What bands 'should' have been bigger?

What bands 'should' have been bigger?

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Discussion

spikeyhead

17,320 posts

197 months

Sunday 9th August 2020
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Moldy Peaches

K12beano

20,854 posts

275 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Lotobear said:
I'm amazed this has got so far without a mention of Badfinger
Agreed - and a tragic story. If you put that all in a film it'd seem a bit far fetched, but listen back to their highlights and you do wonder what held them back.

BigMon

4,189 posts

129 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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hepy said:
The Real People - late 80's early 90's Liverpool band. Allegedly taught Noel Gallagher how to write songs.

Two of them ended up writing songs for other groups, but the band should have been massive - think of the sort of music they play on Abolute Radio, they fit in to that type of mould but more meoldic.
Great call, I was just about to put them in here.

How on earth 'Believer' wasn't number 1 all around the world I'll never know.

BigMon

4,189 posts

129 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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bern said:
Milburn.

Sheffield band, around just before the Arctic Monkeys came on the scene. Very similar music. AM went stratospheric and Milburn just sort of petered out. Joe Carnell kept going doing Christmas gigs at local venues, i went to the first one at The Greystones pub, ended up filling the O2 academy a few years later and then they reunited on stage at the end of one of the Christmas gigs, that was incredible!. Did a big gig at the Don Valley Bowl released another album but appear to have gone quiet again.

Great band, who I prefer to the Arctic Monkeys, especially considering they disappeared up their own arse with the last album.
When I was heading out to gigs in Sheffield (late 80's\early 90's) there was a band called Various Vegetables who had some cracking tunes and signed to a record label called Gift but never got anywhere.

Pulp also signed to the same label at the same time. Funnily enough, all through the 80's most people in Sheffield thought Pulp weren't going to get anywhere.

Walter Sobchak

5,723 posts

224 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Magazine

spikeyhead

17,320 posts

197 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Kenicke

bigandclever

13,789 posts

238 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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spikeyhead said:
Kenickie
Enjoy! (or don’t smile )

https://youtu.be/XFqzOXFEhkM

Fittster

20,120 posts

213 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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bigandclever said:
spikeyhead said:
Kenickie
Enjoy! (or don’t smile )

https://youtu.be/XFqzOXFEhkM
They were relatively big, apparently a top ten album. Not sure quite how much more success you'd expect from them.

If they get on the list, then I'll add Pop Will Eat Itself, who had less chart success but I think are fairly well known (At least they sold a lot of T-shirts to student in the 90s, even if they didn't sell many records).


siovey

1,643 posts

138 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Praying Mantis. NWOBHM band, great debut lp. Not sure what happened to them afterwards.

BigMon

4,189 posts

129 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Fittster said:
They were relatively big, apparently a top ten album. Not sure quite how much more success you'd expect from them.

If they get on the list, then I'll add Pop Will Eat Itself, who had less chart success but I think are fairly well known (At least they sold a lot of T-shirts to student in the 90s, even if they didn't sell many records).
They has a reasonable amount of success with their third album (Cure For Sanity) and it looked like they were really going to take off then but for whatever reason it didn't happen.

I saw them on a warmup gig for that album at the Leadmill in Sheffield and it was packed to the rafters (600-700 maybe in there).

V8mate

45,899 posts

189 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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BigMon said:
Fittster said:
They were relatively big, apparently a top ten album. Not sure quite how much more success you'd expect from them.

If they get on the list, then I'll add Pop Will Eat Itself, who had less chart success but I think are fairly well known (At least they sold a lot of T-shirts to student in the 90s, even if they didn't sell many records).
They has a reasonable amount of success with their third album (Cure For Sanity) and it looked like they were really going to take off then but for whatever reason it didn't happen.

I saw them on a warmup gig for that album at the Leadmill in Sheffield and it was packed to the rafters (600-700 maybe in there).
Saw them quite a few times in the mid-80s. AFAIC they got all the success they were due. Plenty more talented bands around.

toon10

6,185 posts

157 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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andySC said:
Doves. Consistently great but somehow I always thought the were in Elbows shadow.
Agreed. Doves have some epic tunes but never really seemed to hit the heights. Their new single Carousels is another great track.

White Lies for me. A band that has a decent following but never really made it. They have some brilliant tracks and some great albums. Big TV is one of my favourite records to put on start to finish. Their sound isn't niche and should be blasting out on rock/indie radio stations but I never hear them.

Lotobear

6,349 posts

128 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Walter Sobchak said:
Magazine
That's a good one! I vividly recall being a youth in the late 70's and experiencing the punk/new wave revolution as it unfolded - 'shot by both sides' was something of an anthem in our peer group and such a stand out and distinctive sound. That and 'Stranded' by the Saints, Tom Verlaine's Television, Stranglers, Peaches, and many others, Happy days!

extraT

1,758 posts

150 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Reuben.

Soundtrack to university and a summer written by them.

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey

5,158 posts

55 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Shaky Graves...

Never understood why he's not a superstar.

Great voice, good songs, multi-talented musician, and good looking to boot!

Good live too.

https://youtu.be/sD72LbIk02M

Hub

6,434 posts

198 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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toon10 said:
andySC said:
Doves. Consistently great but somehow I always thought the were in Elbows shadow.
Agreed. Doves have some epic tunes but never really seemed to hit the heights. Their new single Carousels is another great track.

White Lies for me. A band that has a decent following but never really made it. They have some brilliant tracks and some great albums. Big TV is one of my favourite records to put on start to finish. Their sound isn't niche and should be blasting out on rock/indie radio stations but I never hear them.
Er, Doves were pretty big - well, a sort of mid tier indie band with number 1 albums, and they were in their prime when Elbow were relatively unknown (for their first 4 or so albums until ' One Day Like This' was a massive hit").

There was a band I saw supporting Doves called Leaves, from Iceland - similar sound but deserved to be better known. Love this one when it gets going:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qy3tJzD9j0


Agree with White Lies - they were the next big thing about 10 years ago and then largely forgotten by the masses, but still going with a strong fanbase though and apart from one duff album have been consistently decent.



Edited by Hub on Monday 10th August 16:16

Trophy Husband

3,924 posts

107 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Ned's Atomic Dustbin.

Walter Sobchak

5,723 posts

224 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Lotobear said:
That's a good one! I vividly recall being a youth in the late 70's and experiencing the punk/new wave revolution as it unfolded - 'shot by both sides' was something of an anthem in our peer group and such a stand out and distinctive sound. That and 'Stranded' by the Saints, Tom Verlaine's Television, Stranglers, Peaches, and many others, Happy days!
Sadly I’m far too young to have seen them live (born in ‘83) they just seemed so much tighter and more complete than some other post punk outfits, everyone always thinks of Joy Division or The Smiths which don’t get me wrong I really like both of them a lot but I’ve always liked Magazine more, Real Life was a brilliant album, John McGeoch is also sadly criminally underrated as a guitarist too.

spikeyhead

17,320 posts

197 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Trophy Husband said:
Ned's Atomic Dustbin.
Good call, cracking band

Patch1875

4,894 posts

132 months

Monday 10th August 2020
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Headswim