The Best Band You've Never Heard Of

[Guest swan]

Pitchshifter

Mr. Bungle (Mike Patton is one weird SOB)

Maintenance of Order (from the Chicago area)

The Pimps

Morphine (RIP)

[Guest Anorak]

Gorky's Zygotic Mynci: They dont really sound like anyone else. They will never have more than a small dedicated following on the British indie scene because they dont fit into any real movement. Easily the most overlooked welsh band, they are basically the pop/folk equivalent of Super Furry Animals in a way. Probably a bit quirky for proper mainstream success, people think they are too twee or hippie like. They dont really drip with attitude or anything. At least they dont sing in welsh anymore.

 

Fountains of Wayne: One of the best pop rock bands in recent history. They had enough clever and catchy songs to have had a dozen hit singles. Their first album got great reviews but didn't lead to any mainstream success of any note. 'I Want an Alien for Christmas' is one of the best festive songs ever written.

 

Kingsbury Manx: Emerged out of nowhere about 18-20 months ago with a great album. Very laid back kind of vibe to their music which could find a slightly wider audience, not the most upbeat band in the world. They have a second album out now.

 

Low: Defined their own distinct sound and quality which is quite rare these days. Destined to be one of those bands constantly namechecked by music critics when looking for a reference point for describing another bands sound. Too slow and deliberate to get very big, their biggest commercial exposure was probably soundtracking some of the GAP Christmas adverts a while back.

[Guest NineSpiral]

Assemblage 23.

[Guest Kinetic]

Fountains of Wayne: One of the best pop rock bands in recent history. They had enough clever and catchy songs to have had a dozen hit singles. Their first album got great reviews but didn't lead to any mainstream success of any note. 'I Want an Alien for Christmas' is one of the best festive songs ever written.

Their first album is great, but about 80% of "Utopia Parkway" is absolutely brutal.  Specifically "Troubled Times," which sounds like the Goo Goo Dolls at their absolute worst.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Though nobody outside of Atlanta except me seems to have heard of them, I'd recommend The Marvelous 3 to any pop/rock fans out there.  They had a minor hit in 1999 with "Freak of the Week", but their last release, 2000's Ready Sex Go didn't have a single bad track on it.  Unfortunately, they requested Elektra drop them after the album wasn't getting any promotion (call them pop/rock cruiser-weights).  I never got to see them live, but I've got a bootleg of one of their shows, and it was full of energy, fun and good times.  Too bad...

[Guest Kinetic]

As per your John Waters' quote, liking the Marvelous Three is a prime example of bad bad taste.  The sort of music and general attitude towards being a "rock star" that them, Buckcherry, and Kid Rock (amongst others) are promoting is not a good thing.  It's a bad thing.  It's a shallow regression to one of the worst, most soulless periods in the history of rock music.  Death...I wish upon them nothing short of death.  Or perhaps anal fisting.  Whichever is more convenient.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

*GASP!* You don't like shallow, soulless rock music? Oh well, to each his own... I respect that you backed up your opinion with solid fact though.  What else can I say? I've always been a fan of shallow, soulless '80s rock music... at least its better than shallow, soulless '90s rock music (*cough* nu-metal *cough*).

[Guest Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye]

There's a NU Metal?????

 

musta slept through that one.

 

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