History YMMV / TheBand

* PosthumousPopularityPotential: After their deaths the contributions of Richard Manuel and Rick Danko to the group got some renewed appreciation. Levon Helm already had a strong reputation, but his passing received a pleasantly surprising amount of mainstream media coverage. After Robbie Robertson's death there was a big streaming spike for their songs, and Robertson's memoir ''Testimony'' also saw a dramatic increase in sales.

* StuckInTheirShadow: The public perception of the band in later years, at any rate, was that Robertson was the leader, especially in the wake of ''The Last Waltz'', in which he has more camera time than the others. Levon Helm was not happy about this, and some fans regard him as the leader, especially in the light of his memoir. But Helm himself emphasised that their musical leader was Garth Hudson; although relatively shy and soft-spoken, he was the oldest and most musically-educated one and his ability as a multi-instrumentalist meant that he played the most significant role in determining what they sounded like. Then again, Robertson ''did'' write most of the music, especially after Richard Manuel dried up as a songwriter following ''Music from Big Pink''.
* ValuesDissonance: There's been some recent debate about "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and whether it glorifies [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the Confederacy]] and Lost Cause mythology. A close examination of the lyrics shows that the song doesn't address slavery or other moral issues in the war at all; it's one ShellShockedVeteran reflecting on the devastation the war caused for him, his family and his way of life. And since they were written by a Canadian, there's a certain amount of distance in them as well.

%%* TearJerker: "It Makes No Difference", "Acadian Driftwood", "Whispering Pines", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Stage Fright"
%%** Most of the debut ''Music from Big Pink'' could be regarded as this, especially the bookending Dylan collaborations "Tears of Rage" and "I Shall be Released".
%%** Despite [[LyricalDissonance being uptempo]], "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" is pretty sad lyrically.

* PosthumousPopularityPotential: After their deaths the contributions of Richard Manuel and Rick Danko to the group got some renewed appreciation. Levon Helm already had a strong reputation, but his passing received a pleasantly surprising amount of mainstream media coverage.

* FaceOfTheBand: Clearly averted initially, with two principal songwriters and three different lead singers. The fact that they were such an organic group with no clear frontman is one of the things that Eric Clapton, for one, found so attractive about them. Robertson's attempt to become this later on led to a great deal of ill will.

* MainstreamObscurity: They were hugely influential and have a small-but-enthusiastic fanbase, but "The Weight" is their only widely-known song. Averted, unsurprisingly, in their native Canada, where Canadian Content regulations guaranteed them considerable radio airplay.

* SophomoreSlump: Averted with ''The Band'', which is regarded by many as superior to ''Music from Big Pink''.

* TearJerker: "It Makes No Difference", "Acadian Driftwood", "Whispering Pines", "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", "Stage Fright"
** Most of the debut ''Music from Big Pink'' could be regarded as this, especially the bookending Dylan collaborations "Tears of Rage" and "I Shall be Released".
** Despite [[LyricalDissonance being uptempo]], "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" is pretty sad lyrically.

* RefrainFromAssuming: It's called "The Weight", not "Take a Load Off, Fanny".
* SignatureSong: "The Weight"

* CoveredUp: People are often surprised to learn that Music/JoanBaez didn't originate "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down".

* ValuesDissonance: There's been some recent debate about "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and whether it glorifies [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the Confederacy]] and Lost Cause mythology. A close examination of the lyrics shows that the song doesn't address slavery or other moral issues in the war at all; it's one ShellShockedVeteran reflecting on the devastation the war caused for him, his family and his way of life. And since they were written by a Canadian, there's a certain amount of distance in them as well.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Music/JoanBaez never saw a copy of the lyrics to "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" before she made her cover version. "Stoneman's cavalry" became "so much cavalry", "I will work the land" became "I'm a working man", etc. Did not prevent her version from becoming a top ten hit.
** Not to mention, in the same song, the discrepancy between "there goes Robert E. Lee" (the Confederate general) and "there goes ''the'' Robert E. Lee" (a steamboat). Though, to be fair, Levon Helm himself often sang it the latter way in the Band's live concerts.

* ValuesDissonance: There's been some recent debate about "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and whether it glorifies [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar the Confederacy]] and Lost Cause mythology. A close examination of the lyrics shows that the song doesn't address slavery or other moral issues in the war at all; it's one ShellShockedVeteran reflecting on the devastation the war caused him, his family and his way of life. And since they were written by a Canadian, there's a certain amount of distance in them as well.

** Despite [[LyricalDissonance being uptempo]], "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)" is pretty sad lyrically.

* TheScrappy: Robbie Robertson has become this in some circles, due to his perceived spotlight- and credit-hogging and his more or less unilateral decision to retire The Band from touring, which led to their breakup.

** Manuel's song "The Shape I'm In", with its lyrics about a man contemplating suicide, is another example. There's also a line from "Jupiter Hollow", which is mostly lead by Helm, where Manuel comes to the forefront to sing "Nobody cares when a man goes mad and tries to free the ghost within".

** Manuel's song "The Shape I'm In", with its lyrics about a man contemplating suicide, is another example.

* MainstreamObscurity: They were hugely influential and have a small-but-enthusiastic fanbase, but "The Weight" is their only widely-known song.

* {{Narm}}: "The Moon Struck One" is musically one of Robertson's most beautiful songs. Lyrically, it's a would-be TearJerker done in by some clumsy phrasing ("stung by a snake"?).

* {{Narm}}: "The Moon Struck One" is musically one of Robertson's most beautiful songs. Lyrically, it's a would-be TearJerker done in by some clumsy phrasing ("stung by a snake"?) and [[PainfulRhyme Painful Rhymes]] (sweetheart/cohort, Durango/triangle).
* PainfulRhyme: They get away with rhyming "sorry" and "glory" in "The Unfaithful Servant" by having Rick Danko use the Canadian "soar-y" pronunciation of the first word.

* GeniusBonus: In a nod to their Canadian background, "Ferdinand the Imposter" has to be the only rock song ever to make a reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doukhobor Doukhobors]].

* AwardSnub: Not even a nomination for ''The Last Waltz'' for the Best Documentary Oscar in 1978? How about "Evangeline" getting nominated for Best Original Song? Also no?

* StuckInTheirShadow: The public perception of the band in later years, at any rate, was that Robertson was the leader, especially in the wake of ''The Last Waltz'', in which he has more camera time than the others. Levon Helm was not happy about this, and some fans regard him as the leader, especially in the light of his memoir. But Helm himself emphasised that their musical leader was Garth Hudson; although relatively shy and soft-spoken, he was the oldest and most musically-educated one and his ability as a multi-instrumentalist meant that he played the most significant role in determining what they sounded like.

* StuckInTheirShadow: The public perception of the band in later years, at any rate, was that Robertson was the leader, especially in the wake of ''The Last Waltz'', in which he has more camera time than the others. Levon Helm was not happy about this, and some fans regard him as the leader, especially in the light of his memoir. But Helm himself emphasised that their musical leader was Garth Hudson, the shyest and least-forthcoming member; he was the oldest and most musically-educated member and his ability as a multi-instrumentalist meant that he played the most significant role in what they sounded like.