Never Heard Of:
Mahavishnu Orchestra
West Bruce and Laing
Derek Trucks Band
Aaron Squirrel Band
Heard The Name:
Sun Ra
Jack Dejohnette
Lake
Shooting Star
Can Name A Couple Of Songs:
Climax Blues Band
Dixie Dregs
Robin Trower
Guess Who
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Dave Mason
Spirit
Little Feat
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Screaming Cheetah Wheelies
Jeff Beck
Buddy Guy
Eric Johnson
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Kenny Wayne Sheppard
Joe Cocker
Own Albums:
Blue Oyster Cult
Foghat
Tommy Tutone
Joan Jett
Golden Earring
Blackfoot
Saxon
Fastway
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Zebra
Dokken
Survivor
Yngwie Malmsteen
the Motels
Heart
Foghat
Outlaws
Mahavishnu Orchestra
Climax Blues Band
West Bruce and Laing
Sun Ra
Jack Dejohnette
Golden Earring
Robin Trower
Guess Who
Heart
Dave Mason
Spirit
Little Feat
Jeff Beck
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Joe Cocker
Artists I’m somewhat familiar with (I know what kind of music they play):
Dixie Dregs
Blue Oyster Cult
Foghat
Joan Jett
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Dokken
the Motels
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Outlaws
Yngwie Malmsteen
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Buddy Guy
Derek Trucks Band
Kenny Wayne Sheppard
Artists I’ve heard of but know almost nothing about:
Tommy Tutone
Blackfoot
Saxon
Survivor
Artists I can’t recall ever having heard of:
Lake
Fastway
Shooting Star
Zebra
Eric Johnson
Screaming Cheetah Wheelies
Aaron Squirrel Band
Mahavishnu Orchestra
Climax Blues Band
West Bruce and Laing
Sun Ra
Jack Dejohnette
Lake
Dixie Dregs Blue Oyster Cult Foghat
Tommy Tutone
Joan Jett
Golden Earring
Blackfoot
Saxon
Fastway
Shooting Star Stevie Ray Vaughan
Zebra Dokken Survivor
Yngwie Malmsteen
the Motels
Robin Trower
**Guess Who
**Heart
Fabulous Thunderbirds Foghat
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Outlaws
Dave Mason
Spirit
Little Feat
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Screaming Cheetah Wheelies
Jeff Beck
Buddy Guy
Eric Johnson
Derek Trucks Band Lynyrd Skynyrd Kenny Wayne Sheppard
Aaron Squirrel Band Joe Cocker
The bolded ones are ones that I know. I very well might have heard songs by the others, but not have known who to attribute them.
Kalhoun’s list could be my list, except the Climax Blues Band is in my collection, I know Spirit, but not personally, I don’t think the Guess Who are particularly overrated and there’s one Sun Ra album I distinctly remember because it made me want to rip my ears off.
Okay…someone needs to refresh me on Climax Blues Band. I feel like I was almost a groupie for them back in the day, but I cannot conjur up a single song or member or memory of them.
I know of and have listened to stuff by 23 of the list. It doesn’t surprise me at all that lots of people aren’t familiar with the acts mentioned. I am in my 50s and I am far more familiar with current bands than many of the 20 somethings I work with. When I was a teenager/early 20s everyone I knew was into music, not all the same music, but some form of music. Nowadays I often ask young people what they listen to and they say, “I don’t really listen to music much.” I hear far more conversations about TV shows than music. When I was young I don’t recall that anyone bothered talking about TV except for “F Troop”.
Ok, we can now move Derek Trucks out of the first list.
Musically very good, but I’m not a fan of his vocal tone. That’s only after one listen, though, so it’ssubject to change. I have a project coming up later today that will require some background music to get me through – I’ll load up a half dozen of his songs and see how I feel then.
Cool (sorry for the hijack, fellow Dopers) - that’s not DT singing, that’s his guy Mike Mattison - but there are other vocalists on the CD Already Free…
Mahavishnu Orchestra - own
Climax Blues Band - know
West Bruce and Laing - heard of but don’t know
Sun Ra - heard of
Jack Dejohnette - ?
Lake - ? not Greg Lake?
Dixie Dregs - heard of but don’t know
Blue Oyster Cult - own
Foghat - own, remember “Slow Ride, take it easy…”?
Tommy Tutone - heard of but don’t know
Joan Jett - know, don’t like
Golden Earring - know
Blackfoot - ?
Saxon -?
Fastway -?
Shooting Star -?
Stevie Ray Vaughan - own
Zebra - ?
Dokken - heard of
Survivor - ?
Yngwie Malmsteen - heard of, don’t know
the Motels -?
Robin Trower - own
Guess Who - own
Heart - own
Fabulous Thunderbirds - know
Foghat - sounds really, really, REALLY familiar. “Slow ride…”
Atlanta Rhythm Section - know
Outlaws - own “Green grass & high tides forever”
Dave Mason - know
Spirit -?
Little Feat - own
Big Head Todd and the Monsters - heard of
Screaming Cheetah Wheelies - sounds like a snack food
Jeff Beck - own
Buddy Guy - know
Eric Johnson - ? a hybrid of Eric Clapton & Robert Johnson?
Derek Trucks Band - own
Lynyrd Skynyrd - know - c’mon seriously - “Free Bird”
Kenny Wayne Sheppard - own “Blue on black”
Aaron Squirrel Band - ?
Joe Cocker- own
I’m 51 and back in the olden days before iPods and MP3 players we listened to the radio (uphill both ways). Yeah, we had to listen to commercials too, but sometimes the commercials were for concerts and they’d play snippets of songs by the acts that were going to play. Sometimes they’d play songs by unknowns to see if people liked them.
I can see why people haven’t heard of some of these bands, they’re pretty obscure and haven’t put out a lot of stuff. This list has a bunch of different genres too: heavy metal, blues, rock and pop.
I’m 57, so I fall into the “whaddya mean you’ve never heard of Jeff Beck or Little Feat???” set.
Bands in the list that I know:
Mahavishnu Orchestra
Climax Blues Band
West Bruce and Laing
Sun Ra
Dixie Dregs
Blue Oyster Cult
Foghat
Tommy Tutone
Joan Jett
Golden Earring
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Survivor
the Motels
Robin Trower
Guess Who
Heart
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Foghat
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Outlaws
Dave Mason
Spirit
Little Feat
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Jeff Beck
Buddy Guy
Eric Johnson
Derek Trucks Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Kenny Wayne Sheppard
Joe Cocker
Those whose recordings I have:
Dixie Dregs
Blue Oyster Cult
Foghat
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Robin Trower
Guess Who
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Foghat
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Outlaws
Dave Mason
Spirit
Little Feat
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Jeff Beck
Buddy Guy
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Joe Cocker
Those who I have seen live:
West Bruce and Laing
Dixie Dregs
Blue Oyster Cult
Foghat
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Robin Trower
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Foghat
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Dave Mason
Spirit
Little Feat
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Jeff Beck
Buddy Guy
Derek Trucks Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Kenny Wayne Sheppard
Joe Cocker
Not totally off base. He’s a guitarist from Texas, primarily known for instrumental rock. One of his songs, “Cliffs of Dover”, won the best rock instrumental Grammy in 1991, and is featured on “Guitar Hero 3”.
He’s extremely respected in the guitarist community, and, I’d guess, pretty much unknown outside of it.
Mahavishnu Orchestra
Jack Dejohnette
Lake
Saxon
Fastway
Shooting Star
Zebra
Robin Trower
Spirit
Screaming Cheetah Wheelies
Aaron Squirrel Band
These are the ones I think a ‘serious’ student of rock history should know:
Blue Oyster Cult
Joan Jett
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Yngwie Malmsteen
Guess Who
Heart
Jeff Beck
Buddy Guy
Eric Johnson
Derek Trucks Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Joe Cocker
Groups like Little Feat and Foghat could also make that list, but they were relatively minor players in their respective eras. The bands above either led their genre in quality and ability, or were historically important (Joan Jett and Heart broke open the doors for women in hard rock, for example).
The rest I think represent more the taste of the poster who made the list and not any generally accepted canon of the ‘who’s who’ of rock.
But…dude! He’s known for being able to tell the difference in his guitar’s sound when you load *a different brand of battery*into his effects pedal (link to article referencing this)!! Do you realize how totally geek-tastic that is???
(actually, I met the guy briefly at the annual Dallas vintage guitar show - very nice guy and a truly brilliant player…but I don’t find his music compelling…)
Mahavishnu Orchestra - never heard of them
Climax Blues Band - ditto
West Bruce and Laing - ditto
Sun Ra - ditto
Jack Dejohnette - ditto
Lake - ditto
Dixie Dregs - ditto
Blue Oyster Cult - I know “Don’t Fear The Reaper”
Foghat - I know “Slow Ride”
Tommy Tutone - I know “867-5309 (Jenny)”
Joan Jett - I know a lot from her and the Blackhearts
Golden Earring - I know “Rader Love”
Blackfoot - never heard of them
Saxon - never heard of them
Fastway - never heard of them
Shooting Star - never heard of them
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Know lots of his stuff
Zebra - never heard of them
Dokken - Know they exist from my 80s hairband loving ass, but don’t remember any details
Survivor - Know them and like them a lot.
Yngwie Malmsteen - Know of him, crazy guitarist, right?
the Motels - I know “Only the Lonely”
Robin Trower - never heard of them
Guess Who - Know them and like them a lot
Heart - Know them, love them
Fabulous Thunderbirds - Know them, hate them
Atlanta Rhythm Section - Heard the name before
Outlaws - never heard of them
Dave Mason - I know and LOVE “We Just Disagree”
Spirit - never heard of them
Little Feat - heard of them, but don’t really know more than that
Big Head Todd and the Monsters - ditto
Screaming Cheetah Wheelies - never heard of them
Jeff Beck - heard of him, but that’s about it
Buddy Guy - ditto
Eric Johnson - never heard of them
Derek Trucks Band - saw them at the Beale Street Music Festival a couple years ago, great show
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Know a lot from them, love or like it all
Kenny Wayne Sheppard - heard of him
Aaron Squirrel Band - never heard of them
Joe Cocker - Know a lot about him, but not too impressed
It’s pretty simple, really. If I like a band and you haven’t heard of them, you are musically ignorant and have no business talking about anything. Unless I don’t WANT you to have heard of them. That makes me cooler than you. But if I don’t want you to have heard of them and you HAVE heard of them, then I used to like them before they sold out.
I’m an American in my early 40’s. Of the acts listed below, I’m familiar with the ones italicized (“familiar with” meaning anything between “I’ve seen their name mentioned in a magazine article” to “I like them and have at least some of their stuff in my personal CD and/or MP3 collection”).
Mahavishnu Orchestra Climax Blues Band
West Bruce and Laing Sun Ra
Jack Dejohnette
Lake Dixie Dregs Blue Oyster Cult Foghat Tommy Tutone Joan Jett
Golden Earring
Blackfoot
Saxon
Fastway
Shooting Star Stevie Ray Vaughan
Zebra
Dokken
Survivor
Yngwie Malmsteen
the Motels
Robin Trower
Guess Who
Heart
Fabulous Thunderbirds
Foghat
Atlanta Rhythm Section
Outlaws
Dave Mason
Spirit
Little Feat
Big Head Todd and the Monsters
Screaming Cheetah Wheelies Jeff Beck
Buddy Guy
Eric Johnson
Derek Trucks Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Kenny Wayne Sheppard
Aaron Squirrel Band Joe Cocker
Of the ones I did not italicize, I think it’s likely I’ve heard a song of their’s before and just didn’t make the connection to the act.
As for what bands the average person should know about, I would say via cultural osmosis just about everybody above the age of 12 should at least heard of Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, and Madonna. Beyond that, one’s knowledge of popular music starts getting increasingly subdivided by age and specific interest.