Bands you've never heard

We all know about the indie bands who made it good. But what about the ones who didn't quite get there? Record Collector magazine's new Modern Collectables LP explores some of the great lost bands of the late eighties and early nineties, launching with a special reunion gig at Corsica Studios in Elephant & Castle on TODAY featuring four of the bands from the compilation. If you're in London come along.

'Small Town Scenery' celebrates lost indie bands from the 1985-1995 period who gigged hard, recorded demos but never released any music on vinyl. "If you love the Stone Roses, The Las, backwards guitars, My Bloody Valentine and the best song that The Cure never recorded then you should buy this album," says Ian Shirley, who compiled the LP and looks after Record Collector’s ongoing vinyl series.

All of the bands share one thing in common - they never got a record deal even though some got close to the Holy Grail. "We were on the brink of making it and getting a deal with Food back then but they signed Blur instead!" states Damian Jones guitarist with Blindman's Rainbow, "after that it all fell apart!" Scat Apache lost a nailed-on deal when one of the duo decided that he just didn't fancy a career in music after all. Another band called Triple Blind played in front of 17 million people in the background on an episode of EastEnders because The Levellers didn't fancy it! The fee they received paid for the recording of their Stone Roses inspired track 'Stoke'. The other bands on the LP are Final Hour, Moloko (not that one!), Just For Kicks, Maureen and Kevin Paradise Showband, The Colour Mary, Colour Sound, Blue Velvet, Bellis, Pretty Green and Knocking Shop. 'Small Town Scenery' comes in a stunning fine art gatefold sleeve with liner notes that tell the story of all the bands.

Nick Cave. Love the whole idea of him... hardly ever play his albums.
― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), miércoles 6 de octubre de 2004 0:10 (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hey, this is me too! I love him in theory but in practice I don't really listen to him ever.

I don't think I've ever heard Daft Punk? Not knowingly, anyway.

OK I've heard "Get Lucky"

Check out Daft Punk's new single "Get Lucky" if you get the chance. Sound of the summer.

aww dang it

the only “Get Lucky” you’ll ever need:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSUIygIaS_k

Frank Ocean
Sufjan Stevens
Ween

I’ve been meaning to check out the former, at least.

Manic Street Preachers, as I was recently reminded

They would be a prime candidate for ‘bands I once heard but that I don’t remember anything substantial about’.

I was once going to start a thread called "Imagine Imagine Dragons" where people like me who have never heard Imagine Dragons could describe what we think they sound like.

I've definitely never heard Imagine Dragons. But that's largely true of any act that just started/became popular in the past decade.

I think I've maybe heard one Animal Collective song. Unless they've done something so ubiquitously popular that it couldn't have failed to seep into my consciousness.

I knew that sounded familiar.

This is the thread where we never listen to Imagine Dragons

I think I may have inadvertently heard ‘Thunder’, which I deeply regret to this day.

I imagine Imagine Dragons as some kind of cross between Cluster and Coldplay, bet they're not though. PS I've never heard them

Wasn't there a top 40 band with Owls in the name a little while back? Hooting Owls, something like that? Oh, wait...Owl City, maybe? Never heard them.

Owls of Ga'Hootie

owl city from owatonna mn, also childhood home of har mar superstar

In terms of older acts I've never heard, I'd wager that a disproportionate number of them are solo dudes whose names have never jumped out at me enough to elicit my musical interest. John Fahey? Burt Jansch? John Prine? They could all be great, I have no idea because I've never heard them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_UcjMusUA

Bert Jansch is great, in and out of Pentangle. Do wish I'd seen him more than once. He did seem to play Whelans a lot in the mid 90s but I only saw him at the Arts Festival over here playing with Bernard Butler.
Acoustic guitar virtuoso.
John Renbourn is connected and about equally good.

Davy Graham was a contemporary who is also seriously worth checking out.
All of them largely known for partial reinvention of the acoustic guitar in terms of playing.

Peter Walker who used to play for Timothy Leary is also pretty interesting

John prine I meant to get more into,. I have a 2cd compilation of his which is pretty good and was got around the turn of the millenium. Need to check out more of teh early stuff.

& John Fahey I should know by now but don't. Should have seen him towards the end but I think I was barred from teh venue.

I imagine Imagine Dragons as some kind of cross between Cluster and Coldplay, bet they're not though. PS I've never heard them

― my shear modulus is weakening (Matt #2),

Not even close, they sound like a commercial for televised sporting events or "rugged" SUV's or something.
I read a review once that described their sound as "excitement wallpaper", that pretty much nailed it.

I hate Maresn3st because now I want to watch all of Larnell's videos.

Henry Cow

(to my knowledge)

Henry Cow is art that I don't get.
Fred Frith solo is another matter entirely.

I don't think I've heard Guided By Voices.

Re: Imagine Dragons et al, I just assume that every new pop dude band sounds like (the band named) fun. Lots of 'WHOA-OH-OHHHH' ing.

Oh, I thought of a good one earlier: it's entirely possible that I've never heard Slayer.

xp One of those things is actually true, can you guess which?

@Old Lunch I went through a huge deep Led Zeppelin deep dive in jr. HS so I learned about D.Graham/Jantsch via Jimmy Page's plagiarism of both in "White Summer/Black Mountainside", which turned into full appreciation.

all those bands from that screamin Jayhawks /green on red / lone justice thread

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length) at 11:12 11 Jan 19
For the record I think they might be a cross between Styx and Brokencyde, with classic 80s fighting fantasy cover artwork.

Sparks - they sound interesting, but I wouldn’t know how to begin with a band that has 25+ albums.

Ultravox, ABC (to my knowledge), Heaven 17(?)

^there are various other artists from this scene with apparently huge discographies where I know maybe one or two big singles, but nothing else (Human League, Gary Numan, OMD)… I had never even heard of the apparently beloved “New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)” album until I saw the thread today; I just know Simple Minds as the B’fast Club band…

Also on the subject of UK-related ignorance, don’t think I’ve heard Paul Weller or any of his bands…

Back on US shores – today’s Pitchfork review reminds me that the Melvins are another active band with a 25-album discography whom I’ve never heard (and it seems too late to start).

Morrisp, in these instances I just use the ILX hive mind to determine the best regarded album from a particular artist I might be interested in, then listen to only that. If I like it, I'll check other albums out.

You need to listen to ABC's Lexicon of Love. It's great. Also check out Gary Newman's Pleasure Principal, OMD's Architecture and Morality, and Human League's Dare! Others may disagree with these choices, but they're entitled to be wrong.

xp those are 4 acts with one obvious single everyone* in the UK has heard a great deal.

Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough...
Ultravox - Vienna
ABC - The Look of Love
Heaven 17- Temptation

Black Flag. I’ll read anything about them but committing to the music always escapes me.

morris- melvins suck. don't waste your time.

xpost to controversial opinions

Also on the subject of UK-related ignorance, don’t think I’ve heard Paul Weller or any of his bands…

It works both ways, believe me!

Looking at the Top Artists of All-Time on Acclaimed Music, I have never listened to an album by these artists in the Top 100:

65 Daft Punk
70 Beyoncé
84 Vampire Weekend
92 Arctic Monkeys

I know a couple of songs each from the first two, don't think I've heard a note of the latter two.

Sparks - they sound interesting, but I wouldn’t know how to begin with a band that has 25+ albums.

There are a few compilations around - Sparks sound like themselves more than they sound like the times around them. I started with the universally disparaged Interior Design in 1988 and became a fan anyway!

Still haven’t heard Chat Pile

Kimono My House is where most people start with Sparks, they’ve got a lot of great ones but you really can’t go wrong with this one. If you don’t like it then they ain’t for you

Thanks, I’ll try that out. Already dipped into a few others named above this morning…

Re: Paul Weller — I’ve definitely heard this song “In the City,” by The Jam. Great song! I think I thought it was the Clash.

!

Checking that Acclaimed Music list, there are three acts between 101-200 that I don’t recall ever having heard: Charles Mingus, The Replacements and Soundgarden.

and from 201 to 400 (it’s ok I’ll stop now): Fugazi, Bill Evans, X, Wu-Tang Clan (!), Eric Dolphy, Flying Burrito Brothers, Built To Spill, Liz Phair, Slayer, Cecil Taylor, System Of A Down. Bloody hell, Wu-Tang Clan, how has that never happened…

Flying Burrito Brothers do a fine version of 'Dark End of the Street' that you might enjoy mike

Never heard a note of anything he's been involved in.

If you've never heard Pavement, I'm not surprised you haven't heard Smog!

The combination of ILM and Spotify means when a thread or comment catches my attention, I go right to Spotify to sample the artists top tracks, then over to Rateyourmusic and/or Allmusic for an album or comp recommendation. I've discovered so many great artists that way!

Famous ones that I'm not interested in giving a proper album listen include the Stooges / Iggy, R.E.M, Yo la Tengo, Nico, the Kinks, CCR...

I'm not fanatic about any of these but they each made a pretty great album or two.

yeah big oof re:the kinks + ccr i'm all for smashing the canon, but jeez not like that!

They all deserve a listen; even saying you're interested in Scott Walker but turning your nose up at Nico seems odd.

Mount Eerie before Microphones

Huh... I don't know anything about this guy

Under both The Microphones and Mount Eerie, "Elverum has been instrumental in shaping the landscape of current indie rock."(54) Isabel Zacharias claimed that Elverum, "to a pocket of Pacific Northwesterners, is more folkloric deity than musician" with his releases under The Microphones propelling him to "indie-god status".(55)

!! Is there a particular one of the "40-plus albums" I should check out by this indie-god?

it's the cliche go-to, but i like the glow pt 2. i found the album mount eerie pretty fun too. haven't listened to that stuff in ages, but i remember it very hit and miss, with the 'hits' making everything worth your time.

They all deserve a listen; even saying you're interested in Scott Walker but turning your nose up at Nico seems odd.

Was Scott Walker an unrepentant loudmouth racist too?

xp Thanks, checking out The Glow Pt. 2 (I see it's one of those good ol' "released on Sept. 11, 2001" albums)

xp granted; I have no idea if that was the reason.

Smog here as well

there are a bunch already mentioned on this thread in the category of “never heard; never want to”. Or maybe for some: “I’ll get around to it”.

One thing a lot seem to have in common is feeling certain they wouldn’t resonate without cultural context and/or after hearing decades of bands influenced by their music.

!! Is there a particular one of the "40-plus albums" I should check out by this indie-god?

― Obviously Five Beliebers (morrisp)

My entry point was "The Microphones in 2020", with the accompanying video.