Vindicated by History/Music

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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The Velvet Underground never sold many records, but, as many have said, it seems like every one of the group's fans went out and started a band.
—The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Third Edition (2001), p. 1034

Blues

  • Robert Johnson was an obscure blues artist during the 1930s who was only known in his own state. The legend and mystery surrounding his life have helped him gaining notoriety and acclaim after his death. Today he is for most people the best-known blues singer of that period.

Classical

  • Johann Sebastian Bach was in his time well-regarded as an organist (with his compositions being seen as something of a sidenote), and after his death in 1750, the only people who took his work seriously were a small number of German composers (albeit some very good ones, such as Mozart and Beethoven). Even then, those composers focused on his keyboard work, mostly ignoring his other pieces. However, a biography of Bach in 1803 and then Felix Mendelssohn's 1823 performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion led to a renewed interest in Bach's work, and thence his acceptance as one of the greatest composers of Classical Music (broad sense) ever to have lived.
  • Many of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's later works, including The Magic Flute.
  • Another Classical Music example: One of Beethoven's final works, the "Große Fuge" ("Great Fugue"), featured the sort of wild complexity and dissonance that would still be considered radical in the early 20th century, and at the time of its premiere in 1826, it was dismissed by critics and audiences as being completely unlistenable; fellow composer Louis Spohr (who was, at the time, as famous and well-regarded as Beethoven) described it as "indecipherable, uncorrected horror." It took more than a century for it to become widely regarded as a work of genius, though still quite "challenging" for most listeners.
  • Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring caused a scandal in 1913 due to its loud, dissonant music. Today it's one of the most popular, important, influential and famous classical works of the 20th century.

Country

  • When Gram Parsons died in 1973, he was only known as a former member of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers who'd released a flop solo album. Gradually, people began to realize that he'd invented country-rock.
  • Dwight Yoakam may have had critical acclaim and decent hit songs during his prime, but nobody really thought of him as anything legendary... Then in the late 2000s new country artists were popping up listing Yoakam as a key influence. He had a strong influence on Alternative Country and may very well have been the first artist of the genre. This Time and Buenas Noches From a Lonely Room are now regarded as classics.

Opera

  • The opera Carmen was not a great success when it premiered in Paris, France on March 3, 1875 although the first act was well received as was the beginning of the second, the third and fourth act were greeted with stunned silence. Fortunately however it was well received at the second premiere (this time in Germany) just seven months later; however by that time Georges Bizet had already died (his death had nothing to do with the failure of the opera). Today Carmen is considered not only one of the world's greatest operas, but also one of the most popular operas ever written.
  • Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Béla Bartók's only opera, was rejected by Hungarian Fine Arts Commission as unstageworthy when Bartok submitted it for an award. It wasn't performed until 5 years later, but is now considered one of Bartok's most important works, and, despite its unusually small cast causing some difficulty - it only has two main characters, and three silent roles, which is a little awkward if you have a large group of performers on retainer - it receives regular performance.

Ragtime

  • Scott Joplin, one of the greatest Ragtime composers. While he got some praise in the first decade of the 1900s, it would be in The Seventies when Joplin's work would hit the big time (thanks to the movie The Sting) with his greatest tune, "The Entertainer" becoming a top 10 pop hit and himself getting a posthumous Pulitzer prize among other major kudos. "The Entertainer" has become a Standard Snippet.
    • A particularly good example was his opera, Treemonisha. It wasn't even performed in its entirety until 60 years after it was written.

Rock, Rap, and other 20th- and 21st-century Pop styles

  • Frank Zappa 's music wasn't very succesful during his lifetime, but since his death in 1993 his reputation has only grown. No doubt that in centuries to come it will be regarded as one of the most important composers of his time.
  • The Monkees' show was relatively popular and well-received in The Sixties (even winning two Emmys), and their records were top-sellers, but after the group was "discovered" to have been manufactured, anyone who wanted to look remotely hip or intellectual disavowed them completely. A couple decades later, an MTV marathon of the show and Rhino's re-releases of their albums incited renewed interest in the Monkees' music. As the story of the band's successful overthrow of their musical puppetmasters became more widely-known, and as the legitimate innovations and influences became more apparent (Michael Nesmith, for example, should probably share credit with Gram Parsons for inventing country-rock), they finally started getting some critical respect for the music they made post-overthrow.
  • When Alex Chilton died in early 2010, his obituary in the New York Times noted that his band Big Star "left a legacy more easily measured in artistic influence than in commercial impact."
  • Nick Drake. Although he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, Drake's work has grown steadily in stature, to the extent that he now ranks among the most influential English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years.
  • Rolling Stone magazine, due to its decades long history and changing staff, tends to praise bands and albums that its prior reviewers once trashed, like Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, and Ritual de lo Habitual by Jane's Addiction. One of the more extreme cases is critic Dave Marsh calling Queen "the first truly fascist rock band." Queen is now one of the most beloved rock bands in the world. Especially in Hungary. Although Queen didn't win the critics over until Freddie Mercury died.
  • The Zombies' Odessey And Oracle was released in 1968 to little critical or commercial notice - it probably didn't help that the band broke up shortly before it's release due to it's being a bit of a Troubled Production. After several flopped singles, "Time Of The Season" became a surprise hit the following year, and this was enough to get the album a re-release, but it wasn't that much more successful. Nowadays Odessey And Oracle is critically acclaimed and regularly shows up on "Greatest Albums Of All Time" lists, and "Time Of The Season" keeps turning up in Nothing but Hits soundtracks to films or TV shows set in The Sixties.
  • Captain Beefheart 's Trout Mask Replica hardly sold any copies back in 1969 and the few who heard often found it hard to tolerate. Over the decades the album has been reappreciated as Beefheart's masterpiece and a milestone in music history.
  • Brian Eno is said to have joked that "only about 1,000 people ever bought a Velvet Underground album, but every one of them formed a rock and roll band."
  • The Beach Boys' album Sunflower was panned at the time of its release. The passage of time has helped heal its critical standing considerably.
  • David Bowie's Hunky Dory. At the time, he was still known as a One-Hit Wonder; the album's first-run sales were middling, and the one single ("Changes") was a blip in the States and failed to chart in Britain. Fast forward five months to a little album called The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars... the album is now frequently cited as his second-best or even best, often making "best album" lists, even outselling Ziggy itself by the end of the year. "Changes," "Queen Bitch," and especially "Life on Mars?" are regarded as classics.
    • Similarly, Bowie's minimalistic, synth-heavy "Berlin Trilogy" of the late 1970s (Low, "Heroes" and Lodger), on which he collaborated with Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, were misunderstood and low-selling by his previous standards (though "Heroes" was NME's Album of the Year for 1977). Now they're cult classics noted for influencing Synth Pop, New Wave and ambient music, and the first two usually duke it out with Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust for the title of Bowie's Masterpiece. The title track of "Heroes", which didn't make waves as a single, is now one of his most beloved songs.
    • The album released prior to the trilogy, Station to Station, is being similarly re-evaluated.
  • Lou Reed's album Berlin (1973) was torn down by critics back in the 1970s, but eventually found acclaim as a great record.
  • The Ramones' first record peaked on the Billboard charts at #111, and while subsequent releases would fare somewhat better (1980's End of the Century made it all the way to #44), none of them would even be remotely considered hits. Only four songs by them entered the Billboard charts. Today, the Ramones are considered one of the most important rock bands of all time for writing a huge chunk of the blueprint for punk rock.
    • Similar with both Iggy Pop and Kyuss; they didn't sell many records but they are now acknowledged as the godfathers of punk and stoner metal.
  • Swiss metal band Hellhammer were generally hated when active, and brought down reception of Celtic Frost, the band that formed immediately after Hellhammer's break-up. These days they are seen as one of the most influential metal bands in history.
  • The self-titled album by folk punk trio Violent Femmes flopped upon release but slowly gained a cult-following and quietly turned platinum about a decade after its 1983 release. Its lead single "Blister in the Sun" went being thought of as a cute novelty song to one of the most important alternative rock songs ever written in roughly the same amount of time, largely due to the Colbert Bump it got from the Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack.
  • Dazzle Ships, the fourth album by synthpop duo Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark met with terrible reviews and poor sales upon its release in 1983 because of the weird, incomprehensible musique concrète that comprises half of the record and the experimental nature of the actual songs on the album. After its failure, the band resigned to never do anything as experimental again and eventually settled into writing pop songs like "So In Love" and "If You Leave". Contrast this reception with the critical hosannas it received when it was re-issued in 2008.
  • The Electric Light Orchestra's album Balance of Power received mixed reviews in the US, and decidedly negative reviews in the UK. For two decades it was something of a black sheep among fans. It was marginalized by many ELO resources in print and online, including the liner notes for the hits collections "Afterglow" and "Strange Magic." There were even rumors that Jeff Lynne just threw something together to fulfill his contract, which he denies (and his claim is supported by ELO archivist Rob Caiger, who says the 34-minute album was condensed down from 4 hours of material). The 2006 expanded remaster has caused "Balance of Power" to be reevaluated by fans and critics alike.
  • Autopsy released their first two albums into the obscurity that was the early Death Metal scene. Years later as the movement expanded and other bands listed them as an influence the albums were rediscovered, and are now often called classics of the genre.
  • The Stone Roses' first album was given a disappointing 6/10 by NME when it was released in 1989. In 2006, it was given the crown of Greatest Indie Album Of All Time by the same publication.
    • Their second album, Second Coming, (aka "The 'I Like It' album") was panned by both critics and fans when it first came out. It didn't help that a contract dispute stalled the band from performing and recording for four years, resulting in the long wait between the albums. Subsequently, when the album was released, the British music scene changed drastically with the popularity of rave and Britpop acts, while grunge and alternative music revolutionized music in America, leading to Second Coming losing its luster. The Stone Roses broke up in the shadow of the Britpop bands that the band influenced, but both their first and second albums are hailed as British post-Beatles classics.
  • The Manic Street Preachers were initially viewed as Guns N' Roses imitators whose albums, mixing glam style with political punk fury, were viewed as out of touch with the depressing grunge scene stateside and the trendy shoegaze and Britpop scenes in the UK. Their third album, The Holy Bible, was darker and more depressing than the ones that preceded it. The album was not critically and commercially successful, since troubled lyricist Richey Edwards' self-destructive antics and lyrics were considered to be shallow attempts to grab attention (it didn't help that, before the band released their debut, he slashed "4REAL" on his arm in front of a skeptical journalist). It turned out that he really did have issues after all, and his disappearance/apparent suicide on the eve of the band's American tour derailed the band's ambitions for success. The band since found success by toning down their act, while their first three albums are regarded as posthumous classics.
  • Red House Painters- Though always loved by the critics, the band was never known for being commercially successful. It wasn't until the 2000s that their fanbase really started to grow and people started recognizing them as one of the greatest bands of the 90s.
  • Temple of the Dog's only album, Temple of the Dog. When it was first released, no one noticed it. Later in the year, the two bands which had members in Temple of the Dog, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, achieved mainstream success with Ten and Badmotorfinger respectively. Due to the popularity of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, the album eventually sold a million copies, and is now considered by fans and critics alike to be one of the greatest grunge records ever made.
    • Temple of the Dog was actually a tribute to Mother Love Bone whose lead singer died of heroin overdose in 1990. Chris Cornell who was roommates with him for the longest time felt heartbroken over the loss of his dear friend. Mother Love Bone themselves are considered one of the greatest grunge acts in existence by those who have heard of them (rivaling Nirvana for many). Mother Love Bone, though still quite obscure, are much more acclaimed now than they were back in their heyday.
  • Despite being their lowest charting single at the time, performing so poorly that plans for a third single were scrapped the day before shooting for the video began, Duran Duran's "Serious" is now recognized my most fans as one of the best songs they've ever written.
  • When Keith Urban premiered, he was a radio favorite but critics either found his music boring or derivative. Come the end of the decade, he was being hailed as one of the most important Country Music artist of the 2000s.
  • When Ten was released, Pearl Jam was accused of being a soulless corporate response to Nirvana, resulting in a minor feud between the two bands. With Kurt Cobain's suicide, Pearl Jam's failed fight against Ticketmaster, and the downfall of the grunge movement along with the rise of formulaic "Post-Grunge" bands, Pearl Jam is looked upon as one of the greatest grunge bands (alongside Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and their former rivals Nirvana), with Ten regarded as a classic of the genre.
  • Michael Jackson's Dangerous and Invincible albums. The former had only one #1 as opposed to the five of the predecessor Bad... and still sold more.
    • Jackson himself falls under this, to the point of jokes that "dying was the best thing to ever happen to Michael Jackson". Up until his death, the popular image of Jackson appeared to be a reclusive nutcase who continually embarrassed himself with insane media stunts and allegations of creepy behaviour. The live coverage of the hospital he was transferred to on the day he died singlehandedly caused MTV to start playing his music videos on peak hours, along impromptu danceoffs happening all throughout New York. Within days, all of his albums shot to the top of iTunes. Rolling Stone Magazine gave him cover features, public support was sympathetic, and Jackson's image became that of a misunderstood brilliant artist within the span of a week.
  • N.W.A.'s Efil4zaggin (read it backwards) album.
  • The Auteurs' song "Future Generations" is about this trope. Whether any of Luke Haines and the Auteurs many non-hits will actually be vindicated by future generations remains to be seen.
  • Ice Cube's Lethal Injection album.
  • Weezer's second album, Pinkerton, was initially trashed by both critics and fans and sold dismally. Rolling Stone readers named it the second worst album of 1996, and Rivers Cuomo viewed it as an Old Shame for years. Today, it's regarded as one of the greatest albums of The Nineties, and as one of the albums responsible for bringing Emo to the mainstream.
    • Rolling Stone readers voted Pinkerton the second worst album of 1996 at the time. In 2002, Rolling Stone readers voted it the 16th best album of all time. Quite a reversal indeed. The only major magazines who gave Pinkerton praise at the time of release were Pitchfork and the NME.
  • Nas' sophomore album It Was Written was dismissed by critics as not being Illmatic Part II. It has since grown in status over the years.
    • To put it more succinctly: Illmatic is an album for fans, It Was Written is an album for other rappers—the AP Style guide of rap if you will.
  • Beach House's third album, Teen Dream was praised by some critics, but was called boring and meandering by many more others. The album also suffered mediocre sales (though it's the only charting release the duo had up to that point) and by the end of the year most Indie fans were decrying it as overrated. As 2010 came to a close, the album barely scraped "Best of the Year" charts and was labeled as being part of a "passing fad". One year later, people who were just discovering it started praising it and the album hit a second wave of acclaim and love. It doesn't look like it's about to fade back anytime soon.
    • Part of the reason for it's failure to scrape the charts was because of it being Overshadowed by Awesome by Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and most notably, Arcade Fire's The Suburbs. Teen Dream's subtlety got it labeled as "boring" in the wake of the other two albums' bold, loud sounds.
  • This sometimes happens to artists or groups who were "controversial" at the height of their fame. Eminem references this in his song "Sing for the Moment":

Eminem: "And maybe they'll admit it when we're gone. Just let our spirits live on through our lyrics that your hear in our songs and we can...(Steven Tyler:) Sing with me, sing for the year..."

  • Almost every Shoegazing band not named My Bloody Valentine or Ride are far more popular and acclaimed now than they were back when the fad was still going. Some notable examples:
  • Slayer's South Of Heaven album. Upon its release, the album was criticized for its slower tempos and more melodic style. Today, it's regarded as one of the band's best albums and one of the better (if not necessarily "best") thrash albums of the 80's.
  • A mild example would be Metallica's Load and Re Load albums. Upon release, the albums were heavily criticized for their alternative rock leanings and the band's questionable fashion choices. Over time, however, they've become more accepted by the metal community.
  • A similar but more straightforward example would be Megadeth's Youthanasia. Upon release, the album garnered a fair amount of fan backlash for its slower tempos and more straightforward heavy metal sound. Over time, however, the album's popularity with the metal community increased significantly. Many Megadeth fans now consider it to be one of the band's best albums.
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