Give me some of your non-popular favourite bands.

DC and I were driving in the car the other day and listening to selections from my CD collection. I popped in the Brothers Four (I would say they rock, but they aren’t rock music) and started listening. We listen through the first song on this greatest hits CD which is Greenfields (I hear they are gone now) to no comment. I sing along since I like it so much. Then we get to Yellow Bird (where the banjo becomes more prominent) and suddenly DC proclaims that I he doesn’t like it and that I am listening to hillbilly music. Most of the other songs on that particular CD are more along the lines of the “hillbilly” songs but with some nice 2-4 part harmonies. :slight_smile: (The Green Leaves of Summer is great too. They must have some type of affliction…hehehhhehe… that causes them to name songs with colours in them.) I make sure to skip over Froggy Went a Courtin’ (I heard he did ride, uh huh) since I like the Doc Watson version a little better.

DC keeps telling me that the presence of a banjo in any type of music automatically delegates it to hillbillydom and isn’t anything that he likes to listen to. So shortly thereafter, I pop in the Squirrel Nut Zippers first album and it starts off with some semi-swing banjo riffs. Pretty cool I think to myself. (I only consider them semi-swing because though they are talented and play in a swing style they aren’t as good as the swing bands from the earlier part of the century.) Anyway, I ask him, “how do you like this hillbilly music?” I laugh.

After the Good Enough For Grandad song is over I pop in a nice Doc Watson CD. (I love Doc Watson.) The CD features Doc playing mostly guitar/banjo types of songs with his folky twang and bluegrass style. Personally, I think Doc Watson is significantly more hillbilly than the Brothers Four (they seem more refined with all the harmony) but since DC first listened to Doc Watson (thanks to me) he actually likes him and doesn’t lump him into the hillbilly category. We listen to it and I make sure to skip over Froggy Went a Courtin’. (I also heard he got swallowed up by a big snake.) Eventhough I like this version better I wasn’t in the mood to hear that one.

We keep travelling through my travel version of my musical collection listening to some Dowland, Campion, Byrds (I love them too), Janes Addiction (the first CD up to Been Caught Stealing), Gordon Lightfoot (just a few songs since he doesn’t know enough chords to make it sound like he plays in different keys but his songs still have a nice storytelling quality. I tend to like his songs better when they are covered by other bands), and some time during that ride we get up to Ed’s Redeeming Qualities. Now there is a band that is truly awesome. The particular CD (It’s All Good News) consists basically of the trio with a few other musicians thrown in on various songs. The trio is a guitarist/violinist, a baritone ukelele player (hey there Uke Ike, you would probably like them), and a drummer/clarinet player. DC thinks they are goofy but likes them. We listen to Blood Bank Man. (He knows the blood technician’s name. Every time we walk by him he always says the same thing, “You’re Laurie his my arm. Hi. Hi.”) Most of their music has a literary quality to it since the ukelel and guitar/violin player have some type of master’s degree each in literature. I think Dan (the ukelele player) majored in fiction and currently writes for some newspaper in San Francisco doing restaurant reviews. Anyway, we listen to it and have a pretty good time.

At the very end of the drive I put in Spanky and Our Gang (Spanky later took Mama Cass’s (sp?) place in the Mama’s and the Papa’s). Yesterday’s Rain (falls again and again) is particularly nice. They are a band that really plays a lot with harmony with several nice parts moving all around. One of the guys I think is a real hottie. (Someone find a link and post pictures with all the band mates and you will be my new friend forever, I couldn’t find any sites that had pictures.) They really were an interesting band that satisfy me with their harmony singing and rock orchestra accompaniements.

I would have listened to the Descendants or the Misfits also but DC really doesn’t like them at all. He puts them lower than the Brothers Four. I suppose that the gay stereotype is to listen to all that crappy trance/dance music out there. I am so not into that if you couldn’t tell by the music choices. DC is more into top 40 music and I am anti-top 40. I want music that has talent, speaks to me as an individual rather than the mass appeal of dumbed down music, hi Opal, and has qualities that will make them last rather than being the bubble gum that is almost all pop.

It seems like the drive was a lot longer than it really was since there were a lot of different CDs that we listened to. It was more CD hopping. Listening to a few songs here and there until we had a listened to a wide range of different music. DC said he could never buy me music since I listen to such an eclectic set. Oh well.

HUGS!
Sqrl

Actual modern, still-performing bands I love:

• The New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra (New Orleans band, performing since the 1970s)
• Les Sans Culottes (a new L.A.-based band)
• Combustible Edison ('90s “lounge music”)

Let’s see… some bands i like that most people have never heard of or don’t like:

Oingo Boingo
Shriekback
Pre-techno Underworld
Revolting Cocks
Toy Dolls
Reverend Horton Heat
Morcheeba
Fishbone
Descendants

the Hard Ons - Australian Green Day 15 years before Green Day but better.

Sword - best metal band ever - on Roadrunner Records, best metal label ever

Jerry Jeff Walker - alt country troubadour - still performs but hasn’t released new material for years.

Oh, dear, Sqrl, poor DC need to expand his horizons. Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham added some banjo to their songs from time to time, and it adds a lot of texture. So, for that matter, did the Judybats. And he doesn’t like the Descendants? What kind of weirdo doesn’t like the Descendants? (Or offshoots All?)

I like a lot of non-popular bands. Some of my favorites include Fuzzy, The Reivers, and The Posies. Not a lot of people listen to Frank Black since the Pixies broke up, but I have all his material. I recently started listening to The Olivia Tremor Control, who are the most bizarre but fascinating combination of the Beach Boys, Beatles, Spike Jones, and Edgar Varese. Also, The Apples In Stereo, modern-day pop tunesmiths.

hed-PE.

I like 'em and they’re not very popular yet.

Qntal. It’s … um, techno… no, wait. Folk… no, wait. Ethereal… er, damn.

It’s just damn good.

They Might Be Giants
Uncle Bonsai
The Bobs
Moxy Früvous
The Beautiful South
Sleater-Kinney

Nina Hagen http://www.totalobscurity.com/nina/index.html

…although they are not as “hip to be square” as what other people have mentioned (dont really know what I mean by that):

God Lives Underwater
Machines Of Loving Grace
Stabbing Westward
Gravity Kills
Pitchshifter
Placebo
The Whitlams (Australian)
Grinspoon (Australian)
Ocean Machine (or Devin Townsend)
Drain STH
Warlock (80s metal)
KMFDM
Dream Theater
Testament (thrash metal)

other old ones I used to like:

October Project
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
Lords of Acid
Concrete Blonde

P.S. Would love to hear if anyone knows what band my sig is from…it’s not too difficult

Sqrl, play some Bela Fleck for DC. Hillbilly? I think not.

Doc Watson is a guitar GOD! If anybody wants to hear true guitar music at it’s best, I strongly recommend DW, Mississippi John Hurt (natch) or John Fahey, who INVENTED the term “Alternative Music”.

I like your “diverse” musical tastes. I wouldn’t necessarily call them “eclectic” unless, of course, you have your Blue Man Group CD nestled between Hinterland The Bobs.

OW OW OW!!! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING FROM THE BLASPHEMY!!!
Sorry but I grew up on Descendents and transistioned into ALL. It’s still hard to hear that some people don’t like them. Different strokes for different folks though. :slight_smile:

Here are some great relatively non-popular bands;

  1. Luna (remincent of Velvet Underground or Television)
  2. Digger (pop-punk)
  3. Dillinger four (best punk band out right now)
  4. Jets to Brazil (beyond description. Lyrical brilliance)
  5. Doc Hopper (punk)
  6. Friends of Dean Martinez or Euphone (mellow instrumentals)
  7. No Means No (old school punk)
  8. Sebadoh (indie rock)
  9. Afghan Whigs (rock)
  10. Hot water Music (emo(?))

just to name a few…

That’s my 2 cents

Once again on the tail of pezpunk! I’ll catch you one day, roadrunner! ::shakes fist::

hrm - little known bands…

  1. the Distillers
  2. Flogging Molly
  3. the Dropkick Murphys
  4. Assorted Jelly Beans
  5. the Crotch Rockets
  6. the GoToHells
    punk snot dead,
    broccoli!

I’ll second Bela Fleck, but I actually like his bluegrass stuff.
Toy Matinee
The Returnables a local Chicago/Madison pop band
Something Happens
Kornog a (until this week!) defunct Scots/Breton folk band.
various ethnic musical traditions like tabla, East African marimba/percission ensembles, Indonesian (I’m blanking on the term for the rhythmic music that has very complex patterns),and Indian rajas. I like pretty bizarre stuff.

Aphex Twin - Very strange experimental electronic and beautiful ambient. He’s not very popular in America…but I’m not sure how popular he is in his homeland, UK.

God Lives Underwater - Hard to explain…electronic alternative. They’re an actual band that performs…they just use lots of wierd electronic stuff…kinda like Radiohead, but a bit more guitar-driven.

No Use For A Name - A great punk band that’s beginning to gain a following.

Bracket - Another great punk band (I think on the same label as NUFAN above, Fat Wreck Chords). These guys play some beautiful melodies…a real departure from your everyday 3-chord punk rawk!

Johnny Socko - Ska meets polka. Very fun Hoosier band, who’s sax player plays a mean “Devil Went Down To Georgia”! Look for the tune on Napster…It blows the original out of the water!

Liquid Soul - Jazz/R&B group from Chicago. It’s a great modernization of Jazz, without losing their roots! And they do a great version of Charlie Parker’s “Salt Peanuts”, a must-hear!

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Then there’s this JerkWaterJive thing I keep hearing about… :smiley:

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Lessee…

Ten Hands or Green Romance Orchestra.

Can
Disco Inferno
Flies Inside The Sun (If I was in a band, we’d sound like this. That thought embarrasses me)
Godspeed You Black Emperor!
The Sea and Cake (a Tortoise offshoot)
Värttinä (a Finnish vocal group — absolutely stunningly beautiful music)

But then, Aphex Twin and GYBE are pretty well known.

Every month I read The Wire, and damn me, there are tens of artists in there I haven’t ever heard of.

The Tone Unknown
Zoogz Rift
Morris Minor

Material (defunct)
Praxis
Frampton Brothers
Buckethead (a person, not a group)
First Lesson Free (I made that one up; if you’re starting a band, feel free to use it)

BurnMeUp. there are people who don’t like Oingo Boingo? Say it isn’t so!

pldennison, I got to see Olivia Tremor Control live in Georgia this past summer, and they’re a lot of fun.

Macha, also from Athens, is a great little band.

Ryan Adams, with or without Whiskeytown, is really good.