List Bands Or Solo Artists

[presto123]

This thread is for those that just somehow slipped through the record industry cracks or maybe were just a hair too far out of mainstream to get promoted or maybe you just can't figure out why they never achieved mega headline status. I'll list a few:

 

 

King's X-probably my most under-rated and a shame they are still playing small clubs. They are well respected by all the musician bands and even made VH1's list. The fact they were labeled a Christian band early I think spelled their mainstream doom.

 

Kim Mitchell-How did this guy stay under the radar? Checking more into his back catalog he has some fabulous stuff that is radio friendly and great studio musicians in his band. He's like the Joe Walsh of Canada for me and a good friend of the Rush guys.

 

 

Terence Trent Darby- Only heard that one record but what a voice. So soulful. They were touting him to be the next Prince and then his career just disappeared?

 

 

Mister Mister-They had that huge record(Welcome To The Real World) so actually they probably were headliners for a short while. The band was made up of great session players and writers with their front man Richard Page writing hits for countless artists. He was even offered the singing job in Toto and Chicago and turned both down to get Mister Mister going. I think these guys went more prog like on their follow up and it wasn't a commercial success at all. Hard for great musicians to keeping playing pop I guess.

 

 

 

Julian Lennon-I had to add one more. How was he not a mega star? The two songs I know are good tunes so I know he's got some talent and he sings just like his father.(eerily so) Was it a choice HE made to stay under the radar and not pursue mega stardom?

Edited May 8, 2012 by presto123

[rushgoober]

Cocteau Twins

[metaldad]

Sevendust

Overkill

Testament

Kings X

Skinlab

Thin Lizzy- in the u.s.

Zebra

Exodus - they should have been in the big 4, screw Megadave

 

[Union 5-3992]

Steven Wilson

 

He's popular here, but I couldn't name one other person that has ever heard of him or Porcupine Tree.

[danielmclark]

Afghan Whigs

Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Placebo (they're still active, but they should be more massive than they are - in the US, at least)

Sponge

[Good,bad,andrush]

Porcupine tree, Steven Wilson projects

[Principled Man]

Living Colour could have become huge. With their monster second album, Time's Up, they were on the verge, but for whatever reason, they just fell apart. Their bass player left, and then the 3rd album, Stain, was a disappointment, and then it was over.

[Akron162]

Any good modern prog band. You know, nobody likes prog.

[presto123]

A lot of you are listing prog bands. Talented or not do you really think they should have been megastars? I think not. Prog is too far off the mainstream to hope for that kind of success but there are exceptions.

[Akron162]

QUOTE (presto123 @ May 8 2012, 09:30 PM)

A lot of you are listing prog bands. Talented or not do you really think they should have been megastars? I think not. Prog is too far off the mainstream to hope for that kind of success but there are exceptions.

So, you want bands that were almost mainstream but never were? Well, what about !!!!!!

[J2112YYZ]

QUOTE (metaldad @ May 8 2012, 07:47 PM)

Sevendust Overkill Testament Kings X Skinlab Thin Lizzy- in the u.s. Zebra Exodus - they should have been in the big 4, screw Megadave

Sevendust has a few gold albums in the US as far as I know. So they have reached a good level of success. I agree with Overkill and especially Testament. The issue with Testament was that they started a little later than the big four and their first album didn't come out until '87. If they could've got their first album out in '83 they would've had a spot in the big four and more than likely Slayer or Anthrax would've not been in it. Testament did get some good momentum going on their first three or four albums but then the grunge movement hit and it killed what further success they could've had. They really should've been huge. I don't know what went wrong with Overkill, how they missed the big time back in the 80s is a mystery to me.

 

King's X seemed on the verge of a big break when Black Flag was getting some decent radio/video rotation. I remember the video for Dogman getting played a bit to but for whatever reason it just didn't happen for them. Weather it was the band's choice to scale back their profile or the record company giving up on them, it's a damn shame they never never got bigger. They're too talented of a band and deserved much more success.

[ILSnwdog]

QUOTE (danielmclark @ May 8 2012, 08:09 PM)

Afghan Whigs Ned's Atomic Dustbin Placebo (they're still active, but they should be more massive than they are - in the US, at least) Sponge

I couldn't agree more about all four of those bands. Considering that the Afghan Whigs are my favorite band after Rush, I think they are one of the most underrated bands of all time.

 

Other bands...

 

Alan Parsons Project

Catherine Wheel

Dramarama

Helmet

Hum

Jawbox

Kitchens Of Distinction

PJ Harvey

Screaming Trees

The Smithereens

 

[jesse2112]

KIM MITCHELL!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwNshnoUL2k

 

[1 of the 7]

QUOTE (presto123 @ May 8 2012, 02:50 AM)

Mister Mister-They had that huge record(Welcome To The Real World) so actually they probably were headliners for a short while. The band was made up of great session players and writers with their front man Richard Page writing hits for countless artists. He was even offered the singing job in Toto and Chicago and turned both down to get Mister Mister going. I think these guys went more prog like on their follow up and it wasn't a commercial success at all. Hard for great musicians to keeping playing pop I guess.

I'd heard something a while back about their becoming almost Christian rock? Nothing in their Wiki backs this up, though, so I'm skeptical.

[goose]

QUOTE (presto123 @ May 8 2012, 02:50 AM)

Terence Trent Darby- Only heard that one record but what a voice. So soulful. They were touting him to be the next Prince and then his career just disappeared?

"The Hardline..." is amazing!

 

Follow up with the single "She Kissed Me There..." (wink, wink)

[JohnnyBlaze]

QUOTE (ILSnwdog @ May 9 2012, 11:49 AM)

Screaming Trees

This is the first band that I thought of when I saw this thread. Their '96 release DUST ((a perfect '10' imho)) is better than most of those hugely popular 90s albums from Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden...and I like all of those bands too.

[Hatchetaxe&saw]

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ May 9 2012, 08:18 AM)

QUOTE (ILSnwdog @ May 9 2012, 11:49 AM) Screaming Trees This is the first band that I thought of when I saw this thread. Their '96 release DUST ((a perfect '10' imho)) is better than most of those hugely popular 90s albums from Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden...and I like all of those bands too. Yeah, they were fantastic, I played Sweet Oblivion to death, and Dust too.

[metaldad]

QUOTE (J2112YYZ @ May 8 2012, 09:42 PM)

QUOTE (metaldad @ May 8 2012, 07:47 PM) Sevendust Overkill Testament Kings X Skinlab Thin Lizzy- in the u.s. Zebra Exodus - they should have been in the big 4, screw Megadave Sevendust has a few gold albums in the US as far as I know. So they have reached a good level of success. I agree with Overkill and especially Testament. The issue with Testament was that they started a little later than the big four and their first album didn't come out until '87. If they could've got their first album out in '83 they would've had a spot in the big four and more than likely Slayer or Anthrax would've not been in it. Testament did get some good momentum going on their first three or four albums but then the grunge movement hit and it killed what further success they could've had. They really should've been huge. I don't know what went wrong with Overkill, how they missed the big time back in the 80s is a mystery to me.   King's X seemed on the verge of a big break when Black Flag was getting some decent radio/video rotation. I remember the video for Dogman getting played a bit to but for whatever reason it just didn't happen for them. Weather it was the band's choice to scale back their profile or the record company giving up on them, it's a damn shame they never never got bigger. They're too talented of a band and deserved much more success. I think the first 3 Sevendust went gold. I really think they should have gotten a lot more Radio airplay and bigger tours. Sure, they do well and when they play it's packed but i think having a member of Twisted Sister as your Manager was Not the right move

[Rick N. Backer]

QUOTE (presto123 @ May 8 2012, 03:50 AM)

Julian Lennon-I had to add one more. How was he not a mega star? The two songs I know are good tunes so I know he's got some talent and he sings just like his father.(eerily so) Was it a choice HE made to stay under the radar and not pursue mega stardom?

Agreed. I saw him at Great Woods in Mansfield, MA. I think it was that facility's first show ever in fact. He closed with Day Tripper, which was amazing. If you like John Lennon's work (and if you don't, shame on you ) there's no way you don't like Julian's stuff.

[cfmoran13]

I think King's X had their best show with FHL. Their video for "It's Love" was in heavy rotation on MTV back in the day. Amazingly underrated band.

 

Jeffrey Gaines - great singer/ songwriter who's unfortunately best known for his version of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes"

 

The Nixons were a band that should've been hugely successful in the '90's. It just never happened. They had a decent hit with "Sister". They had 3 albums and were done.

Edited May 9, 2012 by cfmoran13

[Rick N. Backer]

QUOTE (Workaholic Man @ May 8 2012, 09:16 PM)

Living Colour could have become huge.  With their monster second album, Time's Up, they were on the verge, but for whatever reason, they just fell apart.  Their bass player left, and then the 3rd album, Stain, was a disappointment, and then it was over.

Their first album is fantastic. Vernon Reid is so underrated.

[BigBob]

Donnie Iris!!!!!!

 

ALso GWARRRRRR!!!!!

[ghostworks]

QUOTE (presto123 @ May 8 2012, 02:50 AM)

Mister Mister

I remember their 'death' pretty well

 

Mr. Mister were performing (1986-ish) on the MTV Video awards (or something like that) and they attempted 'Broken Wings'

 

Page couldn't hit the high notes (not sure why - cold, fatigue, age etc) and it was a trainwreck - cringe-inducing

 

my brother and I couldn't believe it, we were big fans of their 1st and 2nd albums at the time

 

I never heard of/saw them mentioned in the general public again, except as a 'two-hit 80's wonder' (Kyrie/Broken Wings)

 

their 1st album (I Wear The Face) and 4th album (Pull) far and away contain my favorite tracks, one specifically:

 

I Don't Know Why (aka 'Like Rain Falling')

 

^ a gorgeous mix of Big Generator-era Yes (no surprise, seeing as Trevor Rabin plays on the track) and deep Wang Chung (i.e. not the hits)... plus, it almost sounds like Michael McDonald is singing backing vocals - brilliant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Principled Man]

[ILSnwdog]

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ May 9 2012, 03:43 AM)

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ May 9 2012, 08:18 AM) QUOTE (ILSnwdog @ May 9 2012, 11:49 AM) Screaming Trees This is the first band that I thought of when I saw this thread. Their '96 release DUST ((a perfect '10' imho)) is better than most of those hugely popular 90s albums from Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden...and I like all of those bands too. Yeah, they were fantastic, I played Sweet Oblivion to death, and Dust too. I saw them when they were touring for Sweet Oblivion. They played with Soul Asylum and the Spin Doctors.   The blew both of those bands out of the water....but the Spin Doctors didn't put up much of a challenge.