How were Supertramp ever popular?!

[CanuckAmok]

I remember when "Breakfast in America" came out. I bet every track on that album got airplay, and I know several charted.

Also, "Crime of the Century". :wtf: Crime of the Century...Aptly titled.

And "Even in the Quietest Moments"... :wtf: Here's what it should have been: Quiet.

:wtf: What a bunch of pretentious hacks! I mean, I know it was the seventies, but, again, :wtf: !!

[Systematic Chaos]

1. Everyone's entitled to their opinion....

n/t

[CanuckAmok]

3. Actually, I don't entirely hate "Quietest Moments"...

But Breakfast in America...yeesh! And The one which came after that one...I forget what it was called, but it had a guy on a tightrope on the cover...that one was TERRIBLE!

[Systematic Chaos]

6. I was 10 when "Breakfast In America" came out

and the singles from that album are one of the major reasons why I became a fanatic of progressive rock a few years later, along with Yes' "90125". As for the album Supertramp did after "Breakfast In America", that would have been "Famous Last Words...." (released in 1982), and while I agree it was quite lackluster compared to earlier efforts, it was that way because the band had pretty much ceased to function as a whole during the recording process and were well on their way to breaking up (lots of friction between co-writers Davies and Hodgson).

If it wasn't for the "prog-pop" stuff that was so popular during the late '70s and early '80s it might have taken me much longer to discover the REALLY good stuff that never gets any airplay. There will always be a place in my heart for Supertramp, both because of the sentimental value and because, IMO, they were a very good band.

[Elidor]

2. I love Supertramp

Crime of the Century is beatiful. Fool's Overture was their best.

Hey, they're not Styx.

[CanuckAmok]

4. Styx, on the other hand, I don't mind at all.

Serpent is Rising, Grand Illusion and Pieces of Eight rocked when I was in Grade Seven!

But they share a common trait with Supertramp...they got progressively worse as time went by. Maybe that's what the "Progressive" in "Progressive Rock" means ;)

[Elidor]

11. Serpent is Rising...

I'll bet I'm the only person on the planet who still possesses a cassette of that one. Krakatoa!!!

[CanuckAmok]

12. YOU'VE CHANGED YOUR WAYS, FROM EVIL DAYS!

Oh, I know what stormy isle, and GENTLE SMILE...
When the dust and lava cooled, you were sterile as the rock from which the earth was tooled...

...Was man's beginning a wind-borne spore, to fly no more?

...Seeds were wafted in the wind, forming heavy undergrowth for creatures winged and finned...

...GROW AN ISLAND IN THE SUN, WHERE THE HELLFIRE BELCHING EARTH HAD DESTRUCTIVELY LEFT NONE!!!


Oh, yeah, baby!

on edit: and then Handel's Messiah. Why not?

[Elidor]

29. Man, that's impressive!

I never could make out all the stuff he was yelling there. Frick! I gotta put that on the stereo!

[CanuckAmok]

30. Heh!

That's from memory...I probably haven't hear that in 20+ years...and I might be waa-a-a-a-y off!

[I AM SPARTACUS]

5. the explanation of Supertramp's popularity...

...there were these drugs available at the time. Drugs that worked really really well - so well that people did 'em all and now there's none left for people today.

[NoPasaran]

18. Ah, the same theory

that explains Country Joe and the Fish.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

19. And it's one, two, three,What are we fighting for ?

Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

http://www.countryjoe.com/game.htm#cheer

[NoPasaran]

32. Feel like I'm gonna die rag aside

I challenge you to listen to a CJ & F LP with smoking at least half a bag of Mexican Commercial :smoke:

Feel like I'm gonna :puke:

[AngryYoungMan]

7. Those are THREE GREAT RECORDS!

You have to listen to them in the right frame of mind.

[CanuckAmok]

8. "Stoned"? Is it "stoned"? Did you mean "stoned"?

Is that what you meant by "right frame of mind"; "stoned"?

;)

[AngryYoungMan]

9. I did not mean that.

I just meant, somewhere in that murky 70s vibe partially inhabited by Pink Floyd (overblown concept albums) and partially by Fleetwood Mac (grandiose pop) is the area where Supertramp reigned.

On edit: if you're stoned

[CanuckAmok]

10. LOL!

n/t

[HydroAddict]

13. Ah Man...

Yes I've always got to be,
Living in a fantasy,
It's you for you and me for me,
From now on.


Damn, I love that tune, much more than any Styx.

[Itchinjim]

14. The Tramp man

You want pretentious hacks? Try Styx, try Journey, try Cheap Trick.
Supertramp was super duper clean the seeds out of the weed in the fold of their double album BONG MUSIC MAN! " Take a Jumbo 'cross the ocean, breakfast in America" God I miss Pot... and God help me, the '70's!

[CanuckAmok]

15. Welcome to DU, Hippie!

:toast: :donut:

[Itchinjim]

17. the tramp

Geez, ya had to be there, everthing about the seventies was pretentious. I mean we had what? ABBA? the BEE GEES? Frigin DISCO?! And you're bitching about Supertramp?!Supertramp was a great group and just around the corner was The Flock of Seagulls, et. al. and the eighties. Ah the eighties, the decade were I finally got laid and had to stop smoking weed. Darned wife. Frigin' kids. I can still drink though as this post proves. The TRAMP!

[NashVegas]

24. Cheap Trick? Bite Your KEYBOARD!

Those first 3-4 albums were power-pop oases in a sea of bloated, pompous AOR crap.

[Sufi Marmot]

16. Those are fighting words...

I have a soft spot in my heart for Supertramp, as they were the first band I was really into, circa junior high school. Yeah, they didn't age well, like most mainstream 70's music, but for the mid/late-70's pre-punk era they were unusually politically and socially aware. Their lyrics weren't very profound, but some of their songs are pop classics ("Take the Long Way Home", "Bloody Well Right", etc.)

-SM

[Enraged_Ape]

20. Hey, man, don't be dissin' Supertramp

Compare Supertramp to your most popular groups today:

1) Their lyrics were often very philosophical (yeah, well, maybe a little bombastic SOMETIMES, but they still made sense).

2) They could actually play their fucking instruments. What a concept that is, huh?

3) They produced well-crafted tunes that actually had hooks and that stayed in your mind for days. That's also a concept that, for the most part, is a thing of the past.

[CanuckAmok]

28. It's great cover art, I'll give them that.

And for bonus points, the waitress' name...can you remember what it is?

[Enraged_Ape]

35. LIBBY

I know this because I have I friend named that, and I'm always reminded of that cover!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

21. Forgive him, Father, for he etc, etc... (nt)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

22. Drugs and foolishness.

[Liberal Veteran]

23. Hey! I like Supertramp. Plus BiA had the best album cover.

[noonwitch]

31. I like BIA, and agree about the cover

I also like old Styx and Kansas, too.
That music is so nice compared to Marshall Mathers rants about killing his wife and sodomizing his mother.

[supernova]

25. Ugh! I'm so ashamed to have BiA

in my vinyl library. x( I don't know what I was thinking.

They sound like the Bee Gees trying to do metal. :P

[qb]

26. You don't have to be a genius to make popular music.

I love Breakfast in America. I just like the sound. Sometimes I feel like listening to something deep and meaningful; other times I just want ear candy, and Supertramp fills the bill!

[bif]

27. Their first several albums were great.

Breakfast in America was mediocre to say the least. After that, they blew. I saw them live and they were excellent.

[frank frankly]

33. The Logical Song makes it all worthwhile

plus, Take The Long Way Home!

[grannylib]

34. good question...never understood that one. guy's voice just bugs me.