Who's your favorite obscure band, musical artist?

The Exploding Hearts
Os Mutantes
The Beat
Shoes
The Monks
The Outsiders
Q65
Love (They had two actual hits and a gold record, so they probably don't count.)
Skip Spence (He was at one point a member of the Jefferson Airplane, so he probably doesn't count.)
13th Floor Elevators (One of their songs is in a Dell commercial, so they probably don't count anymore.)
The Move (Not considered obscure in the UK.)
Serge Gainsbourg (Not considered obscure in France.)

 

Wow! She looks really good for a 41 year old woman with a kid!
Oh, speaking of other 90s-folkie types whose audiences were made up almost entirely of dudes with crushes on them...any love for The Sundays? My man Del_B and I had a chat about them a while back.

 

Binary Star
Immortal Technique

 

Captain tractor
Corb lund
White Mud Drive

 

emmet swimming — Great little band out of Fairfax, Va. that recently got back together. "Wake" is their best record, but "Big Night Without You" is the one newbies should start with. Great stuff — they might just be my favorite band ever.

And I'll third-up Guster. Been a fan of them for years now, and they just keep getting better. Melodic pop. Moody lyrics. Good shit.

 

John Prine. I've heard only one disc of his that disappointed me . . . I think he made it right after a breakup.

If you're in the right mood (i.e., beered-up enough), Austin Lounge Lizards


Micropolitan Guy, if you ever put together a mix CD, send me a copy.

 

Some great names on here already.....I'd add:
Sad Lovers and Giants
Wire Train
The Chameleons
Autour de Lucie
Gene
The Connells
The Rifles
Hard-Fi

The last two probably will appeal to all you fans of the Jam (i.e., the best band ever). And for you SoCal Jam fans, Paul Weller is playing three nights in a row at the Avalon in Hollywood. Judging by recent setlists, he's playing a lot of Jam and Style Council songs, and tickets still appear to be available for Sunday.
There's nothing else going on that day, right?

 

Not sure how you define 'obscure'. John Prine hasn't been an obscure artist since the early 70s. He's won Grammys and written hit country songs.

 

me, too. I should have listed him. Once did one of his songs at an open-mike night.

 

I have just about everything they've ever recorded. Good stuff.

 

We all have a different definition for obscure.
It would seem like obscure in this context might mean going to the mall, the grocery store or chain restaurant and doing a survey. As much as some of us love these artists and don't think they're so obscure, it's possible 95-98 percent of the common folks at malls and stores and restaurants wouldn't know John Prine, despite the fact he's such a talented and accomplished artist.

 

You could say the same about almost any artist other than The Beatles or Elvis or Frank Sinatra. It's possible 95-98 percent of the common folks at malls and stores and restaurants wouldn't know George Jones, Ray Davies or Otis Redding. That hardly makes them obscure.