Everyone has favorite bands that we’ve thought should have been more popular. At least I think they do. Anyway, I have a lot. This thread is for posting bands you think got screwed. Try to include information and a link to their music, otherwise this’ll turn into just a bunch of people listing bands they like, and I’d rather people actually find new music they enjoy.
Anyway, my first entry is Brooklyn Band ESG. Made up of a bunch of teenage sisters, ESG were sort of a mix of funk, dance-punk, and disco. They only released a couple EPs and one album and then they broke up (they reformed many years later).
Definitely different than what I usually listen to, but I liked it very much. I could see myself playing it in a set on my fave dive’s internet jukebox.
I was actually just thinking about starting a thread like this for lost great songs and/or bands.
The Old 97’s are an alt-country band out of Dallas TX. These guys have been kicking around for close to twenty years, write catchy rock songs with a country twang and ingenious, often humorous lyrics, their live shows are a blast, and I don’t understand why they aren’t much bigger than they are. On the other hand, their lack of stardom means that I can catch them play in a small seedy bar when they come to town rather than in a large, more impersonal venue, so that’s a plus.
From what little I know, a Philly band that somehow missed the alt-country surge - live stuff is great too (SXSW vids notwithstanding). I don’t think they’re together anymore:
I think this would include the majority of the bands I listened to in the eighties. They all got screwed over by a music industry that didn’t want to hear and didn’t know what to do with anything other than cheesy pop songs.
You’re awesome, man for the Earl King shout. He was a prime mover, and he wrote so many stone classic tunes.
My vote is James Booker – everybody probably knows him – they even did a book of his stuff at Hal Leonard – but he never got the recognition AFAIK he deserved in his lifetime.
On Hammond, Groove Holmes never seemed to get all the respect he should have received – he was a killer player (one of THE killer players, one of the originals), but he’s just known for his little upper manual registration he liked, and not his killer time and chops.
The Soft Boys, an early incarnation Robyn Hitchcock described as “…a kind of heavy metal/barbershop doo-wop/country and western/psychedelic/folk blues band” That’ll be the first album (CanofBees) outfit I guess, they (sort of) sensibled up a bit for their next record, try this one:
