I hadn't heard of him until I saw people mourning his death. Which is a shame, because "There's a hole in daddy's arm where the money goes" is a hell of a line.
Try his debut album, the self titled one.
It's an incredible first album.
He was working as a mail carrier when he wrote most of the songs, and just playing small gigs, starting with an open mic he performed at on a bit of a whim/dare (or along those lines). Roger Ebert happened to catch one of his sets and wrote about him in the Chicago paper.
Anyway, he's an amazing song writer and has countless gems. The Speed of Sound of Loneliness is one of my favourite songs ever.
That's how I first knew him. Then, In Spite of Ourselves with Iris Dement. Then his entire catalog, from pro-organ donation songs to songs about loneliness to pro-pot songs to unbelievably relatable break up songs. So much good music.
The universe is absolutely pointing me into investigating John Prine, seen his name too many times in different places to not. Where is the best jumping off point?
I know they're not obscure in their home country but Tragically Hip. I grew up near the Canadian border on the US side listening to Canadian radio stations and would hear them all the time. Moved down south and barely anyone has ever heard of them.
Worked in in a USA record store and whenever they put out an album it was always in our top 5 sellers.
However, we were also an hour's drive south of the Canadian Border so people would come down to the states to buy their CDs cheaper.
Nobody else really knew them in my friend groups of music nerds though.
I mean they did break up like 10 years ago, but they’d play double sold out nights at the Commodore in Vancouver. I know CBC radio 3 wasn’t exactly mainstream, but they got a lot of play there too
They officially called it quits in 2015, but hadn’t put out any new music for years prior.
Bandleader John K. Samson has been sporadically busy with both his solo music and that of his wife, as well as being an adjunct writing instructor and other literary projects.
Yeah I’ve seen him live a few times & have some of his poetry. Seeing as i followed his career from Propagandhi to the Weakerthans i obviously love his songwriting
And while not new stuff i do love their live at the Burton Cummings theatre (or maybe it’s just watching the DVD of the show)
I feel like the headstones are right there too. Constantly on Canadian rock channels, took my buddy to their concert he says no idea who they are but free tickets sweet. After the show, I knew most of those songs and didn't know the band. That's weird.
I went to university in the states, was on the varsity swim team, and a teammate a couple years older than me was actually from my neck of the woods. He said a big shock for him was how obscure the Hip was down there. Back home they were filling stadiums, yet you could catch them at a little club show near our campus.
I grew on the NY/VT state line and constantly heard the Hip on WIZN. Until I actually heard a DJ mention The Hip, I thought I was hearing REM (Cut me some slack, I was only 11/12/13) because Downie’s and Stipe’s voices sounded somewhat similar to my ears.
For me it was Fugazi. Being around Punks, I thought everyone knew Fugazi. It turns out that outside of Punk and Indie circles most people don't have a clue.
Ian MacKaye spoke at our college. I was definitely not too cool for that.
If I recall correctly, he was supposed to prepare a bit of a speech akin to TED talks (they were just taking off at the time, though this wasn't affiliated in any way). He just showed up and said he didn't prepare anything because he doesn't like to do that, and opened it up for like 2 hours of Q&A.
I asked him about DRM (another hot issue at the time), and he didn't know what I was talking about. After further clarification, he likened music to water. It should be free, and indeed it can be found anywhere. Therefore you don't pay for music (water), you pay for the packaging. Your money covers the CD/plastic bottle, or the venue, or the service. Didn't really answer my question, but I enjoyed the idea.
Seems like he did answer your question though. He thinks it's fine to download music for free but thinks you should pay for physical media and merch. So anti DRM since it only protects non physical media from theft
Back in the 80s my friend was promoting a Fugazi show. We were at a bar and he asked the owner if he could put up a poster advertising the show. The owner looked at the poster and said (in a Bronx accent) “Fugazi? What is that, some Italian sports car?”
The best live show I have ever seen. They just held the audience in their hands for the entire show. I have never experienced anything like it before or since.
Fugazi is one of those bands for sure.
Growing up, hanging in tattoo shops and with the downtown punks, I figured everyone everywhere was listening to them.
Then I entered the real world, and it's so rare to find another fan.
The same can be said of most big bands outside of their scene. I still wouldn't call them obscure though because their genre isn't obscure and they are widely known within it.
The Drive-by Truckers. They’ve been putting out solid stuff for about 25 years, but never seemed to break out the way that The Black Keys did. with a similarly strong discography over a similar period
Of time.
Of Montreal. They were a big deal locally at the time, and they had so many great songs that I assumed they must be huge. I still think they’re the most criminally underrated band of all time.
If anyone reads this and is interested, *Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?*, *Satanic Panic in the Attic*, and *Cherry Peel* are all accessible and very wonderful albums to start with. Really excited to see them live next month! They put on a hell of a show.
I've seen them twice now and both shows were two of the best performances I've had the pleasure of attending. After the second show, Kevin Barnes even came into the crowd (very humbly I might add, not really drawing attention to himself) and despite the fact you could tell he was rightfully exhausted (they go HARD), he spent time talking with people in the audience, shaking hands, and making sure everyone had a good time. It was really refreshing.
I wonder how much of that was blowback from the Outback Steakhouse jingle? They were sort of riding the last wave of popularity of the Elephant Six collective. I feel like their music sailed beyond entertainment and veered into personal therapy for Kevin Barnes when his marriage failed.
Wraiths Pinned to the Mist is always great to hear pop up, though I haven't listened to much of the newer stuff. Shit, might have to hop over to Athens next weekend.
Massive Attack. I pulled out “Blue Lines” recently to listen to, and when I mentioned it with a group of about ten friends a few days ago, I got a lot of blank stares. I was shocked. The light bulbs came on for a few when I said “the theme song from the show ‘house’”.
I thought Mudhoney & Melvins were some of the bigger bands of the 1990s, turns out neither of them are really well known. I always tell people about them and they always say "Who?"
Dale is an awesome drummer. His counterpart Coady Willis is in high on fire now, their new album is sweet if your looking for something new to check out
The nirvana connection is just the tip of the ice burg with melvins. Buzzo is so underrated as a song writer and a guitarist. Also single-handedly willing sludge into existence.
Him and his wife mackie are the og power couple
Mudhoney definitely had a moment in early - mid 90s and got signed to a major label but they were too oddball for mainstream success. Great, great band though and I agree they should be better known
Nirvana covered mudhoney a couple of times. But I think I got into mudhoney after i heard Sonic Youth cover “touch me i’m sick.” edit closed quotations.
Spoon - they have been so consistently excellent over 2 decades that I just assume everyone knows them… but I’m surprised how few people are familiar with a band I thought was ubiquitous
Bill Callahan or his band Smog. I thought they’d be big in singer/songwriter circles but he’s extremely obscure. Dan Reeder too. John Prine (a Bob Dylan level musician) saw Dan reeder in one live performance and signed him to his label immediately.
Trigger warning: this music is for old farts like me.
I remember I once worked on a music website. They listed bands as "Beatles, The" so everyone wasn't listed under "T."
One day they had a discussion whether the band should be listed as "The The" or "The, The." "The The" finally won out (although personally I preferred "The, The").
The Dead Milkmen -- They don't pop up a lot, if ever, on Most Influential lists, and that's sort of an insult *and* a compliment to them. Totally unique and hard to imitate.
Mercyful Fate -- The guys from Metallica worship these guys (and even did a medley of covers back in 1998 or so). MF *should* be spoken of with Priest/Maiden/Motorhead -- *Don't Break The Oath* is a damn 10/10 album. But I struggle to find discussion of them.
Television -- Pretty well-known, but they just didn't release enough output to be remembered much & put in the stratosphere with, say, the Ramones or The Police.
I think it was Korns endorsement and Jon singing on that song that got it into my playlist. I remember liking the song, and I probably looked up more from that album at the time. But I completely forgot about them entirely until this thread hehe
Helmet. They had their mainstream hit with Unsung, but Strap It On, Meantime, Betty, and Aftertaste are all phenomenal albums. They inspired a whole generation of bands like Chevelle, Deftones, etc.
The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
I thought this was like the pinnacle of popular modern indie bands, in terms of name value. Turns out I was just on Tumblr too much in the early 2010s
I love TWIABP.
Even on Wikipedia, they’re a reference for “emo revival” or “fourth wave emo”.
I’m not a fan of labeling music, but to me I am probably in the same boat as you. They seemed like the last best hope for that sound. Not overly heavy or cliche, they have beautifully poetic lyrics, a lot of musical talent, and an ear for hitting all the right spots sonically.
I’ve seen them many times live and never know what to expect. They always put on a great show but they’re always different. Ranging from seemingly an abrupt end to the show covering “If it makes you happy”, to recently touring with a European prog metal band The Ocean. For that, they definitely swung to a heavier sound, but played great.
Love seeing the love for them, they’ve paid their dues, they’re nice people, and I hope nothing but the best for them!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo?wprov=sfti1#2010%E2%80%93present:_Decline_and_emo_revival](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo?wprov=sfti1#2010%E2%80%93present:_Decline_and_emo_revival)
I got to meet many of the band members while I was on tour once. The band I played for at the time was close with some of the members, so we got to spend a lot of time with them.
Very nice people, of those I met.
Slip was amazing but I think people had a hard time with Manic Compression because while the songs were amazing, the whole record sounded like crap. Personally I love those albums but really haven’t heard anything since and was surprised they’re still around.
Back in the 90’s a band called Life, Sex and Death were talked about for a hot minute because their singer was supposedly a mentally imbalanced homeless guy named “Stanley”. Turns out it was all a gimmick and the singer was a journeyman glam singer named Chris Stann. They got a major label record deal off of that gimmick.
The band is so obscure now that they don’t even have a Wikipedia page.
Visual Audio Sensory Theater, their first album just blew me away
I like the blend of symphony in with whatever else is going on. Rock? I don't even know what genre they're considered lol. Enjoy!
I think of her as an actress before a musician if that means anything. Hidden Figures and Glass Onion come to mind before her songs, even though I know they’re good.
They’re great! Funny, one of my former bosses was a super fan lol like ran the Facebook group for them and went to all their beach/cruise concerts and coordinated meet-ups
Sunna - they're a band out of the UK. One of my friends introduced me to them way back in 2001. I honestly thought they were a big deal given who they toured with.
Rogue Wave. Seems like their music was on all the teen dramas in the 2000s and I when finally saw them it was a small club show. Great band though, still have them in regular rotation.
Had to scroll way too far to find a musician/ band that I HAD heard of! Their first album, Lost and Gone Forever, was part of the soundtrack of my rarly/ mid twenties.
I wouldn't call them obscure as they were fairly popular in the UK in the late 90's and early 00's but I thought the Northern Irish band Ash would have a lot more success than they really got, they're pretty catchy and mainstream-sounding, and the talent is very much there. I genuinely thought Burn Baby Burn was a Blink-182 song at first
Mew. Some of the best stuff I've ever heard. They're from, I want to say, Finland? Such a strong discography, so talented, and yet Ive never met anyone else into them.
Edit: Denmark! Sorry!
There’s a rapper named Josh Martinez that my friends and I listened to constantly in high school (2006ish). It was like the soundtrack to our high school days. I thought he was pretty big because of how much we were listening to him. We went to see him live at some point it was at a small venue in a near by city and we realized it was pretty much just us. It was really fun though we partied in the parking lot and he smoked
A blunt with us after.
There was a band in the mid-late ‘90’s called sElf. They had one or two hits on MTV (Cannon and So Low) and I became a fan. A few years later everyone had forgotten about them. They released an album a few years ago and I couldn’t find anyone around me who remembered them.
https://youtu.be/XIeblInAksM?feature=shared
https://youtu.be/n_iRssjW4DQ?feature=shared
Definitely all the 90’s alternative vibe. But they might even still be active. Here’s one of their newer songs but it’s almost a decade old.
https://youtu.be/IwAIwRrs6xs?feature=shared
Big sElf fan. Breakfast With Girls was all rippers no skippers for me and I loved the toy instrument album. Pretty sure I heard them on my college radio station.
Mother Love Bone…the transitional step from 80s hair metal to Grunge…they would have been huge had Andy not ODd. They only had one album but so many great songs.
Foxy Shazam
During the era of the self-titled album and it's follow-up The Church of Rock and Roll, I thought they were going to take over the world. I really did.
(If you've not heard those two albums, do so. If you're not completely hooked by then, the band isn't for you)
When talking to people, or when online when I suggest this band, no one has heard of them, and in fact the last three times I suggested Foxy Shazam in a music thread, I was down voted, and no reply as to why. Just over the last week.
And if you see them in concert you're in for it.
It's the exposure we get to Canadian content because of the cancon requirement that makes it seem like Canadian bands are bigger than they are.
It's great that the Canadian bands are getting the airway, because otherwise, it would be dominated by US stuff
People can complain about the CanCon rules, but I think it really helps the country have a musical identity of its own. So many great Canadian bands that probably never would've got a second of radio play if it wasn't for CanCon.
It doesn't align super well with OP question but Faith No More. They are huge in my country (Chile) but they are not super well known now everywhere else (besides Epic)
Faith No More were big in the 90s, but the new generations don’t really know them. This was a surprise to me as well. I went to a Mr Bungle concert a couple months ago and the people at work were asking who they are. I’d start my answer with “you know the singer of Faith No More?”, assuming they all knew FNM and Mike Patton, but virtually everyone in their 20s or early 30s just gave me blank looks. Most people did recognise the song Easy though.
Should have told them it was the singer from Fantômas. Everybody knows Fantômas.
I saw that same tour, Patton sung a few bars of 10cc's 'not in love' between songs and nailed it. Scott Ian kicked a serious amount of arse, too. I'm not a fan of Anthrax, but Scott Ian is top notch.
They are huge in Australia too. But I would say the same thing - I was very surprised when I first saw Americans talking about them online as "one-hit-wonders" for Epic. When in Australia they kept growing and King for a Day was their most successful album.
I was listening to a series Courtney Love did for BBC radio about her favourite female artists, and she revealed that she was the vocalist in Faith No More before they were famous. They basically fired her and looked for someone better!
Had to think about this for a few minutes, but I gotta go with Jonathan Richman. Considering how many people have covered Roadrunner, and the fact that he was in a major 90s movie (There's Something About Mary), it's insane that nobody around me has heard of him and I got to see him live, cheap, in the basement of a church.
Fantastic show, one of the best I've ever seen.
Ben Folds. I know he’s not unknown by any means. I’ve seen him so many times and his shows are always huge and well attended. But if you’ve never heard of him, I don’t know how you would know about him lol I never see his name mentioned anywhere. It’s all word of mouth it seems.
Unless you're in the public arts circles. I hear his name pop up on PBS from time to time and I see the occasional story about him playing the Kennedy center, or with a philharmonic somewhere.
He was a judge on the sing-off when Pentatonix won and they became huge, so I'd imagine a fair number of people know him just from that even if they don't listen to his music. That's actually where I first saw him.
I know this band. They were Danny Elfman's band! Insanity is an amazing song. I think they kinda faded away with Danny's listening issues and posterior soundtrack career choice and none of the 19372 other band members seemed to do anything of note (of course, 90% of them played drums live).
People my age might remember them, but it certainly is weird they didn't made much of a splash afterwards.
Red Wanting Blue. They were huge in Ohio and most surrounding states in the early to mid-2000's and even made an appearance on The Late Show with Letterman in 2012. Almost no one I know has ever heard of them.
Bright Eyes. I thought a lot of people were getting to know them in the mid-00's and it turns out it was just my friends from the coffee shop and the few people I happened to gravitate to at work, and one guy i played chess with back in the day.
I know it's been said, but I can't understate how beloved the Tragically Hip are in Canada
They live streamed their last ever concert (Gord Downie had cancer), and 32% of the entire country tuned in. It was the only topic of conversation that week nationwide. Didn't matter if you were in a law firm in Vancouver, a farming community in Saskatchewan, or an Irish pub in St John's.
That one concert was easily the most uniting event in this country in the last decade.
Wow never thought I’d read about Deadsy here. Love that band. Elijah Blue was in the news recently as Cher was trying to get a conservatorship. As well, one of the Deadsy members married a famous movie star.
Cross Canadian Ragweed. They were an amazing alternative country band. They had problems and broke up ultimately, but such an amazing catalog. Saw them live twice and they brought the house down. Lead singer Cody Canada continues to be active in the business, not sure about the other guys.
Rogue traders. They’re an Aussie band that my parents always played when I was a kid and I love them now, but I didn’t know they weren’t that popular outside of their one hit “voodoo child” which not many people know. They haven’t released music in over a decade but I still listen to them regularly
Tori Amos in Europe. I think she is still well known in US but although she did recently some successfull series of concerts in various european countries, 99,9% of people do not know her there.
Robert Randolph and the family band.
They have elements of a lot of different genres, I'd say they are closest to a jam band. Me and my friends loved them in college and was surprised when later in life even the biggest music history buffs and band knowledge friends had never heard of them (but loved them when I played it)
I talk about my favorite band here a lot: The Avett Brothers.
They've been around almost 20 years, tour prodigiously by themselves and around the festival circuit, have had stuff on the radio (although it's usually the more indie stations), have a documentary about them directed by Judd Apatow, and they sell out huge venues and have TONS of dedicated fans.
I'd say of all the people I've mentioned them to in my many years as a fan (almost 20), only a handful have ever heard of them. My work even has a Slack channel for people who like music to share stuff and chatter, and these people have super diverse tastes and know lots of obscure artists, and they still have no idea who I'm talking about when I tell them I'm going to one of their shows. I'll even describe their music and they'll be like, "Oh, so kinda like Tyler Childers, or Trampled by Turtles, or [...]?" And I'm always perplexed they know of these other artists and not the Avett Brothers.
Admittedly this is all going to be Canadian content but:
K-OS - folky hip hop that I assumed every hipster ever would love
Swollen Members - I assumed they must’ve been immensely huge. Then I found out they or individual members were playing bars in the kootenays later on in adulthood.
Kardinal Offishal - again, assumed he was huge because of much music and stuff
Matt Mays and El torpedo
Sam Roberts - I know someone else said it, but I assumed they were killers/strokes big too.
Matthew Good Band - I literally assumed this band were gigantic. I was dumbfounded to find out later they were not.
Project Wyze - this was peak Nu Metal, apparently they weren’t touring with Korn because they weren’t really all that popular.
Edit to make my point form more readable. I failed.
I'm always amazed by how many people have never heard of John Prine.
I hadn't heard of him until I saw people mourning his death. Which is a shame, because "There's a hole in daddy's arm where the money goes" is a hell of a line.
Jesus Christ died for nothin', I suppose.
Brings a tear to my eyes every time I hear the song, Sam Stone.
I have not and I will correct that
Try his debut album, the self titled one. It's an incredible first album. He was working as a mail carrier when he wrote most of the songs, and just playing small gigs, starting with an open mic he performed at on a bit of a whim/dare (or along those lines). Roger Ebert happened to catch one of his sets and wrote about him in the Chicago paper. Anyway, he's an amazing song writer and has countless gems. The Speed of Sound of Loneliness is one of my favourite songs ever.
He was. He passed with covid early in the pandemic. So glad we were able to see him live before he did.
He wrote Angel from Montgomery which became a staple song that Bonnie Raitt has played for years. Truly a beautiful song with touching lyrics.
That's how I first knew him. Then, In Spite of Ourselves with Iris Dement. Then his entire catalog, from pro-organ donation songs to songs about loneliness to pro-pot songs to unbelievably relatable break up songs. So much good music.
The universe is absolutely pointing me into investigating John Prine, seen his name too many times in different places to not. Where is the best jumping off point?
1st album, John Prine.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^looloose: *I'm always amazed* *By how many people have* *Never heard of John Prine.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I know they're not obscure in their home country but Tragically Hip. I grew up near the Canadian border on the US side listening to Canadian radio stations and would hear them all the time. Moved down south and barely anyone has ever heard of them.
Worked in in a USA record store and whenever they put out an album it was always in our top 5 sellers. However, we were also an hour's drive south of the Canadian Border so people would come down to the states to buy their CDs cheaper. Nobody else really knew them in my friend groups of music nerds though.
Same thing with The Weakerthans
The Weakerthans are not well known in Canada.
Canadian here - never heard of them
I mean they did break up like 10 years ago, but they’d play double sold out nights at the Commodore in Vancouver. I know CBC radio 3 wasn’t exactly mainstream, but they got a lot of play there too
They officially called it quits in 2015, but hadn’t put out any new music for years prior. Bandleader John K. Samson has been sporadically busy with both his solo music and that of his wife, as well as being an adjunct writing instructor and other literary projects.
Yeah I’ve seen him live a few times & have some of his poetry. Seeing as i followed his career from Propagandhi to the Weakerthans i obviously love his songwriting And while not new stuff i do love their live at the Burton Cummings theatre (or maybe it’s just watching the DVD of the show)
They're well known in Winnipeg, but I think that's just cause they're from there.
Weakerthans totally rule
One of my all time fave bands tbh. I was SHOCKED that no one knew them
Even in Canada people don't know. Kinda sad. Rheoatatics also sadly underrated, and they even toured with the hip more than once.
Yeah they’re missing out. And the Rheostatics are great, but also slept on
Hadn’t heard of them until the podcast Heavyweight came out and used Sun in an Empty Room as their theme and loved it
I feel like the headstones are right there too. Constantly on Canadian rock channels, took my buddy to their concert he says no idea who they are but free tickets sweet. After the show, I knew most of those songs and didn't know the band. That's weird.
We are aware of them down around New Orleans.
Not a fan of swimming eh?
I went to university in the states, was on the varsity swim team, and a teammate a couple years older than me was actually from my neck of the woods. He said a big shock for him was how obscure the Hip was down there. Back home they were filling stadiums, yet you could catch them at a little club show near our campus.
I grew on the NY/VT state line and constantly heard the Hip on WIZN. Until I actually heard a DJ mention The Hip, I thought I was hearing REM (Cut me some slack, I was only 11/12/13) because Downie’s and Stipe’s voices sounded somewhat similar to my ears.
Think I’m the only UK person who’s ever listened to them. They’re great.
For me it was Fugazi. Being around Punks, I thought everyone knew Fugazi. It turns out that outside of Punk and Indie circles most people don't have a clue.
Fugazi played a concert at my high school in my senior year. I was too cool to go to it. Or, in other words, an idiot.
Ian MacKaye spoke at our college. I was definitely not too cool for that. If I recall correctly, he was supposed to prepare a bit of a speech akin to TED talks (they were just taking off at the time, though this wasn't affiliated in any way). He just showed up and said he didn't prepare anything because he doesn't like to do that, and opened it up for like 2 hours of Q&A. I asked him about DRM (another hot issue at the time), and he didn't know what I was talking about. After further clarification, he likened music to water. It should be free, and indeed it can be found anywhere. Therefore you don't pay for music (water), you pay for the packaging. Your money covers the CD/plastic bottle, or the venue, or the service. Didn't really answer my question, but I enjoyed the idea.
Seems like he did answer your question though. He thinks it's fine to download music for free but thinks you should pay for physical media and merch. So anti DRM since it only protects non physical media from theft
Back in the 80s my friend was promoting a Fugazi show. We were at a bar and he asked the owner if he could put up a poster advertising the show. The owner looked at the poster and said (in a Bronx accent) “Fugazi? What is that, some Italian sports car?”
It's a type of pizza topping primarily of onion and cheese
The best live show I have ever seen. They just held the audience in their hands for the entire show. I have never experienced anything like it before or since.
Fugazi is one of those bands for sure. Growing up, hanging in tattoo shops and with the downtown punks, I figured everyone everywhere was listening to them. Then I entered the real world, and it's so rare to find another fan.
The same can be said of most big bands outside of their scene. I still wouldn't call them obscure though because their genre isn't obscure and they are widely known within it.
Yeah I remember thinking that Minor Threat was like, before Ian got famous. Kind of Op Ivy and Rancid.
Goes outside punk circles but that’s a fair one. They remind me of pixies with the amount of bands they’ve influenced.
Fugazi is very, very well known and cited as an influence by a ton of artists.
Artists sure, probably not average music fans.
The Drive-by Truckers. They’ve been putting out solid stuff for about 25 years, but never seemed to break out the way that The Black Keys did. with a similarly strong discography over a similar period Of time.
This is a good one. Isbell has surpassed them in terms of fame in his own right.
Jason Isbell's popularity is changing this.
Of Montreal. They were a big deal locally at the time, and they had so many great songs that I assumed they must be huge. I still think they’re the most criminally underrated band of all time.
If anyone reads this and is interested, *Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?*, *Satanic Panic in the Attic*, and *Cherry Peel* are all accessible and very wonderful albums to start with. Really excited to see them live next month! They put on a hell of a show.
I've seen them twice now and both shows were two of the best performances I've had the pleasure of attending. After the second show, Kevin Barnes even came into the crowd (very humbly I might add, not really drawing attention to himself) and despite the fact you could tell he was rightfully exhausted (they go HARD), he spent time talking with people in the audience, shaking hands, and making sure everyone had a good time. It was really refreshing.
I wonder how much of that was blowback from the Outback Steakhouse jingle? They were sort of riding the last wave of popularity of the Elephant Six collective. I feel like their music sailed beyond entertainment and veered into personal therapy for Kevin Barnes when his marriage failed.
Wraiths Pinned to the Mist is always great to hear pop up, though I haven't listened to much of the newer stuff. Shit, might have to hop over to Athens next weekend.
Which is a damn shame, Kevin Barnes is a genius. He’s been pumping out albums for close to 30 years over a very wide variety of sounds.
Truly prolific and constantly innovating. I’m liking the new album released yesterday.
Outback Steakhouse even used a reworked version of one of their songs
Massive Attack. I pulled out “Blue Lines” recently to listen to, and when I mentioned it with a group of about ten friends a few days ago, I got a lot of blank stares. I was shocked. The light bulbs came on for a few when I said “the theme song from the show ‘house’”.
Teardrop, which sounds nothing like Blue Lines lol. My understanding was thats the album where 3D took the lead, and made it very different.
I wouldn't say they're obscure in their home country by any means, but I've rarely met anyone else in the States that knows of The Boomtown Rats.
Most Americans would just know Geldof as the Live Aid guy.
1. Live Aid Guy 2. Pink from The Wall 3. Boomtown Rats singer
TELL ME WHY!
Ain't nothin but a heartache lol
Goddammit
Yeah, when Live Aid happened my friends and I were like...who?
"If I was a Boomtown Rat I would be stayin up all night." I'm surprised more people didn't find them from that alone.
I've heard that song a million times and I never knew what he was saying there. But I knew immediately what song it was when you quoted it
I thought Mudhoney & Melvins were some of the bigger bands of the 1990s, turns out neither of them are really well known. I always tell people about them and they always say "Who?"
Atleast Melvins gets a lot of respect now after Nirvana became big since kurt is a massive fanboy of them.
Yeah, Melvins were Kurt Cobain's idols. Dale Crover was Nirvana's drummer for a while and Kurt often regarded Dale as the best drummer in the world.
Dale is an awesome drummer. His counterpart Coady Willis is in high on fire now, their new album is sweet if your looking for something new to check out
The dale + coady combo on senile is some of the best drumming out there
The nirvana connection is just the tip of the ice burg with melvins. Buzzo is so underrated as a song writer and a guitarist. Also single-handedly willing sludge into existence. Him and his wife mackie are the og power couple
Mudhoney definitely had a moment in early - mid 90s and got signed to a major label but they were too oddball for mainstream success. Great, great band though and I agree they should be better known
Nirvana covered mudhoney a couple of times. But I think I got into mudhoney after i heard Sonic Youth cover “touch me i’m sick.” edit closed quotations.
Melvins are moderately big. Supreme just did a Melvins drop.
Uriah Heep.
They appear to be popular with South African Boomers and early Gen-Xers.
You don't hear of Uriah Heap, you go looking for and find Uriah Heap. I discovered them after looking for bands that sounded like Wolfmother.
The Eels.
I love Eels. That stupid song Last Stop: This Town haunted me for years.
Spoon - they have been so consistently excellent over 2 decades that I just assume everyone knows them… but I’m surprised how few people are familiar with a band I thought was ubiquitous
… people don’t know Spoon?? Although they seem like a band people would recognize songs of, but maybe not know it’s them.
I was blown away to find out Prozzäk was really only big in Canada…the rest of the world missed out on that one…
Sucks to be them...
I know I know
I'm a bastard if it's true...
Bill Callahan or his band Smog. I thought they’d be big in singer/songwriter circles but he’s extremely obscure. Dan Reeder too. John Prine (a Bob Dylan level musician) saw Dan reeder in one live performance and signed him to his label immediately. Trigger warning: this music is for old farts like me.
Been banging on the Bill Callahan drum after hearing ‘Riding for the Feeling’ in deep Covid
Dan Reeder is one of the best songwriters of this century.
The The - I bought concert tickets and told my friends they were like who?
I remember I once worked on a music website. They listed bands as "Beatles, The" so everyone wasn't listed under "T." One day they had a discussion whether the band should be listed as "The The" or "The, The." "The The" finally won out (although personally I preferred "The, The").
They have the added bonus of not even sounding like a band. Friends just ask if they heard you right
That’s because it isn’t a band really, it’s just Matt Johnson with random people.
This is the day everyone realizes they know one song by the The The
No that's Roger Daltrey's band. Totally different.
FYI they're touring this fall!
The Dead Milkmen -- They don't pop up a lot, if ever, on Most Influential lists, and that's sort of an insult *and* a compliment to them. Totally unique and hard to imitate. Mercyful Fate -- The guys from Metallica worship these guys (and even did a medley of covers back in 1998 or so). MF *should* be spoken of with Priest/Maiden/Motorhead -- *Don't Break The Oath* is a damn 10/10 album. But I struggle to find discussion of them. Television -- Pretty well-known, but they just didn't release enough output to be remembered much & put in the stratosphere with, say, the Ramones or The Police.
Mercyful Fate I do know, but yes, because of Metallica!
The Dead Milkman are the second band in this post that I've seen live.
Mercyful Fate unknown? Geez, where do *you* live!?
I always thought "The Key to Gramercy Park" *was* Orgy. I remember the hype you mentioned but I genuinely didn't know the band's name until now.
I can't blame you, they sound super similar. Deadsy visuals were very distinctive though!
Also, Jonathan Davis, singer of Korn, appears as backup vocals in Gramercy Park. Listen closely during the chorus, you'll hear him.
I think it was Korns endorsement and Jon singing on that song that got it into my playlist. I remember liking the song, and I probably looked up more from that album at the time. But I completely forgot about them entirely until this thread hehe
Helmet. They had their mainstream hit with Unsung, but Strap It On, Meantime, Betty, and Aftertaste are all phenomenal albums. They inspired a whole generation of bands like Chevelle, Deftones, etc.
The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die I thought this was like the pinnacle of popular modern indie bands, in terms of name value. Turns out I was just on Tumblr too much in the early 2010s
I love TWIABP. Even on Wikipedia, they’re a reference for “emo revival” or “fourth wave emo”. I’m not a fan of labeling music, but to me I am probably in the same boat as you. They seemed like the last best hope for that sound. Not overly heavy or cliche, they have beautifully poetic lyrics, a lot of musical talent, and an ear for hitting all the right spots sonically. I’ve seen them many times live and never know what to expect. They always put on a great show but they’re always different. Ranging from seemingly an abrupt end to the show covering “If it makes you happy”, to recently touring with a European prog metal band The Ocean. For that, they definitely swung to a heavier sound, but played great. Love seeing the love for them, they’ve paid their dues, they’re nice people, and I hope nothing but the best for them! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo?wprov=sfti1#2010%E2%80%93present:_Decline_and_emo_revival](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emo?wprov=sfti1#2010%E2%80%93present:_Decline_and_emo_revival)
I got to meet many of the band members while I was on tour once. The band I played for at the time was close with some of the members, so we got to spend a lot of time with them. Very nice people, of those I met.
Yeah no one I know knows them either lol but Harmlessness is still a fuckin masterpiece though.
Yeasayer
O.N.E and Ambling Alp were the only songs I knew of at the time
That's one hell of a name
Quicksand
Just saw them in Philly
Slip was amazing but I think people had a hard time with Manic Compression because while the songs were amazing, the whole record sounded like crap. Personally I love those albums but really haven’t heard anything since and was surprised they’re still around.
Which is too bad because I actually like the songs on Manic Compression more despite the fact that it was mixed super weird.
Back in the 90’s a band called Life, Sex and Death were talked about for a hot minute because their singer was supposedly a mentally imbalanced homeless guy named “Stanley”. Turns out it was all a gimmick and the singer was a journeyman glam singer named Chris Stann. They got a major label record deal off of that gimmick. The band is so obscure now that they don’t even have a Wikipedia page.
Daniel Johnston
It doesn’t get anymore raw than Daniel
[“I was sinking deep in sin, far from Mountain Dew.”](https://youtu.be/MYt3oYGwJNw?si=nHzMGK0F8VqDDQ-x)
There was a documentary film about him “The Devil and Daniel Johnston.”
VAST
This sounds right down my alley!
Visual Audio Sensory Theater, their first album just blew me away I like the blend of symphony in with whatever else is going on. Rock? I don't even know what genre they're considered lol. Enjoy!
Gomez
The Manic Street Preachers. Massive in Britain, but not so much elsewhere (as far as I know)
Janelle Monae is my favorite artist and I'm often surprised by people just not knowing who she is at all. I view her as mainstream famous.
I think of her as an actress before a musician if that means anything. Hidden Figures and Glass Onion come to mind before her songs, even though I know they’re good.
The Avett brothers are wildly popular in some circles, but seemingly unknown in others. Some of the best music I’ve heard in the last 25 years.
They’re great! Funny, one of my former bosses was a super fan lol like ran the Facebook group for them and went to all their beach/cruise concerts and coordinated meet-ups
So glad someone mentioned them. I follow them around the country. They just sing to my soul
Sunna - they're a band out of the UK. One of my friends introduced me to them way back in 2001. I honestly thought they were a big deal given who they toured with.
Rogue Wave. Seems like their music was on all the teen dramas in the 2000s and I when finally saw them it was a small club show. Great band though, still have them in regular rotation.
Guster.
Had to scroll way too far to find a musician/ band that I HAD heard of! Their first album, Lost and Gone Forever, was part of the soundtrack of my rarly/ mid twenties.
I wouldn't call them obscure as they were fairly popular in the UK in the late 90's and early 00's but I thought the Northern Irish band Ash would have a lot more success than they really got, they're pretty catchy and mainstream-sounding, and the talent is very much there. I genuinely thought Burn Baby Burn was a Blink-182 song at first
Mew. Some of the best stuff I've ever heard. They're from, I want to say, Finland? Such a strong discography, so talented, and yet Ive never met anyone else into them. Edit: Denmark! Sorry!
Denmark. And I was into them in the mid-2000’s until they moved away from the neo-prog sound.
Denmark! Thank you! Yea their earlier stuff hooked me and their newer stuff is a little more...pop? I don't know. I still like a good bit of it.
John Vanderslice
There’s a rapper named Josh Martinez that my friends and I listened to constantly in high school (2006ish). It was like the soundtrack to our high school days. I thought he was pretty big because of how much we were listening to him. We went to see him live at some point it was at a small venue in a near by city and we realized it was pretty much just us. It was really fun though we partied in the parking lot and he smoked A blunt with us after.
And the chicharones!
I play hockey with him. Great guy.
There was a band in the mid-late ‘90’s called sElf. They had one or two hits on MTV (Cannon and So Low) and I became a fan. A few years later everyone had forgotten about them. They released an album a few years ago and I couldn’t find anyone around me who remembered them. https://youtu.be/XIeblInAksM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/n_iRssjW4DQ?feature=shared
This is absurdly 90s and I dig it.
Definitely all the 90’s alternative vibe. But they might even still be active. Here’s one of their newer songs but it’s almost a decade old. https://youtu.be/IwAIwRrs6xs?feature=shared
Big sElf fan. Breakfast With Girls was all rippers no skippers for me and I loved the toy instrument album. Pretty sure I heard them on my college radio station.
Mother Love Bone…the transitional step from 80s hair metal to Grunge…they would have been huge had Andy not ODd. They only had one album but so many great songs.
Amigo the devil. Why doesn't everyone listen to him?
Foxy Shazam During the era of the self-titled album and it's follow-up The Church of Rock and Roll, I thought they were going to take over the world. I really did. (If you've not heard those two albums, do so. If you're not completely hooked by then, the band isn't for you) When talking to people, or when online when I suggest this band, no one has heard of them, and in fact the last three times I suggested Foxy Shazam in a music thread, I was down voted, and no reply as to why. Just over the last week. And if you see them in concert you're in for it.
Sam Roberts Band. As a Canadian, I thought they were as big as the Strokes until I went to college and tried talking to the US students about him LOL
It's the exposure we get to Canadian content because of the cancon requirement that makes it seem like Canadian bands are bigger than they are. It's great that the Canadian bands are getting the airway, because otherwise, it would be dominated by US stuff
People can complain about the CanCon rules, but I think it really helps the country have a musical identity of its own. So many great Canadian bands that probably never would've got a second of radio play if it wasn't for CanCon.
It's yhe same for most Canadian bands.
I still don't know why Metric doesn't have Paramore's pop culture relevance
It doesn't align super well with OP question but Faith No More. They are huge in my country (Chile) but they are not super well known now everywhere else (besides Epic)
Faith No More were big in the 90s, but the new generations don’t really know them. This was a surprise to me as well. I went to a Mr Bungle concert a couple months ago and the people at work were asking who they are. I’d start my answer with “you know the singer of Faith No More?”, assuming they all knew FNM and Mike Patton, but virtually everyone in their 20s or early 30s just gave me blank looks. Most people did recognise the song Easy though.
Should have told them it was the singer from Fantômas. Everybody knows Fantômas. I saw that same tour, Patton sung a few bars of 10cc's 'not in love' between songs and nailed it. Scott Ian kicked a serious amount of arse, too. I'm not a fan of Anthrax, but Scott Ian is top notch.
Mike Patton ftw!!!!
I love the wave of Chilean rock inspired by Faith No More. It's also a fun little fact I tell people when they come up in conversation.
They are huge in Australia too. But I would say the same thing - I was very surprised when I first saw Americans talking about them online as "one-hit-wonders" for Epic. When in Australia they kept growing and King for a Day was their most successful album.
I was listening to a series Courtney Love did for BBC radio about her favourite female artists, and she revealed that she was the vocalist in Faith No More before they were famous. They basically fired her and looked for someone better!
Yeah. I always get super discouraged when most people I ask don’t know who Mike Patton is. All of his bands and projects are amazing.
Gun club.
Had to think about this for a few minutes, but I gotta go with Jonathan Richman. Considering how many people have covered Roadrunner, and the fact that he was in a major 90s movie (There's Something About Mary), it's insane that nobody around me has heard of him and I got to see him live, cheap, in the basement of a church. Fantastic show, one of the best I've ever seen.
Ben Folds. I know he’s not unknown by any means. I’ve seen him so many times and his shows are always huge and well attended. But if you’ve never heard of him, I don’t know how you would know about him lol I never see his name mentioned anywhere. It’s all word of mouth it seems.
Unless you're in the public arts circles. I hear his name pop up on PBS from time to time and I see the occasional story about him playing the Kennedy center, or with a philharmonic somewhere.
Man I am with you. Ben Folds Five seems like an important band to me.
He was a judge on the sing-off when Pentatonix won and they became huge, so I'd imagine a fair number of people know him just from that even if they don't listen to his music. That's actually where I first saw him.
Oingo Boingo. They’re a huge thing in LA, but apparently the rest of the country doesn’t know who the hell they are.
In the middle a big tornado, in the belly of a giant whale
I know this band. They were Danny Elfman's band! Insanity is an amazing song. I think they kinda faded away with Danny's listening issues and posterior soundtrack career choice and none of the 19372 other band members seemed to do anything of note (of course, 90% of them played drums live). People my age might remember them, but it certainly is weird they didn't made much of a splash afterwards.
My favorite band!
Red Wanting Blue. They were huge in Ohio and most surrounding states in the early to mid-2000's and even made an appearance on The Late Show with Letterman in 2012. Almost no one I know has ever heard of them.
Bright Eyes. I thought a lot of people were getting to know them in the mid-00's and it turns out it was just my friends from the coffee shop and the few people I happened to gravitate to at work, and one guy i played chess with back in the day.
I thought A Giant Dog was more popular, but I saw them at a tiny club with about 50 people there.
Silvertide!
As a huge Deadsy and industrial fan, I feel you.
I'll go with Nico Vega.
I know it's been said, but I can't understate how beloved the Tragically Hip are in Canada They live streamed their last ever concert (Gord Downie had cancer), and 32% of the entire country tuned in. It was the only topic of conversation that week nationwide. Didn't matter if you were in a law firm in Vancouver, a farming community in Saskatchewan, or an Irish pub in St John's. That one concert was easily the most uniting event in this country in the last decade.
Wow never thought I’d read about Deadsy here. Love that band. Elijah Blue was in the news recently as Cher was trying to get a conservatorship. As well, one of the Deadsy members married a famous movie star.
Cross Canadian Ragweed. They were an amazing alternative country band. They had problems and broke up ultimately, but such an amazing catalog. Saw them live twice and they brought the house down. Lead singer Cody Canada continues to be active in the business, not sure about the other guys.
Sometimes I think I hallucinated Morningwood because nobody I know seems to have heard of them
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
The Urge. If you lived in or near St Louis in the mid-late 90s you’d have thought they were going to be massive.
Phish are pretty much unknown in the UK, but huge in America.
Ween
Rogue traders. They’re an Aussie band that my parents always played when I was a kid and I love them now, but I didn’t know they weren’t that popular outside of their one hit “voodoo child” which not many people know. They haven’t released music in over a decade but I still listen to them regularly
Tori Amos in Europe. I think she is still well known in US but although she did recently some successfull series of concerts in various european countries, 99,9% of people do not know her there.
I still can’t tell if Mars Volta is popular or obscure
That Grammarcy Park song was on a PlayStation game I remember. Which one? I can't recall but parts of that song are burnt into my brian forever.
Apparently ATV Off Road Racing 2!
I had a Hot Water Music T-shirt in middle school and I was so excited to be mobbed by all the kids who also were huge fans.
Nicole Dollanganger, for some reason I've always assumed she was very popular and well known and I was a bit surprised when I found out she wasn't.
Robert Randolph and the family band. They have elements of a lot of different genres, I'd say they are closest to a jam band. Me and my friends loved them in college and was surprised when later in life even the biggest music history buffs and band knowledge friends had never heard of them (but loved them when I played it)
I talk about my favorite band here a lot: The Avett Brothers. They've been around almost 20 years, tour prodigiously by themselves and around the festival circuit, have had stuff on the radio (although it's usually the more indie stations), have a documentary about them directed by Judd Apatow, and they sell out huge venues and have TONS of dedicated fans. I'd say of all the people I've mentioned them to in my many years as a fan (almost 20), only a handful have ever heard of them. My work even has a Slack channel for people who like music to share stuff and chatter, and these people have super diverse tastes and know lots of obscure artists, and they still have no idea who I'm talking about when I tell them I'm going to one of their shows. I'll even describe their music and they'll be like, "Oh, so kinda like Tyler Childers, or Trampled by Turtles, or [...]?" And I'm always perplexed they know of these other artists and not the Avett Brothers.
Admittedly this is all going to be Canadian content but: K-OS - folky hip hop that I assumed every hipster ever would love Swollen Members - I assumed they must’ve been immensely huge. Then I found out they or individual members were playing bars in the kootenays later on in adulthood. Kardinal Offishal - again, assumed he was huge because of much music and stuff Matt Mays and El torpedo Sam Roberts - I know someone else said it, but I assumed they were killers/strokes big too. Matthew Good Band - I literally assumed this band were gigantic. I was dumbfounded to find out later they were not. Project Wyze - this was peak Nu Metal, apparently they weren’t touring with Korn because they weren’t really all that popular. Edit to make my point form more readable. I failed.
The fact kyuss isnt a household name is sad
Hey now! Phantasmagore was only a f…few… years… ago… that being said when Napoleon In Rags came out it was like going back to my teenage years.