I Have Never Heard These Bands That Start With The Letter T

Tru Fax & the Insanicas LP is amazing. Washington DC band. Debbie Harry-style vocals. "Mars Needs Women" is one of my fave obscure new wave songs!

Tiny Desk Unit - Another Washighton band. Very cool female singer, Krautrock-esque w/subliminal synth noize.

Tot Taylor was in a power-pop group called Advertising, and set up the 60s-retro-themed Compact Organisation label (Mari Wilson, Virna Lindt...)

Is that Trees the UK folk-rock Trees?

Search out the album St Marks Place by World of Leather his mid-90's project, one of the great lost albums of the Britpop era.

Tetes Noires - Lesbian folk-wavers, from Minnesota. Believe it or not, I wrote about them at halfway-decent length in the Voice once. (Headline: Womyn from the North Country.) I think I liked their EP at the time, the album less so. What sticks in my head is a cover of "My Baby's Got Me Tied Up in Chains" by the Cookies. Probably not all that good, but probably not worse than Frightwig. Or the Indigo Girls. (Actually, I'm guessing they had a sense of humor unusual among the womyn's music set, unless I just convinced myself they did.)

Theyr - Weren't they Icelandic or something, and their actual name was a symbol unavailable on Western computers or typewriters? (Or am I getting them confused with Freur, of "Doot Doot" fame?)

Tirez Tirez - I have always confused them with T'Pau, for some reason.

Toiling Midgets - Noisy early-Butthole/Flipper-style art punks from, I dunno, San Francisco probably. I have a CD by them; it's not bad.

Tripod Jimmie - Wasn't this a David Thomas project or something?

Now I come to think of it, Taxi Girl were a French punk band too: "Cherchez Le Garcon" is the only song I can remember right now 'though.

x-post

Thundertrain -- were a Boston(?)/New England hard rock/metal group. Stoogoid/Dollsoid/Aerosmith-like. Had a song called "Hot for Teacher" which Eddie van Halen was said to have ripped off. I dunno 'bout that.

Textones -- L.A. band built around a girl singer/songwriter who was supposed to be the next thing. She wasn't, obviously, which is why I cannot remember her name at this very moment. The first album, "Midnight Mission," received a lot of major label hype. The title song was the best thing about it, the rest watered down Jackson Browne/Eagles stuff or something.

Did a small club tour of the US to promote the first album. Were shelled by the small number of fans who turned out, hated the experience and never came back.

The girl from the Textones is still making records. And I still can't remember her name.

Just realised that I saw TC Matic live once, in a massive indoor arena in Germany in 1985, supporting a certain huge-at-the-time band whose name I dare not mention. Sadly I cant remember anything about them at all.

"Crache Ton Venin." I heartily recommend it.

I have never heard these "T" bands from Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums 1955-1996 book:

(At least I don't think I have. At least not much. Unless I'm wrong about a couple, but so what):

Ta Mara & the Seen
Tangier
Marc Tanner Band
Tantrum
Tarney/Spencer Band
Taste
Taxxi
The T-Bones
Techmaster P.E.B.
Kiri Te Kanawa
Texas
Textones
Thee Prophets
They Eat Their Own
Robbin Thompson Band
THP Orchestra
3
The Three O'Clock
The Three Suns
3T
Three Times Dope
Thrills
Thunder
Times Two
Tin Tin
TNT
Tomita
Gary Toms Empire
Top Authority
Toronto
Richard Torrance & Eureka
Wayne Toups & Zydecajun
Toy Matinee
Trapeze
Treat Her Right
The Triplets
Tripping Daisy
Tropea
Troubadours Du Roi Baudoin
The Truth
Gil Trythall
Tuck & Patti
Tuff Darts
Tuxedo Junction
12 Gauge
Twin Hype
Twinz
Two Tuns Of Fun
II D Extreme
2 Live Jews
2 Low
Tycoon

Though I dunno, maybe Taste and Taxxi and The Three O'Clock and Toronto and Trapeze and Tuff Darts and Tycoon don't belong on the list. I honestly don't remember ever paying attention to them, though.

Have definitely heard Tora Tora, though. I think. (Not sure how much I paid attention to them, either.)

(And yeah, I know Two Tuns of Fun were the Weather Girls, right? I just never heard them under their original name.)

(Have also heard Toby Beau, of course. But that goes without saying, right?)

Kiri Te Kanawa - What the hell! Opera diva from New Zealand. A friend told me "She's stupid. Even people who are close to her and love her say so."

Texas - I think this is that boring Michelle Shocked-y group.

3T

Weren't they Michael Jackson's nephews or something? I remember they had a couple of sizable hits in the 90's, but I can't really bring those back to my mind. Rather bland mid-90s r'n'b, I think.

Treat Her Right--Mark Sandman's pre-Morphine group. Good, too. Did a cover of "My Head is My Only House Unless it Rains" so they had that goin' for 'em.

Tripping Daisy--the Polyphonic Spree guy's band.

Toy Matinee--Kevin Gilbert and Patrick Leonard. Good record. Third Matinee was the second one and Gilbert was replaced by, um, Martin Page? Not so good.

3 were one of those post-Fugazi DC hardcore yawnalongs, if you like the Holy Rollers or whatever I suppose you'd like them.

The Three O'Clock - unbelievably fey mid-80's psych-pop from LA I think, they somehow got lumped in with all those bands like Green On Red and the Long Ryders. Interviews in The Bob, that sort of thing. Paisley shirts ahoy!

The Three Suns turned up on those lounge / exotica comps from the 90's, I think they were early 60's? Really good going by the tracks I heard, not quite Esquivel but better than, say, james Last.

Thunder - ah god, not these. Classic Rock magazine loves 'em. They play on bills with Magnum and Little Angels, usually in somewhere like Bradford. Mundane Brit-rock in the vein of Bruce Dickinson's solo albums, which isn't a compliment. Maybe not quite as tedious as Skin.

TNT - "We are mustazz of ze oaoaoasharn, kings of sevehrn seeeez". Proto viking metal! Were these the guys that had a longboat for a drum riser?

Tomita - the Japanese Vangelis! Awesome. Great synth tones, until he went digital like they all did in the 80's.

Toronto - "Your Daddy Don't Know" seems to be the one decent song on the greatest hits album I have. Sub-Pat Benetar for the most part.

Trapeze - the drummer was convicted nonce Dave Holland, bassist was Mars Bar fancier Glenn Hughes.

Did 2 Live Jews ever follow up As Kosher As They Wanna Be? I only know about spoof hip-hop groups.

Wait, I put TNT on there??? Okay, that was stupid. What the hell was I thinking? Of course I've heard TNT. I've owned TNT albums. I still own one from a year or two ago, All The Way To The Sun. It's good! And not so much viking metal as, um, hard rock.

And nope, 2 Live Jews only charted one time, sadly.

yikes, the tarney/spencer band...all i remember of them was a bland piece of aor dreck called "no time to lose" from around 1983 or so.

Tangier -- southeastern Pennsy band. Lead singer was Bill Matson from Reading, well known in the area for fronting the Dead End Kids for what seemed like a decade. DEK should have had a major label contract but they were pretty spent from the rock 'n' roll barband lifestyle by the time the major label world was ready for 'em. So Tangier wound up getting a deal. Matson had a wonderful Paul Rodgers-like voice. Tangier got a big push, one they couldn't capitalize on at the tail end of pop metal ca. the late Eighties. They were no good live when I saw them. Second album, the band was reshuffled and a guy named LeCompte, from Philly -- known for being in a band called LeCompte, led 'em. At that point I wasn't paying much attention. Matson's back doing the occasional classic rock oldies gigs in Reading, PA.

Taste -- Rory Gallagher pre-solo. Everything's excellent. Two studio albums, one or two live recordings.

Thunder -- I'm a little fonder of them than the rating above. Had a hit in the States with "Dirty Love," a surprisingly good singer. The album it came with never quite lived up to it for the remainder. Party rock, some of it OK to good, a lot of it hard to recall once it was done spinning.

TNT -- Still going Euro (?) pop metal band with whizz-bang guitarist. An album they released a year or so ago had a heavy pop psyche vibe.

Here's what I had to say earlier this year about Toronto over on Rolling Hard Rock 2008.
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I had a good time reintroducing myself to Toronto, classic 80's rock Canadian band, over the weekend. Didn't make much of a dent in the US but judging by their sound, could have with the right muscle. Somehwere between Heart and Pat Benatar. Actually, they sound just like 1994. Apparently did have one tune which Heart turned into a hit, "What About Love," which was never put on an album until reissues in the age of CD. The Toronto version is almost indistinguishable from Heart's.

Toronto was a band that to my ears got steadily better through four albums. Head On and Get It On Credit sound the best to me. By the last two they were really into that big grandiose big rock sound that dominated radio in the early Eighties. Plus there's a Pat Benatar cover, "You Better Run," on their debut, Lookin for Trouble. On the title song the singer bemoans seeing her boyfriend in handcuffs if he doesn't stay away from the life of crime

http://www.dickdestiny.com/getitoncredit.jpg

Tin Tin - this might be Stephen Duffy, wry mid-80s synth pop singer songwriter whose biggest hit was 'Kiss Me'. Then formed pastoral folk-rockers The Lilac Time, before jumping on the Britpop bandwagaon as Duffy. Last heard writing and performing with Robbie Williams. Then again it could be someone else

Texas - I think this is that boring Michelle Shocked-y group. Dunno if this is the same mob as the group from Glasgow, whose early stuff featured loads of Ry Cooder slide guitar suffered from sophomore slump then came back massively with Mondeo Man favourite 'White on Blonde'.

The Truth - Dennis Greaves' follow up to Nine Below Zero. Boring blues rock.

Ta Mara & the Seen - were dancing with a new determination in '87 or so with the Minneapolis-funk-ish "Everybody Dance"

Tin Tin -- Nope; an Aussie duo ca. 1971, feat. one Steve Kipner, who later co-wrote "Physical" for ONJ.

Texas -- Yes, Glaswegians.

those tin tin albums are harder and harder to come by these days. maurice gibb produced their first album. i think.

here is what i had to say about Tantrum:

Tantrum – S/T (Ovation – 1978) Tantrum were a groovy bunch of kids. Great smiles. Their formula was disco + rock, and you can’t beat that with a stick. Highlights: “Flash Commander”, “Kid Brother”, “Night On Main Street”. Tantrum would like to thank the Hilton Hotel staff at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Cover shot: A somewhat photorealistic illustration of a pink chair being thrown thru a window. There is a pair of pantyhose wrapped around the chair.

Texas vs Method Man (Meth wins):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lzdmWihSHk

chuck, you must remember no matter what shape your stomach's in by the t-bones (hal blaine played on the single/album i think).

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qi7mjSS6ZUM

thee prophets were horrible. even by my low standards. they had a hit with "playgirl".

i love this Tropea album. great funky/disco/jazz/instro/guitar stuff:

http://www.rekord.net/cover/bigthumbs/rekord.4860.jpg

The Truth - Dennis Greaves' follow up to Nine Below Zero. Boring blues rock

Oh, it's much worse. Nine Below Zero had the blues. The blooz were all squeezed out of the Truth's studio LP in favor of an odd heavy New Wave look that, I swear, made 'em seem like a Goth version of the Knack, except without any hooks.

i just bought that nine below zero record last week. couldn't get through it.

it LOOKED really bad, but i figured for a buck...

the 4 out of 5 doctors record i bought was much better.

I reviewed the 4 Out of 5 Doctors LP for my college newspaper in Missouri when it came out! (Along with the first Loverboy LP and first Echo & the Bunnymen LP, I think.) I didn't like it much, but I also didn't like the first Loverboy album much. Must have been deaf then. Someday I need to get another copy of 4 Out 5 Doctors. (They only had one LP, right?)

Texas vs Method Man (Meth wins)

What the HIZELL is that????

to be honest though, the dwight twilley album i bought two days ago (scuba diver) is better than the 4 out of 5 doctors album. and speaking of trevor rabin (born trevor charles rabinowitz), the rabbitt debut i bought this week is better than 4 out of 5 doctors AND dwight twilley! his powerbubblegumhardrock cover of locomotive breath rules!!!

i haven't listened to the Deserters album i bought this week though. Siberian Nightlife from 1983. Maybe it's better than Rabbitt's debut! You can write the Deserters at:

P.O. Box 14LV
Lathrup Village
Michigan
48076

Nine Below Zero, who should be in "N," were up and down. I liked Don't Point Your Finger at the Guitar Man -- particularly the blitzing "Thre Times Enough" and medium tempo metal boogie, "I Won't Lie." The harmonica dude really zips up these tunes. They did a cover of "Treat Her Right" which kind of sounded like the J. Geils Band, only they came along well after J. Geils was shifting to pop rock and fans didn't like the hard R&B stuff, anymore.

Finger was their only US release I had and have. Some live recordings weren't that great and some later stuff they did sounded more like the Rolling Stones, not bad but average.

Actually, xhuxk would probably want to Nine Below Zero out because they're very pub-rocking on about half of the first album, with the rest being boogie.

Tuff Darts - early NYC punk band, apeared on the "Live At CBGB's album" alongside Mink DeVille, The Shirts, The Laughing Dogs, Manster....

The Three O'Clock, LA band with fey singer who more or less jump started the "Paisley Underground" deal in the early 80's...Prince took notice...

the Three O'clock were called the salvation army for their first record, for the record