Criminally commercially unsuccessful bands

[Shinbone]

Big Wreck.


The Struts.

 

[SoundOfOneHandSlapping]

The Nils.

 

[Mugre]

“Respectable Street” is right up there with any Ray Davies social critique.

Even though they're of my era, I never went that deep on the Kinks except for "You really got me" being the second song I ever learned on bass (after Wild Thing). At that time I was all about The Who, and Townsend as a lyricist.

 

[40Hz]

Uriah Heep
Camel
Kings X

 

[Skeezix]

The Good Rats

Love the Rats.
'Birth Comes To Us All' did make a minor appearance on the national
charts. Very briefly. And then they were gone.
Very good live performers.
Saw them at My Father's Place on L.I.
Wish I still had my rat.

 

[fourstr00]

Winterhawk

 

[bholder]

Love the Rats.
'Birth Comes To Us All' did make a minor appearance on the national
charts. Very briefly. And then they were gone.
Very good live performers.
Saw them at My Father's Place on L.I.
Wish I still had my rat.

"Advertisement in the Voice" got some decent airplay for a while, didn't it? Maybe not nationally though. I saw them in the fall of '77, the Talking Heads opened - talk about a bad matchup - not a lot of overlap between those 2 crowds...

 

[4dog]

kings x ..and concrete blonde...my first big show i ever played was this bill in houston tx...i dreamed of the possibilities...it was an awesome bill.....they should have been silly famous!!

 

[bholder]

concrete blonde

+ a zillion, still some of my favorite stuff

 

[4dog]

mine too!!

 

[bholder]

OK, switching gears to mid 70s brit art-pop, Be Bop Deluxe should've been bigger in the US...

 

[juancaminos]

Quicksilver Messenger Service
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
Goose Creek Symphony

 

[dan1952]

Moby Grape, totally mishandled by their record company(and manager), plus all of the drama from Skip Spence's descent into madness(sort of like the American Syd Barrett), they did get one substantial hit...

...but they had plenty of other great tunes...

Couldn't have said it better!

 

[dan1952]

Heads, Hands, and Feet. Can't post clips from my phone, but look up Live in Paris.

 

[db59]

 

[ultra60]

I'd have to go with New Model Army. 30 + years and I think it's safe to say they are unknown in the US.

 

[Michedelic]

Even though they're of my era, I never went that deep on the Kinks except for "You really got me" being the second song I ever learned on bass (after Wild Thing). At that time I was all about The Who, and Townsend as a lyricist.

The Who, well Pete, owe The Kinks a lot from when they were just getting off the ground and moving past R’n’B covers. ‘I Can’t Explain’ was modeled on ‘All Of The Day...”, plus they had the same producer. When The Kinks got away from the riff styled tunes, Ray blossomed as a keen observer of human behavior and situations, as did their music itself. ‘Days’, ‘Sunny Afternoon’, ‘Dead End Street’, ‘Waterloo Sunset’, not huge hits, but it doesn’t matter. They’re “well respected” classics. Check the albums ‘Something Else’, ‘Village Green’, ‘Muswell Hillbillies’ to start.

 

[QRanc]

Big Wreck.


The Struts.

Big Wreck were huge in Canada in the '90s. "That Song", "The Oaf" and "Blown Wide Open" got heavy air play.

Unfortunately I only got about a minute into the video you posted. That kind of wankery on bass turns me off. To each their own.

 

[40Hz]

Going back to early prog - Happy The Man should've been bigger than they were...

+1. Definitely.

Ditto for the band Caravan.

 

[Michedelic]

The Struts.
[/QUOTE]
They’re still on their ascendancy, US tour coming up in summer.