Examples of Revisionist History in Rock

[aeroplane]

I'm not sure what I am going to get here for replies, but I'll try to explain what I am looking for.

One definition of the term revisionist history that you will find on the web (via Wikipedia) is as follows:

"the illegitimate distortion of the historical record such that certain events appear in a more or less favourable light."

I'm looking for any and all examples that you have seen of this in rock and roll, in general. Feel free to branch out a little with your artists or ideas, you can include well-documented examples if you like or just give us opinions of what you've seen and think.

Examples?

-Older musicians, over time, being made out to be significantly better or worse performers than they really are.
-Band lineups or records that were once reviled but now are purported to be the zenith of that band's work.
-In contrast, band lineups or records that were once very well-received but nowadays are purported as having ruined that band to a lot of people.
-Anything behind the scenes tied in to band formations, break-ups, reunions or infighting.

What I'm not really looking for is myths or urban legends. Again, I'd like to see facts that were once set in stone which are now being distorted, skewed, changed, etc.

Counting on a few of of our bigwigs here to set a high bar and lead by example

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

I'm thinking one of the best examples would come in the form of Iggy and The Stooges. They were hated and booed and considered absolutely terrible back when they were first around and it wasn't until years later, when they were broken up, that anyone cited them as important.

 

[Rock Candy]

The "infamous" Mark IV line-up of Deep Purple. Granted I'm only relatively young, so I can't claim I was there at the time, but I've always been strongly under the impression Bolin's time in the band has been seriously reevaluated the past few years by various sections of the Purple fanbase.

 

[Big Ears]

Examples of revisionism or the use of anachronisms, ie. imposing the present on the past are:

(i) seventies progressive rock is now referred to as 'prog'. I do not recall hearing the term at the time;

(ii) heavy rock bands like Jethro Tull and Rush are now called progressive or 'prog';

(iii) indie bands like Radiohead and Muse are regarded by some as 'prog', while ELP, Yes, etc are dismissed as irrelevant.

However, revisionist history is often not serious history, ie. the Hitler Diaries.

 

[Big Ears]

The "infamous" Mark IV line-up of Deep Purple. Granted I'm only relatively young, so I can't claim I was there at the time, but I've always been strongly under the impression Bolin's time in the band has been seriously reevaluated the past few years by various sections of the Purple fanbase.

The Hughes-Bolin line-up were regarded as a good band, but not as Deep Purple. The same was said about Iommi, Butler & Ward with Dio, ie. great but not Black Sabbath. Heaven and Hell, as a band name, was a good idea - albeit contractual. There are probably other examples like this, which I cannot recall for the moment.

 

[TheWhalerfan]

Hmmm...

Everyone blaming the split of Van Halen - Roth edition solely on Dave's overblown ego..now we know Eddie isn't exactly the most balanced person either.

The Wilson sisters bering no responsibility for their massive selling but bubble gum 1985 self titled 'comeback' album. They blame the powers at be for everything, but ex bandmembers Denny Carmassi and Mark Andes both state the Wilsons had a hand in creating the finished product. Only an issue since they always cry 'poor me' in interviews when asked about the 80's.

Alex Lifeson willingly trading hard rock for synth rock during Rush's mid to late 80's 'soft' era. In a few interviews I have read he was not happy at all and relations were strained in the band over Geddy's overuse of the keyboard.

 

[BluesTrain]

Another example of revisionism is how punk music from the 1970s is viewed today.

Punk is a grassroots revolt against capitalist record labels and the industry itself, that had a lasting effect. The truth is without the record labels and the industry, punk music would never have happened. Punk music relied heavily on being championed by a few journalists. The punk "revolution" lasted less than a year. Disco lasted way longer, and classic rock even more so. During the 1980s, there was book published entitled Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop which was taken from a comment by Boy George and Culture Club when looking back from that period, that after the punk "revolution" the state of the industry hadn't really changed.

Punks are working class. The truth is many of the punks were in fact from well-off middle class families. The Clash for example were sons of diplomats. Ian Curtis from Joy Division voted for Margaret Thatcher, a conservative, as did many punks dissatisfied with Labour's 1978 "winter of discontent". The Jam’s Paul Weller told an interviewer that he was a big fan of the monarchy, explaining that the Queen "works harder than you or I do or the rest of the country". He always voted Conservative.

We saw the same thing with the film The Boat That Rocked - the "evil" politicians and stuffy bureaucrats wanting to shut down pirate radio stations are depicted as Tories - the truth is, it was the Harold Wilson Labour government which closed down pirate radio. Something the film neglects to tell the audience.

Punk music killed off the dinosaur bands. That's not true. Many bands continued on after 1977, and were still selling albums and singles, and having sell-out concert tours. Bands that did fold, had problems before the punks arrived. Punk never achieved the same level of attendance figures or album sales, the "dinosaur bands" attained.

Punk's heyday was brief. But what is lost in the myth surrounding it is that it was never more than a minority interest. The bulk of pop music fans in the late Seventies never listened to it. For them, it was irrelevant. - Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain 1974-1979 by Dominic Sandbrook.

 

[Khor1255]

The Clash and Joy Division aren't punk bands. One is quasi punk corporate shlock, the other pretty much new wave.

EDIT
And another thing. Punk pretty much crept into the collective conciousness. It is true that (for a change) Rolling Stone magazine called it for what it was, but most people viewed it as amaturistic drek for lazy minded fools.

 

[Nololob]

The "infamous" Mark IV line-up of Deep Purple. Granted I'm only relatively young, so I can't claim I was there at the time, but I've always been strongly under the impression Bolin's time in the band has been seriously reevaluated the past few years by various sections of the Purple fanbase.

Oh my... is it really David Coverdale? Or Robert Plant?

If this group makes it I'll have to commit suicide. From the first note you know you don't want to hear any more.

Today, debut album is considered as an early heavy metal classic.

 

[opera races]

When I saw this promo blurb for Styx, appearing soon at a local venue, “revisionist history” was a term that popped into my head …

(Or perhaps “error by omission”?)

BTW, I am planning on going to this show albeit from the cheapest seat in the house ... I can't help it!

STYX : Ruth Eckerd Hall : Clearwater, FL

Tommy Shaw, James “JY” Young, Lawrence Gowan, Todd Sucherman and Ricky Phillips (along with the occasional surprise appearance by original bassist Chuck Panozzo) return to Ruth Eckerd Hall.

STYX has performed more live concerts since ’99 than all of the previous years of its career combined. Two Super Bowl appearances, Pollstar Box Office chart-topping tours with Def Leppard, Journey, Boston, REO Speedwagon, Bad Company (to name only a few), two more studio albums and no end in sight, STYX continues to conquer the planet, one venue at a time.

Spawned from a suburban Chicago basement in the early ‘70s, Styx would eventually transform into the virtual arena rock prototype by the late '70s and early '80s, due to a fondness for big rockers and soaring power ballads.

Early on, Styx's album releases and non-stop touring helped the group build a substantial following. The band broke through to the mainstream when the track Lady started to get major airplay in late 1974 and quickly shot to number six on the singles chart, as Styx II was certified gold. The follow-up Equinox was supported by a tour with Tommy Shaw joining the band then. He proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle for Styx, as most of their releases earned at least platinum certification and spawned hit singles and classic rock radio standards as Come Sail Away, Renegade, Blue Collar Man and Fooling Yourself.

The band decided that their first release of the '80s would be a concept album, 1981's Paradise Theater, which was loosely based on the rise and fall of a once-beautiful theater (which was supposedly used as a metaphor for the state of the U.S. at the time—the Iranian hostage situation, the Cold War, Reagan, etc.). Paradise Theater became the biggest hit of Styx' career (selling more than three million copies in a three-year period), as the band became one of the top U.S. rock acts thanks to such big hit singles as Too Much Time on My Hands. Styx was the first band to release four consecutive triple-platinum albums.

A career-encompassing live album, Caught in the Act, was issued in 1984 and the majority of the band members pursued solo projects throughout the remainder of the decade. A re-recording of the early hit Lady (titled Lady '95), for a Greatest Hits compilation was released, which led to a full-on reunion tour in 1996. The reunion tour became a surprise sold-out success, resulting in the release of a live album/video, 1997's Return to Paradise, while a whole new generation of rock fans was introduced to the grandiose sounds of Styx via a humorous car ad which used the track Mr. Roboto, as well as songs used in such TV shows as South Park and Freaks & Geeks.