Bands or Performers That Should Have Been More Successfully
Submitted by BuckGS71 on Wed, 06/20/2001 - 04:53
Tags:
- Can - Much too experimental for their time, but their influence is far-reaching. Merry, Stockhausen-influenced noise-makers with a flair for pop sensibilities and third-world mysticism.
- King Crimson - Though they're credited with founding Progressive Rock, they never really fell within the rigid boundaries of that genre (i.e., songs about lands of fantasy laden with 20-minute organ solos). Still going strong today, having influenced bands like Tool, without ever having pandered to the excesses of prog-rock.
- XTC - Arguably the best and most under-appreciated band to come out of the post-punk New Wave movement. Had they existed in the 60's, this band would have rivaled the Beatles in terms of writing memorable pop songs. Writing the pro-agnostic "Dear God" didn't win them many fans, but they were always challenging and catchy.
- Sneaker Pimps - Got lost in the wave of electronica that hit the US around 96 or 97 (Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim). Smart, sexy, dark music you could dance to and ponder aloud.
- The Minutemen - Just like some of the mid-80's punk that hit the scene (Husker Du, the Replacements, Black Flag), the Minutemen slammed their way through all their songs, but their musical tastes were far more varied than their contemporaries (a punky take on a Steely Dan song, anyone?). Lead singer/guitarist D. Boon's tragic death put the breaks on a band destined to make some serious noise.
- Belly - They made some very catchy pop songs that were just a bit too dark and troublesome underneath. This band was far too intelligent to fall prey to the fickle standards of the industry, but lack of sales plus unreal expectations killed this band. Tanya Donnelly and her mates deserved better.
- Kate Bush - Listen to Kate Bush and you can now understand from what rock Sarah McLachlan and Tori Amos crawled from under. She had a flair for the dramatic in the orchestration of her songs and the lilting power of her voice.
- Eric B & Rakim - Gotta give them props, y'all! Okay, so Run-DMC and Grandmaster Flash surely deserve the credit they deserve as some of the founding fathers of rap, but it was Eric B & Rakim that proved to be the best of the old school rappers. Nobody, and I mean nobody, delivers vocal the way Rakim does. And Eric B was an inspired terrorist behind the turntable. Essential musicians in the history of rap.
- Liz Phair - Confrontational and hysterical at the same time. Not the first female singer to be confessional, but her frank sexual lyrics proved that if women were going to be portrayed as objects, then the boys better be ready to taste a dose of their own medicine, too.
The artists and bands on this list are added here because of their unrecognized and underappreciated contributions, or just because they were a tight little group that should have made it, but didn't. Some of them are still around today, and we're all the better for it.