Unpopular bands, and why I love them.

Well, I'm sure you know about Coldplay since they are compared so much to Radiohead.

Hmm...try finding a CD called "Operation Ivy (Energy)" by Operation Ivy. It is absolutely great! It is ska-punk without the horns! Two of the members of this band would go on to form Rancid (a great band in their own right).

Other artists that I like that might not be known by many people:

Aphex Twin
Boards of Canada
Kate Bush
Buzzcocks
Danzig/Misfits (with Danzig as the lead singer - only)
Cocteau Twins
Dead Can Dance
Delerium/Front Line Assembly (Bill Leeb)
DJ Shadow
Faithless
Joy Division
Juno Reactor
Kraftwerk
Massive Attack
Ministry
NIN (even though Trent is probably more popular than any of these other artists)
Mike Oldfield (great prog rock/new age artist)
Beth Orton
Liz Phair
Pig (Raymond Watts...he would kick Marilyn Manson's ass!)
Utah Saints (very good electronica group)
VNV Nation (good industrial, electronica group)

 

ROYGBIV kicks ass. BOC are an obscure group, but they rule (or ownz j00, I guess).

What? No Crystal Method, Manny? I'm deeply disappointed...

Anyone like Ben Harper? My friend turned me on to them recently... Just like he did for Galactic.

 

Well, there is an entire genre of music called progressive rock/metal that gets ignored, largely, by most if not all radio stations and certainly on MTV. Good bands from this genre I would recommend are:

Dream Theater
Spock's Beard
Transatlantic
Mullmuzzler
Liquid Tension Experiment

Outside of that genre, I dig:

Ugly Kid Joe
Days of the New (no longer together)
DaVinci's Notebook (barber shop quartet that kicks total ass)
Shannon Curfman

 

You are exactly right about the Simpsons reference, Ninja. It was in the episode where Grampa and Mr. Burns fight over the treasure of the flying hellfish. The actual name of the episode is "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish' ". Here is a bit of that dialogue that you are talking about:

Von Wortzenburger: Ja, ja, ja. Mach schnell mit der art things, huh? I must get back to the Dance Centrum in Stuttgart in time to see Kraftwerk. Hey and dumbkopf! Watch out for the CD changer in my trunk, huh? Idiot!

Grampa: I guess he deserves it more than I do...Well at least I got to show you I wasn't always a pathetic old kook.

Bart: You never were, Grampa.

Grampa: Aw, I'd hug ya, but I know you'd just get embarrassed.

Bart: I don't care who knows I love my Grampa.

Von Wortzenburger: Hey funboys! Get a room!

I love that sequence...one of the best ever on the Simpsons.

Anyway, back to Kraftwerk....I have read that many people consider them an essential group as much as the Beatles. Although, I wouldn't go that far, there is no question that they highly influenced and shaped techno/electronica music today. It has also been said that almost every techno/electronica artist has ripped off Kraftwerk somewhere down the line, even if they didn't know it!

Here is more about them from CDNOW:

FORMED: 1970, Düsseldorf, Germany

During the mid-'70s, Germany's Kraftwerk established the sonic blueprint followed by an extraordinary number of artists in the decades to come. From the British New Romantic movement to hip-hop to techno, the group's self-described "robot pop" -- hypnotically minimal, obliquely rhythmic music performed solely via electronic means -- resonates in virtually every new development to impact the contemporary pop scene of the late 20th century, and as pioneers of the electronic music form, their enduring influence cannot be overstated. Kraftwerk emerged from the same German experimental music community of the late '60s which also spawned Can and Tangerine Dream; primary members Florian Schneider and Ralf Hütter first met as classical music students at the Dusseldorf Conservatory, originally teaming in the group Organisation and issuing a 1970 album, Tone Float. Schneider and Hütter soon disbanded Organisation, rechristening themselves Kraftwerk (German for "power station"), beginning work on their own studio (later dubbed Kling Klang), and immersing their music in the fledgling world of minimalist electronics; their 1971 debut, titled simply Kraftwerk 1, offered a hint of their unique aesthetic in its earliest form, already implementing innovations including Schneider's attempts at designing homemade rhythm machines.A series of lineup shifts followed, and at one point Hütter even left the group; however, by the release of 1972's Kraftwerk 2, he and Schneider were again working in tandem. Recorded without a live drummer, the album's rhythms relied solely on a drum machine, creating a distinctly robotic feel without precedent -- the concept of purely technological music was, at the time, utterly alien to most musicians, as well as listeners. A series of well-received live performances followed before Kraftwerk began work on their breakthrough third LP, 1973's Ralf and Florian; honing their many ambitions down to a few simple yet extraordinarily innovative concepts, their music began growing more and more revelatory -- even their clean-cut, scientific image was in direct opposition to the dominant pop fashions of the time. Kraftwerk's first album to be issued in the U.S., 1974's Autobahn was an international smash; an edited single version of the epic title track was a major hit at home and abroad, and in America the previously unknown group reached the upper rungs of the pop albums chart. Performed in large part on a Moog synthesizer, Autobahn crystallized the distinctive Kraftwerk sound while making the group's first clear overtures towards conventional pop structure and melody, establishing a permanent foothold for electronic music within the mainstream.Kraftwerk resurfaced in 1975 with Radio-Activity, a concept album exploring the theme of radio communication; indicative of the group's new global popularity, it was released in both German and English-language editions, the latter appearing early the following year. Train travel emerged as the subject of 1977's Trans-Europe Express, which marked an increased movement towards seeming musical mechaninization; the line became even further blurred with the follow-up, 1978's aptly titled The Man Machine, a work almost completely bereft of human touches. By this time, the members of Kraftwerk even publicly portrayed themselves as automatons, an image solidified by tracks like "We Are the Robots." Having reached the peak of their influence, however, the group disappeared from view, the first of many extended absences to follow; they did not return to action prior to 1981's Computer World, a meditation on the new global dominance of technology -- a society their music long ago predicted and predated. After topping the British charts with the single "Computer Love," Kraftwerk again vanished, enjoying a five-year layoff culminating in the release of 1986's Electric Cafe. By now, however, pop music was dominated by synthesizers and drum machines, and the group's stature flagged; but for a 1991 best-of collection titled The Mix, they remained silent in the years to follow, finally releasing a new single, "Expo 2000," in late 1999. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

 

its so cool to hate popular music that you're not even original anymore.

 

Amen.

(I like a lot of the mainstream stuff.)

 

Yup. I hate successful and popular bands. I'd much rather go against the grain and be individual and radical and cool. I only like bands that weren't good enough to be liked my many people.

So I guess you fellas hate the Beatles?

 

Is Ugly Kid Joe still around? America's Least Wanted was a great CD...(I got the cover with the statue of liberty giving the finger). The thing that ruined them, though, is that they were a hair metal band right as hair metal was fading out.

<i>Knife gleamin'
No feeling
Axe weildin', child stealin' madman is LOOSE in Disneyland!</i>

 

Who?

 

Its not that I don't like popular music just because its popular, I don't like it because it SUCKS these days. In the early 90's popular music was pretty damn good, but it has really taken a turn for the worse. And the thing about a lot of these bands that DO have good singles on the radio, is that when you buy their album you find that the album as a whole is complete trash and nothing else on the album even comes close to matching the quality of the singles. That's one of the main reasons I lost interest in popular music. I prefer a good album to a great single. I still do like some songs on the radio but rather than wasting my money on their albums, I'll put together a CD-R of all my current favorite radio singles.

Saying that we must not like the Beatles is pretty silly. Essentially by that you are saying that because we don't like bands like Creed, Blink182, and Limp Bizkit, we must not like the Beatles. Does that make any sense? I love the Beatles! But comparing popular music of the 60's to popular music of the 2000's doesn't really work very well.

 

ironically, in The BIg Lebowski, the nihilists were in a band called "Autobahn", an 'earth-techno -pop' group according to Maude Lebowski. This band was modeled after Kraftwerk.


"I mean say what you will about the tenets of national socialism, at least they had an ethos.

BUt nihilism....... F#ck me."
-Walter Sobchak

 

I don't believe they are still making music. The CD they made after America's Least Wanted, called Menace to Sobriety, was one I always loved the best of all their work. But it didn't get much radio play, and the band started slowly fading. They changed labels at that point and made one more album in 1996 called Motel California that had a couple-three decent songs, but overall was quite a different sound for them that I, and I assume many others, couldn't really get into. Now I think they have gone their separate ways.

It's a beautiful day in the NEIGH-BOR-HOOD, and I hope I didn't ruin your DAY! Won't you be my neighbor.

 

Actually, Nomar, I have like 10 Beatles CDs (counting double CDs). You see the Beatles were innovators for their time. Creed is well, ummm, not.

Whereas the Beatles' music will remain timeless and be considered classical music centuries from now, Creed's music will barely be a blip on a karaoke machine 10 to 15 years now.

Yes, the Beatles and Creed are both popular, but that is where the similarities end.

As a matter of fact, that is the only similarity.

That's why I don't like popular music of today because it is all formulaic and un-innovative. It is all in what you look like that dictates if you are going to be a star according to the music companies....doesn't matter if you have no musical talent whatsoever like Scott Stapp.

 

you have no soul...

 

Music has always been a matter of personal taste. Groups I don't like aren't necessarily "bad." I just don't happen to like them. I'll have to admit that my taste in music hasn't always been mainstream (anyone else own a Laibach CD?), although I do like some mainstream stuff--even some Creed stuff. It's funny, my wife has liked country music for years, and she was excited when I started listening to some country stuff. But...Junior Brown wasn't exactly what she had in mind. Has anyone here listened to Rodney Crowell's The Houston Kid? I suspect it's in the country section, but I have a hard time classifying some of it as "country."

 

Traj...you should check Junior out at Mucky Duck

The tickets are $25 and the show is over four months away, but if you get your tickets now, chances are you'll be sitting just a few feet away from the band.

Hell, the whole place isn't much bigger than a taco bell.

 

I saw Junior Brown open for DMB last year at Selma...he was amazing.