Where Are They Now? Artists Who Have Fallen From the Spotlight
Evanescence:
Remember Evanescence? It seemed like everyone was screaming “Wake me up!” into their hairbrushes when ‘Bring Me To Life’ was released nearly twelve years ago. Headed by front-woman Amy Lee, this ‘goth’ rock band released multiple hits from their 2003 debut Fallen such as ‘My Immortal’ and ‘Going Under’. If you were a true fan, you stuck around for the second record The Open Door in 2006, singly known for one track called ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’. After that, well Evanescence seemed to be no more.
In 2011, the band dropped their self-titled third record. Obviously not on at the top of the charts, the album went virtually unnoticed unless, well, you bothered to wait around on your toes for five years after The Open Door. Evanescence has been quiet since then, but Lee popped into the news after having baby boy ‘Jack Lion’ in 2014. She has also been working on solo material and released her latest album, Aftermath, in August of 2014.
Fountains of Wayne:
Fountains of Wayne – Does that name ring a bell? If not, it’s probably because their number one hit is always mistakenly thought to be another bands. Due to this fact the band, Bowling For Soup, even plays a cover of the track at shows because everyone thinks it’s theirs. ‘Stacy’s Mom’ is one of the most well known party songs of the early 2000s that everyone who’s anyone knows the lyrics to. How can you not with words like, “I know it might be wrong, but I’m in love with Stacy’s Mom”?
Fountains of Wayne’s debut record was released in 1996, but Welcome Interstate Managers (the ‘Stacy’s Mom’ album) didn’t come around until 2003. While the members have been off helping to produce other artist’s records and playing in other bands (Chris Collingwood formed a pop-country band called Gay Potatoes), they still managed to produce six albums from 1996 to their latest record Sky Full of Holes in 2011. They never had and may never have another single again, but Bowling For S…Fountains of Wayne will always be in our hearts.
Gotye:
‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ dropped right at the dawn of the age of hipsters. It’s unique sound and catchy chorus shot the track to the top of the charts and stayed there for quite a while inspiring hundreds of Youtube parody videos and fueling hundreds of disgruntled ex’s. The artist responsible, whose name, let’s face it, no one knew how to pronounce, seemingly came out of nowhere.
Australian musician Wally De Backer aka Gotye (yes his name is Wally, no you can’t make any Where’s Wally jokes) has dropped out of the spotlight after releasing his hit track as well as ‘Eyes Wide Open’ that really should have been titled, ‘Oh, that other song’. Well it seems that good ol’ Wally has been playing shows and recording music with his other band The Basics within the last couple years. In his website’s newsletter he posted, “There will be no more Gotye”, but then came back later and said, “There will be no new Goty...I mean, hey look over there! It's some new music!”, so basically he’s just trying to confuse us all, hoping someone (maybe?) will care. It may sound cliché, but he’s really just somebody everyone used to know.
