Will groups ever be as popular as they once were?

[Dustin J.]

Will we ever see the day where country music groups are a force to reckon with on the charts?

Throughout the 90's, popular bands such as Little Texas, Alabama, BlackHawk, Diamond Rio, Ricochet, Restless Heart, Confederate Railroad, McBride & The Ride, Sawyer Brown, Boy Howdy, and others were seemingly regular fixtures on the charts (and others had minor hits such as The Buffalo Club, Perfect Stranger, Burnin' Daylight, The Tractors, Frazier River, etc).  Now, Lonestar and Rascal Flatts are the only two I would consider "regulars" in the top 10, although it looks like Sugarland may be moving into that category too.

A lot of pretty good groups have either disbanded or are on hiatus because of a lack of airtime, resulting in a lack of album sales, causing them to be dropped from their label.  Within the last five years, several groups have come and gone:  Sixwire, Yankee Grey, Sons of the Desert,  Marshall Dyllon, South 65, CFX, Emerson Drive, River Road, 4 Runner, Pinmonkey, Rushlow, etc.  The list goes on and on.

Recently, the groups have seemed to picked up a little bit, but not much.  Aside from the aforementioned Sugarland, SheDaisy is enjoying a top 10 hit right now, Trick Pony is back in the top 20, and Hot Apple Pie is hovering around that 20th spot.  In addition, Little Big Town and Ryan Shupe & The Rubberband are getting a few spins.  Even so, this is nothing compared to where we were a few years ago.

I was just wanting some feedback...  thoughts, opinions, etc. as to why we're seeing so few groups chart - and why so few are reaching the top 10 - today compared to the late-90's.

DJ

[gcook]

I personally think that is tough to keep a group together for one thing. I think it is easier for one to perservere versus three, four, five, six... you get the point! In a business as political as the music business is... I think that groups are such a hard thing to manage.

[Marv]

It's possible, but there are a few MAJOR impediments to that taking place.....

1)---The conglomerates who own all of the stations out there (and not just the country outlets) have made it clear that their #1 objective is to satisfy Wall Street's insatiable demand for a constantly rising stock price., as opposed to creating listenable radio; I'm sure you've noticed a HUGE increase in the number of commercials you hear on your favorite station, regardless of format.

2)---Those conglomerates are notorious cost cutters and micromanagers.

3)---That had made LOTS of PDs VERY afraid of playing new music by new artists, amnd preferring to burn up their recurrent libraries instead of playing new muisc by almost anybody, be it male, female or group.

4)---The record labels simply do NOT want to spend the money to develop and promote new artists; if your first CD doesn't sell zillions of copies, you're done!!!!!

[J.T.]

I also think its hard if one person in the group becomes the breakout star and gets all the attention. Just look at Sugarland, rumors already going around that Jennifer is leaving the group-I don't believe it for a second though

[musicbuff78]

And don't because she won't.

[Deleted]

marv said:

It's possible, but there are a few MAJOR impediments to that taking place.....

1)---The conglomerates who own all of the stations out there (and not just the country outlets) have made it clear that their #1 objective is to satisfy Wall Street's insatiable demand for a constantly rising stock price., as opposed to creating listenable radio; I'm sure you've noticed a HUGE increase in the number of commercials you hear on your favorite station, regardless of format.

2)---Those conglomerates are notorious cost cutters and micromanagers.

3)---That had made LOTS of PDs VERY afraid of playing new music by new artists, amnd preferring to burn up their recurrent libraries instead of playing new muisc by almost anybody, be it male, female or group.

4)---The record labels simply do NOT want to spend the money to develop and promote new artists; if your first CD doesn't sell zillions of copies, you're done!!!!!

Ummmm that has nothing to do with this topic. Thanks for the daily rant though.

[WakeUpOlder]

mizzouhillbilly said:

I also think its hard if one person in the group becomes the breakout star and gets all the attention. Just look at Sugarland, rumors already going around that Jennifer is leaving the group-I don't believe it for a second though

Not so much in the country genre as much as Pop and Rock...but when you are dealing with a band full of hard-headed musicians with their own creative outlook on a situation, you're bound to have riffs that often end in splitting up or finding brand new members.

Other than their bland music, Emerson Drive's main downfall was the constant line-up change of the band. I've never closely followed their career, but I do know they had at least 4 separate line-up changes. You can't do that and expect to keep a core fanbase.

The good thing about country music over any other genre is that you have groups that actually have history together rather than being paired up for commericial appeal. SHeDAISY, The Wilkinsons, Malibu Storm, or Nickel Creek may never have the mainstream power of acts such as pop acts such as Destiny's Child, BSB, N'SYNC, or even O-Town....but you can be sure that they'll still be together and making music...commerical success or not.

[Dustin J.]

Those are all good thoughts. :)