Just a few years ago, the good folks at Columbia Records were telling music journalists that a brand new band — Foster the People — was ready to blow up and become a major hit-maker.

Journalists hear that all the time and generally watch as the group comes through town, does a respectable show and sinks back into oblivion. So perhaps it’s not surprising that many journalists were left kicking themselves when Foster the People not only blew up but made its 2010 debut album “Torches” a Grammy Award contender. The one solace was that the writers were in good company, with Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine among the industry brain trust with whom the band had met and apparently been dismissed before it hit it big, band founder Mark Foster told Rolling Stone.