Criminally commercially unsuccessful bands

[SteveBass25]

King’s X definitely at the top of any why didn’t they blow up list. Richie Kotzen is SO criminally underrated. A great guitarist but an equally great singer. He’s put out some incredible albums. I’d say Jamiroquai (at least in the US where they’re basically a one hit wonder) and The Tragically Hip. Gods in Canada but almost unknown in the states.

 

[Beetfarm615]

Big Wreck.


The Struts.

Hopefully the struts are young enough to gain some more traction. I thought that track with ke$ha would have given them more top 40 cred.

 

[rashrader]

Watchtower.

 

[Rojd]

24-7 Spyz

 

[GwenOnBass]

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.

While it is true the Good Rats came to my mind briefly as I read the OP, it is also true I struck down that inclination as quickly as it arrived. Saw the Good Rats in 79 and felt I came up about 99 cents on the dollar short of the cost of admission.

 

[koricancowboy]

24/7 Spyz

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Blue Rodeo

 

[BEADG63]

Talas...of course, Billy Sheehan went on to great things, but I thought the first 2 Talas albums were amazing.
A power trio with 3 lead vocalists

 

[burgerdj]

Pinback and Hum immediately come to mind. Another great UK band that was passed over by the grunge wave was Bivouac. Minibar...the list goes on, but I’m glad I found ‘em.

 

[CalBuzz51]

The Lawnmowers (from Seattle, apparently there are others). This whole album drips with pop goodness.

 

[P-bass bluesman]

Quicksilver Messenger Service

 

[bassfran]

Just off the top of my head, The Bags and Babe The Blue Ox.

 

[digmeout]

Reaching back here. 'Trapeze' You Are The Music We're Just The Band .

 

[bassfran]

Rockpile: Dave Edmunds (guitar, vocals), Nick Lowe (bass, vocals), Billy Bremner (guitar, vocals), and Terry Williams (drums). Rockpile released only one album under their own name (Seconds of Pleasure, 1980) because until 1980 Lowe and Edmunds had contracts with different record labels. However, the Dave Edmunds albums Tracks on Wax 4 (1978) and Repeat When Necessary (1979), and Nick Lowe’s album Labour of Lust (1979) were all essentially Rockpile albums. Repeat When Necessary and Labour of Lust were even recorded and released concurrently. Rockpile were also the band on Mickey Jupp’s album Juppanese (1978) and Carlene Carter’s album Musical Shapes (1980). An amazingly prolific and sadly under-appreciated group.

This band was phenomenal and had the total package. Watch their live clips on ute oob and be amazed.

 

[mexicanyella]

Cracker / Eels / Pavement / They Might Be Giants

All have a good following, but not as commercially successful as I thought they could have been.

Love me some Cracker.

I liked "Kerosene Hat" more than the later Cracker albums, but some of that might have been due to the fact that I really liked the mix, which they somehow did in some soundstage live recording situation if I'm not mistaken. I thought that album was a lot of fun all the way through. And I really like the drums and bassline on the hidden track, "Eurotrash Girl." It's an interesting addition to a sort of piezo-acoustic bonehead three-chord strummed rhythm part. David Lowery comes up with some pretty out-there lyrical images too. "Here come ol'...Kerosene Haaaaat...with his earflaps waxed...a'courtin' his girrrrl..." What?

 

[BassFishingInAmerica]

 

[seanm]

Anvil. "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" is a great movie but very depressing. It is like a real life Spinal Tap.

"In the summer of 1984 Anvil toured the world with the biggest bands of rock. All of them sold millions of records around the world. All of them, but one..."

 

[rtav]

UK

... then (almost) every other prog band lol.

 

[bassfran]

The Jesus Lizard

I think they were/are completely 100% successful for what they are.

The commercial mainstream could never possibly handle such greatness.

 

[HamOnTheCob]

Crack the Sky.

In 2004 I recorded an EP in Rick Witkowski's Studio L. He's an awesome dude. Crack the Sky really was great.

Blue October

One of the greatest bands of all time. I don't care who somebody's favorite band is, they're not as deep psychologically or emotionally as Blue October. I have signed copies of a couple of their CDs on my wall. They're the best.

Stuck Mojo

I was just listening to them a couple hours ago. I don't agree they should've been more commercially successful necessarily, but I love them! Southern Pride is a killer jam!