Post some cool local or regional bands that never hit it big.

[cemaphonic]

Every city has them.

Seattle in the 90s had a band called Sky Cries Mary, that started off as an industrial band, but morphed into a sort of classic rock-psychedelic-ambient mixture. They had a large and loyal local following (in part because they put on fairly elaborate shows in an scene where everyone else was eschewing showmanship), and while they weren't at all related to grunge, they did fit into the general 70s-updated-for-the-90s vibe of "alternative rock" programming. But they never really caught on outside of WA despite an eventual major label release.

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[mrmpa]

1. Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers..........

out here in Western PA. They're pure rock. They do have their CD's produced on a national label & Springsteen when he appears in Pittsburgh has them on stage, they just didn't make it "big". They're still performing mostly at small venues.

[Tom Kitten]

2. Hey I just bought a casette tape by them!

Don't Eat the Dirt, for 25 cents at the Goodwill Store! I like it a lot, sorta trancey shoegazer sounds. It's definitely coming with me when I hit the road soon!

Another Seattle area band I liked was Kill Sybill. Also Love Battery, although they did get onto a major label.

As for Portland bands, I love Napalm Beach, plus their alter ego, Sno Bud and the Flower People. I'd even say The Wipers never really hit it big, but they were one of the most seminal bands ever!

[cemaphonic]

8. Oh yeah, that's from before they went in a more rock direction.

I've heard it, but never tracked down a copy.

Love Battery sounds familiar, but I don't think I ever saw them.

[Tom Ripley]

3. Pylon, Kilkenny Cats, Jack O Nuts, Japancakes

[jpak]

14. and the Coolies from ATL

[pipi_k]

4. Fat

Out of Springfield, Mass, formed in 1968

[Aristus]

5. Afraid Of Figs.

Another Seattle band, this time from the -000's or the 'aughts', the Lost Decade...whatever.

They were a punk band. But not angry punk; funny punk. They had the usual line-up, lead singer, guitar, bass & drums, with the unusual addition of saxophone and co-lead singer.

Their attitude wavered between crazy good-time, as in "I Ate A Vegan", and dry cynicism, as in "Facebook Friend".

They did a killer cover of The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated".

Good times...

[Coventina]

6. There was a really cool Tucson band called The Sidewinders

who were just on the verge of breaking out.

Then, they got sued by a previous "Sidewinders" and had to change their name.
It really broke up their momentum and things just kind of collapsed after that.

[Tom Ripley]

12. Their "What She Said" was a great song

[OriginalGeek]

7. Iused to see these guys opening shows in Orlando/Tampa

all the time. (National tours would hit a club and pick up locals to open up)

I dig them but they have been inactive for a while. Wish they would come back.

[tk2kewl]

9. The Good Rats

My all-time favorite band

Dubbed “the world’s most famous unknown band” by Rolling Stone magazine

http://www.limusichalloffame.org/project/the-good-rats/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Rats

Read More: Peppi Marchello of the Good Rats Dies at 68 | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/peppi-marchello-good-rats-dies/?trackback=tsmclip

[Kingofalldems]

10. Root Boy Slim

[kwassa]

11. The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Sparks, Fear, X,

[cemaphonic]

15. I'd say Oingo Boingo hit it fairly big

Enough for a bunch of their songs to be on heavy rotation on MTV, and some pretty high profile movie soundtrack songs. And of course, Danny Elfman's movie score career.

[Arugula Latte]

24. Oingo Boingo made it big.

Their music was in 80s movies (like Weird Science for the movie of the same name, Goodbye, Goodbye used at the end of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, etc.) They got a lot of radio play and MTV play for other stuff, as I recall -- Dead Man's Party, Stay, Little Girls, etc. Danny Elfman went on to handle music for many movies and he wrote the theme to The Simpsons.

Sparks had a couple hits like Cool Places and they were played on MTV.

[Callmecrazy]

13. The Michael Stanley Band from Cleveland...

They released several albums in the 70's and 80's

[RebelOne]

16. This was my favorite band when I lived in Miami.

http://tigertigermusic.com/

[JCMach1]

17. Shroedinger's Cat... late 1980's alternative

from St. Augustine, FL (I was in college there)...

A band that ALMOST made it... Here is a page with their MP3's

Check out - "Killing Time"

http://uxc.net/mp3/

[AngryAmish]

18. Off Broadway from late 70s in Chicago

Poor man's Cheap Trick...except Cheap Trick did not become junkies.

Honestly, what sort of loser becomes a drug addict? I am entering my 30th year of functional alcoholism. I am rich, I am going to retire at 47 or 48 but never put a needle in your arm you are in the clear.

[Monk06]

19. UJ3RK5

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

20. A couple of garage bands in the 1960s who had records out

They were not monster musicians and were really young like me at the time (15 - 16). As a young kid I was almost as excited as these friends of mine were to hear their records played on the radio. I jammed with both groups and had the time of my life with music in those bygone days of the 60s. Both bands were from Savannah, Georgia.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

21. Deadbolt

These guys are hilarious and wicked talented, and so inappropriate; from San Diego and not much further
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadbolt_%28band%29

And the bastards rarely come to Canada...

[chknltl]

22. ..."and then the Beatles came and got us hooked on LSD!!! Rorshach Test (Seattle band too?)

I recall the name Sky Cries Mary, maybe one of their songs "Nobody else can save us except for the waitress" but little more. I worked with hundreds of Seattle/Tacoma area bands during the Grunge era as a photographer. Likely two of the bigger unsigned bands that I got to shoot (that you may have heard of) were Cookie and Gruntruk. One was a punk band with a country western flair, the other was your basic hard rock band. I also enjoyed shooting The Pleasure Elite, Sweatty Nipples, Running With Scissors, Forced Entry and of course the hard rocking Rorshach Test (posted above). I was never sure exactly where R.T. came from but they played our area enough for me to list them as locals. Rumor had it that Island Records was willing to sign them but the singer had a criminal record which prevented him from leaving the U.S. Never knew if it were true but for my money, Rorschach Test was one of the better bands that nobody knows about from our area for that era. I also shot a band called Mr. Grinch. They became Before Christ. One of the Lounge posters, Opiate 69 was their guitar player back then. I have not seen him post anything lately. Hopefully he sees this and posts one of his videos from Before Christ, the band was quite talented and their videos were pretty good too.

Hmm let me test my skills and memory here, I used to know the lyrics to the above posted R.T. song "ELVIS", I always thought that these lyrics portrayed the mindset of a conservative nutcase from back in the mid-late 1970s:

"Look what you started Elvis surely there'll be hell to pay.... GO!
You sold our morals and you led the whole damn world astray...GO!
...and then the Beatles came and got us hooked on LSD!
Nine Revolutions screamed the happy Manson family...
Look what you started Elvis...look what you started Elvis...look what you started Elvis...look what you started Elvis...look what you started...

Look down upon us Mother Mary we've been seeing things...GO!
In my confession Father kindly quick forgiveness pray...GO!
This world has killed it's gods and resurrected JFK ....
..while all his relatives make laws that even they can not obey-No fuckin way!
Look what you started Elvis...yeah look what you started Elvis...look what you started Elvis"

[Arugula Latte]

23. The Uptones -- great Berkeley ska band

They had a lot of anti-war songs ... this is one.

[cemaphonic]

25. I swear there's some kind of standard template for band pictures for 80s-90s ska