The mid-90s to early 2000s alt-rock scene spawned an avalanche of bands that caught fire, and are still burning hot today, and others that didn’t quite recover after their initial debuts in the peak era of MTV and cable music video channels.
Now, listen… I don’t like to shit-talk people who don’t deserve it. It’s not who I am at my core. But data doesn’t lie, and when a band just falls off, it’s usually pretty obvious, even if we don’t want it to be. With that in mind, here are four bands that had some hit songs on MTV but were unable to recreate their popularity later.
The Verve Pipe
In 1997, you could not turn on a radio or MTV and not hear The Verve Pipe’s “The Freshmen,” a wildly popular song about ill-fated love and abortion. Ahhh, the ’90s.
This was the third single off the band’s sophomore album, and it just soared to the top of the charts and the 5-disc CD changer in the back of my dad’s used BMW. The song even carried the band’s record, Villains, to RIAA platinum status.
Ultimately, though, the moment would not be regenerated, even though the band’s self-titled follow-up album is some of the best work they ever did, cranking out tunes like “Hero” and “In Between,” which to me are genuinely timeless.
I’ll also mention that The Vere Pipe is still out here jamming and serving up new music, just recently dropping their eighth album, Reconciled. If you’re a fan of that sweet ’90s alt-rock sound, this record will really scratch the itch.
New Radicals
I don’t like it any more than you do, but the truth is that the New Radicals meet the criteria, even if their descent from stardom was partially their own choice. The band came out swinging with their first single, “You Get What You Give,” which dropped in fall 1998 from their debut/only album Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too.
The song was a hit well into 1999 — even after they dropped their second single — and landed in the Top 10 on several Billboard charts, including being number one on the US Adult Alternative Songs chart. This all meant that the song’s mall-invasion music video was an equal success, landing in regular rotation on MTV.
Frankly, “You Get What You Give” deserves the legacy it has because it was so ahead of its time, lyrically. Here, you had a band encouraging the younger generations to own their freedom and see the oppressive system put in place by a world of geriatric decision-making.
The fame was short-lived, however, as The New Radicals disbanded just eight months after “You Get What You Give” was released. They reunited briefly in 2021 to perform “You Get What You Give” as part of Joe Biden’s Presidential Inauguration, and in 2024, the group put out a pair of songs that apparently had been previously recorded.
Drowning Pool
Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” is one of the biggest hard rock songs of all time. Period. Even today, you’ll stumble on viral clips of people screaming the tune at karaoke or on American Idol.
The track was the first single off of Drowning Pool’s 2001 debut album, Sinner, dropping in May, one month before the full album was released. That summer, the song was everywhere. All over MTV and rock radio, wrestling events, and in the Jet Li sci-fi action film, The One.
All that came to a halt on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, however, when the Twin Towers in New York City fell and thousands of innocent people lost their lives. Immediately, the song became persona non grata across the airwaves. Then, sadly, Drowning Pool’s founding frontman, Dave Williams, passed away in his sleep while on tour with Ozzfest the following year.
Since then, Drowning Pool has had a rotation of vocalists and has released several more records, but it’s just been very hard for the band to reacquire that same height of acclaim.
SR-71
At the height of the late ’90s, early ’00s pop-rock/punk rise, Baltimore band SR-71 made a big splash with their debut record, Now You See Inside, which dropped summer of 2000. The record was bolstered by its first single, “Right Now,” which had two music videos, the second of which was heavily played on MTV.
The band went on to release three more albums, but was never able to achieve the same level of success that they had with “Right Now.” Founding frontman Mitch Allen put SR-71 on the back burner around 2005-06, but brought the band back for a brief reunion in 2009, and has since gone on to focus on his music production and songwriting career, working with artists like Demi Lovato, Third Eye Blind, and Miley Cyrus.
Now… if you’re interested in some SR-71 lore, you should check out this piece I wrote at PopCulture.com a few years back, talking to Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley about a minor feud the two bands had back in their early days. He set the record straight on what was just a rumor and what actually happened.
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