Favorite "unheard of" legitimate band/artist?

OK...what, exactly, is a "legitimate" band or artist?

legitimate=recorded on a real label?

Real as in "not vanity label"

Icehouse had one minor hit over here, I liked 'em a lot and bought 3 albums. 'Primitive Man' was the best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icehouse_%28band%29

Favourite song;

Great Southern Land

yorolpal


Well I once wrote down some lyrics on the back of a Mayonaise jar label...does that count?

Ah, those Salad Days, 'Olpal..

Not really 'unheard' of but pretty underground - Spear of Destiny
I followed them around in the Eighties and they were all about the live performance
Favourite song  'Liberator' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpkiU-RaMo
My how we used to mosh it up

http://www.residents.com/home/

jamesg1213

daryl1968


Not really 'unheard' of but pretty underground - Spear of Destiny
I followed them around in the Eighties and they were all about the live performance
Favourite song  'Liberator' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpkiU-RaMo
My how we used to mosh it up

I remember them..weren't they 'Theatre of Hate'..before or after?

yes, before - the legendary Kirk Brandon was the constant.
I've seen some great stuff live but the energy that these guys produced was amazing

Do "Metal" bands count?

Almost all of the good ones are on small obscure labels ?

Zungle, 

Sure, I'm not really meaning to be all that restrictive. Just not looking for "that band that used to practice down the street until the drummer OD'd", know what I mean?

When I lived in Nashburg (Franklin, actually, before it became "toney") several members of the band Sawyer Brown lived two houses down from me.  This was just before they hit the big lick and they seemed just like more blokes with guitars round their necks... like moi.  They had a crummy band van and everything.  I remember sitting on my deck sometimes and hearing them practise and wondering "what the hell is that?" 

Hi,

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

His early band called "Metro" had a very nice album, and then his two solo albums, "The Wild Places" (1978) and "Streets of Fire" (1980) ... are magnificent, with one of Bapu's favorite musicians (if I remember correctly!), and in essence this was what Dire Straits sounded like about 10 years later. Tony Hymas on Keyboards, John Giblin on Bass and Simon Phillips on Drums.

Duncan died of cancer in May 1993 at a very young age.

Plankton - Good choice!

Hi,

There are too many rock bands ... that fit this ... that I like to listen to ... here is a small list:

- Anekdotten

- Anglagard

- Far East Family Band (-->> Chronicle -->> Kitaro)
- Academia de Dancas (Egberto Gismonti -- jazz meets ... who cares what it is ... awesome stuff)

- Sadistic Mika Band - killed when Roxy Music took Mika to London and decided that she was his, and not married to the man in the band! So goes the story, btw. She was a very good singer and could do rock music really well, as evidenced by the SMB first album and its satire on pop radio. 

- DarXstar 

- Malecorne (French folk-rock-traditional)

- Aphrodite's Child - The original band that Vangelis came from went out with an insane album (666) ... and a legacy that pretty much brought rock music to Greece. To be soon forgotten and ignored by the rest of the world. Vangelis went on to do many film scores and music. Demis Roussos is still doing his torch song stuff throughout Europe. And the person responsible for these groups and their work? ... the father of progressive music .. Mr/ Gomelsky, who also peddled Gentle Giant and many other things.

I liked the sister bands Jane/Eloy in Germany ... both bands put together a very nice lot of music, and were always compared to anyone else but themselves ... and they deserved better. They are still remembered and their material is still selling and being released.