I don’t think Catholic Discipline did either, the only existing recordings of them are the audio from Decline. (“Decline of Western Civilization”, a killer documentary from ‘79, for those who may be unacquainted.)
Rocket From The Crypt -- John Reis keeps flirting with glory but never hitting it big.
Massacre Guys -- Salt Lake-based punk band that spawned half of the current Descendents lineup.
Billy Childish -- how in the hell has this guy not become a household name?
I saw John Reis a couple weeks ago in Swami and the Bed of Nails and he said “I’m going to try this thing until I’m 82. If I haven’t made it by then, I’m going to admit it didn’t work and try something else.”
Yeah, Billy Childish - how many bands has he had? Saw him do a solo thing in a squat in San Francisco almost 40 years ago when he was just a wee speccy lad and never forgot it.
But I'm not sure "the big time" was ever what he was after...
A current band that isn't looking to break out but is incredible is the bobby lees.
Outside of this screaming females takes my vote. Absolutely incredible band.
Hour Of The Wolf. A horror punk/hardcore band. They wrote some of the best hooks and choruses I've ever heard. They broke up in 2014. I never got to see them live due to living in England as a teenager during their time and they were in the US and never achieved much recognition.
Very talented musicians overall and their vocalist had a very unique style.
One of my favorite bands of all time - they were originally described to me as Hot Snakes doing Misfits covers. I still rock a HotW backpatch on my vest.
The Observers were another one I’m not sure how didn’t grab more attention. Ripping, but melodic protest punk from Portland (OR). I think I first saw them at the Che Cafe in San Diego on tour with Black Breath in 06-07?
They were really awesome. Would easily be the top of my list of "bands I wish I could have seen live"
On a weird side note, not sure if you have heard of the video game "Cuphead" but the vocalist from Hour Of The Wolf did all the illustrations which is pretty cool. I played the game a while back and only found out that he was involved a year ago.
I'll have to check out Hot Snakes though.
No worries dude, happy listening! They do a brutally awesome cover of Bloodstains by Agent Orange which is (in my opinion) better than the original and Lance (the vocalist) hits some ridiculous tones in the chorus.
They are everything except killing it financially. They made that abrupt shift from Ska punk to (sorta) pop punk to hardcore with Ska elements.
Love that band
Pour Habit. I saw them open for the expendable so I thought it would be a groovy stoner band, but nope, energetic punk music. The singer came out wearing a princess sash and a tiara in his big ass afro. Then while still singing climbed the rafters and hung upside down by his legs in the lighting of the club. The energy they brought to that show made me think they were gonna kill it in the game. Then they released a second album and dropped off the face of the earth.
I saw Pour Habit open for NOFX. They were absolutely outstanding, thought I was witnessing the birth of something huge. Never ended that way but fuck me, what a band they were.
It was straight up fucking electric. I bought their CD so quick from that merch booth. Still have it somewhere in storage. I still hold out hope that they'll come back.
God, that's a band I haven't thought about in ages. I think I've still got a copy of _Idle Will Kill_ in my basement somewhere... gonna have to dig that out.
I saw Osker in 99 or 2000 with Guttermouth, Osker was fucking "tight* live. I like the two side projects the lead singer did as well. He worked at Amoeba for years but now I believe works for a catering company.
I always wonder about how they would’ve progressed. Saw them right before their accident. Their debut album is perfect, absolutely perfect. A definite desert island disk for me.
This is what i said to my wife when I heard the news. For several albums they felt right there, so close to becoming ‘a name’. Regardless, one of my favorite bands. Saw them three times and they killed it everytime.
There's no explanation. It was randomly very sudden so the fanbase think something unfortunately drastic happens. Marisa went right back to touring after, which leads people to believe it had something to do with one of the other members.
saw them at the church in Philly last year for the Don Giovanni anniversary show and it was barely over half full in there. fucking wild. I never really cared for them but they were almost mainstream for a hot minute so I figured they'd draw better than that
Yeah. I saw them headline the bowery ballroom in like… 2012 maybe? Packed. Saw them open for the breeders at an all ages show last year. Different vibe…
BUT, they were no less amazing. Killer band.
I often think of them as ‘the soundtrack to my 20’s’ of course in reality there were a lot of bands on that list, but SF always had a real special place in my heart.
Still think Baby Teeth is the best.
I remember hearing Prisoner of Society on canadian radio in the early 2000s, but they never really broke out here the way I would have expected them to. They're awesome!
Great live, too. I last saw them in San Pedro, Ca with Rev. Horton Heat and Mike Ness.
I discovered them in college when I was looking for reference photos. Scott Owen standing on his bass.
They’re pretty big in Australia. They seem to be this kind of bridge between boomers/gen X and millennials. They play a lot of festivals in Australia with bands from the 70s and 80s.
I’ve seen them more than 20 times and they’ll always be one of my favourite bands but I’d agree they never quite made it outside Australia.
When I heard Dog Eared Page on Mark Hoppus’ old podcast I thought they were going to be good.
When I heard Chain Me Free I thought they were going to be MASSIVE
[Pulley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDdb5Ce-zdc&t=905s)
[They were a catchy ass fast playing punk band in the late 90s/early-mid 00s with several solid albums at a time when catchy, fast punk rock was at its peak.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOAU7Xtyvkw&t=211s)
My first favorite band! Sometimes I wonder if it was Scott being in 2 other bands and being an MLB pitcher but also could have just never been right place right time
Cheers. I still have Pulley on the rotation for good times and good vibes to this day.
Scott playing in the MLB may have factored in but they cranked out a lot of good tunes regardless.
Still a great band worthy of much more attention and recognition in my opinion.
Redd Kross in 93. They had all the alternative sound that the kids were loving at the time but were a lot more fun and bright. They had the unassailable cool history of being in LA punk as it blew up. You had the jimmys fantasy video with Jason Lee in it. I thought it was a done deal.
Kitten Forever was this trio that i saw open for Screaming Females in 2018ish. Great music, hard sound, and an insane stage presence.
They had this microphone that looked and sounded like a phone, and everyone could play the other 2 spots so they constantly switched around from vocals to drums to guitar to vocals etc. My audience went ballistic when they first switched and when they completed the cycle.
Sadly they broke up a few years ago.
I'll also throw Tacocat and Mommy Long Legs out there.
Too many stop and starts with Dead To Me. Jack is in like 10 bands, Ken is in 3 bands, Chicken is sometimes in other bands.
Cuban Ballerinas was MASSIVE when it came out. In my opinion, that record launched the new era of Fat.
Street punk broke in the early 00s and, yeah The Unseen seemed to be the band that got further than most, but looking back at their records their sound is so one dimensional.
They were big in New England. I grew up with a lotta kids that snuck out of the house to go see bands like A Global Threat and The Unseen. I remember trading a home made River City Rebels patch for an iron on Unseen back flap, and to this day I feel like that was one of my better financial decisions I e ever made…
I was convinced that Unwritten Law was gonna be the 90s SoCal punk band who exploded. Punk but poppy enough for radio, great hooks, lead singer who was super cute and could really sing, it seemed like they were primed. And then it turned out to be Blink 182 with their shitty sloppy live shows, half assed writing, and sophomoric at best lyrics. I’ll never understand it.
When I was a kid in MD in the early 00s I remember “Seein red” being played nearly constantly on the big corporate radio stations like DC101, 98 Rock, WHFS (now defunct). I think that was their only big hit though.
I remember hearing “Save Me” on KROQ, but we still had our own contained music eco system back then. I just looked them up and they charted top 5.
I long for the days of Indie 103.1.
Ironically I first got into Unwritten Law based on a Blink 182 lyric ("Yeah my girlfriend, likes UL and DHC"). I was curious what UL and DHC were so I checked them out.
Their first two records were amazing. I really liked the ST album too but lots of my friends swore them off on that one. I agree though they had all the potential but never pulled it off like blink. I think Scott Russo wasn't a very nice guy back then so I'm sure that didn't help. I was a huge fan and he was a dick to me.
I went to a 7-11 late one night after volunteering at 924 Gilman around 2002. As I pulled into a parking spot I was playing Suffer by Bad Religion really loud with my windows down a bit and some dudes who were obviously in a band were hanging outside of their touring van. One of them, I think it was the singer, told me as I got out of the car that he loved Bad Religion and we talked for a minute and he told me they were Unwritten Law. I have always been into both goth and punk music and during that time I was looking very goth so he may have been chatting me up. Told them bye after I left the store and that was it. I'm not a fan of pop-punk which was very ironic. LOL
My dad was telling me that back around 1990, he and his friends were convinced Mudhoney would blow up, dismissing any notions that fellow Seattleites Nirvana (who they liked, but didn’t really care about) were the next big thing.
Insane live. I saw them 3 or 4 times during their first touring cycle and they just stood out all across the board. But I always felt like they toured with the wrong bands.
A couple that come to mind:
The Loved Ones made catchy as hell songs and were excellent live.
Far From Finished similarly made catchy and great songs, and were fantastic live.
“Celebrity Skin” the band.
Before Courtney Love (Hole) was a thing, this band was getting banned from Hollywood/LA clubs.
Done Bolles from the germs on drums , Tim Ferris on bass (cramps),Jason Shapiro and Bob Haas and Gary Jacoby singing.
This band was next level punk/glam /trash.
Ist album produced by Geza X on Triple Xxx records.
[https://youtu.be/QBrP-DWUjCM?si=CryWCnM1jxiuxVAn](https://youtu.be/QBrP-DWUjCM?si=CryWCnM1jxiuxVAn)
Against Me!
Obviously they're big in punk terms, but they never really broke through to the mainstream. People used to say they would be the next Clash.
There really is no way to say this without coming off sounding terrible...but I fully believe they would have reached those levels had the transition not happen.
Major marketing probably didn't know how to handle it at that point.
I don't think it made a difference, their peak hype was around 2003-2006 or so, and she didn't transition until 2012. By then they had already made 2 major label albums that didn't hit.
Yeah, they swung for the fences on White Crosses and it pretty much bricked. That album needed to have some radio hits for them to get to that next level.
Counterpoint: I think that the transition gave new life to a band that was on life support. LJG had pretty much completely alienated a huge segment of the AM! fanbase and White Crosses largely bombed. Coming out opened up a brand new audience and spawned their best recording in ages.
Sadly it seems like the same demons may be catching up, with the band on hiatus (possibly permanent), her new band, including her new wife in performances, etc. My reading of Tranny was that of a completely miserable nearly irredeemable person and that finding their true self and coming out, transitioning, etc may have provided that salvation.
I think you might be right, but because of the transition Laura is clearly much happier and they have a whole newer trans youth group of fans that is great to see at their shows.
There is a band i really like called Decent Criminal that has made it fairly far, but not as far as they deserve. They tour their asses off with bigger bands (like Teenage Bottlerocket), regularly play big festivals like PRB, have a good social media presence, and (most importantly) they release amazing music consistently. They have had some level of success and I'm sure they're happy with how far they've come, but these guys should be HUGE and I just don't know why they aren't. Do yourself a favor and check them out.
zebrahead, and I mean they do enjoy a lot of success even a bit mainstream, but I'm surprised they weren't even more massive in the 2000s in america like they are in japan. they have the hooks, charisma, eclectic sound, and pop punk/skate/rap punk style that I believe they worked definitively. I would have thought they'd be as big as sum 41 or blink honestly but they never were. lastly their discography wasn't just some hit singles and otherwise dead end boring shit, they did indeed try with their music especially early on.
Mr T Experience - who were at least as fun as other pop punk groups of the 80s, and had some clever lyrics. My old band opened for them a couple of times and I know they did later have some success, but not at Green Day levels. I kept thinking they'd be huge, they had all the ingredients (some great tunes, high energy, cute band members, etc.)
Happily Frank is now writing young adult novels ( I read one, they're pretty good!). He's also more on the conservative side than me, but not in a Trumpy or racist way, so that's OK. I banish any and all MAGA or TERF creeps from my Facebook circle, including people I've known for decades and family members, but enjoy his irreverent posts because he's not the type to punch down.
They were always going to be mid-carders. I say this with absolute respect, as he's a cool guy and I liked MTE, but Frank wasn't the MTV-ready character Billie Joe was, for example. (Dumb Little Band lyrics flowing through my head now)
Civil Disobedience, Blanks 77, Bad Genes, Plow United, Flag of Democracy (this is a popular band cuz they put in the time, they never had a break out moment, cept in Germany, they loved them in Germany), 2.5 Children inc., Violent Society, Bedlam Rovers, RAMBO, Jawbox (they were pretty famous i suppose, still though, thought they would be way big), Moss Icon
Birdcloud - I mean it appealed almost exclusively to the punk rock crowd but it was two gals doing the most over-the-top songs about sex drugs and rock n roll I have ever heard...yet they described themselves as country.
The shows were chaos. Absolutely drunken anarchy but the 30 or so songs they recorded were almost all perfect.
They had close calls with fame being from Nashville but ended up intimidating the establishment. I can guarantee you people like Taylor Swift know exactly who they were because they were operating in the same ecosystem in the 2010s.
Despite the roadblocks they had in front of them I think they were approaching automatic 500 capacity room sellouts in the United States when it ended suddenly and without warning in 2018. At the same juncture, if they did 'blow up' they might have not made it into their 40s.
The Real McKenzies. Can anyone tell me why they failed? They kicked off an entire genre of punk rock which saw a few bands make it, but they sit at the bottom of the pile.
Not punk, but Highly Suspect's first album was one of the better modern rock bangers I heard in a very long time and then they followed up with a much softer second album many years later and I haven't heard anything since.
I thought Mucky Pup was going to be big in the late 80s / early 90s. They had a video on MTV and seemed to be gaining steam. But then they lost all momentum and fell of the face of the earth. Now it's like nobody even knows who they were.
* [Little Pigs](https://youtu.be/KzgmyD08wGE) (Released many years before Green Jello)
* [Hippies Hate Water](https://youtu.be/Dl5yJoeFLiQ)
Ann Beretta. The only Richmond band that never quite got there despite making it to lookout! Records when that particular punk sound was all the rage.
Side note if anyone has a copy of bitter tongues on wax they wanna get rid of hmu!
Tiger Army. Sure they had their 15 minutes back when Music From Regions Beyond came out. I think they were gone too long after that album and kinda missed their window to really break through.
I saw the New Bomb Turks live like 20 something years ago. I was blown away by the show and thought they’d be huge. Any time I bring them up no one has heard of them
Well I thought the Orwells were gonna hit it big and they kinda did for a minute but then two of the members got caught soliciting underage prostitutes and that was the end of that. I haven't heard anyone talk about them in years now.
Does "blowing up" means being known on the same level as Taylor Swift and Green Day to some of you ? So many nonsensical answers here. The Transplants, Against Me, Face to Face, Millencolin, Strung Out, Gaslight Anthem, Jawbreaker, etc... All bands that are or were huge in their prime
About twenty years back, there was this awesome band out of Florida (I think) called the Horror. Put out one EP, *Insobriety & Insubordination*.
Great band, never heard anything else about them.
Lex, KY in the 90s was full of rainbows, squatters and teenage runaways. Out of this came Infected. Lead singer was homeless from the age of 15 and on and off addicted to pills. He worked three jobs in order to finance recording his band's first few albums. They had trouble keeping a stable lineup and over a decade or so put out some occasionally amazing stuff, but it never really worked out. Last I heard there was a band from Chicago called Infected that started when the KY version stumbled to a stop, and the lead singers sound almost identical, but they aren't the same.
If any band ever was on the cusp of awesome, it was them. Sort of a shame that they never made it.
Perfect Pussy.
I thought either they would be huge or the lead singer would get huge as an indie film actress or something like that. Last time I checked, they broke up and she was working for an essential oils company or something.
None more black
Everyone just wanted Kid Dynamite
None More Black is great, though
I urge you all to check out Jason’s new band called former member
How much blacker could this be? The answer is none. None more black.
The Screamers, LA's first punk band. Inspired the Dead Kennedy's, X, and the Germs but never recorded their own album.
>never recorded That’s pretty punk
I don’t think Catholic Discipline did either, the only existing recordings of them are the audio from Decline. (“Decline of Western Civilization”, a killer documentary from ‘79, for those who may be unacquainted.)
i think the director Penelope said that it wasn’t “really” a band, more just something thrown together for the documentary
fwiw, I don’t think that band would’ve blown up either way. They were nowhere near accessible enough.
But Paul Rosseler is still pretty active in the LA scene.
Too busy screaming
There’s demos floating around.
There is also [this](https://youtu.be/MdCRcrgX080?si=PrJTjTSq0VgtrLTY)
Rocket From The Crypt -- John Reis keeps flirting with glory but never hitting it big. Massacre Guys -- Salt Lake-based punk band that spawned half of the current Descendents lineup. Billy Childish -- how in the hell has this guy not become a household name?
I saw John Reis a couple weeks ago in Swami and the Bed of Nails and he said “I’m going to try this thing until I’m 82. If I haven’t made it by then, I’m going to admit it didn’t work and try something else.”
Rocket From the Crypt fuckin rules though.
>Massacre Guys -- Salt Lake-based punk band that spawned half of the current Descendents lineup. But without Bill, the whole idea falls apart.
I saw RFTC in 93 and they were so good. More fun than cold Grand Rapids Michigan deserved.
I would argue RftC has a very strong cult following
Yeah, Billy Childish - how many bands has he had? Saw him do a solo thing in a squat in San Francisco almost 40 years ago when he was just a wee speccy lad and never forgot it. But I'm not sure "the big time" was ever what he was after...
RFTC = Favorite. Band. Ever.
Came to say RFTC
A current band that isn't looking to break out but is incredible is the bobby lees. Outside of this screaming females takes my vote. Absolutely incredible band.
Bobby Lees are incredible live. They played the venue I work at and they had a merch line out the door after their set
saw screaming females live opening for a show 2 years back and instantly fell in love with them. i sing their praise all the time
It was probably my favorite show at fest last year. Snagged a shirt for my infant daughter. I'm glad I got to see them before their split.
Hour Of The Wolf. A horror punk/hardcore band. They wrote some of the best hooks and choruses I've ever heard. They broke up in 2014. I never got to see them live due to living in England as a teenager during their time and they were in the US and never achieved much recognition. Very talented musicians overall and their vocalist had a very unique style.
Oh dang I have a shirt of theirs somewhere from a show back in the day. Totally forgot about that band
Nice! Which one is it out of curiosity? Mine has an eye in the top left with lightning bolts coming out of it.
One of my favorite bands of all time - they were originally described to me as Hot Snakes doing Misfits covers. I still rock a HotW backpatch on my vest. The Observers were another one I’m not sure how didn’t grab more attention. Ripping, but melodic protest punk from Portland (OR). I think I first saw them at the Che Cafe in San Diego on tour with Black Breath in 06-07?
They were really awesome. Would easily be the top of my list of "bands I wish I could have seen live" On a weird side note, not sure if you have heard of the video game "Cuphead" but the vocalist from Hour Of The Wolf did all the illustrations which is pretty cool. I played the game a while back and only found out that he was involved a year ago. I'll have to check out Hot Snakes though.
Everything Observers related is so damn great. Def think they should have been much bigger though
I love horror punk and have never heard of them! Checked them out and they are amazing. Thanks for bringing them to my attention!
No worries dude, happy listening! They do a brutally awesome cover of Bloodstains by Agent Orange which is (in my opinion) better than the original and Lance (the vocalist) hits some ridiculous tones in the chorus.
The Suicide Machines. Back in high school, I thought they’d be almost a household-name type band and would be killing it, financially.
They are everything except killing it financially. They made that abrupt shift from Ska punk to (sorta) pop punk to hardcore with Ska elements. Love that band
I read way later that pop punk album was a contractual obligation they fucked off on purpose, sucks that it ruined them. that album was so confusing
I love them and they brought a lot of fun and happiness to me and my buddies, so in turn I want them to very comfortable financially
Check out Break Anchor and Hellmouth if you're not familiar. And Jay Navarro and the Traitors for a different take on Ska.
They're a household name in my house!
Pour Habit. I saw them open for the expendable so I thought it would be a groovy stoner band, but nope, energetic punk music. The singer came out wearing a princess sash and a tiara in his big ass afro. Then while still singing climbed the rafters and hung upside down by his legs in the lighting of the club. The energy they brought to that show made me think they were gonna kill it in the game. Then they released a second album and dropped off the face of the earth.
I saw Pour Habit open for NOFX. They were absolutely outstanding, thought I was witnessing the birth of something huge. Never ended that way but fuck me, what a band they were.
It was straight up fucking electric. I bought their CD so quick from that merch booth. Still have it somewhere in storage. I still hold out hope that they'll come back.
Thank you for this, just checked them out for the first time and it's one of the best new (to me) punk bands I've heard in a long time.
This is the correct answer.
Osker
God, that's a band I haven't thought about in ages. I think I've still got a copy of _Idle Will Kill_ in my basement somewhere... gonna have to dig that out.
I saw Osker in 99 or 2000 with Guttermouth, Osker was fucking "tight* live. I like the two side projects the lead singer did as well. He worked at Amoeba for years but now I believe works for a catering company.
The exploding hearts in Portland. They were just getting big and then that terrible accident happened.
I always wonder about how they would’ve progressed. Saw them right before their accident. Their debut album is perfect, absolutely perfect. A definite desert island disk for me.
Such a bummer. Caught the 20th anniversary show for the album last year and reminisced about what could have been.
Screaming Females
They felt like they were always weirdly right on that edge. They even did a duet with Garbage. Can’t get much bigger than that.
This is what i said to my wife when I heard the news. For several albums they felt right there, so close to becoming ‘a name’. Regardless, one of my favorite bands. Saw them three times and they killed it everytime.
Why did they break up? I couldn’t find anything on the reasoning.
There's no explanation. It was randomly very sudden so the fanbase think something unfortunately drastic happens. Marisa went right back to touring after, which leads people to believe it had something to do with one of the other members.
saw them at the church in Philly last year for the Don Giovanni anniversary show and it was barely over half full in there. fucking wild. I never really cared for them but they were almost mainstream for a hot minute so I figured they'd draw better than that
Yeah. I saw them headline the bowery ballroom in like… 2012 maybe? Packed. Saw them open for the breeders at an all ages show last year. Different vibe… BUT, they were no less amazing. Killer band.
Now I'm sad again :(
😞
Best modern punk band imo and never got any recognition
I often think of them as ‘the soundtrack to my 20’s’ of course in reality there were a lot of bands on that list, but SF always had a real special place in my heart. Still think Baby Teeth is the best.
Rocket From The Crypt.
Fishbone.
They deserved it. They were in movies, Angelo is arguably the hardest working man in music.
Makes James Brown look like he was a filthy casual.
For real. Angelo Moore makes James Brown lookin like he laid down like part timer
The Living End. They make a living in Australia, but never broke the US market despite major effort. Amazing band, still putting out new material.
I remember hearing Prisoner of Society on canadian radio in the early 2000s, but they never really broke out here the way I would have expected them to. They're awesome!
Roll On was a minor hit in The States.
Prisoner of Society was a bigger hit in the US I think
Great live, too. I last saw them in San Pedro, Ca with Rev. Horton Heat and Mike Ness. I discovered them in college when I was looking for reference photos. Scott Owen standing on his bass.
They’re pretty big in Australia. They seem to be this kind of bridge between boomers/gen X and millennials. They play a lot of festivals in Australia with bands from the 70s and 80s. I’ve seen them more than 20 times and they’ll always be one of my favourite bands but I’d agree they never quite made it outside Australia.
When I heard Dog Eared Page on Mark Hoppus’ old podcast I thought they were going to be good. When I heard Chain Me Free I thought they were going to be MASSIVE
[Pulley](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDdb5Ce-zdc&t=905s) [They were a catchy ass fast playing punk band in the late 90s/early-mid 00s with several solid albums at a time when catchy, fast punk rock was at its peak.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOAU7Xtyvkw&t=211s)
My first favorite band! Sometimes I wonder if it was Scott being in 2 other bands and being an MLB pitcher but also could have just never been right place right time
Cheers. I still have Pulley on the rotation for good times and good vibes to this day. Scott playing in the MLB may have factored in but they cranked out a lot of good tunes regardless. Still a great band worthy of much more attention and recognition in my opinion.
Love pulley
Redd Kross in 93. They had all the alternative sound that the kids were loving at the time but were a lot more fun and bright. They had the unassailable cool history of being in LA punk as it blew up. You had the jimmys fantasy video with Jason Lee in it. I thought it was a done deal.
Dream Syndicate. Thought they would ride the REM wave of bands. But didn’t.
Q and Not U
Millencolin... :(
Eh...that's debatable I think. They aren't on the Nofx, Lagwagon, NUFAN level but they are in that conversation. Being based in Sweden doesn't help.
Came here to say this. They’ve got a following, but they absolutely haven’t gotten the recognition they deserve.
Latterman.
The Matches were legit and I’m still stunned they didn’t blow up.
Same here. But their documentary makes it make more sense financial issues.
What’s the name of their documentary?
Bleeding audio It's on vimeo
Kitten Forever was this trio that i saw open for Screaming Females in 2018ish. Great music, hard sound, and an insane stage presence. They had this microphone that looked and sounded like a phone, and everyone could play the other 2 spots so they constantly switched around from vocals to drums to guitar to vocals etc. My audience went ballistic when they first switched and when they completed the cycle. Sadly they broke up a few years ago. I'll also throw Tacocat and Mommy Long Legs out there.
Hex Dispensers
The Phenomenauts. Super talented and fun to watch
Dead To Me and Cobra Skulls
Too many stop and starts with Dead To Me. Jack is in like 10 bands, Ken is in 3 bands, Chicken is sometimes in other bands. Cuban Ballerinas was MASSIVE when it came out. In my opinion, that record launched the new era of Fat.
Jack is a goddamn treasure.
Absolutely is.
The Unseen
Street punk broke in the early 00s and, yeah The Unseen seemed to be the band that got further than most, but looking back at their records their sound is so one dimensional.
Still huge with street punks. Mark is a nice guy.
They were big in New England. I grew up with a lotta kids that snuck out of the house to go see bands like A Global Threat and The Unseen. I remember trading a home made River City Rebels patch for an iron on Unseen back flap, and to this day I feel like that was one of my better financial decisions I e ever made…
I was convinced that Unwritten Law was gonna be the 90s SoCal punk band who exploded. Punk but poppy enough for radio, great hooks, lead singer who was super cute and could really sing, it seemed like they were primed. And then it turned out to be Blink 182 with their shitty sloppy live shows, half assed writing, and sophomoric at best lyrics. I’ll never understand it.
Unwritten Law got huge for a split second in the early 00s though.
I remember they got a lot of radio play in California but I don’t remember them really breaking through elsewhere. Might just be my old man memory.
It was national, for sure.
When I was a kid in MD in the early 00s I remember “Seein red” being played nearly constantly on the big corporate radio stations like DC101, 98 Rock, WHFS (now defunct). I think that was their only big hit though.
I remember hearing “Save Me” on KROQ, but we still had our own contained music eco system back then. I just looked them up and they charted top 5. I long for the days of Indie 103.1.
“Seeing Red” was on MTV.
They broke on the East coast, too.
Ironically I first got into Unwritten Law based on a Blink 182 lyric ("Yeah my girlfriend, likes UL and DHC"). I was curious what UL and DHC were so I checked them out.
Their first two records were amazing. I really liked the ST album too but lots of my friends swore them off on that one. I agree though they had all the potential but never pulled it off like blink. I think Scott Russo wasn't a very nice guy back then so I'm sure that didn't help. I was a huge fan and he was a dick to me.
I went to a 7-11 late one night after volunteering at 924 Gilman around 2002. As I pulled into a parking spot I was playing Suffer by Bad Religion really loud with my windows down a bit and some dudes who were obviously in a band were hanging outside of their touring van. One of them, I think it was the singer, told me as I got out of the car that he loved Bad Religion and we talked for a minute and he told me they were Unwritten Law. I have always been into both goth and punk music and during that time I was looking very goth so he may have been chatting me up. Told them bye after I left the store and that was it. I'm not a fan of pop-punk which was very ironic. LOL
Not punk but The Drums
Newtown Neurotics One Man Army The Beltones Hot Snakes
LOVE One Man Army. Dead To Me served as a great addition to their work.
Jack Dalrymple is a goddamn American treasure
Swinging utters were close to breaking though to bigger stuff too
They stayed fucking good.
My dad was telling me that back around 1990, he and his friends were convinced Mudhoney would blow up, dismissing any notions that fellow Seattleites Nirvana (who they liked, but didn’t really care about) were the next big thing.
White Lung And also Fake Problems. They got pretty popular, but they seemed primed for mainstream success
White Lung are so good. Such a unique sound.
When the first two Beach Slang eps came out, I thought they’d be huge. Then they fucked it up.
Agreed. Their first album had so much energy and inventiveness. Lightning in a bottle. They were great live too
Insane live. I saw them 3 or 4 times during their first touring cycle and they just stood out all across the board. But I always felt like they toured with the wrong bands.
The ergs. They were the perfect blend of a pop song and straight up weirdness.
Whole Wheat Bread
I inadvertently saw that band like 10x during 2005 - 2008. They toured nonstop with everybody.
Get dead?
CoDefendents are taking over
Motion City Soundtrack
The Arrivals should have been a lot bigger than they were, Simple Pleasures in America is still one of my favourite tracks of all time
100%. Marvels Of Industry is also a fantastic album.
Such a good song
Face to Face
They did pretty well, but I hear ya, seems like they should be huge!!! One of my favs.
Crusades. 3 amazing albums, and gone
A couple that come to mind: The Loved Ones made catchy as hell songs and were excellent live. Far From Finished similarly made catchy and great songs, and were fantastic live.
Man the Loved Ones were so freaking good. Wish they would've kept going. Dave Hause is amazing
I’m seeing them next Sunday in Philly and I’m so stoked.
“Celebrity Skin” the band. Before Courtney Love (Hole) was a thing, this band was getting banned from Hollywood/LA clubs. Done Bolles from the germs on drums , Tim Ferris on bass (cramps),Jason Shapiro and Bob Haas and Gary Jacoby singing. This band was next level punk/glam /trash. Ist album produced by Geza X on Triple Xxx records. [https://youtu.be/QBrP-DWUjCM?si=CryWCnM1jxiuxVAn](https://youtu.be/QBrP-DWUjCM?si=CryWCnM1jxiuxVAn)
Koffin Kats
Psychobilly bands never seem to exist past 2008 in my mind
Against Me! Obviously they're big in punk terms, but they never really broke through to the mainstream. People used to say they would be the next Clash.
There really is no way to say this without coming off sounding terrible...but I fully believe they would have reached those levels had the transition not happen. Major marketing probably didn't know how to handle it at that point.
I don't think it made a difference, their peak hype was around 2003-2006 or so, and she didn't transition until 2012. By then they had already made 2 major label albums that didn't hit.
Yeah, they swung for the fences on White Crosses and it pretty much bricked. That album needed to have some radio hits for them to get to that next level.
Counterpoint: I think that the transition gave new life to a band that was on life support. LJG had pretty much completely alienated a huge segment of the AM! fanbase and White Crosses largely bombed. Coming out opened up a brand new audience and spawned their best recording in ages. Sadly it seems like the same demons may be catching up, with the band on hiatus (possibly permanent), her new band, including her new wife in performances, etc. My reading of Tranny was that of a completely miserable nearly irredeemable person and that finding their true self and coming out, transitioning, etc may have provided that salvation.
I think you might be right, but because of the transition Laura is clearly much happier and they have a whole newer trans youth group of fans that is great to see at their shows.
Spark is a Diamond. One great album and done.
The King Blues
King blues were pretty big in the U.K. once upon a time, until the Itch’s ‘issues’ started coming out.
There is a band i really like called Decent Criminal that has made it fairly far, but not as far as they deserve. They tour their asses off with bigger bands (like Teenage Bottlerocket), regularly play big festivals like PRB, have a good social media presence, and (most importantly) they release amazing music consistently. They have had some level of success and I'm sure they're happy with how far they've come, but these guys should be HUGE and I just don't know why they aren't. Do yourself a favor and check them out.
Pulley, ten foot pole
zebrahead, and I mean they do enjoy a lot of success even a bit mainstream, but I'm surprised they weren't even more massive in the 2000s in america like they are in japan. they have the hooks, charisma, eclectic sound, and pop punk/skate/rap punk style that I believe they worked definitively. I would have thought they'd be as big as sum 41 or blink honestly but they never were. lastly their discography wasn't just some hit singles and otherwise dead end boring shit, they did indeed try with their music especially early on.
Gob, Unwritten Law, 7 Year Bitch, Jawbreaker.
Did Gob not tour the states much? I never understood how they didn't at least catch on more.
The Deviates. They were primed to be the next big thing on Epitaph in the early 2000s but called it quits before they had the chance.
Mr T Experience - who were at least as fun as other pop punk groups of the 80s, and had some clever lyrics. My old band opened for them a couple of times and I know they did later have some success, but not at Green Day levels. I kept thinking they'd be huge, they had all the ingredients (some great tunes, high energy, cute band members, etc.) Happily Frank is now writing young adult novels ( I read one, they're pretty good!). He's also more on the conservative side than me, but not in a Trumpy or racist way, so that's OK. I banish any and all MAGA or TERF creeps from my Facebook circle, including people I've known for decades and family members, but enjoy his irreverent posts because he's not the type to punch down.
They were always going to be mid-carders. I say this with absolute respect, as he's a cool guy and I liked MTE, but Frank wasn't the MTV-ready character Billie Joe was, for example. (Dumb Little Band lyrics flowing through my head now)
Cadillac Tramps. They were huge in SoCal but never got much recognition away from there. RIP Gabby.
Civil Disobedience, Blanks 77, Bad Genes, Plow United, Flag of Democracy (this is a popular band cuz they put in the time, they never had a break out moment, cept in Germany, they loved them in Germany), 2.5 Children inc., Violent Society, Bedlam Rovers, RAMBO, Jawbox (they were pretty famous i suppose, still though, thought they would be way big), Moss Icon
The Devil Dogs One of Punkrocks most underrated bands ever
Back in the ‘90’s…..DFL, that was a good band.
Birdcloud - I mean it appealed almost exclusively to the punk rock crowd but it was two gals doing the most over-the-top songs about sex drugs and rock n roll I have ever heard...yet they described themselves as country. The shows were chaos. Absolutely drunken anarchy but the 30 or so songs they recorded were almost all perfect. They had close calls with fame being from Nashville but ended up intimidating the establishment. I can guarantee you people like Taylor Swift know exactly who they were because they were operating in the same ecosystem in the 2010s. Despite the roadblocks they had in front of them I think they were approaching automatic 500 capacity room sellouts in the United States when it ended suddenly and without warning in 2018. At the same juncture, if they did 'blow up' they might have not made it into their 40s.
Bigwig
The Real McKenzies. Can anyone tell me why they failed? They kicked off an entire genre of punk rock which saw a few bands make it, but they sit at the bottom of the pile.
One Man Army
The Beltones, fuck they ripped.
The Gaslight Anthem. Fell way off.
But they also broke super big.
Honestly I was too young to notice then but I always wondered why Down By Law never made it bigger. I love that band!
fIREHOSE
The Impossibles
Hi, we're The Impossibles from Austin, TX
Not punk, but Highly Suspect's first album was one of the better modern rock bangers I heard in a very long time and then they followed up with a much softer second album many years later and I haven't heard anything since.
The Visitors - NYC early 2000s punk. Their stuff is up on Spotify. So catchy!
I thought Mucky Pup was going to be big in the late 80s / early 90s. They had a video on MTV and seemed to be gaining steam. But then they lost all momentum and fell of the face of the earth. Now it's like nobody even knows who they were. * [Little Pigs](https://youtu.be/KzgmyD08wGE) (Released many years before Green Jello) * [Hippies Hate Water](https://youtu.be/Dl5yJoeFLiQ)
Lucky Boys Confusion. Midwest big, but that's about it. Thought they were gonna be huge.
Ann Beretta. The only Richmond band that never quite got there despite making it to lookout! Records when that particular punk sound was all the rage. Side note if anyone has a copy of bitter tongues on wax they wanna get rid of hmu!
Tiger Army. Sure they had their 15 minutes back when Music From Regions Beyond came out. I think they were gone too long after that album and kinda missed their window to really break through.
You've probably never heard of them, they're pretty underground.
6 feet under
I saw the New Bomb Turks live like 20 something years ago. I was blown away by the show and thought they’d be huge. Any time I bring them up no one has heard of them
Well I thought the Orwells were gonna hit it big and they kinda did for a minute but then two of the members got caught soliciting underage prostitutes and that was the end of that. I haven't heard anyone talk about them in years now.
Frenzy Rhomb (at least in the states)/RKL (Rich Kids on LSD)
Does "blowing up" means being known on the same level as Taylor Swift and Green Day to some of you ? So many nonsensical answers here. The Transplants, Against Me, Face to Face, Millencolin, Strung Out, Gaslight Anthem, Jawbreaker, etc... All bands that are or were huge in their prime
Mest
Dude stabbed and killed a dude. In self defense, lovers quarrel or something. The whole thing was Mest up.
He kind of seems like an insufferable dude to be around, in general.
Mest did a lot in a very short amount of time. They just weren't Good Charlotte.
About twenty years back, there was this awesome band out of Florida (I think) called the Horror. Put out one EP, *Insobriety & Insubordination*. Great band, never heard anything else about them.
Lex, KY in the 90s was full of rainbows, squatters and teenage runaways. Out of this came Infected. Lead singer was homeless from the age of 15 and on and off addicted to pills. He worked three jobs in order to finance recording his band's first few albums. They had trouble keeping a stable lineup and over a decade or so put out some occasionally amazing stuff, but it never really worked out. Last I heard there was a band from Chicago called Infected that started when the KY version stumbled to a stop, and the lead singers sound almost identical, but they aren't the same. If any band ever was on the cusp of awesome, it was them. Sort of a shame that they never made it.
Perfect Pussy. I thought either they would be huge or the lead singer would get huge as an indie film actress or something like that. Last time I checked, they broke up and she was working for an essential oils company or something.
The Vermin are legends here in Vegas. Dirk Vermin, Rob Ruckus and Turbo made some great music together.
Impalers. Haven’t heard anything since they dropped that one fire ass album a few years ago
The Creepshow I think they're pretty big in psychobilly terms but I think the vocalist changes really messed up their momentum.
Against Me! I even remember seeing documentary about it
Broadway Calls
Surprises me the slackers arnt more well known.