Great Bands that aren't "well known"

JPS79

God Lives Underwater
Sponge
BT (Brian Transeau) mostly known for scoring films but his albums ESCM,MISL,Emotional Technology are Beautiful works of art.

bee_boy

John Butler Trio
You Am I
Something For Kate (favourite band along with PJ and Radiohead)

yosi1

Screaming Headless Torsos
Hasidic New Wave
Kif
Anything by Dave Fiucizynski

pjhabit

2 of my fav albums right now are:

The Cloud Room
&
Wolfmother

If you haven't heard of either, you should check em' out!

Kryptos

After reading through this thread it was hard to tell exactly what criteria was necessary for listing a band...so I'll name a few who don't get enough respect and a few that are good but few have heard of.

No respect:
Helmet - no one ever mentions Helmet and I have no fucking clue why...they rock
NOFX - one of the best punk bands on the planet...probably get no respect cuz they don't care
Dinosaur Jr. - best "grunge" band no one listened to
Pavement - great artsy rock band type thing

Few have heard
Failure - spacey alt rock type deal...everyone go find their fantastic planet disc...buddies w/ tool if that tickles your fancy
Snapcase - good hardcore punkish type deal
Sebadoh - hard to define go check out bakesale or harmacy
Far - emocorish or something...whatever it is it's good...water and solutions and tin cans w/ strings to you are good discs...friends w/ the deftones if that matters to ya
Hayden - someone earlier mentioned Hayden and they were right on the money...he rules...kind of folksy rock thing goin on here
Quicksand - alt rock outfit...very solid...check out slip or manic compression

I could probably think of more if I had the time but I think I'll end it here and maybe lay a few more down at some other time...happy listening

BrinkofForever

Sigur Ros - Simply brilliant

BinGnarly

Spoon and The Decemberists

fada

Rory Gallagher
Taste
The Coral
Doves
Gomez
The Revs
Turin Brakes
Hundred Reasons
Shack
Cast
Ocean Colour Scene
Badfinger

CServant

Big Head Todd And The Monsters. Sure, they're recognizable, but a small following for the amount of Rock they put out live!

MJSB74

Unida. Quite simply the best band on the planet.

And a mention for Cecil as well,they were from Liverpool, England and were quite brilliant when they wanted to be. Unfortunately they split a few years back due to being signed to a label who didnt know what to do with them.

analogueaddict72

Deus ( A great belgium band, have had 4 albums out and released their latest last September, Should be bigger than they are, more originality in their little fingers than some so called great new bands of the last 5 years)

Check out Their debut Worse Case Scenario, one review described it has a mixture of Captain Beefheart & Faith No More.

Most famous Song Little Arithmetics off their 2nd album Bar under the Sea

Seriously you should check them out!

InHiding80

Oingo Boingo - There's more to this band than Weird Science and Dead Man's Party.

Ulalume

I'm sure people from Europe know these bands, but I doubt many Americans know of them. I only just learned about them a year ago, and they are some of my favorites.

Entwine (Finland)
http://www.entwine.org

Turbonegro (Norway)
http://www.scandinavianleather.com

Svenia (Italy)
http://www.svenia.org

Machinae Supremacy (Sweden)
http://www.machinaesupremacy.com

Entwine and Turbonegro have been around a while, but they haven't toured the US, so not a lot of people know of them. You can download some Machinae Supremacy songs for free on their site.

promitheus

The Dresden Dolls
Burzum
House of Capricorn (NZ)

FinsburyParkCarrots

International Sex Park

Scratchin a Letter

I know one....

PEARL JAM

seriously... they were announced as headliners for Reading and Leeds festivals and on all the NME, Q, Efestivals and Virtu forums, a million and a half indie-kids went, "Who are Pearl Jam?"

Makes you laugh, no?

Westernsky

I'm really digging these new-ish bands:

Wussy - Funeral Dress . . I think the song Crooked is my fave today!
Devotchka - Una Volta & Curse your little Heart EP. . .They are all over the place, but goodtimes!
Dykehouse - Nostalga Radar EP. . . Hope She hears this sound is straight up Yo La Tengo, and I like it.

I say new-ish because they are relatively new to me. I also can't stop listening to the *Frontin' on Debra* remix, Mos Def and Finley Quaye. I think I'm going through a twang/funk phase, is that possible?

MCG

If you don't live in Canada odds are you don't own any Matthew Good Band or any of his solo stuff (and you really should).

Inkdaub

Scout Niblett
Jucifer
Black Angels
Spirit Caravan...actually all the Wino stuff(Obsessed, St Vitus, Hidden Hand, more probably) is pretty good.
Earthlings?

Boom The Cat

Stewart And Winfield