired with a successful country artist of the time, Jacky Ward, for a song called "Three Sheets in the Wind." (This was a somewhat occasional tactic used by recording labels at the time – pairing a well-known artist with an unknown or up-and-comer on a series of duets.) The song broke through and soon became a top 20 country hit for Ward and [=McEntire=] ... but the even more amazing thing is, the song would mark a turning point in both singers' careers. Ward – who also had two successful covers of old pop hits in 1978 ("A Lover's Question" and "Rhythm of the Rain") – would see his career fade less than two years later; [=McEntire=], however, had her breakthrough solo hit in 1980 with "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven," and she has never looked back. While Ward is largely forgotten, [=McEntire=] went on to a career that's included 24 No. 1 hits (amongst more than 50 top 10 singles), gold albums, a lucrative acting career with starring roles in two situation comedies, duets with many more artists – in addition to her early hits with Ward, she's recorded with Hank Williams Jr., Vince Gill, Linda Davis and KellyClarkson – and, due to her influence on countless up-and-coming female vocalists, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

to:

Added line(s) 127 (click to see context) :

* '''Ray Price''' – Many consider the Cherokee Cowboy's breakthrough was his double-A sided monster hit from 1954, "I'll Be There (If You Ever Want Me)" and "Release Me" (the latter famously covered by Engelbert Humperdink). However, Price had enjoyed consistent, if not spectacular success with lost gems like "Jealous Lies" (1950), "If You're Ever Lonely Darling" (1951), "Talk to Your Heart" (1952) and a cover of the Perry Como hit "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes" (1953), but most of those early songs are long forgotten and rarely played today ... even though they – like his later hits such as "Crazy Arms" (1956), "City Lights" (1958) and "Heartaches by the Number" (1959) – introduced to fans a critical part of his style: the 4/4 honky-tonk rhythm. 
** In a way, too, his cover of Como's pop song would foreshadow Price's even later success in the Nashville style, most notably on 1970's "For the Good Times." Indeed, "For the Good Times" was Price's big pop breakthrough. A No. 1 country hit, the song gained mass Top 40 airplay and peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 10 on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart. 
* '''Eddie Rabbitt''': As with Milsap, his "breakthrough" hit came after he had already scored a number of moderately successful songs. For Rabbitt, the breakthrough was 1976's "Drinkin' My Baby (Off My Mind)," and that put two other top 15 hits – the ballads "I Should Have Married You" and "Forgive and Forget," both 1975 – off everybody's minds. The two earlier songs are available on iTunes, but they are all but forgotten otherwise.
** Some even consider his 1970s songs "forgotten," looking at his early 1980s crossover hits – first, with "Drivin' My Life Away" – as his true breakthrough.
* '''Charlie Rich''' – From the mid 1950s through early 1970s, Rich – an eclectic musician who was gifted in many genres, from rock and rockabilly to jazz, blues, gospel and of course, country – was highly respected for his musicianship, but had little to show for it. That is, until 1972, when he scored a top 10 country hit with "I Take It On Home." That got the ball rolling, and a year later, things were busted wide open with two huge hits: "Behind Closed Doors" and "The Most Beautiful Girl," the latter one a No. 1 country and pop smash. Rich had been recording for Epic Records (a division of what was then CBS Records) in the mid 1970s, but several earlier recording labels – most notably, RCA – decided that several of Rich's 1960s recordings would make hit records. They were right, and three of them – "There Won't Be Anymore," "I Don't See Me in Your Eyes (Anymore)" and "She Called Me Baby" – would top the country chart and cross over to the pop chart as well; the trio of songs, plus two others for Epic ("A Very Special Love Song" and "I Love My Friend") – helped Rich establish a record for most No. 1 songs in a calendar year (five) on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, which stands to this day.
* '''Music/TaylorSwift''': "Our Song" at country radio, as it was her first #1 hit. "Love Story" elsewhere, as it was her first huge crossover.
* '''Josh Turner''': "Your Man". Yet another example of the "first single from second album becomes first #1" variant. Although "Long Black Train" from the first album had an extremely long chart run that got it to #13, that song (which sounds more like a 1940s gospel song than anything in mainstream country) is mostly forgotten today.
* '''Music/ShaniaTwain''', "Any Man of Mine". Second single from second album, first #1.

Changed line(s) 129,143 (click to see context) from:

* '''Loretta Lynn''': Speaking of Conway Twitty, her breakthrough came in 1960, when the Butcher Holler, Kentucky native and "Coal Miner's Daughter" had her first major hit, "Honky-Tonk Girl." Success didn't become sustained until her second big hit, titled (incidentally enough) "Success," and thereafter came her iconic series of hits that pushed the boundaries of country music.
* '''Glen Campbell''': Already, this handsome young native of Delight, Arkansas had been the part an instrumental group (a post-"Tequila" Champs) and was a member of TheBeachBoys during their many tours. He was also a much-in-demand session musician, showing superb guitar-manship. In the mid 1960s, he began recording solo hits, and had his first top 15 country hit in February 1967 with "Burning Bridges." A well-done ballad written by Walter Scott, that song is largely forgotten today ... and ironically enough, the follow-up, a John Hartford folk song called "Gentle On My Mind" (released in July 1967) fared ''even worse'' on the charts – it barely even broke into the top 30, and in fact didn't even make the Hot 100's top 40. Yet, "Gentle on My Mind" (which has since become an iconic country music hit, and has been covered by dozens of country ''and'' pop/rock superstars) is the one that's remembered today as Campbell's breakthrough hit and sparked a career that's won him international acclaim.
* "White Liar" for Music/MirandaLambert. Her first two albums had modest hits but impressive sales; "White Liar" was her first #1 (on Mediabase at least), took her into the top 40 of the Hot 100 for the first time, and kicked her career into high gear.
* "She's Got It All" was the first big hit for KennyChesney, who had three albums' worth of modest hits before it. That song was his first #1 on ''Billboard''. "How Forever Feels" can also be seen as this, as it was an even bigger hit than that.
* "Somebody Like You" for KeithUrban. His first album produced a #1 in "But for the Grace of God", but the song is long since forgotten.
* "Drink in My Hand" by Eric Church. Although he had plenty of top 20 country hits and two #10 singles, this song - the second single to his ''third'' album — became both his first #1 and first Top 40 hit on the Hot 100.
* Music/LukeBryan, "Do I". While he had two top 10 hits in 2007 and 2008, the lead-off to his second album hit #2 and became his first top 40 hit on the Hot 100.
* Music/LadyAntebellum, "Need You Now". Technically, "Love Don't Live Here" was a major hit on the charts, and "I Run To You" hit #1 beforehand; it also hit the Hot 100's Top 40. However, "Need You Now" was their breakout on pop radio. In fact, many people are unaware that they had a full album out before that song..
* Music/TaylorSwift — "Our Song" at country radio, as it was her first #1 hit. "Love Story" elsewhere, as it was her first huge crossover.
* Martina [=McBride=], "My Baby Loves Me" in 1993. It was the first single from her second album, ''The Way That I Am''. This album also included her SignatureSong "Independence Day". Although the next album (''Wild Angels'') got Martina her first #1 with its title track and another Top 10, she kind of went quiet after that, only to experience a second breakthrough in late 1997 with "A Broken Wing". This song became another #1 and pushed her into the pop-friendly territory that made her a force to be reckoned with through 2003.
* Rodney Atkins, "If You're Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)". Also a "first single from second album" type (he had a top 10 hit in 2003), although well before his ''first'' album, he had a single way back in 1997 that went nowhere.
* Josh Turner, "Your Man". Yet another example of the "first single from second album becomes first #1" variant. In 2003, "Long Black Train" became a modest hit.
* ShaniaTwain, "Any Man of Mine". Second single from second album, first #1.
* Music/JakeOwen had two modestly-performing albums before "Barefoot Blue Jean Night", the title track and first single from his third album, became his first #1. He followed it up with two more.

to:

* '''Music/KeithUrban''': The New Zealand-born Australian cut an album in Australia in 1991, and spent many years hanging around Nashville. He founded a short-lived band called The Ranch, which scraped the bottom of the country charts twice in 1997, and put out his first American solo album in 1999. Although the album produced four hits (including the Top 5 singles "Your Everything" and "Where the Blacktop Ends", plus the #1 "But for the Grace of God"), these have long since been forgotten with his massive hit "Somebody Like You", a #1 in late 2002 which was named by ''Billboard'' as the biggest country hit of the 2000-2010 decade. "Grace" has long since been forgotten.
* '''HankWilliamsJr''': Ol' Bochephus had a long history in country music prior to 1979, when he scored with his autobiographical country-rocker "Family Tradition." In fact, he had had 11 top 10 hits, including two No. 1 singles (1970's "All for the Love of Sunshine" and 1972's "Eleven Roses," both soft ballads) prior to his landmark "Family Tradition." Yet, few seem to be aware of Hank Jr.'s countrypolitan-sounding material of the 1960s and 1970s, even with the occasional glimpses of his looming southern rock stylistic preferences ... and often, those early Bochephus songs are ignored today by many country stations. With all that in mind, "Family Tradition" is sometimes considered to be the breakthrough, and his true breakthroughs – either "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" from 1964 (sung by a then-14 year old Hank Jr.) or "Standing In the Shadows" from 1966 (and a then 16-year-old Hank Jr.) – are forgotten today.

7th May '13 3:37:34 PM WaxingName

Send WaxingName a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Changed line(s) 163,164 (click to see context) from:

to:

6th May '13 7:29:26 PM WillyFourEyes

Send WillyFourEyes a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 146 (click to see context) :

5th May '13 7:50:23 PM WaxingName

Send WaxingName a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 143 (click to see context) :

This list shows the last 10 events of 203. Show all.

new edits

TV Tropes by TV Tropes Foundation, LLC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org.
Privacy Policy