Bands you've never heard

I was going to say "who actually does this?" but then again...that's what all that ironic heavy metal t-shirt kitsch shit is about (see innumberable threads I'm too lazy to link to here)

-- Curt1sss (curtis.stephens@g

As a reformed fan of the Mission, I must say....this is a very sad thing indeed. It's embarassing enough to admit to have been a Mission fan, but for someone to "front" as a Mission fan without ever having subjected themselves to the band's music is beyond tragic.

Nick Cave. Love the whole idea of him... hardly ever play his albums.

The "hardly" disqualifies you from this thread.

Are you suggesting that these three hunks aren't chick-magnets? Surely you jest

http://www.budgie.uk.com/images/fp.jpg

There's also a category of bands that I've never heard and feel like i won't like -- two particular groups of trendy bands that have similar sounding names, which makes me all the more reluctant to listen to any of them.

Group 1: The Thrills, The Chills, The Spills, The Spits, The Stills (I'm not even sure if they're all real bands)

Group 2: The Black Keys, The Black Dice, The Black Eyes

Actually, it was more like, "Yeah, he's alright, I guess." Maybe that doesn't count.

--Hurting (Hurtingchief@yahoo.com), October 6th, 2004.

Jeez...if Dave Matthews is no good, maybe somebody should start a thread explaining why...

"I never heard them and I don't like them" is the best way to go in these cases.

Group 2: The Black Keys, The Black Dice, The Black Eyes

I have the exact same aversion. Are any of those ill black bands worth checking out?

the NEXT pixies reunion... (dave lovering r.i.p.)

– big star

fleetwood mac
steely dan
g_pd_

third / sisters lovers is great

–fleetwood mac
–steely dan

well, i've heard some fleetwood mac obviously.

We all know about the indie bands who made it good. But what about the ones who didn't quite get there? Record Collector magazine's new Modern Collectables LP explores some of the great lost bands of the late eighties and early nineties, launching with a special reunion gig at Corsica Studios in Elephant & Castle on TODAY featuring four of the bands from the compilation. If you're in London come along.

'Small Town Scenery' celebrates lost indie bands from the 1985-1995 period who gigged hard, recorded demos but never released any music on vinyl. "If you love the Stone Roses, The Las, backwards guitars, My Bloody Valentine and the best song that The Cure never recorded then you should buy this album," says Ian Shirley, who compiled the LP and looks after Record Collector’s ongoing vinyl series.

All of the bands share one thing in common - they never got a record deal even though some got close to the Holy Grail. "We were on the brink of making it and getting a deal with Food back then but they signed Blur instead!" states Damian Jones guitarist with Blindman's Rainbow, "after that it all fell apart!" Scat Apache lost a nailed-on deal when one of the duo decided that he just didn't fancy a career in music after all. Another band called Triple Blind played in front of 17 million people in the background on an episode of EastEnders because The Levellers didn't fancy it! The fee they received paid for the recording of their Stone Roses inspired track 'Stoke'. The other bands on the LP are Final Hour, Moloko (not that one!), Just For Kicks, Maureen and Kevin Paradise Showband, The Colour Mary, Colour Sound, Blue Velvet, Bellis, Pretty Green and Knocking Shop. 'Small Town Scenery' comes in a stunning fine art gatefold sleeve with liner notes that tell the story of all the bands.

Nick Cave. Love the whole idea of him... hardly ever play his albums.
― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), miércoles 6 de octubre de 2004 0:10 (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hey, this is me too! I love him in theory but in practice I don't really listen to him ever.

I don't think I've ever heard Daft Punk? Not knowingly, anyway.

OK I've heard "Get Lucky"

Check out Daft Punk's new single "Get Lucky" if you get the chance. Sound of the summer.

aww dang it

the only “Get Lucky” you’ll ever need:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSUIygIaS_k

Frank Ocean
Sufjan Stevens
Ween

I’ve been meaning to check out the former, at least.

Manic Street Preachers, as I was recently reminded

They would be a prime candidate for ‘bands I once heard but that I don’t remember anything substantial about’.

I was once going to start a thread called "Imagine Imagine Dragons" where people like me who have never heard Imagine Dragons could describe what we think they sound like.

I've definitely never heard Imagine Dragons. But that's largely true of any act that just started/became popular in the past decade.

I think I've maybe heard one Animal Collective song. Unless they've done something so ubiquitously popular that it couldn't have failed to seep into my consciousness.

I knew that sounded familiar.

This is the thread where we never listen to Imagine Dragons

I think I may have inadvertently heard ‘Thunder’, which I deeply regret to this day.

I imagine Imagine Dragons as some kind of cross between Cluster and Coldplay, bet they're not though. PS I've never heard them

Wasn't there a top 40 band with Owls in the name a little while back? Hooting Owls, something like that? Oh, wait...Owl City, maybe? Never heard them.

Owls of Ga'Hootie

owl city from owatonna mn, also childhood home of har mar superstar

In terms of older acts I've never heard, I'd wager that a disproportionate number of them are solo dudes whose names have never jumped out at me enough to elicit my musical interest. John Fahey? Burt Jansch? John Prine? They could all be great, I have no idea because I've never heard them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_UcjMusUA

Bert Jansch is great, in and out of Pentangle. Do wish I'd seen him more than once. He did seem to play Whelans a lot in the mid 90s but I only saw him at the Arts Festival over here playing with Bernard Butler.
Acoustic guitar virtuoso.
John Renbourn is connected and about equally good.

Davy Graham was a contemporary who is also seriously worth checking out.
All of them largely known for partial reinvention of the acoustic guitar in terms of playing.

Peter Walker who used to play for Timothy Leary is also pretty interesting

John prine I meant to get more into,. I have a 2cd compilation of his which is pretty good and was got around the turn of the millenium. Need to check out more of teh early stuff.

& John Fahey I should know by now but don't. Should have seen him towards the end but I think I was barred from teh venue.

I imagine Imagine Dragons as some kind of cross between Cluster and Coldplay, bet they're not though. PS I've never heard them

― my shear modulus is weakening (Matt #2),

Not even close, they sound like a commercial for televised sporting events or "rugged" SUV's or something.
I read a review once that described their sound as "excitement wallpaper", that pretty much nailed it.

I hate Maresn3st because now I want to watch all of Larnell's videos.

Henry Cow

(to my knowledge)

Henry Cow is art that I don't get.
Fred Frith solo is another matter entirely.

I don't think I've heard Guided By Voices.

Re: Imagine Dragons et al, I just assume that every new pop dude band sounds like (the band named) fun. Lots of 'WHOA-OH-OHHHH' ing.

Oh, I thought of a good one earlier: it's entirely possible that I've never heard Slayer.

xp One of those things is actually true, can you guess which?

@Old Lunch I went through a huge deep Led Zeppelin deep dive in jr. HS so I learned about D.Graham/Jantsch via Jimmy Page's plagiarism of both in "White Summer/Black Mountainside", which turned into full appreciation.

all those bands from that screamin Jayhawks /green on red / lone justice thread

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length) at 11:12 11 Jan 19
For the record I think they might be a cross between Styx and Brokencyde, with classic 80s fighting fantasy cover artwork.

Sparks - they sound interesting, but I wouldn’t know how to begin with a band that has 25+ albums.

Ultravox, ABC (to my knowledge), Heaven 17(?)

^there are various other artists from this scene with apparently huge discographies where I know maybe one or two big singles, but nothing else (Human League, Gary Numan, OMD)… I had never even heard of the apparently beloved “New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84)” album until I saw the thread today; I just know Simple Minds as the B’fast Club band…

Also on the subject of UK-related ignorance, don’t think I’ve heard Paul Weller or any of his bands…

Back on US shores – today’s Pitchfork review reminds me that the Melvins are another active band with a 25-album discography whom I’ve never heard (and it seems too late to start).

Morrisp, in these instances I just use the ILX hive mind to determine the best regarded album from a particular artist I might be interested in, then listen to only that. If I like it, I'll check other albums out.

You need to listen to ABC's Lexicon of Love. It's great. Also check out Gary Newman's Pleasure Principal, OMD's Architecture and Morality, and Human League's Dare! Others may disagree with these choices, but they're entitled to be wrong.

xp those are 4 acts with one obvious single everyone* in the UK has heard a great deal.

Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough...
Ultravox - Vienna
ABC - The Look of Love
Heaven 17- Temptation

Black Flag. I’ll read anything about them but committing to the music always escapes me.

morris- melvins suck. don't waste your time.

xpost to controversial opinions

Also on the subject of UK-related ignorance, don’t think I’ve heard Paul Weller or any of his bands…

It works both ways, believe me!

Looking at the Top Artists of All-Time on Acclaimed Music, I have never listened to an album by these artists in the Top 100:

65 Daft Punk
70 Beyoncé
84 Vampire Weekend
92 Arctic Monkeys

I know a couple of songs each from the first two, don't think I've heard a note of the latter two.

Sparks - they sound interesting, but I wouldn’t know how to begin with a band that has 25+ albums.

There are a few compilations around - Sparks sound like themselves more than they sound like the times around them. I started with the universally disparaged Interior Design in 1988 and became a fan anyway!

Still haven’t heard Chat Pile

Kimono My House is where most people start with Sparks, they’ve got a lot of great ones but you really can’t go wrong with this one. If you don’t like it then they ain’t for you

Thanks, I’ll try that out. Already dipped into a few others named above this morning…

Re: Paul Weller — I’ve definitely heard this song “In the City,” by The Jam. Great song! I think I thought it was the Clash.

!

Checking that Acclaimed Music list, there are three acts between 101-200 that I don’t recall ever having heard: Charles Mingus, The Replacements and Soundgarden.

and from 201 to 400 (it’s ok I’ll stop now): Fugazi, Bill Evans, X, Wu-Tang Clan (!), Eric Dolphy, Flying Burrito Brothers, Built To Spill, Liz Phair, Slayer, Cecil Taylor, System Of A Down. Bloody hell, Wu-Tang Clan, how has that never happened…

Flying Burrito Brothers do a fine version of 'Dark End of the Street' that you might enjoy mike

Yes, that is indeed a great version.

Fugazi, X, Built to Spill, Liz Phair and System of a Down I've never heard either.

There's far too many American indie/alternative rock bands to list though tbh.

Yeah, US alt-rock/grunge/nu-metal are my biggest areas of deficit, followed by blues.

Back on US shores – today’s Pitchfork review reminds me that the Melvins are another active band with a 25-album discography whom I’ve never heard (and it seems too late to start).

The bulk of the Melvins discography is eminently skippable. Lysol is good, but it's only got six tracks and two of them are covers; (A Senile) Animal (the first album with two drummers) is great, and so is the live album with that lineup, but the other two studio albums are subject to diminishing returns; and honestly I don't think they've made a good record in a decade. Every one is based around some stupid gimmick now (remix album! acoustic album! look, we've brought back all our old bass players! look, it's a dude from the Butthole Surfers!).

Ultravox, ABC (to my knowledge), Heaven 17(?)
― Obviously Five Beliebers (morrisp), Sunday, September 18, 2022

John Foxx era ultravox >>> Midge Ure era ultravox. Start with the song "Saturday Night in the City of the Dead", or maybe "Quiet Men" off of Systems of Romance.

Heaven 17 - Start with "Let Me Go" or "Come Live With Me".

ABC - I can't believe that you haven't heard this something from Lexicon of Love without realizing who it is. But if not, start with" "All Of My Heart".

Ok, that Burritos version of “Dark End” is flat out gorgeous, thanks for the tip!

glad you liked it! :)

xxp Thanx for the tips! I listened to the first three or four tracks of Lexicon this morning, it didn’t sound familiar (and is pretty wild stuff)… didn’t get to "All of My Heart,” will listen more later.

Dunno if this counts but I've never listened to the No New York comp. I understand this is a big hole.

Imo No New York is more important than it is listenable. I do like Arto Lindsay's stuff though.

ghost club otm.

morris- don't sleep on the style council for paul weller stuff. it's his r+b band. this is a good one.

ha, my fave No New York act by far is The Contortions tracks, although I do appreciate the TJ&TJ tracks in their original mixes. I much prefer later DNA and Dark Day stuff,and never got Mars at all

add me to the "never heard Wu-Tang" list, I do plan on hearing the debut before I die, someday, and I do have a couple of related items (Cuban Linx, Bulletproof Wallets) that I have barely listened to

Just to muddy the waters – Mars is my favorite of the NNY bands, and the one that I ended up exploring deeper. (I really like the John Gavanti album, if you know what that is)

omg you've never heard Wu-Tang drop everything and listen to them right now.

Ditto Cecil Taylor and Eric Dolphy.

Fuck Paul Weller.

enh, wu-tang is kind of a 'you had to be there'* kind of thing at this point. definitely some classic songs in there, but even wu-tang forever is non-essential by now.

i was there and wasn't totally enamoured by the whole thing. more xpost to controp thread?

The bulk of the Melvins discography is eminently skippable.

The best Melvins album isn't a Melvins album - it's the Crystal Fairy s/t with Buzz & Dale + Omar from Mars Volta + Teri Gender-Bender from Le Butcherettes.

I listened to Arctic monkeys for the first time tonight, because of this thread. I listened to all of the songs that have over 500M streams. I feel horrible

I feel completely alienated

What are we even doing here, all together? What is the fucking point

lol arctic monkeys suck

How did they get so huge? I remember when I first heard of them I thought they were some edgy guitar band?? Am I mixing them up with the libertines

karl you should listen to their song with dizzee rascal.

libertines also quite terrible.

Honestly the first 5-6 of their songs I heard were so horrible that I’m no longer in a neutral place to listen to them. The dizzee part of that, I could see listening to more of that, maybe without the Arctic Monkeys playing along

Arctic Monkeys do not suck and like fine wine are getting even better with age. This is there brand new song and one of the most beautiful songs from 2022, absolutely stunning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY5CAz6S9kE

many xp but love me a good "Dark End of the Street"

I do like that quite a bit more! Maybe there’s something to these Arctic Monkeys

No! Don't say that Karl, please stay in the Arctic Monkeys suck crew!

Van Der Graaf (sp?) Generator
Faust
Gentle Giant

so many bands I haven’t listened to and will
probably never get to!

Throbbing Gristle, been holding out on that one for years and intend to go to my grave never having heard them
Bright Eyes, Ryan Adams etc, pretty much any doe-eyed singer-songwriter crap with a subtext of sexual harassment
Drake
Any drill artists

enh, wu-tang is kind of a 'you had to be there'* kind of thing at this point. definitely some classic songs in there, but even wu-tang forever is non-essential by now.

― ミ💙🅟 🅛 🅤 🅡 🅜 🅑💙彡 (Austin), Sunday, September 18, 2022 10:24 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

ok now I feel old

but I don't know anyone who considers Wu-Tang Forever their most essential album fwiw

yeah, would think the first run of Wu tang and solo lps by the members were all pretty great. Forever was the first one I got hold of and i haven't listened to in a couple of decades. But still enjoy that first wave of releases.

90s alt-rock was/is very much my bag and I have also managed to never hear a Melvins album. I have always had a hunch they were overrated and the comments above bolster that suspicion.

I have also never knowingly heard Bad Bunny, or most hip-hop that your average teenager would like (artists like Kendrick are probably already considered "old").

There's some classic/legendary hip-hop I've never heard, outside of clips in documentaries (Eric B. & Rakim come to mind)... I should rectify that.

All those British 90s/00s(?) bands that ilxors used to complain about like the Stereophonics, Toploader, Dodgy, Travis.

I vaguely think of solo Paul Weller as having some connection to those and haven't heard that either. I like the Jam, though.

bands that ilxors used to complain about

thread titles you thought were real

hahaha, yeah, that does seem very much like an ilx thread

many xps, this warmed my heart, i love that record so much

Ok, that Burritos version of “Dark End” is flat out gorgeous, thanks for the tip!

― mike t-diva, Sunday, September 18, 2022 9:46 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

glad you liked it! :)

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Sunday, September 18, 2022 9:58 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

me too. i heard burritos version of the song first -- it's hard not to hear the others as the cover versions

I keep a spreadsheet of stuff I want to check out. These are the most famous acts in the list that I am relatively sure I have never heard; maybe there's a single I know from the radio/grocery store, but I've never intentionally listened to their music. Would appreciate snide comments on which of these is most egregious.

13th Floor Elevators
Beat Happening
Big Brother & The Holding Company
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Butthole Surfers
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Cecil Taylor
Cream
David Allan Coe
David Axelrod
EPMD
Gang Starr
Howlin' Wolf
Joan Baez
Meat Puppets
Misfits
Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Carpenters
The Mothers of Invention
Todd Rundgren

xpost Also this---turning out a bit different from any other version I've heard:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZsupVSWAjM

My dad had a Captain Beefheart LP, so have known him as long as I can remember.

Don't start your Beefheart journey with Trout Mask Replica, that is the "final boss" - I would suggest Safe As Milk as the perfect entry point.

xxp That's an interesting list as it has various acts that I've tried to get into but couldn't, but nothing that I love and would personally say "You're missing out!"

(among those I haven't heard – EPMD is another example of a famous hip-hop act I feel I should at least get familiar with)

Jesus Christ. There must be some underlying reason that you've never checked out any of those artists, and maybe you shouldn't. But if you feel ready, start with these:

13th Floor Elevators
Big Brother & The Holding Company
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
Cecil Taylor
David Allan Coe
Howlin' Wolf
Meat Puppets

If that's too many to start with, the first three at least.

I am listening to all of music* chronologically for my thing, so far have reached 1954, acts I had never heard before but now love include

Cecil Gant
Mary Lou Williams
Jerry Byrd
Chet Atkins

David Axelrod

oh friend, you have some very happy moments to look forward to!

Does BB&THC / Janis Joplin get played on US radio much? Would imagine Piece of My Heart and Mercedes Benz were in some sort of circulation.

@dow, excellent snide! Thanks!

@Austin, suggestions on where to start?

Was not being snide!

songs of innocence is usually a good place. if you like the jazzier aspects, go backwards into his production work. if you like the cinematic "big picture" vibes, keep going with the capitol albums. if you don't like anything about it, he's probably not your flavor.

Up on the Sun is a good place to start w/Meat Puppets (and gauge whether they'll be to your taste).

xxp Was truly shook that you hadn't heard ANY of those artists, not that they are in our faces all the time, but still, for someone such as yourself, a thoughtful music commentator, would assume you would have found your way to at least one of those---maybe it's true that there are no accidents, no random, no chance---(???)

Cecil Taylor's discography can be daunting, to put it mildly. Either Conquistador! or Unit Structures would be an ideal entry point (the former is my personal fave, but ymmv).

Indexed, if you've never heard The 13th Floor Elevators I assume you've never heard solo Roky Erickson. Don't sleep on that, especially his album The Evil One.

Was thinking xp Unit Structures---also: this track was my gateway---don't think about it jump in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT4mDhyLqyA

BHS I'd go for the earlier stuff first. NOt as great after Hairway To Steven and possibly at their best on Rembrandt pussyhorse, Psychic, Powerless, Another Man's Sac & I think LOcust Abortion technician was what really popularised them. If Hairway didn't.

BBHC I'd seriously recommend the 2 1968 live sets which came out 10 or so years ago. Loads of lovely James Gurley guitar burn.

BUffy Sainte Marie I love the electronic lp Illuminations but think her elliptical voice is pretty great anyway.
I remember her from when she was a Sesame Street regular too. & various covers of Codine.

Meat Pupets I love teh early stuff but probably should have teh rest. 1st 3 lps are something else as are live sets from then. From bluegrass hardcore to something more grounded in rock, Which might be a lot less interesting. The idea that they were playijng Up On The Sun to hardcore audiences interspersed with weird covers including things from South Pacific and the Sons of The Pioneers.

I think I was really discovering Siouxsie and teh Banshees at the time of teh cd remasters. had been semi aware of them, saw tehm in 85 too. & had early stuff 1st lp & the 1st singles set.
But heavily recommend teh lps with John mcgeoch on.

I'm just discovering Liz Phair who I somehow bypassed

Cecil Taylor Unit is quite good too. Found it on Dodax who've since folded

As someone who is currently writing a book on Cecil Taylor, I would argue that maybe you should start with solo recordings. I recommend Air Above Mountains and Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! - the former is long but sounds like romantic classical a lot of the time; the latter is a bunch of shorter pieces.

After that, try his early stuff on albums like Looking Ahead, Love For Sale, and The World Of Cecil Taylor - you'll be able to hear the links to conventional jazz, particularly Thelonious Monk.

One album that's not super well known but great is Winged Serpent - Sliding Quadrants; it almost sounds like Ellington at times. Unit Structures and Conquistador are also excellent mid-sized ensemble records.

I really, really love the six-piece band (trumpet, sax, violin, piano, bass, drums) he had in 1978, which can be heard on the albums The Cecil Taylor Unit, 3 Phasis, Live In The Black Forest, and One Too Many Salty Swift And Not Goodbye.

@dow, no worries, I was jk. There's a lot of music -- nearly everyone has blindspots. I am probably on the younger side on the board in my mid-30s and didn't start listening to music seriously until I was in college. For most of my music listening life, I over-indexed toward keeping up with new music vs. educating myself about the past. Now I am getting to that age where my music tastes are solidifying and it's harder and harder to do either vs. listening to an album I know I already love. But that's why I keep my spreadsheet, and when the time is right, I pluck a name or album from it and give it a go. A lot of my listening now is done while working, which presents a different challenge: I know I have put on Cecil Taylor and Captain Beefheart before and immediately turned them off because I knew I wouldn't be able to multi-task.

@Chris L, I'm not sure -- don't think so...I appreciate the recommendation.

For Elevators, try Easter Everywhere first
BB&THC: Cheap Thrills
CB&TMG: Doc At The Radar Station or Safe As Milk for a more basic
DAC: The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy
Howlin' Wolf: AKA Chester Burnett or His Best
Meat Puppets: Meat Puppets II or Up On The Sun

I had grown up with Cecil Taylor being a mythic figure for a couple of things.
1) a story of him being asked to work in a friend's piano in the flat the friend was living in. & playing so hard that the friend who was lying on the bed on the far side of the room was having to dodge piano keys flying across the room

2) him having earned a living from chess hustling in Tompkins Square park. Where he would bet chess players that he could beat them and live on the proceeds. Seems like a really great aptitude to have.

NOt sure what my intro was maybe the double live lp with Max Roach from the turn of the 80s. & probably him appearing in the Freedom Principle or As Serious As Your Life or both., That & appearances in the NMEs my elder brother had left behind when he went off to University. A pile from the early years of the 80s

Van Der Graaf (sp?) Generator
Faust
Gentle Giant

so many bands I haven’t listened to and will
probably never get to!

― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee)

i mean this is all like prog rock shit basically, don't worry about it unless you need to hear more prog

him having earned a living from chess hustling in Tompkins Square park. Where he would bet chess players that he could beat them and live on the proceeds. Seems like a really great aptitude to have.

Not true; this was Anthony Braxton.

Faust IV is fun to listen to, and kind of stands on its own without worrying about their earlier stuff (cool as it is)

Word, but also like Kate said. Although Faust vs. Dalek omg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqcuLsdnRU8

That is still thee hat-grabber.

Faust, "So Far", is pretty accessible, by their standards.

The Capitaine is a Yes fan iirc? VdGG were really good!

him having earned a living from chess hustling in Tompkins Square park. Where he would bet chess players that he could beat them and live on the proceeds. Seems like a really great aptitude to have.

Not true; this was Anthony Braxton.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, September 19, 2022 5:45 PM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

That was what I had heard at teh time. I was thinking as I wrote that that I had heard Braxton did that so wondered if they both did or if that was who that was actually true of . But it contributed to him being a mythic figure for me in my late teens.

Van Der Graaf (sp?) Generator
Faust
Gentle Giant

Check out "Yeti" by Amon Düül II before this batch imo.

Maybe they've heard it.

xp
I think all of those are pretty good in places, JUst got off a week of listening to the first disc of the BBC recordings by VDGG which might be a good overview. LOve So Far by Faust, Octopus by GG too and the earlier lps are pretty great. Faust's 70s stuff is all pretty great I think.

Pavement is a band I've never heard but don't recommend anything because I'm not really interested in hearing them.

I guess people are no longer constrained by what lp they chance on first these days since there are going to be tracks by a lot of these artists on a lot of platforms. Weird being that far away from having to get the records or know somebody with them to hear them.

JUst that there is less of a chance element as to what you have access to hearing. BUt presumably need to be directed to hearing things by something one is doing. Doesn't help familiarise oneself to the individual bands as much though.
Still going to have time constraints and some chance elements to what one does get to hear.

I'm loathe to tell anyone that any artist, any record or song is "essential". If someone is already invested in an artist or genre, then I might say "you'd enjoy this" or "here's a record that will connect the dots"

i mean this is all like prog rock shit basically, don't worry about it unless you need to hear more prog

Sure, but no more than David Allen Coe is "country shit" and Gang Starr is "rap shit" and Misfits is "punk shit". I know you're a fan of the genre, but we don't do progressive rock any favours by acting as if the records we like are just there to tick some formalist boxes. I mean Gentle Giant could tell a listener as much about life-in-general as anyone else mentioned so far. But at the same time I'm not going to mandate listening to Acquiring the Taste as a benchmark of musical knowledge.

yeah telling me to listen to something because it’s essential or whatever is like a homework assignment, just get to know me and rec me things you’d think I’d like

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQbGiTNbRGxqDgTzWMjeci0CF289JgZ_97fAvOn8kvoteNTjnr0JMK0g5QgVIRUpvh2iM8&usqp=CAU

Status Quo is another band I've never knowingly heard that seems to be important in Britain.

Unlike the others I mentioned, I feel like there's an outside chance I could enjoy them.

VdGG, Gentle Giant, and Faust are all great. I guess I could see how GG seem a little like a homework assignment though, there is definitely something very academic/band class to what they do. VdGG on the other hand strike me as a prog band that even those who don't like the genre may dig. it's kind of like the Cardiacs thing. and Faust are just plain weird but some of those 70s albums are real classics. I recommend all three.

I've never heard the Cardiacs, fwiw (and I think have only heard *of* them on ILM).

I'm not going to mandate listening to Acquiring the Taste as a benchmark of musical knowledge

in a glass house, though...

Van Der Graaf Generator are horror-movie prog. There are some genuinely unnerving moments on their albums — I'm thinking specifically of the song "Darkness (11/11)" from The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other, where it's all going along relatively normally when out of nowhere a second voice just whispers in your ear in the right-hand speaker, and on headphones it'll make you jump right off the couch. Plus Peter Hammill has one of the great barely-holding-on-to-sanity voices in rock at all times, no matter the song. There's a lot of free jazz sax, too, and the drummer is an Animal-from-the-Muppets level maniac. I don't recommend their music to people who aren't in the mood for intensity.

I haven't seen anyone actually recommended any Gang Starr so I'd say the Full Clip comp if you want an overview, or the extremely solid albums Hard to Earn and Moment of Truth.

there's a moment like that on Faust So Far too, during last track an announcement comes in which sounds like it's coming from behind you. spooked the hell out of me the first time I heard it.

otm re: gang starr tho they do have a few very solid proper albums

also re: other old school hiphop- first albums by epmd and eric b+rakim very representative and good gauges for the rest of their catalogues.

(tho i would say let the rhythm hit 'em is e+r's best overall)

I don't really 'get' the popularity of Status Quo in the UK. They neither have a decent singer nor a strong lead guitarist, and the latter especially seems like a pretty important thing for a 12 bar boogie band to have? I guess they just made boogie their mission, or identity, and that must be key to their appeal.

First 4 albums are kind of interesting, tho not essential- first one is sloppy nuggets psych, second one is Bee Gees pop, third and fourth are rudderless as they're transitioning into a boogie band... but their reputation in the UK is not based on those albums.

Of the boogie stuff "Rain" is really buttrockin'

Sure, but no more than David Allen Coe is "country shit" and Gang Starr is "rap shit" and Misfits is "punk shit". I know you're a fan of the genre, but we don't do progressive rock any favours by acting as if the records we like are just there to tick some formalist boxes. I mean Gentle Giant could tell a listener as much about life-in-general as anyone else mentioned so far. But at the same time I'm not going to mandate listening to Acquiring the Taste as a benchmark of musical knowledge.

― Halfway there but for you

i mean that makes sense, the entire thing of "bands you've never heard" is maybe kinda based in that "oh you NEED to hear this" idea and nobody _needs_ to hear anything really. it's good music and all but it's so _old_. if you're like "hey i should listen to more prog-rock music from the 1970s" then definitely, though i think RPI is relatively slept-on when it comes to prog compared to VDGG. i mean VDGG was a huge influence on a lot of RPI as well so i guess there's that.

I don't really 'get' the popularity of Status Quo in the UK. They neither have a decent singer nor a strong lead guitarist, and the latter especially seems like a pretty important thing for a 12 bar boogie band to have? I guess they just made boogie their mission, or identity, and that must be key to their appeal.

Agree 100%. I love knuckle-draggin' 70s blooze, but I tried their double live album and there was just nothing there at all, as far as I could hear.

Although props to Quo for titling one of their albums In Search of the Fourth Chord. That's funny!

They had catchy singles.

Which is more than most boogie/blues rock band who aren't Canned Heat can manage.

this thread is fun and has got me thinking about bands i've never heard. i'm sure there's quite a few that would be considered "IMPORTANT" but none are really coming to mind presently.

which is not to say that i'm a know-it-all, but rather a curmudgeon. my biggest blind spots are metal and post-2000 pop.

geez folks show me one person who's not having a good time here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-8K8Hj8bxE

yeah telling me to listen to something because it’s essential or whatever is like a homework assignment, just get to know me and rec me things you’d think I’d like

― brimstead, Monday, September 19, 2022 1:48 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

idk some stuff is just really damn good, i love Johnny cash tho he's hardly in my wheelhouse but dgaf about 13th fl elevators who are "totally my thing on paper"

Is there a bad place to start with Faust? I feel like you really can't go wrong. The Tony Conrad collab was my entry point.

As someone who is currently writing a book on Cecil Taylor, I would argue that maybe you should start with solo recordings

yeah def

I am listening to Status Quo Live! (1977) which I'm sure is the first time I've ever heard them other than "Pictures of Matchstick Men." I'm a pretty recent convert to the joys of Foghat and ZZ Top, but I'm finding this pretty leaden and nondescript. Wiki:

Guitarist and singer Francis Rossi described Live! as "the worst album we ever made", continuing, "I always thought we were better than that.

Is there a bad place to start with Faust? I feel like you really can't go wrong. The Tony Conrad collab was my entry point.

I heard the Tony Conrad collaboration (still my favorite thing they ever did) first, then Rien, which is "not really a Faust album" but kinda rules for whatever it is, and then heard the canonical/classic stuff later. Honestly, their "real" albums never did it for me, but the Conrad record continues to rule, especially the two-CD deluxe edition.

Quo were the UK's missing link between CCR, Neu!, The Pirates and Canned Heat, if you want to push a theory to its absolute limits. And yes their singles were catchy. Also they weren't as simplistic as everything thinks. "Quo" is the best album to start with, but the whole run from Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon to Blue For You is pretty unimpeachable. After that they fell of a cliff artistically and got a lot more popular as a result.

Where this thread needs to go: Everyone posts their Discords so we can rip each other to shreds over the massive gaps in our respective collections.

Also y'all can laugh at the Sunny Day Real Estate CD I have which I never really listen to but can't seem to part with.

honest: pls hmu on discord and recommend stuff. i like to jam all the jams.

who am i kidding i never check my discord

wait there's an ILX discord

Ugh I meant Discogs. Way to ruin my own bit...

will gladly post my discogs with the important detail that it does not represent my actual collection at all. very incomplete.

i had a minor revelation about gentle giant the other day in as much as i only just realised that the bass player was the same ray shulman that went on to produce the sundays, the sugarcubes, ar kane, cranes, bang bang machine etc. wtf who knew?

this is my discogs but there's about 2000+ items missing that i haven't got round to yet

(austin i always <3 that you <3 the comsat angels and slovenly too)

"Quo" is the best album to start with, but the whole run from Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon to Blue For You is pretty unimpeachable

i actually got all those a couple of weekends ago as part of a job lot that i bought, and i did just put them straight in the chazzer pile tbh, but definitely going to check them out now on your recommendation

Thanks for the recs! And, yes (heh heh), I love that Prog shit.

This is mine, still need to weed out some chaff. Ideally I'd like to stay stay around the 1k mark. I don't have NickB levels of storage space!

NickB thanks for the Ray Shulman factoid. Those are some great bands to work with. Makes me want to check out Gentle Giant.

ha, i think what prevented me from making the connection before is that none of them sound anything like gentle giant at all afaict

the band from which they emerged didn't sound much like gentle giant either. though it did teach them the value of a backbeat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfkNn7fvvfI

i had a minor revelation about gentle giant the other day in as much as i only just realised that the bass player was the same ray shulman that went on to produce the sundays, the sugarcubes, ar kane, cranes, bang bang machine etc. wtf who knew?

― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, September 19, 2022 2:18 PM

whoa mind blown! he even worked on the trashcan sinatras second album! "proggers who went new wave" would be a fun list thread.

and yes! very enthusiastic fist bumps to my fellow comsats and slovs travelers.

First time I came across Shulman's name was indeed thru the first Sugarcubes singles and AR Kane.

I have the first and third Comsat LPs, need to find the second!

big co-sign there-- it's easily their best!

OK I've listened to "Pictures of Matchstick Men" now. It's not bad, nice little psych-pop tune.

Dalek was so much the splendor ov galactic backpacker hip hop---and then they met Faust---my ancient Voice take follows:

October 5th, 2004 4:50 PM Issue 40

Faust vs. Dalek
Derbe Respecte, Alder
Staubgold

Not so long ago, a young Jersey trio of prodigious mad hiphopologists, Dalek,
undertook a European tour. How they suffered! Until rescued by an old German
kombo of legendary mad progologists, Faust. Transcription of (ob)session
follows:
Facedown bass-clown chews through plaster cast appeal and last appeals.
Artillery fire falls like fossils, into single phylum. Spinal columns of beats
stack, driven home, bent high; remixing bricks, carpets, and windows. In some
crumbling rumble's scratch, soundbeast crawls on. Barrel tongues roll years.
Inventory takes itself, junkyard ripples like hide riding a horsefly:
Groovation gathers. A thin blue flame suspends, not unlike the aural aura of organist
Larry Young, but he died long ago. Miles and Jimi never played together, but
he played with them both. It is also not unlike the gas-jet flame Miles's
autobio claimed to be his earliest memory, seen across a field of whitest stove
top. Atmosphere waits out the needle of such a tiny thrill. But its point has
been made. And if the listener's ear-hole cherry should regrow itself, sealing
feeling? Well. CDs last a while. This one will be waiting.

.

anybody who hasn't listened to Faust should go check out Faust Tapes, Faust IV, and So Far right now. or at least "Rainy Day Sunshine Girl."

there about 100 bands my Britpop-loving friends were obsessed with for six weeks each between 1995 and 1997 that I've never heard a second of.

As famous as Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel are, I've never knowingly heard anything by 70s-era Genesis.

first album and Punkt too

I like some of their later stuff too but those albums are all amazing in their own way

I did once hear Beach House but I remember nothing of them and their name prevents me from returning

A band I was in released a 3” CDR of Frank Zappa covers after realizing that none of us had heard Zappa before. We picked the songs with the dumbest lyrics and looked at the tabs and recorded covers without ever listening to the real song. We still have never heard any Zappa and intend to keep it that way.

^People who have figured out how to live

Did any Zappa fans comment on the results?

For some reason I often find myself listening to artist solo careers before hearing the band that made them famous. For example Gene Clarke before The Byrds, Donald Fagen before Steely Dan, Destroyer before The New Pornographers, Mount Eerie before Microphones.

This phenomenon aside, artists I don't remember if I ever listened to but that are still on my radar include Cabaret Voltaire and Scott Walker. Famous ones that I'm not interested in giving a proper album listen include the Stooges / Iggy, R.E.M, Yo la Tengo, Nico, the Kinks, CCR...

xpost
Yeah there were couple friends that told us our covers sucked and which Zappa albums were essential listening, haha.

Just realized some of the connections in xpost Indexed's never-heard toppermost:
Howlin' Wolf is one of the best mostly electric blues artists.
Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band were often tagged as Howlin' Wolf meets Ornette Coleman, way before Ornette plugged in.
Janis Joplin, especially with Big Brother, was what was much later tagged as mutant blues (as was CB), with a yowling vibrato that could shiver the timbers of any melody line without breaking it, like Ornette.
She and he both came from Texas, like
The 13th Floor Elevators, who, legend has it, once asked her to sing for them, when Roky was in Rusk, I think. What might have been!

basically the only Bill Callahan I know is Smog's _Julius Caesar_, which I had on a tape copied from a friend back in the mid-late 90s

i gather his style has changed slightly since then

Never heard a note of anything he's been involved in.

If you've never heard Pavement, I'm not surprised you haven't heard Smog!

The combination of ILM and Spotify means when a thread or comment catches my attention, I go right to Spotify to sample the artists top tracks, then over to Rateyourmusic and/or Allmusic for an album or comp recommendation. I've discovered so many great artists that way!

Famous ones that I'm not interested in giving a proper album listen include the Stooges / Iggy, R.E.M, Yo la Tengo, Nico, the Kinks, CCR...

I'm not fanatic about any of these but they each made a pretty great album or two.

yeah big oof re:the kinks + ccr i'm all for smashing the canon, but jeez not like that!

They all deserve a listen; even saying you're interested in Scott Walker but turning your nose up at Nico seems odd.

Mount Eerie before Microphones

Huh... I don't know anything about this guy

Under both The Microphones and Mount Eerie, "Elverum has been instrumental in shaping the landscape of current indie rock."(54) Isabel Zacharias claimed that Elverum, "to a pocket of Pacific Northwesterners, is more folkloric deity than musician" with his releases under The Microphones propelling him to "indie-god status".(55)

!! Is there a particular one of the "40-plus albums" I should check out by this indie-god?

it's the cliche go-to, but i like the glow pt 2. i found the album mount eerie pretty fun too. haven't listened to that stuff in ages, but i remember it very hit and miss, with the 'hits' making everything worth your time.

They all deserve a listen; even saying you're interested in Scott Walker but turning your nose up at Nico seems odd.

Was Scott Walker an unrepentant loudmouth racist too?

xp Thanks, checking out The Glow Pt. 2 (I see it's one of those good ol' "released on Sept. 11, 2001" albums)

xp granted; I have no idea if that was the reason.

Smog here as well

there are a bunch already mentioned on this thread in the category of “never heard; never want to”. Or maybe for some: “I’ll get around to it”.

One thing a lot seem to have in common is feeling certain they wouldn’t resonate without cultural context and/or after hearing decades of bands influenced by their music.

!! Is there a particular one of the "40-plus albums" I should check out by this indie-god?

― Obviously Five Beliebers (morrisp)

My entry point was "The Microphones in 2020", with the accompanying video.

(Not a band but) Jandek

I finally heard a Jandek record recently. It was okay.

(also not a band but) Merzbow

Neutral Milk Hotel

I think the Statute of Limitations has passed on NMH being a band you have to listen to. You're in the clear.