Favorite Bands and Artists No One Has Ever Heard of -

[The Emperor Skeksis]

Love this thread, always looking for new music.

I never hear anyone talk about K's Choice anymore, which is a real shame. A brother and sister band from Belgium, alternative rock, I guess? I prefer their older music, but the newer stuff still has a lot of heart.

Yes, if you google them the lead singer trooned out recently, ignore that, it actually somewhat makes sense as she was always a very everything non-confirming person. Probably what made the music so good.

Eliza Grace also deserves attention. She's living the real broke hippie life, travelling and sleeping in cars and on couches. Her music is generally quite dark. I'm not sure if she is signed yet.

There's also FEMM. Japanese synth-pop insanity. Maybe they're popular online because Japan? I'm not sure, but I plug them when I can anyway.

I know he's like popular in Europe, but over here in the states this was the "one hit wonder" that played on the radio at the time.

Another reason to hate the Great Oppressor reeee.

 

[HighwayStar]

For many years, glam metal has become the proverbial butt joke in music history textbooks, and unfortunately, there's a point. Most of them, quite frankly, just sucked. However, there were a lot of very good hard rock bands in late 80's and early 90's that tried to deviate from the pop metal formula. Here are the following:

Enuff Z'Nuff - the closest glam metal got to having their own Cheap Trick, Big Star and Raspberries, Enuff Z'Nuff were a band incapable of producing songs that were devoid of melody and catchiness. They had that one hit "Fly High Michelle", but their subsequent albums are amazing and sadly tend to be overlooked. This is easily one of their best albums.

Disneyland After Dark (D.A.D.) - If you want a 80's hard rock band with Southern vibe to them and whose inspirations were Molly Hatchet, Ted Nugent and Bon Scott-era AC/DC, D.A.D. fits that category. This was one of my favorite discoveries when I was exploring music on the Internet and why this album didn't become even a cult classic is beyond me. There are no syrupy power ballads, no half-assed anthems: just 40 minutes of kick-ass rock & roll.

Rhino Bucket - Speaking of Bon Scott-era AC/DC, this band's self-titled album was the closest we got to a spiritual successor to AC/DC's masterpiece "Highway to Hell" if Scott didn't pass. It's tempting to dismiss this band as a clone to Australia's biggest rock & roll band, but the music is consistently good and the riffs for "One Night Stand", "Train Ride", "Even the Sun Goes Down" and "Blood on the Cross" would make the Young Brothers proud.

Quireboys - Quireboys are a sad example of a talented band who found themselves inexplicably overshadowed by another great band (The Black Crowes). Both were unabashed throwbacks to the 70's bluesy, swaggering rock & roll of the Stones, Humble Pie, Faces and early ZZ Top, but for some reason, Quireboys never achieved the same success as the Crowes. And that's a shame, because this album is a gem. "A Little Bit of..." is very hard to find, even on iTunes and Amazon, but if you get your hands on it, it's worth the investment.

Warrior Soul - Although Warrior Soul looked like they were formed at the Sunset Strip, aesthetically they couldn't be more different from their counterparts. The music was raw, punkish and more politically charged than anything Poison, Bon Jovi and Warrant were doing, and the songs were heavy with influences of proto-punk and art rock bands like MC5 and the Stooges. Sadly, they found themselves consumed by the tsunami that was "grunge", but anyone who wants to glam metal with heart, brains and soul (no pun intended), this is the place to go.

 

[Solid Snek]

For many years, glam metal has become the proverbial butt joke in music history textbooks, and unfortunately, there's a point. Most of them, quite frankly, just sucked. However, there were a lot of very good hard rock bands in late 80's and early 90's that tried to deviate from the pop metal formula. Here are the following:

Enuff Z'Nuff - the closest glam metal got to having their own Cheap Trick, Big Star and Raspberries, Enuff Z'Nuff were a band incapable of producing songs that were devoid of melody and catchiness. They had that one hit "Fly High Michelle", but their subsequent albums are amazing and sadly tend to be overlooked. This is easily one of their best albums.

I've heard of Enuff Z'nuff. I'm not sure how I know about them, but I definitely do, and if it's hair metal that I've heard about, it's probably a fairly well-known band. The video for Fly High Michelle has about 1 million views on YT, so they gotta be doing something right!

-edit- ok, turns out they were featured on Beavis & Butthead, which must be where I heard about them.

 

[Frank D'arbo]

Holy Fuck is a really good electronic based band, if you've seen the first season of Invincible on Prime then you've already heard a few of there songs

Temples, a neo psychedelic rock band based in the UK, pretty decent stuff

Moneybrother, a swedish band with a lead that sounds so much like Joe Strummer of The Clash its insane. Two of their songs were featured in Super, God Knows my Name and Born Under A Bad Sign

Jellyfish is what happens when you mix ELO, Queen, and XTC together in the 90s

Group disbanded after two albums, lead singer/drummer now does music for various Cartoon Network shows (he did the themes for Ben 10, Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, Teen Titans, and a few others), but everyone else from the band formed a new group called Lickerish Quartet, which does similar power pop-esque music.

I've got tons of others but this is all for now

 

[Poppavalyim Andropoff]

American Heartbreak
Integrity
Poison Idea
Radio Birdman
Supersuckers
Adolescents
SS Decontrol
Infest
Cock Sparrer
Electric Frankenstein
Antidote
Dead Boys

 

[Moswald Osley]

In no particular order, all sorts of genres, [EDIT] well not really...

 

[A man of no consequence]

 

[Autumnal Equinox]

Not sure how well known they are (nobody I’ve brought them up to has heard of them) but Bright Giant is pretty good

 

[HighwayStar]

Union Carbide Productions - What do you get when you combine Sonic Youth, the Stooges and psychedelic rock? You get Union Carbide Productions, a criminally under-appreciated alternative rock band from Sweden whose members would later form the far more well-known band, the Soundtrack of Our Lives. Their best album remains "In the Air Tonight", but their follow-up album "From Influence to Ignorance" is far more accessible and a good place to start.

Bis - Bis is a UK indie pop band who combine the visual appeal of anime, the childish lyrics of twee pop, the catchiness of new wave and D.I.Y. aesthetics of punk rock. Bis is definitely a polarizing group, especially with Manda Rin's voice - you'll either love or hate their music. Personally, I love their music and any band whose fans include members of Green Day, Blur, Foo Fighters, the Beastie Boys, the Wildhearts and John Peel must be doing something right.

The Go! Team - Speaking of English indie pop bands, the Go! Team are another amazing group that merge disparate genres together. In this case, it's garage rock, punk, funk, Blaxploitation, noise rock, dance, hip-hop and Bollywood. Their music is just fun and captivating, perfect for block parties and dance floors. Anybody who felt alienated by Bis will definitely like this sextet.

 

[COCl₂]

1914. Fucking fantastic WWI metal.

 

[Dang Woodchucks!]

Yomi, a Latvian metal band that sings about Japanese folklore.

 

[Bagronkleton]

Found these guys randomly when killing time at a public library another lifetime ago. Thought they dropped off the map when they released and the Big Red Nebula Band. Good to see they're still around to some degree or another.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Let’s see....

The Residents
Negativland(there is another fan here, but generally people don’t know the group)
NEU!
People Like Us
Hybrid Kids
David Penna
Brian Eno
HUG
Midnight Voicejail/National Cynical Network
Cheeseburger(if you’re a Superjail! fan, he made the intro)
Boards of Canada
I Monster
Tiger Love

 

[S.C.U.D.]

Couple random ones, going all over the place in genres.
Solex, Dutch indie pop? artist. That's not the right genre. She's weird.

Heavenly. Twee pop from the 90s.

Big Tasty. Midwestern jam band.

 

[HighwayStar]

C86 bands - A C86 band is defined by their jangling, catchy guitars, shambling musicianship, off-key singing, disregard for slick, glamorous production in favor of a more lo-fi sound and child-like lyrics. Formed in the UK, C86 were basically pop music without mainstream sensibilities. As the number indicates, 86 stood for the year of their prominence. These bands are extremely unknown in the American mainstream, but any musician who listened to them around that time were heavily influenced by their D.I.Y. aesthetics and formed their own bands. Those bands would include major figures of 90's indie rock, noise rock, alternative rock, riot girl and even punk rock.

Simply put, without C86, there'd be no Beat Happening, no Pavement, no Manic Street Preachers, no Belle and Sebastian, no Beck, no Bikini Kill, and, most of all, no Nirvana.

Here are my ten personal favorites.

The Vaselines - arguably the most well-known since their songs were covered by Nirvana.

Flatmates

Talulah Gosh

The June Brides

Shop Assistants

Razorcuts

Mighty Mighty

The Jasmine Minks

McCarthy

The Wedding Present

Other recommendations: The Mighty Lemon Drops, Miaow, Half Man Half Biscuit, Close Lobsters, the Pastels, the Primitives, the Bodines, Wolfhounds, the Darling Buds, Age of Chance, Big Flame.

 

[Sheriff of CWCville]

Surface to Air Missive remains one of my favorite projects ever, they have a good range of tone for an art rock band with southern rock and prog influence:

https://youtu.be/QgiTkd0AQRQ

https://youtu.be/pgP_8zxEZS4

Palm is an insane quasi-math / art rock group with a very unique sound, lots of fuckery with guitar tone, and fat ass drum and bass grooves:

https://youtu.be/6428kmSJhok

https://youtu.be/U6IbVH1UYW4

Valmara is a now defunct math rock group from my hometown, they remain one of the best written math rock groups I’ve ever heard. Their compositions are a lot of fun. This album is a live studio performance so it’s not perfectly polished but it’s an incredible listen and still up there with my favorite music today:

https://gncsessions.bandcamp.com/album/522012

This guy is slightly more well known but you need to check out Chris Cohen if you haven’t already. Hes a multi instrumentalist, and was one of the original guitarists for Deerhoof. He makes indie psych rock and performs all instruments on the albums:

https://youtu.be/ZkCCliBItTc

https://youtu.be/sMnDFU0Bru4

 

[SuzukiToyota]

Peep Tempel might be popular in Melbourne Australia but doesn't get the love they deserved, alot of great punk songs with a particular middle aged angst and interesting character studies.

Goldenhorse was pretty big in New Zealand but never broke out anywhere else. I might just be adding this cos she's a pretty redhead but I really enjoy a lot of their songs.

and known but unknown from the 80's the Cardiacs. hard to describe but very good.

 

[Spit bucket]

A disbanded thrash metal band named Speedwolf.

 

[Treyvon Azagthot]

Molested
This band was started by the leader of the more well known black metal band Borknagar. Bizzare, not only for being death metal band from early 90s Norway, but for its songwritting. Calling it a blackened death metal band with folk music violently slapped in it wouldnt do it justice.

Fall From Grace
Formed by former Exhorder members, think Peter Steele's Carnivore and pre-90s White Zombie (particularly Make Them Die Slowly) but with a more 90s aesthetic and sensibilities.

Exuma
Bahamian musician from the 70s who made Carribean music that walked the tightrope of enlightening and teriffying.

 

[Treyvon Azagthot]

Space Opera
A unique country rock band from the early 70s that combined Byrds-esque country rock with space and prog rock. The band never toured due to their equipment being too expensive. If I rememembered correctly, all (or almost all) of the band members had passed away.

Terminally Your Aborted Ghost
An absolutely brilliant and unassuming band that mixes brutal death metal, slam, and Grindcore with Math rock.

Hieroglyphics
A fantastic Hip-Hop super group/collective that has Del The Funky Homosapien, members of Souls of Mischief and others.