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Who were the most underachieving band of the 1990s?

Kaka Tim said:
I wouldn't publicly advertise your complete lack of musical taste, knowledge and judgement if i were you.
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He likes Rocket...

:p

I think I've just come to accept Brown's voice as being part of the Roses sound. When I first heard those songs, the vocals were adequate for me and I was grabbed by them. He's not a singer by any stretch of the imagination and whilst that doesn't really matter to me, I can see why others are put off.

Tricky one with relation to underachieving for me, though. Yeah, they could possibly have done more and in that sense, they underachieved. They also recorded one of my absolute favourite albums... so in that sense, they achieved quite a lot for me.
 
What are we talking about here -- bands that were great and didn't sell any records, or bands that fizzled out after doing some good songs?

Brockway said:
Euros Childs is the best writer of melodies on the planet bar none so I'd have to say Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. That said, you're never going to get anywhere with a name like that.
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Should have sold more records, and also kind of fizzled out.

They did do many strange and beautiful songs though, an incredible gift for melody.
 
The stone roses were so good that they were actually before their time. Oasis got it right with the timing, but never outgrew britpop and that ultimately lead to their demise. Seude? They had to compete with the likes of nirvarna and guns and roses, and made (as stated) 2 great albums. Their style wasn't for the masses just those disaffected youth like myself (us).
Babylon zoo I felt should've done better. Maybe the mass marketing went against the group, as lyrically they were above their peers.
 
muser said:
The stone roses were so good that they were actually before their time. Oasis got it right with the timing, but never outgrew britpop and that ultimately lead to their demise. Seude? They had to compete with the likes of nirvarna and guns and roses, and made (as stated) 2 great albums. Their style wasn't for the masses just those disaffected youth like myself (us).
Babylon zoo I felt should've done better. Maybe the mass marketing went against the group, as lyrically they were above their peers.
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The Stone Roses weren't before their time, although they were certainly unique. Their main problem was they just kindof stopped.
 
Elastica?
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you are taking the piss right

just thought of pulp, different class - pure genius, shame jarvis turned into a talentless art school tosser almost immediately afterwards

and what happened to tricky, a genius amongst men, although he didnt do bad for himself im not sure he ever really hit what he was capable of

and as for lauren hill

couldve done better

and then i forgot to mention arrested development
 
nick1181 said:
Usually.

If you can't hold a tune, you can't hold a tune... and at that Reading Fest gig, Ian Brown demonstrably could not hold a tune. And what should have been rock greatness was demonstrably not.
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John Lydon, Shane Mc Gowan, Lou Reed, Joe Strumeer, Ian Dury - none would ever get in the school choir but they could put a tune accross. And Brown manages that just fine on the first album.

On the second coming however ...

Actually I know someone who used to knock around with him. She sat with him whilst he settled down to watch the Reading gig on video. His face fell at the sound of his sheer tunelessness as he repeated 'oh no ..... oh no ..... did it sound that shit? ...' Apparently he started taking singing lessons shortly after (although arguably several years too late).
 
smokedout said:
you are taking the piss right

just thought of pulp, different class - pure genius, shame jarvis turned into a talentless art school tosser almost immediately afterwards
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pulp are an 80's band that made it after many many years.

or my late-80's fanzine tape fell backwards from the future.
 
smokedout said:
you are taking the piss right

just thought of pulp, different class - pure genius, shame jarvis turned into a talentless art school tosser almost immediately afterwards

and what happened to tricky, a genius amongst men, although he didnt do bad for himself im not sure he ever really hit what he was capable of

and as for lauren hill

couldve done better

and then i forgot to mention arrested development
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I agree with the tricky sentiment, but lauren hill :confused:
What could she have done better. Came, saw, conquered and left.
 
Kaka Tim said:
John Lydon, Shane Mc Gowan, Lou Reed, Joe Strumeer, Ian Dury - none would ever get in the school choir but they could put a tune accross.
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Bob Dylan, David Byrne, Mark Knoffler...

As David Byrne said, "The better someone's voice, the harder it is for people to believe what they're singing"

However - the people you mention, although they're gruff, croaky, gravelly etc... you'll probaby find that they all had pretty good control of pitch, volume, mike-technique and technique generally. If you attempt to do a tour without "singing from the right place" (as most people don't) then you're going to seriously fuck your vocal chords.

Another example of someone who lost it recently is Roger Waters at that last live-aid thing - he croaked his way through Wish You Were Here. I'd put that one down to lack of practice - the guy literally couldn't sing, though he has done in the past.

Next time you have the dubious pleasure of watching a whole load of people doing kareoke... listen to about 10 of them then imagine what Shane McGowan or Ian Drury etc would sound like. No comparison.
 
Screaming Trees. Mark Lanegan is probably the greatest rock god since the 60s/70s, yet their magnificent Sweet Oblivion album did relatively little while the mediocre Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots albums went platinum.

I put this down to the look of the rest of the band, two big fat blokes on guitar/drums made them distinctly unglamourous, even for a 'grunge band'...

Oh, and Curve, made a smashing album in Cuckoo, and then sat there as Garbage nicked their sound wholesale and went mega-massive.
 
muser said:
Babylon zoo I felt should've done better. Maybe the mass marketing went against the group, as lyrically they were above their peers.
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Pungent smells, They consummante my home, Beyond the blackhorizon
Trying to take control, See my girl, She shivers in her bones
The sun and zenith rising, Trying to take us all
There's a fire between us, So where is your god
There's a fire between us, I can't get off the carousel,
I can't get off the carousel, I can't get off the carousel,
I can't get off this world. This sickening taste, Homophobic jokes,
Images of fascist votes, Beam me up, 'Cause I can't breath.
Spaceman, I always wanted you to go, Into Space man (Intergalacticchrist)

It's time to terminate, The great white world, Morbid fascinations television,
Takes control, Decimation different races fall, Electronic information,
Tampers with your soul, The sun and zenith rising, Trying to take us
There's a fire between us, So where is your god
There's a fire between us, I can't get off the carousel,
I can't get off the carousel, I can't get off the carousel,
I can't get off this world. This sickening taste, Homophobic jokes,
Images of fascist votes, Beam me up, 'Cause I can't breath.
Spaceman, I always wanted you to go, Into Space man (Intergalacticchrist) !
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laughing_people.jpg
 
RenegadeDog said:
i preferred circa:now though. scream dracula scream sounded like they were trying too hard to be poppy
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Because SDS is kinda "pop-Rocket" - although not as much as RFTC is.

Circa Now and Hot Charity/Cut N Play are their best records.
 
RenegadeDog said:
Screaming Trees. Mark Lanegan is probably the greatest rock god since the 60s/70s, yet their magnificent Sweet Oblivion album did relatively little while the mediocre Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots albums went platinum.

I put this down to the look of the rest of the band, two big fat blokes on guitar/drums made them distinctly unglamourous, even for a 'grunge band'...
Click to expand...

Again, though... they may have not sold as many records as possible, but Lanegan has hardly underachieved...

7 (I think) Trees albums, 6 solo records and quite a few contributions - QOTSA, Isobel Campbell, Greg Dulli.
 
Dubversion said:
Babylon Zoo...
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I used to know him before he became famous. Funny guy. When the rest of us were wearing holey jumpers and playing c86 stuff, he was dancing on stage holding a lit up neon tube.
 
there was a band (from oxford?) that i've got a bunch of 7" singles by, that were formed by some guy who used to produce supergrass (i think) but i'm at work and can't for the life of me remember their name. anyway, i thought they were ace, but they seemed to vanish into thin air. haven't listened to them for years though, they're probably actually shit.
 
milesy said:
there was a band (from oxford?) that i've got a bunch of 7" singles by, that were formed by some guy who used to produce supergrass (i think) but i'm at work and can't for the life of me remember their name. anyway, i thought they were ace, but they seemed to vanish into thin air. haven't listened to them for years though, they're probably actually shit.
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The Unbelievable Truth?
 
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