Lets see… I have an early Savatage album, and a King’s X album. Both from the 80s, but can’t remember the names of them.
The Gravel Pit is a good band that has been around for years and have a few CDs out. Kind of a poppy rock band.
Caddilac Tramps
Anyone in LA or Texas may have heard of them but outside of those areas, no one.
Great band, pure hard driving rock and rockabilly. Gabby their lead is a big, bad, fat man with a whale of a voice and he is backed up by one of the pure geniuses of lead guitar, Johnny Two Bags.
Seen them 6 times and cannot get enough of them. Check em out if you can
The most obscure really good …um… thing that I can think of is Adjeef the Poet, who apparently only had one single released and I heard on one of the Pebbles compilations. Come back squafreck lemon…
Saw them in New Jersey in about '94 I think. They opened for 311. Fun band. If I remember correctly they had two singers or something. I am about 100% it was them.
And Mr. T Experience is actually pretty big as far as college age kids go. How could you not love a band who writes words like “even hitler had a girlfriend, why can’t I?”
The Brandos – only their first record seems to have been released in the USA, and I played to death a cassette of it before I finally found it on CD. In this Internet age, I’ve discovered that they’ve been huge in Germany (or at least had things released in Germany) for the past decade. They’ve got a John Fogarty-esque roots rock sound.
Grace Pool – released two records around '89-'91 and were never heard from again. Poppy and fun, very vaguely like R.E.M. with a girl singer.
September '67 – one self-titled record. More poppy girl-singer stuff. The singer, Shannon Worrell, has one good record that I own and one that I’ve never seen.
Winter Hours – a local band (North Jersey), I think, that put out one record in the '80s. Haven’t listened to it for a long time (now I want to go home and put it on), but, as I recall, they sound like the ballad side of Screaming Trees.
Lightning (with Rocky Athas)
Fools (used to back-up Point Blank)
Anyone else ever heard of Reggie & the Full Effect? It’s a collaboration between members of the Get Up Kids (an emo pop band) and Coalesce (an industrial metal band) and it sounds…well…the way you’d expect a combination of emo pop and industrial metal to sound. But really goofy.
I vaguely remember Starz’ Attention Shoppers, the release after Violation. Sort of poppish, sort of metalish, sort of fun but inconsequential.
According to AllMusic Guide, a greatest hits collection was released last year: Brightest Starz: Anthology
I’ve said Kirsty MacColl so many times that everyone here’s probably sick of hearing me on the subject. Therefore, I’ll say . . . Kirsty’s half-brothers Neil and Calum MacColl and their band Liberty Horses. They made one really outstanding record (Joyland) before breaking up, and my copy is the only one I’ve ever seen – I’ve never found another in any new or used record store. I play it far more regularly than most of the rest of my collection.
I’ll also put in another plug for ex-Jody Grind singer, ex-RockATeens guitar player, Neko Case cohort Kelly Hogan. I used to try to come up with excuses to talk to her when she was working the counter at the Turtles record store on Ponce de Leon, around the corner from my apartment in Atlanta, later was blown away by her singing on both Jody Grind releases, mourned when she left Atlanta for Chicago, and have done my best to keep up with what she’s doing from afar. There’s a new CD due out next month on Bloodshot Records, with CD release party scheduled in Chicago for October 12th – see the link above for details.
Runrig. I think they did alright in the UK and Canada but never got anything much going in the states. They
are/were a Celtic/rock band. Great stuff.
Oh, and Kilt-wearin’ Man. I’ve seen Cladestine twice (both times at celtic festivals). Bought a CD from their table at the last. they’re very good.
Two words: VNV Nation.
This is simply the best band I’ve heard in a long time. It’s even more remarkable considering they’ve had little to no airplay. If you like techno, get yourself some VNV albums. Trust me on this one.
…do a record every year, that nobody’s gonna hear…
No but seriously, they are a pretty big band even though NO ONE else I know likes them 
Well, i’m not too sure that people who like techno would like VnV nation. The real big selling point for VnV are their lyrics, which simply put, blow every other band’s lyrics within the EBM/synth-pop genre. The actual “instrumentation” isn’t overly complex or that unique, but it does the job and again, like i stated before, the lyrics and the fact that singer(Ronan) doesn’t use any distortion and has a really nice voice, are why i think VnV may hit it big sooner then later. Their new cd is gona see really really well in Europe(judging from the success of the new single, Genesis) and that might carry over to the US.
Oh and to slighly go off topic for a bit, but this website (http://www.pulselegion.com/sanctuary/tragedy/), really showcases how poetic and moving their lyrics can be. The song that’s actually used is a b-side of the Solitary EP, and it was originaly recorded as an instrumental. Ok…i’m done with my VnV rant…
Oh i forgot to add my favorite band “that noone has heard of”. The Faint is this really neat-o band, the best way i can describe their sound is…New,New Wave ;). The vocalist has really good range and the songs are uber catchy. They’re actually on the same indie label as Bright Eyes, the excellent/fantastic emo outfit.
Mother Love Bone. Pop-y, Funk-y, Grunge-y, whatever it was. Played their album “Apple” constantly for years.
Screaming Trees. Kinda-sorta had a hit years ago with “I almost lost you there”, but nobody seems to know who the heck they are. Had an extensive following in Seattle before that whole “Grunge” thing burned that to the ground.
Bone Cellar/Nothing. Cool nihilism pop. Lead singer is a terminal asshole.
Well, SOME people have heard of these guys, but I jsut discovered them a couple months ago (thanks to the GF). She’s been a major fan for years: Afghan Whigs, particularly their album “Gentlemen”. I’m just sorry I found out about them after they split up. Allegedly they were killers live.
A long-standing favorite obscure band of mine is Zodiac Mindwarp & Love Reaction. They had one video that got some play on Headbanger’s Ball back in 87-88 then fell hard and fast off the face of the earth. Pity. They were a damn fun metal band.
The Cosmic Psychos
I understand they’re pretty big in Australia, but they never tour in the US so I’m not suprised they haven’t hit it that big. They were on Sub Pop for awhile back in 90-91.
Primal as all hell, Stooges-influenced three chorders with this absolutely punishing bass and fucked up lyrics. They’ve been around since maybe '84.
They’re also my favorite band of all time.
“Give us some wah-wah, Dirty!!!”
I’m from Cincinnati. Greg Dulli almost kicked my ass acouple of years ago.
“I like TV
and I love T Rex
I can see through your skin
I got X-Ray spex.”
Everytime I mention them, most people say “huh?”. I see them at the Metro in Chicago and I’m glad to see other fans out there.
::sings Lawnmower of Love::
Speaking of MTX, what about the Rip Offs, which John Von Zelowitz, the original MTX rythm guitar player, formed with Greg Lowery (of Supercharger and Rip Off Records) and the White brothers in, what, 1993?
My question is this: “A couple of years ago” would be in the so-called “Fat Dulli” era, right? How could that have happened?
My whatever gods may be bless you for the “I like Tv…” quote. If you drink, and we ever run into each other, your first round is on me.