Thursday, March 01, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #24-The Musically Forgotten One


Thirteen Underappreciated Bands


Yea, the Thursday Thirteen returns! And while I swore I might slow down on this meme, I still have 5 or 6 lists trapped in my head so we shall press on. So, Thirteen Bands that need some love.


1.Better Than Ezra- A band that still clicks along. Listen to Desperately Wanting or In the Blood and tell me they dont deserve a download.

2.Buffalo Tom-Big Red Letter Day was the perfect album, with just a bit of a mix between the lonely grunge sound and the eff you punk sound. An album I still listen to now. And they have a new album coming out in 2007.

3.Love Seed Mama Jump-A Delaware based, Philadelphia Cover Band that still fills the bars, 12 years after I graduated from college and saw them for the last time. The thing about cover bands is that you hate the sound, but LSMJ does a nice job of making the song all there own. Check out Free or Rocky Top to get a true sense of there sound. Plus how many bands can release a song originally done by a marching band and make it sound good!

4.Crowded House-Everyone thinks Crowded House had two good songs in the 80's and then disappeared back to Australia. I consider the Finn Brothers some of the contemporaries of the grunge sound and "Weather With You" and "World Where You Live" were some of there best from later albums. Try to find the live concerts with a guest appearance by Eddie Vedder.

5.P!NK- Ok, you ask, how is Pink underappreciated? Well, since she has gotten away from the bubble gum pop sound, she is no where near as popular, though some of her newest stuff is some of her best stuff. "Who Knew" maybe one of her best songs ever. Plus she did a duet with the Indigo Girls in "Dear Mr President" and held her own.

6.Living Colour- A unique band because it was made up of African Americans playing heavy metal. They really only had one huge album, but there were 4 or 5 good songs on the first album. Plus Vernon Reid was and still is a guitar genius.

7.Seven Potato Baby-A small Philadelphia based band that strikes me as a cross between No Doubt and Sarah McLachlan if she was in a band. Find "Happy" someplace.

8.Dig-One of those mid-90's grunge bands with a heavy accent on fast guitar, they sound like a knock off of the Goo Goo Dolls. It was probably a race to see who would survive between the two, since there sound is so similar. "Believe" was a better song then anything the Goo Goo Dolls did in the early days, but Dig could not substain the momentum and GGD exploded.

9.Color Me Badd- Ok here goes some of my street cred, but if you dont find yourself tapping your toes when listening to "Sex You Up" or "All for Love" you may need to see a doctor about a happy pill.

10.Tupac/2-Pac-Ok, now to get that street cred back! Tupac was a rapping genius, who wrote some great songs about social concerns that not only affected inner city folks, but could be a message to everyone everywhere. "Changes" is special and California Love is a great song for the Friday drive home.

11.Blessid Union of Souls-A great band that caught on during the early 2000's with a sound that was a mix between the vocals of Boyz II Men and the piano playing skills of Billy Joel. While they disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived, "Believe" and "Light in your Eyes" are great songs still today, guys especially if you have some sucking up to do.

12.Four Squirrels-A band out of the Pacific Northwest that came after the grunge sound, but still stuck to its heritage with its tribute to Kurt Cobain in the "Mighty KC". They became slight celebrities when the van they were traveling in got in a car wreck, killing the lead singer and a guitarist. Still one great album.

13.Soul Asylum- Ok, they are not under appreciated really, because they have not put out too much to be appreciated recently. But in 1997, at the height of there popularity, they played a benefit concert for the victims of the Red River Flood in Minnesota. And even better, they played the prom at a high school most affected by the flood in Grand Forks. That deserves some appreciation in my book and the CD was released as a benefit album, titled "After the Flood" in 2004.

All of these bands should be visible on Itunes, except for maybe Seven Potato Baby, but if your intrigued to hear what they sound like, drop me a line, I have the CD.

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)



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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!





30 comments:

Christie O. said...

lovin me some better than ezra to get the blood movin! and i heard runaway train the other day and was lovin me some soul asylum. i forget about them sometimes! great list! happy happy! apparently i am not in need of any happy pills. haha!

el-e-e said...

Agree with your Crowded House assessment! And Color me Badd. "Happy Pill." Heh. :)

Anonymous said...

I love this list! Better than Ezra, Blessid Union of Souls, and Soul Asylum all bring back some great memories for me.

Carey said...

The only one i have heard of is #13, but i don't know their music. Wendy sent me here, great website.

Unknown said...

Great list. I am actually an onld 90s show right now and Color Me Bad made an appearance..Loved them

Anonymous said...

Some of the best bands are the unappreciated and always have been, I think.

Lady G~ said...

I guess I'm showing my age here. The only one I'm familiar with is Color Me Badd. LOL! I'll have to go check the others out.

Have a blessed Thursday!

Claire said...

A bit clueless when it comes to most of these. But i do like Pink, Crowded House and tupac.

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Pink! As soon as I saw you'd listed her, I thought, "Who knew?" -- what an amazing song. I need a copy of it; we're currently using it as a track at the gym and we all sing along. Kinda pathetic, in a fun way.

And nope, Pam's not like Pink. She doesn't have the hard, edginess that Pink has -- stop by West of Mars over the weekend and you can see Pam in action.

Maven said...

I didn't know Crowded House was still together and performing! Ya learn something new everyday!

Anonymous said...

This is a great list. Some of them I'm going to have to check out, but I love Pink! Love writing to her songs, she's so soulful and real.

I heard "Sex You Up" the other day in the car with my kids and I was singing along and they looked at me like I had two heads.

Happy TT!

LAC said...

Hmmm, I'd add Pat McGee Band, underappreciated and not well known despite many shows at the TLA.

ChupieandJ'smama (Janeen) said...

I love quite a few of those, respect a few others, and have never heard of 3, 7, 8, and 12. Color Me Badd threw me for a loop but, I did like the music I heard on the radio. Brings me back to my college days.

Tink said...

I love Crowded House and Pink, but don't know the others. Perhaps I should check them out? :-)
My TT shows a lot of pics of my two kittens growing up.

JAM said...

Killer list. I think Crowded House are back together and supposed to tour this year. The VJ on VH1-Classics said that anyway. I'd love to see them in concert.

I'm with ya on Living Colour as well. I saw Vernon Reid perform and teach at a guitar show several years ago and it was absolutely incredible. He was late, walked in with everyone already waiting on him, unpacked his guitar, plugged in, apologized for the plane making him late, and launched into about 20 minutes of fretboard pyrotechnics before stopping and talking again. No warmup, no preparation. Just sheer guitar brilliance.

Joan said...

I'm one of those stange individuals who is not that "into" music; but I enjoyed your comments on the bands anyway. My TT is also posted.

Miscellaneous-Mum said...

Yay Crowded HouSe! Go aussies. Tragic though the drummer committed suicide a few years back. Thanks for visiting me

Anonymous said...

Great list.
I love Crowded House and Pink, but don't know the others.
Happy Thursday!

Peg said...

I'm going to have to stick to 80's tunes for my ringtone...LOL...I'm not familiar with quite a few of these!

Anonymous said...

This is a very interesting list. I guess so many people would benefit for getting to know some of these bands.

Thanks for sharing!

Mercy's Maid said...

After all these years, I still get California Love stuck in my head on a regular basis.

Twyla said...

Am I a loser because I first heard Buffalo Tom on the MSCL soundtrack? LOL
Love Soul Asylum. Runaway Train is one of my favourite songs ever.

Leah said...

Pink's music, I'm familiar with, the others, not so much. Maybe just the names, if I hear the music, I might recognize it.

Anonymous said...

I miss Color Me Badd

Anthony said...

Good list. They're likely unappreciated because their record companies didn't have the bucks to throw at the five media outlets that control radio to get them some airplay.

Generally, there's higher quality stuff lurking on WXPN or in the New Releases rack of your local FYE store. Or local stage.

Anonymous said...

First time round your site. Great post. I too think PINK is under appreciated. My TT is up too! I'm all about spirals.

Neila said...

Pink is f*cking amazing! She writes some brilliant songs!! I definitely agree with you on that one. I love her!!!

Crystal said...

Great list, I need to check some of these out. :) I love Better Than Ezra.

Happy TT!

Lexa Roséan said...

crowded house and pink!

Anonymous said...

Naturally I don't know most of them but Crowded house is totally good!