# Great Music Acts With Few or No "Hits" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2002, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537 "2002-05-17T13:04:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/21 "2002-05-17T20:13:01Z")
Hmm, somebody beat me to XTC. That’s never happened before… BeBop Deluxe Gentle Giant (I was crazy about them in the late 70’s). Yes–never had a hit in their “classic” line-up. Ditto for Genesis; they had to wait until they were down to 3 people to get a hit. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/22 "2002-05-17T21:48:31Z")
The group which always amazed me was **Little Feat** , which got plenty of airplay in the 80s. but none of their singles ever made the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/23 "2002-05-17T22:33:06Z")
Agree on Zappa. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/24 "2002-05-18T04:45:10Z")
Another big vote for **Warren Zevon**. **The Tragically Hip** , in the U.S. In Canada, they’re monsters. Why they never took off in the U.S. is completely inexplicable to me. Catchy tunes, great musicianship, strange lyrics, you name it. Their music is instantly addictive to Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/25 "2002-05-18T06:33:11Z")
How sad. Nobody’s said Kraftwerk. KRAFTWERK KRAFTWERK KRAFTWERK ---
**Author:** ![Second\_Echo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Second\_Echo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second_Echo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/26 "2002-05-18T07:20:05Z")
How about Steve Vai? Everyone in guitar circles knows him, but due to his complex songs and some general weirdness to the songs, they haven’t exactly crossed over. Not that the instrumental rock genge is that big to begin with. “For the Love of God” is probably his best-known song and I’m sure that may have made a dent on some chart, but instrumental rock music has never had the large following. Still, if anyone deserves to be beter known, especially after severl briliant albums and a handful of Grammy nominations, it’s Vai. ---
**Author:** ![upperdeckfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/65b543/32.png) [@upperdeckfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/upperdeckfan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/27 "2002-05-18T17:22:25Z")
I could be wrong here, but I remember hearing that Bruce Springsteen never had a song reach #1 in spite of all the great songs he did with the E street Band. “Born in the USA” single reached #2. Can anyone verify this? ---
**Author:** ![Phlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Phlip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlip)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/28 "2002-05-18T19:02:58Z")
Clutch. They are some awsomely talented musicians with great lyrics and very simple, yet effective hooks. Check out Elephant Riders for thier best work, followed closley by self titled for next best. “IN THE GREAT SHINING PATH OF THE GREAT MONSTER TRUCKS…THERES NO SUCH THIN GAS BEGINERS LUCK” ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/29 "2002-05-18T19:11:11Z")
Jungle Brothers. A really good rap group that has gotten, as far as I know, a couple of sountrack songs and a brief background music gig for an ABC network ad. What about They Might Be Giants? Have they ever had a major hit? ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/30 "2002-05-18T22:44:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > \*\* > > Bobby Weir’s spoken intro to “Truckin’” on the _Europe '72_ disc. Vinyl, anyway…was it hacked off when the 3-record set went onto 2 compact discs? > > Man, I’ll be humiliated if I got that wrong. \*\* Yup, it’s on the CD version too. This was on 5-26-72, at the Lyceum in London. The whole show’s great as well, with the Truckin\> Other One\> Drums\> Other One\> Morning Dew\> Other One\> Sing Me Back Home. Truckin, Morning Dew, and portions of The Other One appear on Europe 72. Lots of funny quotes from Bobby during the second set. Other parts of this show will appear on a new box set, Steppin’ Out With The Grateful Dead, this summer, documenting their London shows of that spring. Mm…Europe 72… I could go on and on. As for \*\* Zappa\*\*, “Bobby Brown Goes Down,” off of _Sheik Yerbouti_, hit #1…in Norway. ---
**Author:** ![Gregor\_Samsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@Gregor\_Samsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gregor_Samsa)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/31 "2002-05-18T22:50:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by China Guy \* > \*\*Have to toss in Jethro Tull. They sold millions and millions of albums for two decades or more. They never had a monster hit. I don’t think they ever had anything close to a hit. Thick as a Brick was one of their most popular, but sheer length kept that from topping the charts. \*\* I think “Bungle in the Jungle” reached number 2 or so on the Billboard charts. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/32 "2002-05-19T02:07:54Z")
Portishead. Einstürzende Neubauten. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Nina Hagen. Kraftwerk (yes, **Turpentine** , Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk, Kraftwerk. Tracy, Tracy, Tracy. :p). All from my playlist at a cursory glance. You’d think I were pretentious or music-snobby or something… ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/33 "2002-05-19T02:26:00Z")
Rasputina Sonic Youth (actually, wasn’t Kool Thing a hit? I can’t remember) Slint Lisa Germano Tindersticks The Velvet Underground Of course, the all time great band with no hits is **Big Star** Most of their songs should have been hits, and in fact other bands have gotten success just by covering their songs, but at the time they got so little recognition that the band fell apart. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/34 "2002-05-19T03:33:53Z")
Has Jimmy Buffet ever had a hit? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/35 "2002-05-19T04:36:46Z")
Jethro Tull also did “Conquistador”, which was a pretty big hit. And how high did “Aqualung” go on the charts? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/36 "2002-05-19T04:55:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*Jethro Tull also did “Conquistador”, which was a pretty big hit. > > \*\* I believe that was done by **Procol Harum** ---
**Author:** ![Dieter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@Dieter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dieter)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/37 "2002-05-19T06:16:43Z")
I’ll put another vote in for Kraftwerk and Nina Hagen. How about **Shriekback**? They had some great tracks. I can’t wait for their new CD to be done. (the tracks are done, they just need to mix/master them) **Gary Numan** continues to crank out some good tracks (just avoid the stuff from the late 80’s) **Killing Joke**. What can I say? I thought these guys were great. (also avoid the late 80’s stuff by them) **Japan** (the band Duran Duran stole their sound from) had some wonderful tunes. As did David Sylvian with his solo work. I don’t think **Telex** ever had a hit, but they should have. Great synth music from these guys. **The Machines of Loving Grace**. I think they had one hit-ish song but it was their worst one. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/38 "2002-05-19T07:16:30Z")
I agree on Beefheart and Zappa Several of Zappa’s albums from the mid 1970s did make the top 40. Apostrophe(’) Over-Nite Sensation Roxy and Elsewhere One Size Fits All All were in the top 40 ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2002, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537/39 "2002-05-19T07:19:04Z")
Sorry, that should be top **50**. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-music-acts-with-few-or-no-hits/109537.md?page=1)