Bands you've never heard

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

Yes, that is indeed a great version.

Fugazi, X, Built to Spill, Liz Phair and System of a Down I've never heard either.

There's far too many American indie/alternative rock bands to list though tbh.

Yeah, US alt-rock/grunge/nu-metal are my biggest areas of deficit, followed by blues.

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).

The bulk of the Melvins discography is eminently skippable. Lysol is good, but it's only got six tracks and two of them are covers; (A Senile) Animal (the first album with two drummers) is great, and so is the live album with that lineup, but the other two studio albums are subject to diminishing returns; and honestly I don't think they've made a good record in a decade. Every one is based around some stupid gimmick now (remix album! acoustic album! look, we've brought back all our old bass players! look, it's a dude from the Butthole Surfers!).

Ultravox, ABC (to my knowledge), Heaven 17(?)
― Obviously Five Beliebers (morrisp), Sunday, September 18, 2022

John Foxx era ultravox >>> Midge Ure era ultravox. Start with the song "Saturday Night in the City of the Dead", or maybe "Quiet Men" off of Systems of Romance.

Heaven 17 - Start with "Let Me Go" or "Come Live With Me".

ABC - I can't believe that you haven't heard this something from Lexicon of Love without realizing who it is. But if not, start with" "All Of My Heart".

Ok, that Burritos version of “Dark End” is flat out gorgeous, thanks for the tip!

glad you liked it! :)

xxp Thanx for the tips! I listened to the first three or four tracks of Lexicon this morning, it didn’t sound familiar (and is pretty wild stuff)… didn’t get to "All of My Heart,” will listen more later.

Dunno if this counts but I've never listened to the No New York comp. I understand this is a big hole.

Imo No New York is more important than it is listenable. I do like Arto Lindsay's stuff though.

ghost club otm.

morris- don't sleep on the style council for paul weller stuff. it's his r+b band. this is a good one.

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.