Late to the Party: Bands you really got into well after they made their mark.

brianlux

Inspired by a Loujoe comment mentioned to me on another thread, let's see what bands you got into big-time well after they had already made it big or had already been a cult classic.
Here's my list:

Dinosaur Jr.  I had read about Dino in Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life, sampled their music, and wrote them off as a band with interesting music but a "bad" singer.  Several years later, I gave them another go and they became one of my very favorites.  And J's voice?  Yeah, technically it's pretty weak but I totally love it anyway.

The Dream Syndicate. Dare I say it?  This one is almost inexcusable.  I have had their album Medicine Show since a year or two after it came out in 1984.  I vaguely remember that I may have seen them live in San Francisco in the mid 80's.  HELLO!  Just a few years ago, I finally branched out into more of their albums as well as band leader Steve Wynn's work and became a FANATIC.  (Evident by the fact that I now have 20 TDS/Wynn related albums).

The Ramones and New York Dolls.  Alright, seriously, it's embarrassing to mention those names within this context.  I got into them both around the same time (maybe 15 years ago) and, needless to say, have been a huge fan of both ever since.

Dean Moon.  It took reading about the death in 2017 of Dead Moon's Fred Cole to even know about this band.  For cryin' out loud, the band had been around for almost 30 years!  The more I hear, the more I love their raw, low-fi thrash and Fred's ragged macabre-obsessed songs and singing.  Gritty, garagey, and great!

Joy Division.  Talk about late to the party!  I'm a very recent convert.  Damn, I mean Ian Curtis has been dead for 21 years.  Apparently so was part of my brain!  I now love that band!  I will no doubt have all their stuff (which, sadly  isn't much) before too long.

Television.  Not as severe as the above, but still a significant late start for me.  Excellent stuff!  Marque Moon is massively great.

Alrighty, tardy music fans.  Time to fess up!  Whatcha got?

JPPJ84

Easy. Pearl Jam 😎

brianlux

JPPJ84 said:

Easy. Pearl Jam 😎

Good one!  I'm sure you were not the first. 
I really liked them when Ten came out, then kind of lost interest, then really got back into them in that middle period with Yield, No Code, Riot Act, and the self title "Avocado".

JT167846

Porcupine Tree and STP as they'd broken up by the time I'd gotten into them. But to be honest most bands had been big for a couple of years before I fell in love with their music. 1995 was when I went head over heels for rock-but better late than never.

Hi!

I just started getting into DMB. I like the positive vibes the music emotes while maintaining a measurable amount of pain underneath it all. Songs like Lie in Our Graves and the line from Cry Freedom “human to human tomorrow is no place to place our better days” really hits me hard. My favorite album so far is Stand Up and I really love the live Dave and Tim album. Sad I’m late to the party, but better late than never. I’ve also been watching a few interviews with Dave from talk shows ect. He is so funny and I love when he starts doing different voices. His personality and mannerisms are quite infectious. I seen them earlier this year for the first time and had a blast, I get really excited when Dave starts dancing. I am a little sad I won’t be able to see them with Boyd and Leroi Moore and learning about the circumstances surrounding them not being in band.

Loujoe

Tom Waits-when I briefly heard him like 15 yrs ago I was like this is the worst! Now I undestand and really dig his depth, sound and storytelling. Not feel good music for sure.

King Crimson-picked up in the court of the crimson king and was blown away. Since grabbed a best of. Loved the diversity of songs. Gave it to my friend and he too was wondering how this band flew under our radar. Surely a timing thing of when we grew up. 

Sure there are and will be others.

goldrush

Bob Mould solo - I’d heard some Hüsker Dü but really wasn’t that interested in them. I absolutely loved both Sugar albums, but somehow I didn’t actually hear any of Bob’s solo albums until Silver Age came out in 2012. It prompted me to go back to the start of HD and work my way through the years.

Clutch - I first heard them when a friend took me to see a gig on the From Beale Street to Oblivion tour in 2007. I have no idea how I’d missed them before.

Another cool thread idea @brianlux, I’m sure I’ll think of some more along the way 

BrainofBGA

A few of mine:

Pearl Jam - first album I bought on release date was No Code. First PJ album I bought was Vitalogy, but that was quite a bit after it’s release. 

The War on Drugs - first album I got into of there’s was Deeper Understanding. Just bought the new LP. 👌 Making my way through their back catalogue now. 

Tool - a friend of mine was into them. 

You Am I - one of Australia’s greatest bands. Saw ‘Em live a few times, grabbed a live album and played that a fair bit. Picked up some
of their earlier albums quite cheaply at a local store. Awesome band! Uniquely Australian. 

Beastie Boys - bought their anthology release out of interest not long after it was released. I remember loving the Body Movin’ clip when Hello Nasty was out. Slowly but surely made my way through their back catalogue Paul’s Boutique and Ill Communication specifically. 

Countless others! Too many to name. 

mickeyrat

KYUSS

Corrosion of Conformity

Name a jazz player/group....

josevolution

Nada Surf
Spoon
TV on the Radio 
Heartless Bastards 
There’s a lot more just can’t think of them..

brianlux

goldrush said:

Bob Mould solo - I’d heard some Hüsker Dü but really wasn’t that interested in them. I absolutely loved both Sugar albums, but somehow I didn’t actually hear any of Bob’s solo albums until Silver Age came out in 2012. It prompted me to go back to the start of HD and work my way through the years.

Clutch - I first heard them when a friend took me to see a gig on the From Beale Street to Oblivion tour in 2007. I have no idea how I’d missed them before.

Another cool thread idea @brianlux, I’m sure I’ll think of some more along the way 

I almost added Mould and Husker Du because I've recently been listening to some of both after reading Mould's autobiography, See A Little Light, but I can't say yet that I'm a big fan.  Maybe with time.

hihobibo

311 
Flaming Lips 
DMB - I've always liked them, but skipped their shows after my first experience was just watching them jam for what seemed like way too long. Now, I really enjoy their live shows.

Pap

Jack Johnson - I discovered him around 2008-10 thanks to Eddie and his appearances at the Kokua Festival!

CarryTheZero

Drive By Truckers, really got into them with American Band and now love it all!

Built to Spill, wasn’t until Ancient Melodies, but my first actual albums were Keep It Like a Secret and Perfect From Now On!

petted101

Sonic Youth 

Bought Goo, maybe, three years ago in a sale. Then continued forwards, in order, then backwards and then through the post sonic solo works.

Always knew who they were, of course, but never got into them before.

LukinFan

I'm always late to the party. The biggest one has to be Pearl Jam, where I didn't get into them until I saw them live in 1996. 

qontheboard

Nick Cave

The Smiths

2-feign-reluctance

Pretty much any band my Mom & Dad listened to that I enjoy now. Too many to mention. 

brianlux

2-feign-reluctance said:

Pretty much any band my Mom & Dad listened to that I enjoy now. Too many to mention. 

It's interesting to think about how strongly boomer's kids and Gen x'ers kid's gravitated toward 60's and 70's rock, yet we boomers generally did not take strongly to our G.I. generation parent's favorites like Glen Miller, Perry Como, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, etc.  It took me til clear up to just last year to get hip to the fact that Bing Crosby was not just a great pop singer, but a first-rate jazz singer as well.  I was clued into that by reading some books by the late jazz critic and novelist Nat Hentoff.

2-feign-reluctance

brianlux said:

2-feign-reluctance said:

Pretty much any band my Mom & Dad listened to that I enjoy now. Too many to mention. 

It's interesting to think about how strongly boomer's kids and Gen x'ers kid's gravitated toward 60's and 70's rock, yet we boomers generally did not take strongly to our G.I. generation parent's favorites like Glen Miller, Perry Como, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, etc.  It took me til clear up to just last year to get hip to the fact that Bing Crosby was not just a great pop singer, but a first-rate jazz singer as well.  I was clued into that by reading some books by the late jazz critic and novelist Nat Hentoff.

Yeah, though the only band that was my Grandparents generation that my Pop would play was Glenn Miller. I have distinct memories of him playing that on Sunday mornings cooking breakfast. 

mfc2006

Nick Cave
Mastodon
Manchester Orchestra
Elliott Smith

BIGDaddyWil

Steely Dan

DissidentRival74

Blind Melon - didn't really get into them until 99 when I bought Soup for $8 at a grocery store in Gardiner, MT.  Now (unfortunately) they are on top of my "Bands i wished i had seen live" list...

JH6056

DissidentRival74 said:

Blind Melon - didn't really get into them until 99 when I bought Soup for $8 at a grocery store in Gardiner, MT.  Now (unfortunately) they are on top of my "Bands i wished i had seen live" list...

Keep an eye out for a documentary about Blind Melon that PJ BFF photographer Danny Clinch is making or has already made.  But I don't think it's been released yet, maybe they're waiting until after being in a theater isn't such an issue?

Pap

JH6056 said:

DissidentRival74 said:

Blind Melon - didn't really get into them until 99 when I bought Soup for $8 at a grocery store in Gardiner, MT.  Now (unfortunately) they are on top of my "Bands i wished i had seen live" list...

Keep an eye out for a documentary about Blind Melon that PJ BFF photographer Danny Clinch is making or has already made.  But I don't think it's been released yet, maybe they're waiting until after being in a theater isn't such an issue?

All I Can Say

Pap

Pearl Jam - 1998

Starsailor - 2007

JOEJOEJOE

Leonard Cohen - I first heard his songs on a tribute album featuring REM, Lloyd Cole, The Pixies.

Wilco - my wife introduced me to them in 2006.  I was aware of them, but the only song I knew was "Heavy Metal Drummer".  I am now a mega-fan!

brianlux

JOEJOEJOE said:

Leonard Cohen - I first heard his songs on a tribute album featuring REM, Lloyd Cole, The Pixies.

Wilco - my wife introduced me to them in 2006.  I was aware of them, but the only song I knew was "Heavy Metal Drummer".  I am now a mega-fan!

Great choices, Loujoe! 
I was late to the party with Cohen myself.  I like "Suzanne" a lot but not much else until many years later I saw him on the show Sunday Night hosted by Jools Holland and David Sanborn.  Cohen played a couple of number with Sonny Rollins that are just amazing and really sparked my respect for the man and his music. Both of them!

eeriepadave

Radiohead- Really got into them after In Rainbows came out.

mr bungle

Faith No More.  I was indifferent towards The Real Thing when it came out.  And then Angel Dust arrived and changed my life!

ceska

Definitely Drive-By Truckers. I got into them in 2013. Missed the entire Isbell/Tucker/Neff eras. I don't mind not having seen them with Isbell. I would really have enjoyed seeing them with Shonna Tucker. I was relatively late to Neko Case (2008) and Kathleen Edwards (2103) too.