Coodabeenacontenduh.......

A follow up to the "Guilty Secrets" thread I guess. This one is basically "unsung heroes" - bands/artists that should have been more successful, long-lived or widely appreciated than they actually were. There is absolutely no purpose in this other than perhaps turning someone on to something good - even if just one person finds something they like that's a success! If I was IT savvy enough I'd make links to YouTube or the albums cited - but I have absolutely no idea how to do that because I'm an old git and, frankly, I just don't give a flying fuck! As before a few of my coodabeens to get the ball rolling....

Diesel Park West - "Shakespeare, Alabama"
Milltown Brothers - "Slinky"
Goodbye Mr MacKenzie - "Good Deeds And Dirty Rags" (featuring, interesting, Shirley Manson who went on to front Garbage)
Captain - "This is Hazelville"
It's Immaterial - "Life's Hard And Then You Die"

posted by MajorDundee (10 comments total)

Well, Bob Mould isn't exactly a household name, but he's certainly paid his rock n roll dues.
posted by snsranch at 5:07 PM on October 5, 2009

Since snsranch started us out with a Minneapolis name, I'll give another from the other side of the pop spectrum: melodic zombies/big star influenced pop from Matt Wilson, first in the band Trip Shakespeare, and later on his own. His brother Dan became a bland one-hit wonder with Semisonic, but Matt was always the brilliant brother, with his brother just riding his coattails at the beginning. Matt was blue, and had a long bout with writer's block, but recently he's come out with a new record as the twilight hours that has some beautiful moments.
posted by umbú at 7:35 PM on October 5, 2009

One last Minneapolis contender: Adam Levy's The Honeydogs have several records that I think deserved more attention. The latest best ones are Amygdala and 10,000 years. He draws from a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of rock history, and interesting, dark lyrics influenced by his day job as a social worker.
posted by umbú at 7:42 PM on October 5, 2009

I really do like that It's Immaterial album a whole lot. Here's the video for Driving Away From Home and here's Space.

My favorite bands that no one else I know has heard of include:

The Balancing Act ('80s folk-rock -- allmusic -- the last album they list seems to be a different band. Found nothin' on YouTube.)

The Band of Holy Joy (live! No guitars!)

Palomar ("Albacore" -- still active, so they still have a chance!)

Tupelo Chain Sex (featuring, bizarrely, "Sugarcane" Harris, and seen here doing "Ballroom Blitz")
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 7:59 PM on October 5, 2009

Can someone tell me how to make links (even though, clearly, I don't give a flying fuck)?
posted by MajorDundee at 12:09 PM on October 6, 2009

Can someone tell me how to make links (even though, clearly, I don't give a flying fuck)?
Sure.
Find the thing you want to link to.
Copy the URL.
When making your comment, highlight the text that you want to be the link.
Click the blue "link" at the bottom right of the comment box.
Paste the URL that you copied.
Ta-da!
posted by chococat at 12:21 PM on October 6, 2009

Thanks for that choco! Here goes......

Diesel Park West - All The Myths On Sunday
Milltown Brothers - Which Way Should I Jump?
Goodbye Mr MacKenzie - The Rattler
Captain - Broke
It's Immaterial - Ed's Funky Diner

I suppose another thing I need to learn about is posting things on the main site. I put something up I thought was funny and brought down a shitstorm on my head. All sorts of smug wankers taking great pleasure in pointing out I'd dropped a clunker - rather than being a little kinder and telling me where I'd gone wrong. Apparently I wasn't adhering to some kind of abstruse protocol.
posted by MajorDundee at 1:05 PM on October 6, 2009

MajorDundee, I myself am terrified of posting to the front page. I am so not detail oriented enough to feel comfortable about meeting the best of web expectations. Me-Fi-Mu is my metafilter home.

I always thought Joel RL Phelps, formerly of Silkworm, should've been bigger. Guess he was/is too much of a downer, in the wrong kind of ways.
posted by dobie at 1:19 PM on October 6, 2009

Pooka. I've only got their first self-titled album, but it's one of my most treasured possessions. Beautiful harmonies and solid songwriting.
posted by robotot at 2:08 AM on October 10, 2009

I feel compelled to testify and mention Cardiacs. They started out in the late 70s playing punk/Zappa tunes, then went into their very wierd period, had an almost-hit record, shrank right down, and were last seen making this sort of noise.

(Dirty Boy in there twice, once as very rough live recording, the other the original Sing to God version).

Just when it seemed that they would finally release a new album and several DVDs, main man Tim Smith suffered a massive stroke and heart attack at a My Bloody Valentine gig, and has spent over a year recuperating.

Probably my favourite band ever, and completely magnificent live. Get well soon, Tim.

In other obscurity news, I'm also a huge fan of Peter Blegvad (playing Driver's Seat solo and with his redoubtable power trio (not his best song, but the only one represented on YouTube apart from Loudon Wainwright's cover of his song Daughter)); Casablanca Moon by Slapp Happy, and with Dagmar Krause guesting with that trio again.

Probably better known for his comic strip Leviathan.

Ah, well, not very well represented, there. Amazing songwriter - very funny and literate. Whenever I've seen him play (including a Slapp Happy reunion gig in the late '90s), the whole thing has been on the verge of chaos, but perhaps that's just the way he does things.

also:

Young Marble Giants

I've stayed up very late doing this. Huh.
posted by Grangousier at 5:15 PM on October 11, 2009