There have been a crap ton on great bands that never made a huge following,yet were complete badass musicians. Just for giggles,post some if you got em.

So yeah I'm bored.

Just for kicks.

My buddy supplied Sound Garden their 420, we would go down to this big warehouse on East Marginal way. They were always practicing there Not my taste of music though.

Your buddy is a drug dealer?

Old School Rock | Metal
Budgie
Cactus
Montrose
Spirit

Brit Pop | Alternative | 80s & 90s
Bettie Serveert
The Swansons
Black Grape
Elastica
Suede
Bauhaus | Peter Murphy
Stone Roses
Luna

Modern Rap
Direct Drive

Still ? know idea.....this was back in the early 90's. Are you snooping on your neighbors today? That doesn't pay, a job would though. Are you ever going to get your [Bleeeeep!] together redhooktard?

I must be getting old, I have never heard of any of those bands.

GG Allin was a complete piece of sh!t with a micropenis. And I'm not a fan of most punk rock. Also Sol Duc Soundgarden was far from an underground band. Maybe back when they did Screaming Life.

I know, after wdfw posted that video of SG it just reminded me of going to hear them practice and doing some bizzness.

Love GBV. Robert Pollard is a songwriting machine.

Saw them live a few times. The shows where there were still sober enough to jump around were some of the best rock shows I've seen.

is Sonic Youth still considered underground?

The top 4 are all Classic Rock from the late 60's - 70's. Think Cream, Sabbath and Zep. In fact, Zep outright stole the opening stanza of Stairway from Spirit. Like lifted it bar for bar and note for note. Zep stole everything.

If you like that kind of music and the bands that made it big in the genre, you'll love those 4. Cactus being the best and most influential. Hell, Nirvana and Cobain credit Cactus as one of their main influencers. Cactus was THE band that should have made it BIG TIME. Enjoy.

I've always thought that Cream was underrated. They put out some good songs.

If you like Cactus, check out Jimi Hendrix's "Nine To the Universe", I believe it's the last great Hendrix album, most haven't heard of it. Jimi and Jim McCarty (guitarist for Cactus) do a number called the "Jim/Jimi Jam", unreal.More instrumentals, shows the direction Jimi was heading. What a loss!
I saw Cactus right after the big personal change (lost Jim McCarty and Carmen Appice), we had bought tickets before the change. Really bad performance, just went through the motions. Saw Spirit on the 12 Dreams tour, really great songs,real bad sound. Most shows back then tended to be hit or miss as far as great sound, early Blue Oyster Cult shows(think 1st 3 albums) were really good sounding, though. Bob R

Damn Bob - that makes me kinda jealous. Too bad the shows sucked, but at least you can say you were there! I'll check out that Jimi record and add it to the collection. I have most all of his works in stock, but I don't have that one. Thanks for the tip.

Sol - Cream underrated? Do you live under a rock? They were the GODS of rock until Jimi went over to the UK and showed em' how it was done (poor Eric didn't know what hit him). Remember, this was when the Beatles got all the press.

Cream is, hands down, the best power trio of all time. Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker were the best of the best at their respective roles. Clapton gets all the glory, but Ginger made the band. His jazz influence and odd timings on a small kit were second to none. Hard choice between Ginger, Bonham or Bill Ward (Sabbath) as the best rock drummers of all time. Neil Peart can suck it.

Listen closely to Ginger's small kit on White Room. Nobody was doing these jazz beats back then.

I'm talking about presently, not during their run.

Now you're talking crazy.

Is that one of those "say something stupid to be controversial" things?

If so, nice job.

No. Yes. Maybe?

The Professor is amazing no doubt, but his kit has always been retarded huge. It could be argued that playing a kit that big is technically harder just as easily that you could argue that it's harder to make big & full sound with a smaller kit. I tend to go with the later because you have less available tools to work with. For example, a 12 string guitar will always have a fuller sound than a 6 string, so getting close to 12 string sound from a 6 string, in my mind, is harder. With that Bonham, Baker and Ward get the nod from me. Just my preference and not to take anything away from Peart. I also can't stand Rush's music, so that could be a bias alert. Lastly, I have ZERO musical talent and don't even know which end of a kazoo to use.

Two videos to watch: The first one is a technical breakdown. The second one is just a dude going ape chit.

What makes Bonham so good?

Bill Ward taking the night off

Anyway, I won't hijack the thread any longer with brand name bands...

Bonham can get down.

Hater! From Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hater_(band)

Hater was an American rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1993. The band formed as a side project mostly under the direction of Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd. Additional members included Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, guitarist John McBain (ex-Monster Magnet and, later, partner of Cameron and Shepherd in Wellwater Conspiracy), bassist John Waterman for the self-titled album, Devilhead vocalist Brian Wood, brother of Mother Love Bone vocalist Andrew Wood, and Alan Davis on bass for The 2nd.[1][2]

I have the Hater CD. My best man's younger brother John played bass on the album and was a good friend of Ben Shepherd. We went to high school with Ben's older brother Andy who was quite the artist. John and his brother Ed played at my bachelor party in 1990.

What were those guys like. Always seemed like cool dudes to me.

We we're just in and out in the matter of minutes, I never knew them but my buddy Wayne was close with one of the band members. I was more into hard rock and metal. I never really cared for grunge. When we lived on alki beach our next door neighbor was one of the band members of "Mud Honey" I guess they became pretty well known. They had huge parties which was annoying at times. Vapvid, is Mud Honey still popular or not? Did they make it big ?

Mud Honey, Screaming Trees, Green River and Mother Love Bone were pretty much the founders of the Seattle sound. MH sort of made it big I guess. Not to the level of SG, AIC, PJ and Nirvana, but they did pretty well for themselves and had a solid following until "Grunge" burned out.

I was in early HS through College when "Grunge" was doing its thing. I would have given anything to have been around these parts during that time. I might not be here today or on a totally different life path, but I would have had a great, great time.

Love it or hate it, there really hasn't been a musical genre tidal wave since those days. It all went top 40 bubble gum pop crap in the mid/late 90's and it's been downhill ever since. There are some good newer bands playing today sure, but they are few and far between. Outside of hard metal, It's all autotune and studio musicians these days. Kinda sad....

Goldie Lookin Chain.

When I worked at Alaska Airlines a co worker's Sister was the manager of Alice in Chains. Again,I wouldn't know any of their songs. I'm pretty sure they made it big.

You were a Spartan,right? Too bad you missed Magic. I remember when Mich State played in the finals against Indiana state and Larry the Legend...those were epic games, my two favorite players of all time. Larry still hasn't got over that loss, they remain good friends. Then they battled in the pro's....I'm glad I got see the golden years of the NBA.The Lakers and Celtics title runs were amazing!!!! Once they retired I lost interest in the NBA. I'll watch a game if Steph Curry is playing, by far the purest shooter the game has seen, not to mention his handles, his side kick coog ain't bad either. Best back court duo ever? Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson (R.I.P.) were up there.

Sorry for the hijack Vapid

you left out The Melvins, who were around longer....

The Melvins definitely kick ass.

Great band.

Sweetwater was the band I always expected more from, but they kind of faded away. They're doing a show with Candlebox in Seattle this summer. I'm sure it's sold out, but I bet it's going to be a great show.

The Mentors and The Screamers were both started mid 70s, Eldon Hoke, the lead singer of the Mentors said that Courtney offered him 50k to blow Kurt's head off, and he said no... He was killed by a train in 97 tho...

my dad used to play some of their music at bars when he was doing that while i was growing up... one of the guys was from SF and i guess brought that type of thing with him to the group...

the reason that it has a Chicago style, is because the lead singer was also in Chicago if i remember right....

thats his name... didnt know he went to Chicago after tho, i guess you could say that Chicago incorporated SoC sound.....

GBV are great- greatest hits records suck except his.

When this thread started, I wasn't sure how far underground we were digging. Looks to me like it's not very far, as most of the bands named here had (or still have) what I would consider successful music careers. With that, here's a few bands I like(d) a lot from a similar, just barely underground level:

Mudhoney (the original and best grunge band, IMO), Superchunk, Built to Spill, Son Volt, Wilco, Rocket From the Crypt, Fugazi....

Can you tell I went to college in the '90s?

Anyone who needs their faith restored in modern rock needs to check out Wilco. Just do it. Every member of that band is as good at what he does as anyone. Nels Cline (lead guitar) and Glenn Kotche (drums) are ridiculously good and have unique styles. They've been at it for almost 30 years, and I've yet to tire of their music. Really, really good live shows. Hardly underground, but not a household name either (though I don't know why not).

lots of these bands are still playing the Showbox and the like, but I get your point.

Local Oly band

y'all like loud things (no surprise there). Y'all need to relax and listen to some uniquely AMERICAN music-



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ep_2FoHP5s&list=PL_9kSYFriy0h0fAOCHn_gsz-yfRsnNAwd

I listened to that for 3 seconds and my balls shrunk.

These guys will make you grow hair on your chest.

Yeah I was hoping for more along the lines of bands that never got any recognition and I'm working my way into the dark recesses of the underbelly .

I think these guys are badass.

FU*K BLISTER by ATTICA

Now I think I understand why most of these bands have never been heard of, let alone become popular and well known.

You old goats listen to lawrence welk and liberace so of course you think these bands are too heavy.

more of that 70's BS, this is up there with the Carpenters

Break out of your bubble.

Anybody else going the michael schenker group? Neptune theater.

no...

anyone going to Devin the Dude at Fawcett Hall at Alma Mater?

happens on April 7th....

No but Im a huge UFO fan. I would hardly consider them underground. Schenker is the master.