Best bands that just never quite reached the top?

[Shek]

I was jamming to Cheap Trick and the Dream Police in the car the other day and wondered what the best "second tier" bands were out there - those that hit it big but just aren't in the same league as heavy hitters - Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, etc.

Who would you nominate?

[Julie]

Ac/dc

[Bigfella]

I was jamming to Cheap Trick and the Dream Police in the car the other day and wondered what the best "second tier" bands were out there - those that hit it big but just aren't in the same league as heavy hitters - Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, etc.

Who would you nominate?

This could be fun, though I suspect we may have a few battles over definition (on WAB? never ;)). It may also invite bands who were big in one country, but failed to translate that success beyond their shores - which describes practically every great Australian band (with a literal handful of exceptions). Still, there is fun to be had.

I'll jump in with a couple of English bands:

First, the Kinks, one of the best & most important British bands of any era, but not quite first division in success terms:

Perhaps the most perfect pop song of all time:



And the song that launched a million guitar riffs. Contrary to popular myth Jimmy Page dod not play on the original, though the piano was most likely played by John Lord, later of Deep Purple.

[Bigfella]

Ac/dc

AC/DC are the second biggest selling popular music act of all time (the Beatles are first). I think we can give them a spot in the top tier.:)

[Bigfella]

Small Faces

My next nomination is the Small Faces. A brilliant little English band who deserved more success.

[S2]

Five To Mention

Traffic, Badfinger, Little Feat, Poco, Flying Burrito Brothers. All these bands were brilliant yet hovered just below mega-stardom (and mega-bucks)...sometimes by intent. Stardom crushed Tom Evans and Peter Ham. The road crushed Lowell George. Richie Furay survived. So too Chris Hillman and Steve Winwood.

[bigross86]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and go with Deep Purple. Awesome band, still going strong today, but it just seems to me that they're not as popular as the heavies, even though Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin were both doing the same thing at the same time

[Genosaurer]

Traffic and The Allan Parsons Project both seem to me to be bands that were just shy of really hitting it big. They have a few songs that still get play on the radio, but not anywhere near as many as the bands I would consider "top tier".

EDIT: Jethro Tull would be another good band for this discussion, I think.

[S2]

Early/Mid Fleetwood Mac, Fairport Convention, Velvet Underground and The Black Crows

While Fleetwood Mac found mega-stardom later with the Buckingham/Nicks outfit, the true Mac labored in American obscurity while producing exquiste music with variously Peter Green, Danny Kirwin, Jeremy Spencer and, finally, Bob Welch as their guitarists.

In many ways Fairport Convention hovered just below the radar as well through their various incarnations. Like the band, Richard Thompson's solo career has wandered in happy obscurity.

Velvet Underground is now considered iconic and every artiste's idea of the origins of punk. They didn't make squat during the day and had a marginal impact on the nat'l scene. Always something of a cult favorite, even at their height.

I find the Black Crows to have somehow not broken through. Just edgy enough to hover on the periphery but not go over the top. Their time may be past them.

[RustyBattleship]

"Hot Food to Go".

Well, not much of a big hit as I don't think they ever made a label. But the creator (Chris Christianson) continued on and reorganized as a percussion band called "Midnight Express".

Chris is one of the greatest drummers I have ever seen. He is also the band and choir director of our local church (our daughter learned to play drums during the band lessons he taught in his sound proofed garage). This came in handy when she went on to High School and learned to play Clarinet and Flute as well as being on the drum team.

Chris is fantastic as an arranger also. During our Easter Sunrise Service, he has the entire Church band and choir playing with a mix of band instruments and orchestra instruments.

And he pulls it off every time.

[pennsy]

There are heaps. But off the top of my head I'll throw up a couple of Aussie groups-The Masters Apprentices, Kevin Borich Express, Sherbert.

Of the early hard rock outfits-Budgie, Hawkwind, Uriah Heap, The Gun, to name a few.

[captain]

The Hollies for lots of hits and the Troggs for "Wild thing", that can still be heard in the best boozy pubs. :)



Cheers.

[Stitch]

I'm going to nominate a Bay Area favorite, Y&T (formerly known as Yesterday & Today); they had quite a few hits, and are still going strong today, but they never quite seemed to make it big, even at the height of their success in the '80's.

[sappersgt]

I'll plug Bad Company and Foghat, I got see both several times.

[sappersgt]

I'm going to nominate a Bay Area favorite, Y&T (formerly known as Yesterday & Today); they had quite a few hits, and are still going strong today, but they never quite seemed to make it big, even at the height of their success in the '80's.

I'm trying to remember the name of the club in Los Altos I saw them at. On ECR just past El Monte...