Popularity Polynomial: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

It's a fact of life that something which portrays itself as "cutting-edge" is eventually going to become mainstream, [[It's Popular, Now It Sucks|and from there passé]]. However, given enough time—usually about 20 years—what had been seen as [[Disco Dan|behind the times]], [[Discredited Meme|old hat]], or [[Deader Than Disco|just plain uncool]] suddenly begins to make a comeback. It's gone through the ups and downs of the '''Popularity Polynomial'''.

* When [[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]] debuted in the mid-'60s, they had a string of Top 40 hits and a television program. However, desperate to break out of the mold, they produced the movie ''[[Head]]'', which was such a colossal [[Mind Screw]] that it killed whatever popularity they had left. But when [[MTV]] reran their TV show to celebrate their 20th anniversary, their career got a second wind, and a single off their greatest hits album (''That Was Then, This Is Now'') re-entered the Top 40 after a 20+ year absence (at the time, it was a record).

* It's easy to forget now, but near the end of his life, [[Michael Jackson]] was known for only two things: his degenerating physical appearance, and allegations of pedophilia. However, his death has erased those bad memories, or at least pushed them far enough into the background where it's become [[Too Soon|somewhat]] [[Never Speak Ill of the Dead|disrespectful]] to bring them up. Radio stations are freely playing his hits again, whereas just the year before his death, the only song of his that would receive any airplay was "Thriller" around Halloween. By way of [[Dead Artists Are Better]], Michael Jackson has been rescued from [[Deader Than Disco]] status.

* Arguably, [[Weezer]]'s music video for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kemivUKb4f4 "Buddy Holly"] is the ultimate illustration of the 20-year cycle: a video made in [[The Nineties]] about a [[Happy Days|TV show]] from [[The Seventies]] that was itself nostalgic for [[The Fifties]].

* [[Pink Floyd]], most specifically ''[[The Dark Side of the Moon]]'', has been described in a book as this:

* [[Elton John]] began as a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter celebrated for classic albums like ''Elton John'', ''Tumbleweed Connection'', ''Madman Across The Water'' and ''Honky Chateau''. His public popularity grew in 1973 with the albums ''Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player'' and the double album ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road''. which spawned some of the biggest hits of [[The Seventies]]. His popularity increased through the first half of the decade, and his outrageous image, employing crazy costumes and glasses made him a phenomenon and [[Teen Idol]], [[Critical Backlash|even though the reviews were less enthusiastic]]. An infamous ''Rolling Stone'' magazine interview in 1976, where he [[Invisible to Gaydar|declared himself bisexual]] (later he'd claimed homosexuality), costed him much of his Middle American fanbase, and his own wish to stop touring, saw his fame taper off. Although he had a successful free concert in Central Park in 1980, sales and airplay were nowhere near as they were in the 1970's. He returned in the mid-1980s with albums like ''Too Low For Zero'' and ''Breaking Hearts'', and enjoyed more success in [[The Nineties]] after going sober (especially after co-writing songs for [[The Lion King]]), and he still has occasional comebacks to this day.

* While few have ever denied the social and cultural impact of Al Jolson's work, from about the 1970s onwards it was generally considered not cool to give him anything more than the most cursory acknowledgement, partly due to the nature of his act, but mostly because of his [[Blackface]] makeup. It wasn't until the 2000s—and ironically mostly through the efforts of modern-day black performers—that Jolson started to become a widespread cultural icon again, with the turning point widely being seen as when the city of New York agreed to name a section of Broadway after Jolson.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==