Obscure pop groups

[philipdalton]

I've often wondered what percentage of bands who manage to get themselves a recording contract never actually achieve the feat of getting themselves into the charts. The words 'Big bumpy bump big bumpy bop-a-lula' would certainly be unfamiliar to the vast majority. They come from a song by 80's band Stump, who got no higher than number 72 with one of their singles and therefore never appeared on 'Top of the Pops', although they did on 'The Tube'.
The late Radio 1 DJ John Peel often played music by the less well-known bands and artists. Being 43 I don't take a great deal of interest in today's music and so don't know who the more obscure bands are that are around at the moment.
Does anybody enjoy listening to any bands or artists who aren't exactly what you'd call famous?

[nick and jan]

"yes punk bands like the anti nowhere league most punk bands the damned **** pistols english rogues ten pole tuder the ruts the skids cockney rejects the 4 skins the last resort the business uk subs 100s more my era the late 70s 80s

[Captain Rum]

I would say at least half of my collection are of bands and solo artists who rarely get in the chart, if at all, especially the old school goth, punk and ska stuff from the late 70s and early 80s. Bands like the babysitters, excellent band and their security were dressed up as babies

Today's is either diluted stuff, ripped off from people like Elvis, Beatles, etc, or it's just rubbish from X Factor or boy/girl bands who are all the same. There's rarely any originality in the charts anymore, although there are some decent bands who sometimes get into the album charts like Elbow, one of those rare bands who are just as good live as in the studio.

Music, like with tv is mainly full of average and rubbish material, but look under the surface and you'll find an occasional gem, or a veteran from the 60s onwards who still puts out good stuff, Peter Murphy from Bauhaus brought out a cracking album last year, 30+ years since he was last on TOTP.

[nick and jan]

"ill agree with captain rum about todays so called music of the old stuff elvis yes the beatles love them hate them the who another good old mod band the jam female singers hate todays so called female singers i love debbie hary blondie and toyah wilcox as both are good to there fans and ive been lucky to meet them both wendy james transvision vamp iate 80s early 90s beki of the punk band vice squard im going to see hazel oconnor next friday another one from the 80s good voice i ewe also like 40s music and the music from the laurel and hardy films. ska music madness for me . nick

[philipdalton]

One band formed in the mid-80's were called Pop Will Eat Itself.
Does anyone think that the name of this band was prophetic?
In other words, does anyone think that pop has now finally eaten itself in the sense that it has got past its peak as far as quality and talent is concerned?
Has it finally got to the point of no return?

[Betty]

There is definitely something about this, Philipdalton. Pop music has gone way too far for my tastes. I think it's probably because everything is driven by money now more than before. There is still good music being made but it is not pop. I think sooner or later people will realise pop is dead and there will be a big boom of indie bands on the radio. That's my today's dose of optimism for the world.

[philipdalton]

I got into a bit of indie music as a teenager in the 80's. I used to like The Sundays and Stump, two of the better known indie bands of the time.

[Betty]

The Sundays would sound great on the radio today

The great thing about music and the present days is that it is extremely easy to record an album. The cheaper-end recording studios can be rented for a day for practically pocket-money (given that all the band members chip in) and one or two days can be enough to record a 10 track album. There are so many bands around today and it would be great if the fame got redistributed a bit more evenly - not just between the three or four hits of the season chosen by big corporations but to the real bands who do music because they want to.

A pop-gone-indie singer active today I quite like is Greg Johnson from New Zealand. Most his songs are very lyric-based. Some of his songs are on youtube, if you want to check it out.

[philipdalton]

Has anybody by any chance heard of a group called Cactus Rain?