Do you ever wonder?

RE Phil Collins: Mostly a combination of talent, personality and business sense/management combined.

In general, all three are needed for an artist to enjoy long term continued success on a large scale. Having said that, I can take or leave most of his commercial solo output.

I suspect most in the list benefit from all three of these things to different extents. All are undeniably talented for a start.

Re Boston: THeir first album was unique at the time, largely accessible and quite well done overall. HAving said that, they get way too much air time on classic rock stations in proportion to their output these days resulting my being extremely sick of them.

RE Joe Cocker: He got a lot of exposure back in the day. Also, singing a well known Beatles tune in the opening credits of a highly regarded series like "The Wonder Years" back in the day didn't hurt. OVerall, he's never been my cup of tea.

Meh regarding most of the others although there are a few tunes from most that I enjoy.

One recent artist whose level of success I do not get is "Nickelback". IF that's the pinnacle of modern success, rock may truly in fact be dead.

I like many also could not understand Taylor Hicks winning American Idol but his career since would seem to bear me out on that one.

BTW I'm enjoying Dylan's more recent work over the last 10 years more these days then a lot of his older classic stuff. I admire that guy for doing his own thing at his age and still being successful. A true legend!

U2? They're OK and have a lot of good tunes but I have never been a big fan.

It would also seem that quirkiness can help an act remain in the public eye over the long haul. Michael JAckson anyone?

My 8 year old daughter loves Disney Channel. Seems like every attractive teen on a show that can carry a tune to any extent at all there these days also gets pushed as a recording artist.

I do think Miley Cyrus has talent and it will be interesting to see where her career goes. And how about them Jonas brothers?

I suppose appeal is totally in the eyes of the beholder. One thing for sure, if your selling lots of records, somebody out there likes you.

Remember also that the "pop" in pop music stands for popular and often has little to do with artistic merit, which is all very subjective anyhow.

One thing I've learned as I've gotten older is that most things that are in fact popular generally have some merit mixed in although often it can get lost in the mix.

Cam3366:

Running the "quircky" test on your entries:

Kiss - quircky
Queen - quircky
Spears - quircky
R. Martin - quircky
McCartney solo - past his prime at 67 now but historically as un-quircky as most any major pop star I can think of, I suppose. Go figure! LEnnon. George and Ringo were more the quircky ones.

MCCartney is one of the most measureably successful singers, songwriters musicians and all around performers of all time. What is there to wonder about there (except perhaps his last marriage and that he has never been all that flashy while doing his thing)?

It does make me wonder how a group like ELP ever became so popular in their heyday, and I like ELP a lot.

I used to wonder about Philip Glass but haven't thought about him for awhile?

I used to wonder about these names but mostly can appreciate them now after looking more closely.

Sometimes I think people often don't get something that others do because we form early first impressions based on pre-cnception or whatever and never take the time to look more closely.

Chuck Berry
Little Richard
Carl PErkins
Foreigner
Chuck Mangione
Dick Dale + surf music in general
Herb Albert
The Beach Boys
Jim Capaldi
Fusion Jazz
Van Der Graaf Generator
The Church
The Clash
Alan Parsons Project

I still often do not get a lot of Steely Dan material that others think is just the bomb. The last concert I went to that I can say I was honestly bored at was Walter Becker.

Whoops, I forgot:

Little River band
Lynyrd Skynrd
England Dan and John Ford Coley
Dr. Hook

Didn't used to get them...but after closer scrutiny I do now.

Yes, I never used to get Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington and much early jazz even!

Ken Burn's "Jazz" documentary turned me 180 degrees on that one. A little education CAN be dangerous....

Shadorne, I can't check the link currently.

is it Shirley Bassey or Shirley Jones? Or some other well known Shirley?

Shirley Jones was hot when she was young and had an angelic voice, at least as I remember from "Oklahoma".

Shirley Bassey I do not get yet but then again I have been underexposed to-date.

I used to wonder about Mitch Miller when I was a kid and I had to fight with my Dad about whether to watch "Sing Along with Mitch" or cartoons.

I picked up a MM album recently for 25 cents used just to see if it was as bad as I remember over 40 years ago, and guess what, I liked it! The songs are pretty banal lyrically but fun and the stereo recording of the MM chorus voices singing and harmonizing is absolutely phenomenal, breathtaking, etc.! By audiphile standards, that record (on Harmony label I believe) should have cost me a pretty penny!

"I've never understood the attraction of Tiny Tim."

Only Victoria May "Miss Vicki" Budinger could explain probably.

I wonder why Tiny Tim and Philip Glass never recorded together? That would have been interesting.

They didn't, did they?

Though I like a lot of their stuff over the years, way more often than not (given the quantity of material available these days), I do not get The Grateful Dead when others seemingly do. A lot of the live stuff released in recent years just seems like uninspired and pointless jamming.

I'd toss "Mars Hotel" and at least side 2 off "Terrapin Station", the full side "Terrapin Station" suite, which is fabulous.

There is/was (may have gone under) a Radio Dead IO internet radio station that I tried a few times recently with my Roku Soundbridge's Internet radio source option thinking I will get to hear a lot of Dead stuff that I've never heard before and find some new gems. But everytime I turned it on, there was some pointless meandering live jam going on where I lost interest in seconds. Maybe I just have a short attention span these days....