best band that should have been more popular but.....

thegeldingthegelding
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
a variation of the other thread....i was thinking of great bands that either didn't catch on, die too soon or were ahead of their time....



The Gang of Four....should have blown up but didn't



these two did well, but should have been constant multi-million record sellers:

The Buzzcocks

The Ramones



Fun bands that faded away:

The Big Boys--texas punks

The Birthday Party--young nick cave



and what ever happened to The Comsat Angels??





g
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 70
    artman @_@artman @_@ Posts: 2,546member
    Iggy & the Stooges & Iggy Pop. Though inconsistent both incarnations could have had promise...well yeah, drugs have come into play...



    I think the main reason of many good bands going unoticed have been because of the death of FM radio and MTV...



    Gang of Four. Good choice. But look at the survival of the "white/punk/funk" Red Hot Chilli Peppers...one of those bands that really kind of had MTV as a lifeboat for them.



    [ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: Artman @_@ ]</p>
  • Reply 2 of 70
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    Butthole Surfers. Best 80's band in my opinion. Probably would have been as popular as Nirvana got in the 90's if only their name hasn't been unspeakable, unmarketable and embarassing for the Tipper Gores of the world.
  • Reply 3 of 70
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    [quote]Originally posted by thegelding:

    <strong>a variation of the other thread....i was thinking of great bands that either didn't catch on, die too soon or were ahead of their time....



    The Gang of Four....should have blown up but didn't



    these two did well, but should have been constant multi-million record sellers:

    The Buzzcocks

    The Ramones



    Fun bands that faded away:

    The Big Boys--texas punks

    The Birthday Party--young nick cave



    and what ever happened to The Comsat Angels??





    g</strong><hr></blockquote>

    All those bands were great _(someone else who actually knows about the Birthday Part!?!?!?! I was their biggest fan!!)



    but the thing is is that some of thse bands were actually very counter-cultural, not mainstreamable --Gang-of-Four, fer instance, was intelligently critiquing capitalism in almost every song

    and the BParty was singing about murder and death and: "our lives are nothing but boxes full of dirt

    I just want to die beneath her teats

    I just want to make love to my zoo-music girl!!!"

    the live version on an EP called 'Drunk On The Popes Blood"

    I could not imagine NSYNC doing a copy of that song . . .





    the Buzzcocks are actually still making music though except the quality has become seriously hit and miss



    never heard o Comsat, or the Big Boys . . .
  • Reply 4 of 70
    superkarate monkeydeathcarsuperkarate monkeydeathcar Posts: 2,407member
    stiff little fingers (rancid reminds me of the rigid digits)



    the motors (heavy glossy power pop)



    the stranglers (i think the were large in europe but never caught on in the u.s.)



    gang of four (although you'd never know by all the gang of four fans in this forum)



    22 brides (2 sisters that sound like a dark side of the bangles)



    suicide (scary stuff, bruce's nebraska has a suicide feel)



    splinter (a group beatle george produced who were good pop music)



    mcguiness flint (the british "band") (meaning dylan's group)
  • Reply 5 of 70
    alex londonalex london Posts: 613member
    Wow I never thought I would see the name The Comsat Angels on this forum, they were great. John Peel (GOD) played them a lot in 1980 and because of the stuff I heard like Independence Day- " I can't relax 'cos I can't do a thing and I can't do a thing 'cos I can't relax' I went to see them support Captain Beefheart on his mad Ice Cream for Crow tour. I actually helped them get their gear into the gig and they let me hang out with them and chat, they were so friendly and great musicians also. Their career got stalled by being sued by the communication sattelite co. even though they'd nicked the name from a book. Their singer/guitarist Stephen Fellows has one of the best voices ever committed to tape and he is still going though his stuff is more ambienty than the Angels stuff. Great band.

    I still hold a candle for Devo 1977- 1982. They should have been massive with their excess of ideas and riffs- way ahead of the game and outrageously good live.
  • Reply 6 of 70
    709709 Posts: 2,016member
    Gang of Four, The Birthday Party, Stranglers...definitely.



    Others I can think of:



    Fadgadget (even Frank Tovey's post-Fad stuff was great).

    The The

    Thin White Rope

    Tones On Tail (post-Bauhaus pre-Love & Rockets boys)

    The Legendary Pink Dots (weird, but great none the less)

    Alice Donut

    Cop Shoot Cop (pre-Firewater...good stuff)



    [edit]:spelling



    [ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: 709 ]</p>
  • Reply 7 of 70
    kneelbeforezodkneelbeforezod Posts: 1,120member
    Swell Maps - probably the best 70s art-punk band that nobody ever seems to mention anymore. Their Trip to Marineville LP from 1979 contains the blueprint for the first eight years of Sonic Youth's career and much of Pavement's early output...



    The Fall - although I can't really imagine a world where the Fall could have been a genuinely popular band. Mark E Smith would have just gone on to do something that made everyone hate them if that'd happened.



    The Minutemen - I guess they were pretty popular, but they deserve to be remembered for more than just the theme music to Jackass...





    Trumans Water - probably the best 90s art-punk band that nobody ever seems to mention anymore. If you cloned Antennae Jimmy Semens (of the Magic Band) twice and raised the clones on a steady diet of Sonic Youth, Minor Threat, John Zorn, Sun Ra and Boredoms they might end up playing guitar like Trumans Water.
  • Reply 8 of 70
    artman @_@artman @_@ Posts: 2,546member
    [quote]Originally posted by kneelbeforezod:

    <strong>The Minutemen - I guess they were pretty popular, but they deserve to be remembered for more than just the theme music to Jackass...</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Absolutely, but the main reason they couldn't go on was because D. Boon died in a car accident. That didn't help. But I don't see why they could be held up in the same ranks as Nirvana...



    JUST ANOTHER SOLDIER (boon)



    Over 300 dead, we still got pride

    We've lost all our morals,we still got pride

    Should we fight this war in some far corner of the globe

    And learn how to die for some unjust cause



    Is this our future?

    Ashes are all that remain

    It's easy when you got pride



    How much pride does a dead soldier got?

    His life so short,no chance to even start



    The ones he left behind

    The world he'll never see

    But no one could deny that the soldier died with pride



    ...sigh. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
  • Reply 9 of 70
    bungebunge Posts: 7,329member
    HAMPTON GREASE BAND.



    Second worst selling double LP ever (second only to a double Yoga LP.)
  • Reply 10 of 70
    kraig911kraig911 Posts: 912member
    The Jesus Lizard
  • Reply 11 of 70
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    Wow . . . there are some obscure names bouncing around here . . . . its great!!





    and: <img src="graemlins/surprised.gif" border="0" alt="[surprised]" />

    I was going to ask if anybody had gotten the chance to see Captain Beefheart live . . .

    I heard some live stuff from that era, Ice Cream For Crow, it didn't seem to have the same gonzo flow as stuff like Troutmask or Mirrorman . . . but you should tell me . . . how was the show?!?
  • Reply 12 of 70
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    By the way, I went to the opening of a show of his, Don Van Vliet's, paintings at the Museum Of Modern Art in SF way back when . .

    and he was there . .. hobbling around on a cane and keeping well to himself and away from anybody else



    . . . . I like his paintings . . . and I do that 'art' stuff fer a living . . . if that means anything . . . <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />



    Also Martin Mull (Fernwood Tonight)is a good painter as well

    but definitly, Sylvester Stalone's are Shiite
  • Reply 13 of 70
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    beefheart is great...but was never never gonna be popular...loved clearspot, troutmask, spotlight kid....



    loved the minutemen too, and husker du



    but mission of burma was the best...great live too



    too bad the guitarist lost his hearing from too many iggy pop concerts when he was young...



    burma should have been huge....



    shit...just posted this and thought i would google mission of burma and found they have re-united after 17 years!!! hope they come to the southwest...





    oh, i also enjoyed flipper



    <a href="http://www.here-now.org/topics/_arts/al_020225.asp"; target="_blank">burma</a>



    [ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: thegelding ]</p>
  • Reply 14 of 70
    superkarate monkeydeathcarsuperkarate monkeydeathcar Posts: 2,407member
    let it be noted that my signature is from trout mask replica.



    i think "willie the pimp" with zappa on the hot rats (my fave zappa) album is very accessible, my kids like it anyway!



    [ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: superkarate monkeydeathcar ]</p>
  • Reply 15 of 70
    pfflampfflam Posts: 5,053member
    [quote]Originally posted by superkarate monkeydeathcar:

    <strong>let it be noted that my signature is from trout mask replica.



    i think "willie the pimp" with zappa on the hot rats (my fave zappa) album is very accessible, my kids like it anyway!



    [ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: superkarate monkeydeathcar ]</strong><hr></blockquote>You never caught the Maskara Snake post I made in another thread as a responce to your sig
  • Reply 16 of 70
    thegeldingthegelding Posts: 3,230member
    pfflam: a side note...check out this artist if you ever get the chance:



    <a href="http://www.donaldrollerwilson.com/gallery.html"; target="_blank">donald roller wilson</a>



    and

    <a href="http://www.chelagallery.org/performances/blaster.html"; target="_blank">blaster al ackerman</a>



    fun stuff for the soul



    g
  • Reply 17 of 70
    ijerryijerry Posts: 615member
    Big Head Todd and the Monsters....



    Rusted Root.....



    only two off the top of my head....
  • Reply 18 of 70
    mr. macintoshmr. macintosh Posts: 463member
    The Verve



    [ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: Mr. Macintosh ]</p>
  • Reply 19 of 70
    mr. macintoshmr. macintosh Posts: 463member
    [quote]Originally posted by Mr. Macintosh:

    <strong>The Verve



    [ 02-27-2003: Message edited by: Mr. Macintosh ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    They did "Bittersweet Symphony" of course...a pretty mind blowing song.
  • Reply 20 of 70
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    okay, this ain't gonna quite count, because they are insanely popular in texas and the u.s. south -- Cowboy Mouth, from New Orleans.



    got a brief record deal with MCA, but it just never went anywhere. great live band, had some good singles, too. but never got radio play, except for Jenny Says in '97/'98 (a good song, but a very radio-unfriendly song to say the least). they're still together, and the members do the occassional solo gig too. you can check 'em out at <a href="http://www.cowboymouth.com"; target="_blank">CowboyMouth.com</a> or <a href="http://www.mercyland.com"; target="_blank">Mercyland.com (a solid fan site)</a>



    another good band that i discovered when my wife and i moved up here to toronto was moxy früvous, a band of street performers originally who got a radio-friendly single released, and got notoriety from '92 to '98. imagine if barenaked ladies had become activists, and you get the idea. unfortunately, they have since gone on "indefinite hiatus," as the members have pursued their own individual interests, gotten dissillusioned with the pop scene, and their lead singer jian ghomeshi is so in love with hearing himself talk that he convinced the CBC up here in canada to give him a weekly bad talk show. ugh. at least their first and third albums are worth picking up -- Bargainville and You Will Go To The Moon. they have a fan-based website called <a href="http://www.fruvous.com"; target="_blank">Früvous.com</a>, but it hasn't been updated in over a year since the band went their semi-separate ways.
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