"Games Without Frontiers" was a top 50 hit at #48. "Shock The Monkey," on the other hand, got to #29.

David Bowie had two #1 hits: "Fame" in 1975 and "Let's Dance" in 1983. Let's Dance was also the second best-selling album of '83, topped only by Thriller. Bowie had five other top 20 hits, "Blue Jean," "Golden Years," "China Girl," "Modern Love," and "Space Oddity." He's had four other top 40 hits, "Day-In Day-Out," "Never Let Me Down," "Young Americans," and "This Is Not America." The classic "Changes" barely missed the top 40, peaking at #41.

Yeah, but Harlan's a grouchy old coot who will yell at a fourteen year-old kid because they haven't heard any of the old radio dramas from the 1940s that he grew up with.

What I've learned from this thread.

1. Bands like Wilco, Outkast, Pulp and Daft Punk are in the same league as Bowie and Gabriel
2. David Bowie sucks and Peter Gabriel is unlistenable
3. Sledgehammer sounds just like all of Peter Gabriel's prior work
4. Wilco, Sigur Ros and Arcade Fire play stadiums

#3 is not what I said!

Thought of another performer who fits this category - Prince.

Prince for sure.

Great example

Prince was popular in the '80s, at the same time as Gabriel. That doesn't qualify as "will we ever see again".

Okay, Bjork again.

Bjork doesn't even have a fraction of the commercial success that the other 3 did.

And yet, she's very well known. She's able to fill venues like The Hollywood Bowl. I doubt she's complaining, and she has the experimental, compositional, and unquantifiable "it" factor that the others do.

Bowie >>> Gabriel >>>>>>>>>>>>>Prince>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Bjork

That said, back in Bowie's day there was an emphasis on albums and artists were allowed to stretch out, even fail at times, while today it is all about iTunes, viral youtube hits and 99 cent singles. It's a totally different dynamic now. Very hard to sustain a career of more than a few years, let alone decades as Bowie (and Gabriel to a lesser extent) has done. So many brilliant bands/artists now will have an incendiary single but when their follow-up tune fails to sell as well they are considered failures and fade away for the next one-hit wonder.

Agreed, and this is why it's more important than ever to look for artists off the beaten path.

For me, Steven Wilson has become one of the most important musicians of the past 10 years. I doubt many people have heard of his projects (Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, No-Man, self-titled and more). And yet he's played some historic venues as a headliner and has won a Grammy for surround mixing. He's not flashy, but he does continually produce challenging, memorable high quality music IMO.

If I wasn't already into the genre, I'm not sure I would have ever heard his music. His music is decidedly album-oriented even though some songs can definitely stand as singles. He's been pretty vocal about being anti-iPod not because of the convenience but more because he believes it's destroying both high quality audio and album oriented music (he's right IMO).

As far as Bowie and Gabriel, for some reason I've never been able to get into Bowie's music, but I love Gabriel. I'd say Melt through So are my favorites.

I've been fans of all four artists over the years, seen them all live, and it's really more like:

Bowie>Gabriel/Prince>Bjork

All four are great artists who have a singular musical vision and that intangible "it" factor. Also, live Prince smokes the other three.

Bowie's first album was in 1967. Genesis' first album was in 1969. Bowie's last studio release was 2003, his last tour was 2004/2005? Gabriel's last studio album was 2011, and his last tour was 2012. I'm not sure where the lesser extent comment is coming from.

I unabashedly love Bowie. He can't be touched (in my subjective mind). I also like Gabriel, own all his releases, but he slightly annoys me, and I acknowledge he had 2 fantastic albums (Melting Face and Security) and a few good albums/singles. Bowie is another universe compared to Gabriel, again in my subjective mind. Every album of Bowie's was a masterpiece, at least through Scary Monsters. Gabriel's last release (the orchestral one) was wretched, truly wretched. The only CD I immediately sold back after one listen. Left a bad taste and there is something about quitting while one is ahead. A gorgeous human being, I have no doubt he is.

I agree about the orchestral reworking of other people's songs. Worst thing Gabriel has ever done. But let's be fair, Never Let Me Down and The Dancing Gnome are also pretty wretched.

You guys who are dissing Prince need to go back and listen to some more Prince.

yes, Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes

I would put Prince in the same title of the thread with those guys with no hesitation.

Surely there are people out there like those guys that just can't make it mainstream so that we recognize these days. Things have a way of coming around, though, there will be more someday.

Yeah, as far as Prince goes he's more a contemporary of Bowie and Gabriel. When So came out Prince was burning up the charts with Kiss.

do you hate everything that isn't hard rock? Seriously... Bowie, Gabriel, Pink Floyd, REM, U2, The Smiths are all crap in your eyes. Some people have more open minds instead of just dismissing everything that doesn't sound like Megadeth and Iron Maiden just because you can't enjoy music that isn't heavy.

I absolutely love all four, all in my all time list but if I had to rank
Bowie>Prince>Bjork>Gabriel

I think I prefer Bowie and Prince because their discographies are so vast and there's always something I'm in the mood for. Gabriel's output has been so brief and there are entire albums like Scratch and the recent orchestral albums that do nothing for me. Same with Bjork, I can't get into Medulla and I also only liked about half of Volta.

Another one who is perfect for that group is Kate Bush IMO. She has worked with Gabriel and Prince before as well and while her output has been relatively brief, she too has always marched to the beat of her own drum and her impact far outweighs her chart positions.

That guy always sounds like he's about to burst into big wet tears to me. No thank you.

So artists who have longevity, and are creatively, commercially & critically successful?

I think Kanye West is approaching that. He's been putting out albums since 2004 and he definitely brought something new to hip-hop. His first single, if I remember correctly was about his accident, which is very different, topic wise for mainstream rap artists to make for the radio.

I can't speak on Bowie or Gabriel since I'm not familiar with their music but considering all their praise that they are getting in this thread, then it makes sense for there not to be so many David Bowie's or Peter Gabriel's.