Tell it, brother! The Grand Funk reissues on CD are a wonderful thing. As is the recent extended edition of Trick’s All Shook Up. A greatly underrated album.
Concerning the OP- Alice Cooper, Mountain, Tull, Deep Purple, Free, Tommy Bolin, The Nuge, T. Rex. Many would classify these guys as “first tier” (I know I would), but they’re examples of bands with soooo many great songs beyond the one or two staples classic rock radio plays into oblivion. Yes, by all means, regale me with “Smoke on the Water” once more, deejay man. /blows brains out
Oh and the Riptides (were) and The Go-Betweens (are) classic Australian groups who never broke through into top 40 land. Both from Brisbane, too! The Go-Bes “Spring Hill Fair” and “Liberty Belle…” albums are just classic summer pop.
mm
Bob Seger / Silver Bullet Band most certainly would have to be classified as 1st tier.
Every AOR program director I ever heard made sure tracks like Shakedown, Like a Rock, Shame on the Moon, American Storm, Even Now, Night Moves, Still The Same, The Real Love, Against the Wind and Fire Lake were played in such heavy rotation that most listeners would vomit from the oversaturation.
But what criteria should be used to define 1st tier vs 2nd or 3rd tier bands?
Is it based on the listener’s opinion of quality, radio airplay, album sales, charting singles or some other method?
AMG doesn’t cut it. In their loosely uncategorized ‘Album Rock’ genre; they’re all over the place; listing
[ul][]10 Bands (i.e. Aerosmith, Cheap Trick & Bob Seger) as “1st Tier”[]80 Bands (i.e. The Doors, Rolling Stones & Grateful Dead) as “2nd Tier”, and about[*]90 Bands (i.e. Jo Jo Gunne, Klaatu & Tom Waits) as “3rd Tier”[/ul]
Rolling Stones are 2nd tier according to AMG? I don’t like hardly any of their songs but even I can tell you they’re in the undisputed top 3 Classic Rock artists (along with Led Zeppelin and the Pink Floyd.)
Wolfmother. One part Blue Cheer, one part acid, one part Victoria Bitter. Great EP from late 2004 & full length CD hit US shores a couple months ago. As a Yank, I stream Triple J a few days a week just to hear some of the great stuff coming from Oz.
Since we’re doing a music geek thread, allow me to make a couple corrections:
Actually, Mission of Burma was an unknown 80s band - their first single, “Academy Fight Song/Max Ernst”, was released in 1980, followed by an '81 EP and an album in '82 (plus posthumous compilations and live stuff which was all we had before their recent reformation).
Actually, R.E.M.'s first single, “Radio Free Europe/Sitting Still” was released in 1981, a year before Translator’s Heartbeats and Triggers, which contained “Everywhere That I’m Not” (Chronic Town, R.E.M.'s first EP, was released the same year).
My picks: though I pretty much hate all classic rock, I think Big Star was better than just about any other bands of the time. Also, going back a bit further, Love was better than The Byrds and The Doors (their two more famous L.A. contemporaries) combined.
Ooh, good catch. I somehow had in my mind that that album came out in 81…my bad. However, after thinking about Translator, I googled and found out they just reformed!
Oh, and in the same vein, The Soft Boys (Robyn Hitchcock’s great first band) were doing the same thing, more or less, before either R.E.M. or Translator. And they (as well as Robyn) were definitely more of a third-tier act than the aforementioned. So I’ll add them to my list.
Also, for the Radio Birdman fans, there’s a great comp of 70s-80s Australian garage acts called Do The Pop!* (it might be an import) that has other cool bands like The Saints, Lipstick Killers and Hoodoo Gurus.
Ah, yes…I’ve got Liberty Belle and the Diamond Express…good stuff! And they’re playing together now?
Other Australian bands I remember were Skyhooks, Australian Crawl, Celibate Rifles, Hunters & Collectors and who can forget the Hoodoo Gurus!
[/hijack] Back to the spirit of the OP, I think there are also some bands that went on to greater fame after they’d already put out their best music as 2nd tier bands…AC/DC and Judas Priest come to mind.
Went and took a quick gander through my album collection. Some other bands not mentioned yet that I thought were great include Angel City, The Outlaws, Georgia Satellites, The Tragically Hip, Smithereens, and The Melvins. A few later bands that deserve recognition are Dokken and Mother Love Bone.
Freaking Moby Grape, I say. Formed in the mid-60s, they were yet another band from the summer of love that didn’t get too far in the hearts and minds of the majority of Americans it seems. What’s more American than not having a boss, indeed.
Oh, and every damn time I hear any number of oversaturated and lactic acid fermentation inducing Eagles tracks, or Eagles very special going away parties, or any time my dad watches that vapid DVD, I think of but one band: Poco. The Eagles ripped 'um off, I say, even if they did share members - although neither may be considered purely classic rock. Work with me, I’m a few generations too late.
Yeah, thanks - I’m aware of MoB’s chronology. But guess what? Every band forms before they actually put out music for consumption - we’re talking recorded material here, right? Anyway, that they came together in the last year of the 70s doesn’t make them a 70s band any more than The Beatles were a 50s band just because that’s when John, Paul and George first started playing together. By any normal standard, Mission of Burma was an 80s band.
I remember when I bought Pleased to Meet Me, in the days before th’ Internets & Google, I spent like six months wondering who the hell Alex Chilton was. When I finally found out, I simply could not understand why it took until 1988 to get my first earful of Big Star. I love a lot of '70s classic rock, and I still think those guys had some of the most respectable pop of the decade. Radio City is nothing more or less than a damn fine record. Excellent guitar work. Perfect harmonies that out-Beatled the Beatles, sometimes, if you ask me. Simply rock-solid melodies and aching lyrics. What more could a listener want? And hardly anyone knows who they are! Astonishing…
That’s funny! I didn’t have any idea who Chilton/Big Star were until Pleased To Meet Me, either. In fact, the line “I never travel far without a little Big Star” made no sense to me at the time - I didn’t make the connection that “Big Star” was a band. Then I read a review of Alex Chilton’s 1988(?) album High Priest where it mentioned his past work (and the Mats tribute) and I went record hunting. Couldn’t believe Big Star was so unknown once I finally heard them. I bet a lot of people our age probably discovered them thanks to Westerberg and Co.
I seem to remember someone posting in one of those “what’s the best concert you’ve seen?” threads about seeing Big Star opening for Badfinger. Wouldn’t that be something?
Big Star just put out a new album, believe it or not, but I saw bad reviews of it. I don’t think they’re touring or anything, maybe because of Chilton losing his house to Katrina.
Hey I’m the one that gets to bring in the Soft Boys round here (and they were surely not on any tier when they were together*). I didn’t bring them up since I couldn’t see them fitting in a thread with ::winces:: Molly Hatchett and ::shudders:: Blue Oyster Cult in the OP.
If tier x bands count I vote for Doll by Doll who were as serious as the Soft Boys were whimsical, woodstock you seem a knowledgeable chap, you ever heard of them?
And there’s the Waitresses.
*how well known are they in the US now?
