[Closed] Bands who should have been massive, but weren't

Bunnyhop - every Doves album has been number 1 in the album charts. Which restores my faith that, on the quiet, as a nation, we still do appreciate great music. Live they're just superb! They just don't play the game. Good on 'em!

A few who should have been much more successful than they were:
Blue Aeroplanes - amazing live sets
Kosheen
Morcheeba
Skunk Anansie

Sheep on Drugs, good enough for the Chemical brothers to rip off several times

Flinch, 90's indie band

Mesh - electro industrial/synth pop band from Bristol.

They're still about - never going to be massive but still should be bigger ... certainly more lauded than they are. Bigger in Europe than the UK I think.

Philly - another vote for the Blue Aeroplanes. And Stones is a fantastic track! Swagger is bloody brilliant!

And how on earth were Teenage Fanclub not massive?

I Am Kloot
Mansun

Roots manuva, best hiphop artist in the UK and I can't recall him ever getting top 40.

binners - Honestly never knew all their albums got to number 1. Never took too much notice of the charts. Some of the stuff from Lost Souls is beautiful. Actually met Jimmy at T in the Park outside he got each of us in for £20 by letting us use spare band passes. Think it was a nice earner for them this would of been 98 or 99 he sat and had a smoke with us. Told us he was in a band called the Doves and I was like nah mate haven't heard of you guys. Heard the cedar room and the man who knew evertything and then I was hooked.

The Sundays.

Mansun

Treat, hair metal rocks out

How can it be that Love Like Blood by Killing Joke isn't the national anthem.

I nearly cry everytime I hear it.

As for the Chameleons. I never get in a car without them.

The cedar room is the work of unbridled genius! And I always love Winter Hill when we're about to set off down the San Marino. Appropriate. 🙂

Have you got Lost Sides? The stuff that didn't make it onto albums is better than most bands coud dream of writing!

Nope never heard Lost Sides. Need to try and find it.

Cooper Temple Clause.
Public Image Ltd.
The Macc Lads.

Charlatans - how did oasis 'make it', but they didn't?

Teenage fanclub +1

Mc5
Ian dury

rotten - Member
Cooper Temple Clause.
[b]Public Image Ltd.[/b]
The Macc Lads.

Blue Nile+1, teenage fanclub + 1,and. MOGWAI

🙂

The Wonder Stuff.

Not sure what Doves are doing, they have a 2-CD best of I believe, but their web site isn't giving much away gig-wise.
I Am Kloot, well, 2010 Mercury Award nominee, new album due January, all over 6Music; like Elbow, who have a hand in production, they're slow-burners, getting more and more attention.
One band, often cited as being hugely influential, but never as massive as they ought to be, are Gang Of Four.
I [i]love[/i] their stuff, but never seen them, they ought to be much bigger than they are.
Then there's Half Man Half Biscuit... 😀
Blue Nile were on RadMac on 6Music this week, they have no interest in being hugely popular.

The Wonder Stuff

Will read all this thread tomorrow as there is usually something new I will discover. But back in my youth, I always thought these would be big and they never were.

Righog, a clue would be nice, I've no idea at all who that band is.

^^^ It says in the vid, they are Krokus 😀

Edit: It seems like a long time ago......Because it was..

Oh not to forget Jane's Addiction

Kerbdog

Silver Sun

Then there's Half Man Half Biscuit...

Quite. 😀
Huuge Biscuit fan - don't think fame would change them in the slightest, but, let's face it, it's not going to happen is it?
I think as long as they can do what they do, they're happy.
Certainly seems that way from the infrequent interviews.

As to the accusations of snobbishness:

I love the music threads on here - I've found some amazing music by bands I'd never heard of before.
I think 99% of people are just trying to share the joy they get from music, whatever that music may be.
No need to get wound up because someone posts a bit of Peruvian ambient techno-folk, whatever their motives might be.

Belle and Sebastian.

Krokus appear to be a Saxon/AC/DC hybrid withour Biff Byford's talent and Young Bro's riffage! Like it though!

IMO the Doves are hugely dull, it's generic boring drivel.. I got taken along to see them in Edinburgh about ten years back and thought they were just badly rehashing early 90's Indie; a genre I quite like. In my mind they're in the same genus as ColdPlay, but with a veneer of self applied 'cool' and ultimately not that good.

danny gatton (guy was a fantastic guitarist)
therapy (fantastic band)
ozric tentacles (ok i admit that they are a very one trick pony/but i love their stuff 😀
chas n dave (nuff said 😉

Blue Aeroplanes
And amazingly that is a +1. Sometimes this place really surprises me. Can't believe someone already mentioned them.

And for something different, The Goats. Don't u derstand why that first album, which I though was a work of genius, didn't immediately make them massive.

And agree I would like to see a world where The Fall are successful but wonder if they would still be the fall if they had become part of the Mainstream. Nothing to do with snobbery - everything to do with losing the essence of what defined them.

Gong 😀

electralene. Asobi Seksu Baddies (amazing live) Joy formidable (although they will be soon)

Been listening to Talk Talk loads, amazing band

Great thing though, the huge amount of music that's out there. We should celebrate that. Just support music!! download weird stuff you've never heard of, go to gigs!

Love music

Shack + 1
The The + 1
One Dove - one album wonders from the early 90's

Janes Addiction were massive in the US when I lived there

I'm still waiting for The Jazz Butcher to be recognised as the greatest songwritey guitary person of his generation...

Penguin Cafe Orchestra must have made a mint from films and TV adverts, but why hasn't everyone bought their records?

Ride were pretty big in indie terms, but yeah I suppose they could have been like a proto-Coldplay. The pop face of shoegaze.

Stereolab are a funny one, loved them but always thought they were trying to be a cult band.

Still, it would've been cool if this had got to no 1...

the beatles

Love Stereolab but they were never going to be huge.
The Sound who I mentioned earlier, were contempories of U2 and if you had to choose at the time who was going to make it,it would have been The Sound.

Singer, not band.
Rosa.

Great voice, just too chunky too be marketable.

The Music

Should have been as big as Kasabian

Dr Feelgood
Wire
New Model Army

therapy (fantastic band)

I've seen them live a couple of times. I've never seen three men make so much noise, bloody impressive.

They're playing near me next month. Tempted.

Spear of Destiny.
The Redskins.
Both class acts and superb live, but overshadowed by U2, who were nowhere near as good live as either these two bands.

Agree with those suggesting The Music, first album was quality.

Also a bit bemused that Suede were never as big as some of the other dross that was around at the time.

House of Love and The Sundays, are both good shouts actually.

Both could be massive today now that indie has gone MOR.

Another vote for Ride from me.

My offering is Gene. I thought Olympian was great.

And another thing! Why wasn't Beulah's "When Your Heartstrings Break" the best-selling album of 1999? Why didn't I even hear about it until 10 years later?

Oceansize- should have been filling stadiums around the world IMO but never quite seemed to get there.

Ha, Silver Sun! Saw them as a support a couple of times; good, but not that great.
Emsz, I'll go with Asobi Seksu, although they have changed their style significantly, and I can sort of see why they wouldn't be that big. Saw them once, supposed to be them headlining, but got changed to them supporting 65daysofstatic. I wanted one of their t-shirts, but there was nobody looking after their merch stand, and in the end I had to persuade one of the Static's crowd to take my money on their behalf, which didn't impress me.
Neither did 65days..., for that matter, walked out after two 'songs' and went to a nearby pub. Not the best night's gig-going.

And for something different, The Goats. Don't u derstand why that first album, which I though was a work of genius, didn't immediately make them massive.

Tricks Of The Shade or another The Goats?

Close Lobsters anyone?

Another vote for

Gun
Thunder
Little Angels
Kill II This
Earthtone 9

Plus

Number One Son
One Minute Silence
The Blueprint (Karl from ET9's follow up band)
Boy Sets Fire

The Long Pigs

^^^^^^^^ Thunder had a bit of success. Little Angels deserved more.

2 of my favourites from around the late 80s, early 90s were Cry of Love and Badlands. Badlands suffered due to too many egos in one band. Between that and grunge, they were never going to last long. Plus Ray Gillen dying of AIDS.......

For fans of earthtone 9 they are working on a new album, which maybe out by now. I got a single download from them which sounds good so may have to snap up the album.

Kerbdog were criminally underated IMO, his follow up band Wilt was also good but more of a pop bias to it.

I think I saw earthtone 9 when they played the Nexus in Southampton, but I might be wrong as the details from that period of my life are a little hazy 😉

Whoever it was they were pretty good!

Soul Asylum.

After listening to Rings Around the World this morning - Super Furry Animals

And comparing Doves to Coldplay? Seriously? Have a word with yourself! 😉

the music +3

six by seven

22-20s

Blimey, someone else who remembers six by seven! Got to try and find my cd singles and rip them into iTunes at some point.

Anathema should be much more popular than they are. Fair enough they came from the Doom Metal scene but now they are the best Prog' Rock band I've ever had the pleasure to listen to!

Also, the wife says... Skrillex

GENE sadly labeled Smith copies...

Dead Can Dance

Killing like +1 they're headlinig hammerfest in march.
New model army +1, followed them round northern Europe in the mid 80's.
Talk talk +1
The the +1
I agree that some bands would have changed if the became bigger, some of the egos involved were big enough.
Would add
Faith no more
Alice in chains.

Doves+1 wonderful soul music imo.
Shack+1 drugs dont work.
My two penneth,.......
That Petrol Emotion - ahead of their time
&
The Aloof - acid teds.
Oh, a recent one....
Apparat.

I believe someone mentioned the Blue Aeroplanes somewhere on here; they may be interested in this:
http://www.thefleece.co.uk/shows/view/united-kingdom/bristol/the-fleece/the-blue-aeroplanes
Turns out, and I didn't know this until a couple of minutes ago, the Aeroplanes bought The Fleece two and a half years ago!

Blue aeroplanes were good - in fact I've just stuck on You are Loved as we speak

Not sure if anyone mentioned the Wedding Present yet but they should have had way more success

and why why didn't the Violent Femmes end up bigger?

Therapy? As a few have mentioned and the Wildhearts

clutch.

Doves, The Music and The Charlatans are all good shouts.

I'll add Gemma Hayes aswell, beautiful voice.

Five for fighting - superman was an amazing track.
The Men They Couldn't Hang
Midway Still
Blake Babies (loved Julianna Hatfield)
Thunder

Ah,

Three Doors Down.

The La's should have been much more successful but Lee Mavers threw it away... The Charlatans did have a peak of popularity between '95 - '97 for their eponymous forth album and Tellin' Stories, but deserved more success earlier in their career and to the present day. They have great material and play a great gig - especially since Tim Burgess quit the drugs and booze. I also think Black Rebel Motorcycle Club should have sold more records than they did. The Black Keys have got more successful as their output has decreased in quality - they used to be so much better.

Going right back I will never be convinced The Small Faces or The Seeds got the recognition they deserved and right now Cashier No. 9 should be really big.