Yes – ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’

We all know Yes as one of the most exciting prog rock bands on the planet. They truly embrace the limitless nature of the genre that they dominate, with every release remaining unpredictable and high in quality. They haven’t had too many hits, but they did get one with ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’. Commercial success was nice to experience for a while, but the positive reception the band received led to them attempting to recreate that success, which temporarily impeded their ability to truly embrace prog rock. It became a serious issue and proved to almost be their downfall.

Jon Anderson spoke about the album they made after releasing ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’ and admitted that it was difficult to shake the urge to write hits. “By the time we got to Big Generator,” he said, “I was ready to leave because nobody was happy. We were scrambling to make a hit record, and the record company and management were all they talked about. They’d play records and say, ‘This is a hit record, make something like this’.”

Aerosmith – ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing’

Aerosmith spent a lot of time at the beginning of their career attempting to establish themselves as a band of individuals and not just a group attempting to rip off The Rolling Stones. Those copycat criticisms came in thick and fast, but eventually, they were able to shake them and generate momentum on their own accord. Their biggest hit came shortly after that with ‘I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing’, but the success of this track was a double-edged sword.

Sure, it was great to be in the charts and gaining momentum, but they were doing so with a song that they didn’t write and didn’t think was a very true reflection of their sound. Not to mention, the success of the song meant that a tour they were getting to the back end of was extended for a longer period of time. All of the success was just a bit overwhelming for the band.

“We were just about to go off the road, and that song came around,” recalled drummer Joey Kramer, “We continued to tour off that song for another year. That was welcomed by the band. At that time, that was what we did. We would be on the road for 12 or 18 months, and the only time we came off the road was to make another record.”

Eagles – ‘Hotel California’

You’re already singing it, aren’t you? It’s one of the biggest and best rock songs that any band has ever put together, and therein lies the issue. The Eagles enjoyed the success that came with both the song and the album Hotel California, but it also set the bar too high for the next record. The Long Run proved to be one of the most disjointed albums that the band ever put together, and it was clear they had no idea what kind of music they wanted to make following the success of ‘Hotel California’.

“It had stopped being fun,” said Glenn Frey, “Going to the studio was like going to school, I simply didn’t want to go. But most importantly, during the making of The Long Run, Henley and I found out that lyrics are not a replenishable source. It is a very polished album, as well it should be after all that, and has some excellent moments, but none of us wanted to go through that again, so we figured it was the right time to call it a day.”

Eric Clapton – ‘Layla’

Eric Clapton is arguably one of the most influential guitarists of all time, as he was able to merge the styles of multiple different musicians and essentially reinvent the way that people saw the six-string. It was pretty monumental, but there had to be a point when Clapton had to stop being perfect and start simply enjoying the pocket he made for himself. That came in the form of ‘Layla’, a song which was in itself perfect, but that also marked the final time he was ever able to release a track of that calibre. He still made good music, but this track was the peak.

“’Layla’ was, for me, the last time everything, the singing, songwriting and guitar playing, were all at the same high-intensity level,” said E Street guitarist and Clapton superfan Steve Van Zandt, “It’s Clapton’s most original interpretation of the blues because the hellhounds on his trail had a face: unrequited love.”

Radiohead – ‘Creep’

Finally, you have what was probably one of the biggest hits for Radiohead ever, paired with one of the quickest periods of time it took for a band to despise their own music. It wasn’t that they hated the song, but they hated how many people were coming to gigs purely for one track. They retired it from their sets, which was a massive blow. Granted, the band did manage to come back, but it took them a serious amount of time to establish their sets without ‘Creep’ in tow.

“We seemed to be living out the same four-and-a-half minutes of our lives over and over again,” said Johnny Greenwood, “It was incredibly stultifying”. Thom Yorke once lashed out at a crowd who requested the song, as when they called for ‘Creep’, he said, “Fuck off, we’re tired of it”. There are a lot of bands who would have never come back from that.