Some bands such as The Cure, Duran Duran, Alice In Chains, and New Order go on to legendary careers spanning many albums and decades, others only registered a blip and only recorded a one-time album. These are the bands that should have been. Bands who only had one major release then disappeared and should be given another look. Here are a couple
Q-Feel - Q-Feel (1983)
A British synthpop band. You might know them as a one-hit wonder for their song "Dancing In Heaven (Orbital Bebop) which was used in the movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
A great song. I actually prefer the 8 minute version. Other great songs were Crosstalk
This single didn't go anywhere, though it was the followup to Dancing in Heaven. Fans of Depeche Mode and Thompson Twins would like this. The band broke up shortly after and Martin Page did have a solo career. You might remember his one hit, In The House of Stone and Light.Good for fans of Crowded House or Phil Collins.
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The Germs - GI (1979)
Produced by Joan Jett, this was one of the first hardcore punk albums released. This really captures the intense energy by this band and their enigmatic vocalist, Darby Crash. One of their best known songs is Lexicon Devil.
They were later featured on the documentary Decline of Western Civilization. Sadly, Darby Crash would commit suicide on December 1980. Pat Smear, the bassist, would later join Nirvana and later the Foo Fighters. In 1995 a biopic was made entitled What We Do Is Secret with actor Shane West portraying Darby Crash. The album GI will forever stand as a testament to the Los Angeles early punk rock scene.
The Sex Pistols - Nevermind The Bollocks...Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)
There isn't anything more than can be said about the Sex Pistols which hasn't already been said. They have a lasting influence on British punk for years to come. Most people are unaware that this is their only studio album, the others being compilations. The band would disband 3 months after this album came out. Anarchy in the UK even hit #2 on the British charts.
Johnny Rotten would later form PiL, this album was #3 on NME's list of greatest album of all time and in 2006, The Sex Pistols would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, (which no surviving member attended)
Angelfish - Angelfish (1994)
Scottish band fronted by Shirley Manson, who would later front the rock band Garbage. This band was started to fulfill a record contract from the band Goodbye Mr. MacKensie, in which Shirley Manson was a backup singer. Steve Marker was watching 120 Minutes one day when he saw the video for Suffocate Me from Angelfish, and later on, contacted Manson and was asked to join him, Butch Vig, and Duke Erickson to form the band Garbage. This album was produced by Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club.
Temple of the Dog - Temple of The Dog (1992)
Former from the ashes of Seattle band, Mother Love Bone, this album was formed with vocalist Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Their most famous song is Hunger Strike, with Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell both doing lead vocals.
Matt Cameron and Chris Cornell would go back to Soundgarden, Chris would release a few solo albums, and release some more with Audioslave. Eddie Vedder would later form Pearl Jam with Temple of the Dog members Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, and Mike McCready. This album is essentially a collaboration between the drummer and vocalist of Soundgarden and what would later be Pearl Jam. This is more mellow than Soundgarden and an album that any fan of Soundgarden, or Pearl Jam should listen to.
Mad Season - Above (1995)
Featuring members of Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees and Alice in Chains vocalist Layne Staley. This is a blues rock album which was very underrated for it's time. I keep going back and listening to it. The first single was River of Deceit which was a beautiful song.
Another one I really like is I Don't Know Anything. Every Alice In Chains fan should own this.
Layne Staley rejoined Alice In Chains and released one more album and also an Unplugged performance. Sadly, Layne passed away in 2002 but we will always have the music to remember him by.
Operation Ivy - Energy (1989)
One of the most influencial albums in skapunk. This Gilman Street band never hit the mainstream but would later influence platinum bands Sublime and Green Day who covered Knowledge. Here is the original version:
Their lyrics concerned social justice and equality. Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman would later form the band Rancid, which continues to exist to this day. Sadly this is their only studio album, but their legend lives on.
Arcadia - So Red The Rose (1986)
The only studio album released by Simon LeBon, Roger Taylor and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. This album is famous for all the musical guests on the album including David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Sting of the Police, Herbie Hancock and Grace Jones. A dark, lush album full of catchy memories and smooth vocals. Many of the tracks are pretty long. Election Day was the first single released from the album.
One of my favorite videos is for the single, Goodbye is Forever.
The members would later rejoin Duran Duran, except Roger Taylor who would not rejoin until 2001.
Team Sleep - Team Sleep (2005)
Led by Chino Moreno of the Deftones, A way mellower sound than the Deftones, Team Sleep includes elements of The Cure, My Bloody Valentine and even Depeche Mode at times. This is a real pretty album and I must give it another listen soon.Also includes vocals from Pinback's Rob Crow. Expect a new album soon.
Blaqk Audio - Cexcells (2007)
Sideproject of AFI's Davey Havok and Jade Puget. This is similar to AFI's more electronic experimental songs such as 33mm, and such. Their is a strong synthpop influence throughout with the occasional EBM influence. I really like the direction of this album and it's like nothing I have heard from the guys. Look for the extra album tracks Mute and Black Electric. A new album entitled Bright Black Heaven will be released this year.
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures (2009)
Featuring John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, this is an excellent debut album. A pure ROCK record by any definition. Their first single was New Fang, which hints at Southern Rock.
The second single was Mind Eraser, No Chaser. Queens of the Stone Age fans take notice. This is good old fashioned rock. Look for a new album this year as well.
mdfmk - mdfmk (2002)
KMFDM was always a band which stuck by it's underground roots. They were hardly played on MTV and while huge on the Wax Trax label, never a household name. Due to disagreements between the band, KMFDM split up. En Esch and Gunter Schulz formed Slick Idiot and the rest of the band (Lucia, Sasha, and Tim Skold) formed MDFMK. This album is a departure from KMFDM, mostly because it sounds a bit more europop, but the industrial beats and ranting vocals are still intact. One of my favorite tracks is Torpedoes.
KMFDM (without En Esch and Gunter Schulz) reformed in 2002 and continues to record to this day. Skold left the band to tour with Marilyn Manson, but later left the band and has released an album with KMFDM as well as a solo album which came out in 2011.
Zwan - Mary Star of The Sea (2003)
In 2000, Billy Corgan announced Smashing Pumpkins was breaking up. It was huge news at the time. In 2001, him, Jimmy Chamberlin of Smashing Pumpkins and some other guns for hire released Mary Star of the Sea. The album was named for a famous Catholic church in Key West where Billy Corgan found solace after the breakup of Smashing Pumpkins. This album was a real departure from Smashing Pumpkins. It's probably Billy Corgan's happiest, most optimistic work. The album received mostly positive reviews but album sales were nowhere near his work with Smashing Pumpkins. The first single was called Honestly and it's a very poppish number.
The single went to the top 10 in the modern rock charts. Another single, called Lyric was released and went nowhere.
Soon after in 2003, Billy Corgan disbanded the project, released a solo album, then "reunited" Smashing Pumpkins (which did not include D'arcy, James Iha or Melissa Auf Der Maur), which released the album Zeitgeist in 2007. Jimmy Chamberlin was involved in the reunited Smashing Pumpkins but left the group in 2009. Smashing Pumpkins are currently recording their new album, Oceania, with a 2012 release date.
Formed by Billy Howerdell of A Perfect Circle, Ashes Divide is a mix of hard songs and then alternates between that and ballads. Formed during a break from A Perfect Circle, Ashes Divide only has this one album, but plans to record another one soon. Billy is working with Maynard James Keenan to see which songs will be A Perfect Circle songs and which will be Ashes Divide songs. Keep an eye out for more music. The Stone is the best song on this album.
Malign - Shatter and Impale (1996)
The one and only album from Los Angeles goth band, Malign. Released on Anubis Recordings (owned by William Faith and Monica Richards of Faith and the Muse), this album was a breathe of fresh air in the 90s goth scene. Very eerie and melodic, while having an original sound. I would recommend this to fans of Faith and the Muse, Diary of Dreams or Nosferatu. This was playing at many goth clubs back then. It's an album that should be heard more. It's impossible to find any info on this band,so I have no idea why they never released a followup. Get it on amazon or on ebay while you can.
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