"Gimmick" Celebrities That Turned Out To Actually Be Talented....

[Powerboy]

This is too long ago for most of you, but - Tiny Tim was a long-haired ukulele-playing weirdo who sang really old songs in a quavering falsetto. The media treated him as a joke, but he was a genuine musicologist and scholar of early 20th century music.

I remember him. He got married on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

[Powerboy]

People forget that Tom Hanks began as a goof-ball actor/standup dude, whose first notable role was in a cheesy two-season sit-com.

To be honest, I wish he would do a comedy again.

[DrNewGod]

To be honest, I wish he would do a comedy again.

Me too (now that my own harrowing renovations are many years in the past), I find The Money Pit hilarious. Still, his performances in Saving Private Ryan, Philadelphia, Castaway, and Apollo 13 were better than fair.

[worstblogever]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were a joke band, but ended up being a band that performed nude, wearing only socks over their junk, that's hung around now for 30 years, and had major success. Flea is arguably one of the best bassists of all time.

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Beastie Boys - gimmicky white boy rappers. They went from junk like "She's on it" to much better stuff and a 20 year career.

Kylie Minogue - Aussie soap opera star turned singer. debuted with a cheesy cover of "the Locomotion" in 1988 followed by a series of hits, including a duet with Nick Cave, and remains popular thirty years later.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. Jpop and youtube sensation. Her crazy/silly song "Pon pon" went viral in 2011 and she remains popular in 2018. Far as Jpop Idoru go that's like the Rolling stones' endurance!

[DrNewGod]

The Beatles. "Sergeant Pepper" showed us they weren't just A Pop Boy Band, and they never looked back (even when some of them got weird later).

The Rolling Stones. (I can't substantiate this, but) Their original producer allegedly called them "My little Three-Chord Shits" for years. They went from a deliberately designed Beatles knock-off to (an apparently undead) musical force of nature.

[aja_christopher]

The Police -- three seasoned musicians initially masquerading as a 80s punk band.
Blur -- four talented musicians initially marketed as a 90s "Madchester" group.
Pantera (Ratt, Poison, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Motley Crue, etc) -- "glam" bands that helped redefine rock and metal



The Cure
Slipknot
The Archies
Wu-Tang Clan
The Darkness
Gorillaz
Primus
Jimi...

"In September 1963, after Cox was discharged from the Army, he and Hendrix moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and formed a band called the King Kasuals. Hendrix had watched Butch Snipes play with his teeth in Seattle and by now Alphonso 'Baby Boo' Young, the other guitarist in the band, was performing this guitar gimmick. Not to be upstaged, Hendrix learned to play with his teeth.

He later commented: "The idea of doing that came to me... in Tennessee. Down there you have to play with your teeth or else you get shot. There's a trail of broken teeth all over the stage."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix

[dancj]

The Beatles. "Sergeant Pepper" showed us they weren't just A Pop Boy Band, and they never looked back (even when some of them got weird later).

For me, they started getting really good in Rubber Soul (with a few moments of genius before that), but it was clear from even the early stuff that

The Rolling Stones. (I can't substantiate this, but) Their original producer allegedly called them "My little Three-Chord Shits" for years. They went from a deliberately designed Beatles knock-off to (an apparently undead) musical force of nature.

They might have been a Beatles knock-off visually, but musically they were an R&B band.

[Joker]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were a joke band

No they weren't. They were goofy, and fun, but they always took what they did seriously from a musical perspective.

[GOLGO 13]

I give you Ken Jeong. Actor...comedian...Medical Doctor!

Dr. Ken Jeong.jpg

Ken Jeong is a Korean-American actor, comedian and physician, best known for his role as the comedic gangster Leslie Chow in 'The Hangover' film franchise.

...While working as a practicing physician, seeing patients for seven years at Kaiser Permanente, Jeong performed at Los Angeles' famed Improv and Laugh Factory comedy clubs. His side gigs gave him the experience he needed to secure higher-profile entertainment jobs, and he soon appeared on ABC’s The View and earned the title "The Funniest Doctor in America."...

This is one seriously talented individual.

https://www.biography.com/people/ken-jeong-20996403

[PaulBullion]

Conga line sex kitten Charo is now one of the most respected flamenco guitarists in the world.

[numberthirty]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were a joke band

No they weren't. They were goofy, and fun, but they always took what they did seriously from a musical perspective.

While I would agree, I could certainly see how a band that was that heavy on the Parliament/Funkadelic feeling like "JOKE".

[DrNewGod]

Conga line sex kitten Charo is now one of the most respected flamenco guitarists in the world.

Huh! Had no idea. That's neat!

[Tendrin]

The biggest example of this I can think of is, of course, the Monkees.

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

MF Doom probably

Also Digital Underground.