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.
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.
Agree on Zappa.
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.
How sad.
Nobody’s said Kraftwerk.
KRAFTWERK
KRAFTWERK
KRAFTWERK
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.
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?
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”
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?
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.
I think “Bungle in the Jungle” reached number 2 or so on the Billboard charts.
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…
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.
Has Jimmy Buffet ever had a hit?
Jethro Tull also did “Conquistador”, which was a pretty big hit.
And how high did “Aqualung” go on the charts?
I believe that was done by Procol Harum
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.
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
Sorry, that should be top 50.