Breakthrough!

This week Tony and I cut through the noise and broke through! They say it takes 10 years to become an overnight success, but for some stars the success that now defines them remained elusive for much longer. Social media and the internet have redefined ‘overnight success’, and viral videos can seemingly hand anyone a hit out of the blue, but the artists featured on this week’s show had to work away for some time before they struck gold (certified)…

Nick Drake & Fleetwood Mac

Nick Drake released River Man on his 1969 debut album Five Leaves Left. Drake learned to play the piano at an early age, and taught himself guitar in his teens. He read English Literature at Cambridge but dropped out before completing his degree after signing a contract with manager Joe Boyd, who had previously discovered John Martyn and Fairport Convention. Drake followed Five Leaves Left with Bryter Layter (1971) and Pink Moon (1972), but failed to find commercial success with any of these albums in his short lifetime; he was found dead at age of 26 due to an overdose of antidepressants. Drake’s profile remained low for the 1970s, but a 1979 Fruit Tree box set kept his music available despite poor sales. From the mid-1980s onward, however, major artists such as Kate Bush, Robert Smith, and Paul Weller began to cite him as an influence, and biographies and documentaries increased his critical recognition. Drake is now recognised as one of the most influential voices in British Alternative and Folk music, and all three of his albums have been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry.

Fleetwood Mac released Say You Love Me in 1975 on their tenth studio album. Fleetwood Mac were formed in 1967 by guitarist Peter Green with drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, the only two consistent members. The early years did not garner many hits; Fleetwood Mac’s only notable release was Albatross in 1968, which went to number one in the UK Singles Chart. Green left in 1970, two months before John’s wife Christie McVie – who wrote Say You Love Me – joined. Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham joined in 1974, and the now-iconic lineup released Fleetwood Mac in 1975, the band’s second eponymous effort. The album peaked at number one on the US Billboard chart – the band’s first number one – on 4th September 1976 and spawned three top-20 hits: Over My Head, Rhiannon, and Say You Love Me. The album has since been certified nine-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Bonnie Raitt & Sharon Jones

Bonnie Raitt signed to Warner Records in 1971, and released her self-titled debut album in the same year. Bonnie Raitt recieved much critical success, but failed to make much commercial impact. Raitt was eventually dropped by Warner in 1983 after failing to meet the label’s commercial expectations with her albums The Glow (1979) and Green Light (1982). Warner’s decision came a day after Raitt has finished recording her next album Tongue in Groove, and not long before financial pressures forced her to dissolve her backing band. In 1986, Warner then decided to release Tongue in Groove, now renamed Nine Lives, and Raitt was contractually (and legally) obligated to promote an album that she had no control over and split her profits with a label that had already dropped her. After a fruitless stint signed to Prince’s Paisley Park Records, and a ski accident that hospitalised her for two months, Raitt signed to Capitol Records in 1988. Capitol released her tenth studio album Nick of Time in 1989; the album went to number one on the Billboard albums chart, won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry.

Sharon Jones sang regularly in church, at talent contests, and later professionally as a session backing vocalist for much of the 1970s and ’80s. In the absence of any recording contract, however, Jones spent many years working as a corrections officer at Rikers Island and an as an armored car guard for finance company Wells Fargo. She received a mid-life career break in 1996 – age 40 – after she appeared in a session as a backing vocalist for soul and funk legend Lee Fields. The session was organised by Gabriel Roth and Philippe Lehman, then owners of now-defunct French record label Pure Records. Lehman was impressed with Jones’ singing, and invited her to sign for Daptone Records, a label he founded in 2001. Daptone’s first release was a full-length album by Sharon Jones: Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (2002). How Long Do I Have To Wait For You? was the lead single from her second album Naturally (2005), and Jones and the group The Dap Kings went on to release two more albums on Daptone: 100 Days, 100 Nights (2007) and I Learned the Hard Way (2010). Jones and her band spearheaded a revival of Soul and Funk in the late noughties, and formed the subject of a documentary titled Miss Sharon Jones!, directed by Barbara Kopple, which debuted at Toronto International Film Festival in 2015. The documentary followed Jones on tour, as she continued to perform despite a cancer diagnosis; Sharon Jones died on November 18th 2016.

Little Simz & Charlie xcx

Little Simz independently released her first three studio albums A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons (2015), Stillness in Wonderland (2016) and Grey Area (2019). While these albums garnered Simz critical acclaim – including Ivor Novello and NME Awards for Grey Area – and a co-sign from Kendrick Lamar, it was her fourth album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (2021) that gave the north-London rapper her ‘breakthrough’ moment. Sometimes won the 2022 Mercury Prize, Simz won the 2022 Brit Award for Best New Artist, and the album has since been considered among the most important rap albums of the 21st century. Woman is the album’s second single, and features fellow Brit Cleo Sol.

Charli xcx began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering London’s rave scene. She signed a recording contract with Asylum Records in 2010 and released a series of singles and mixtapes in the early 2010s, the most succesful of which was I Love It (2012), a collaboration with Swedish duo Icona Pop which became her first UK number one. While her debut studio album True Romance (2013) failed to meet commercial expectations, Charli continued to release succesful singles through the 2010 (including Boom Clap in 2014, her first solo top-ten single in the U.S.) and write for other artists. Her writing credits include: Iggy Azalea‘s Beg for It (2014), Selena Gomez‘s Same Old Love (2015), Blondie‘s Tonight (2017), Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello collaboration Señorita (2019), and the Sigala and Rita Ora collaboration You for Me (2021). Charli’s fifth studio album Crash (2022) became her first number one album in the UK and Australia, but her big ‘break’ came with the follow-up Brat in 2024. Brat was named best album of 2024 by various publications including Billboard and Rolling Stone, peaked at number one in the UK, Australia, Croatia, Ireland, and New Zealand, reached the top ten in 14 other countries including the U.S. (no. 3), and was nominated for nine Grammy Awards, winning three. The album’s cover art and aesthetic sparked the cultural phenomenon “Brat Summer”, which was adopted most notably by Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign. Apple is the fifth single from Brat, and demonstrates the album’s roots in 2000s English rave music scenes.

Olivia Dean vs Labi Siffre vs The Beatles

Our soundslike this week explored some melodic and harmonic similarities between Olivia Dean‘s I’ve Seen It (2025), Labi Siffre‘s Bless The Telephone (1971), and The Beatles‘ In My Life (1965). Spoiler: it’s a coincidence!

Breakthrough Quiz

For our quiz this week, you heard famous breakthrough songs (backwards) – guess the artist and song!

As always, find the show and blog at joebennett.net/5live, with occasional Instagram extras at @joebennettmusicology. With a new show comes a new Spotify mega-playlist, which contains all songs featured on the show:

And you can still listen to our old mega-playlist here.

Words: Joe Bennett, John Pierce O’Reilly

Audio production: Joe Bennett, Rafi Waters