QUESTION OF THE WEEK FROM POSTER RICH: WHICH ARTISTS DID YOU LOVE BUT THEY NEVER ACHIEVED THE LEVEL OF COMMERCIAL SUCCESS THEY DESERVED?

Definitely, John Sykes (to quote Valley Of The Kings, “a thousand times over.”) and Tora Tora.

I know many people who thought Kix should have had greater success. Also, Tyketto was a pretty good band, who flew under the radar. Danger Danger, because of Andy Timmons. There are so many, but if something strikes me, I will update my list.

45 Responses

  1. I’m gonna go back a little further and say the band Riot. If you have never heard of 1981’s Fire Down Under, go check it out. The opening track is called Swords and Tequila and it is killer.

    1. Just my opinion, but I think during the Sonic Temple era, The Cult experienced far larger success , than many American hard rock/heavy metal bands.

    3. Hi Dana & Rich. I agree, their success during Sonic Temple era was high. I was coming from the perspective that they didn’t have continued success and more staying power after ST. Living Colour being similar. I was 17 during that time and saw them open for Metallica once.

      A small aside, I noticed that Eric Singer was the first drummer to lay down the 14-demo tracks for Sonic Temple in studio.

      Fun topic Dana.

      Cheers, Brent

  3. Obviously, King’s X…but I have some others that are all over my playlists that never made it big:

    Salty Dog
    Law and Order (NY Local Band, released 2 albums and were on MTV for a hot second)
    Cycle Sluts From Hell
    Nuno Bettencourt’s band Dramagods. They were on Late Late Show and I thought they had a chance to break in…
    Love/Hate
    Army of Anyone (STP and Richard Patrick of Filter)
    Priestess (were on Guitar Hero, awesome sound, should have been HUGE)

    1. Hi Michael,

      Someone I was friendly with at University dated, I think the bass player(?), from Law and Order. Quite frankly, if it was not for her dating him, I would had never heard of them. Also, if it wasn’t for your comment, I also was clueless tha they were even on MTV for a “hot second.”

    2. King’s X is an incredible band. You should also check out all of the solo albums by Ty Tabor. They are all great. It’s funny that you mentioned Dramagods. I’m a huge Extreme and Nuno fan, and somewhere I have a hard drive that has that Late Show performance by Dramagods on it. Just like Ty, I think that about everything that Nuno has touched is tremendous. Population 1 was solid, and if you’ve never checked out Nuno’s solo album, Schizophonic, you definitely should. I need to get a copy of that Dramagods album, I think it was only released in Japan.

  4. Jellyfish, Redd Kross, Sloan, The Mooney Suzuki, Kix, Electric Boys, The Zeros (the LA one), Joe Normal, Jetboy… there’s a lot. And the grand prize of acknowledgement goes to the unmatchable Hanoi Rocks.

    1. Mr. RN’ R,

      My fiancee loves Jellyfish. Many people don’t know that the singer on Slash’s Sankepit‘s Beggars and Hanger On, Eric Dover, is/was the drummer in Jellyfish.

    2. Dana, your fiance has exquisite taste! Oh, and Eric Dover was the lead guitarist in the second incarnation of Jellyfish. With Alice Cooper he was lead guitar, but also played side drums with other band members during Halo Of Flies. He replaced Jason Falkner in Jellyfish. Another excellent songwriter and player. Does your fiance dig Imperial Drag? I’m sure he knows of them. One album, all killer. Glam meets Zeppelin meets Space music. Former Jellyfish members Eric Dover (guitar and lead vocals) and Roger Manning (keys, guitar). I think it’s a major crime that Jellyfish aren’t bigger. Ringo Starr, and also Robin Zander, called them personally, asking for them to play on their records. William Shatner as well! That shows how much they were respected.

    4. Dana, I found one thing you wrote after, saying you’d ask your fiancee about Imperial Drag and will get back to me. If I missed anything else, I am sorry. I’m doubly (Doubly: Spinal Tap) sorry I navigate a website like Jeffy in The Ringer… my kids always goof on me for my lack of cyber knowledge lol

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