Ah, I was a little too young for discos in 1980 with twelve years. As for radio, it seems “Mel Sondock’s Hitparade” and “Schlagerralley” on WDR1 didn’t play her. 
Ooo…the Mystic Blutstuz track by Amon Düül is pretty neat. Definitely foreshadows trip-hop. I wasn’t aware of them before this thread – will have to check out more. My Krautrock (which I really like) is limited to the usual - Neu!, Can, and Kraftwerk.
You can’t go wrong with any of their 70s albums, but “Wolf City”, the album “Mystic Blutsturz” is a bonus track from would be a good start. I also can recommend “Yeti”, “Tanz der Lemminge” and “Vive la Trance”. It’s all good stuff. But beware: there was a predecessor group just called “Amon Düül” that made two or three albums in the late 60s/early 70s and were rather a political commune that made music than real musicians, and I’ve heard that their music was not very good. Amon Düül II was a whole other band and the real deal.
I know them since Spotify offered them up a couple years ago. Their song So Much Wine hits close to the bone for one of previous relationships.
Chicago’s The Defoliants “The Guy Who Got Mad”
Maybe this counts as obscure enough. I know this song never made it far in the charts, but it became one of my favorites the first time I heard it. The guitars from 1:48 to 2:40 still give me chills.
Obscure rockers (The Plimsouls) covering a song by a not quite as obscure group (Flamin’ Groovies).
“A Million Miles Away” got a ton of airplay when it came out. Was that just in Southern California?
Nah, it was played on MTV quite a bit, too. I think it was also in the movie Valley Girl.
(checks wiki)
Heh, they’re actually in the movie playing at a club.
FWIW, I think “Happy Boy” is about the dumbest of the Beat Farmers’ joke songs. “Big Ugly Wheels” and “California Kid” are raunchier and funnier IMO.
I highly recommend their live set.
How funny. I know the Plimsouls and have no idea who the Flamin’ Groovies are. (I’m sure your assessment is correct – I somehow have an inverted familiarity here – probably because the latter are of my time and the former – reading Wikipedia – aren’t.)
You REALLY should check out the Flamin’ Groovies! One of the great forgotten American bands. And one of the missing links between garage rock and punk. They were so prescient that they had a late comeback in England shortly after punk broke there.
Sounds right up my alley, then!
Phantom, Rocker and Slick
From what I heard, that was a good song, and anything else they put out was filler.
They came through town earlier this year and my wife and I were dithering about going. We decided not to after we discovered we couldn’t name two of their songs. It’s a shame since I really dig the song @Jackmannii posted.
The Zeros from Chula Vista, CA. Guitarist Robert Lopez would go on to create El Vez, the Mexican Elvis.
801 were a temporary band featuring members of Roxy Music, Curved Air and others.Their live album is absolutely worth catching!
A sampler:
