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Favorite Local Band That Never Made it Big


dbrian66

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I was wondering if anybody else had a favorite band local to them that never made it big. Here in Maryland we have a band Kix that was huge in Baltimore in the late 80's. One of the best live shows I've ever seen. They had one song that got some air time on MTV back when MTV played music videos. I honestly don't know why these guys didn't blow up and tour the world. They still play shows here in Maryland and still sound as good as ever.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS_tTq94uPo

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define big....

kix put out several commercially released cds that sold pretty well for what was essentially a really awesome bar band who played pop metal. i know that sounds like a knock, but it's not. i really dig those guys, and i play their stuff all the time. i know for a long time their singer complained to anyone who would listen that brett michaels and poison stole their act. i never saw the resemblance. poison wasn't even in the same league as kix. not on their best day. i hear some people say they are from baltimore but i hear other people say sunberry pa. i don't know. i was originally from wilmington and all we had was lonesome george. maybe you remember hammerjacks? man, that was the place to see a show, eh? the most bras you'd ever see outside of victorias secret. hahahahah

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Poison is the perfect example of " made it big". I agree that Kix blows poison away, but poison was headlining arena tours and Kix was not. Kix was from the Hagerstown Md area. They are considered a Baltimore band because that's where they played all the time. And yes I remember Hamerjacks. That was a great bar to see bands play.

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Stone Deep was a mid 90's band from Nashville that really should have blown up huge but never seemed to get the attention it should have.

 

 

 

 

That's a strange mix of music styles. To be honest I didn't like it at all at first. But by the end of the first song it was already growing on me. Not what I expected when you said it was a Nashville band.

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In the mid to late 60's, early 70's, in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale area, there was a band named Echo. That was a top rate band that never made it. They recorded a single titled "Shadows".

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I remember Kix and liked them. Here in Los Angeles though, we had Ratt, Steeler, Monley Crue, Guns N Roses, Dokken, Warrant, Greta White, and a whole bunch of bands like that. I think that Kix just got lost in the mix.

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First was a band from my highschool in Ohio called Aereon...........

 

 

 

and one of my old guitar instructors band NRG made it onto the Transformers soundtrack

 

 

 

Two greats that should have gone much further.

 

NHTom

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Some good friends in Fort Lauderdale, late 60's, early 70's, "Bolder Damn". They cut an album, "Mourning" in 1971 that has caught on in parts of Europe lately.

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This song made it to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. I'd call that making it big. [biggrin]

Not Poison big mind you - but big. Always thought it was a great song.

 

 

 

That was their biggest hit. It almost took them over the top.

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Elusive thing, this "making it big"...

 

Good thing I'm not an A&R guy...probably wouldn't have lasted...LOL

 

Around here, there was a band from New Jersey the wife and I, and all of our friends who have seen them, thought were phenominal. "The Badlees."

 

Live they are great- tight, great original tunes, nicer guys you'd be hard to find. BUT their published music...meh! Just doesn't "capture" them, if you know what I mean. Anyone in our tri-stae area who has heard them would probably agree with me. For example, their song "Fear of Falling" is awesome live, electric version. They released an acoustic version that, while good, just doesn't "tingle the spine" the way their electric live version does.

 

I've always felt that if they had had a good producer / recording guys, they might have made it bigger. Then again, lots of bands that I think have talent and potential never "made it" in the industry.

 

Brian

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Saw Kix couple times up here at D1ck Lees, where everyone played who was anyone.

 

Nan Mancini and Johnnys Dance Band was a great version and should have blown up but didn't.

 

Wintergreen was a band I had a short time in when I was way too young. Them guys shoulda made it big.

 

Couple others from just outside Philly in sj, some I was in for a while and some not. A bunch of them guys should have made it big time. Secret Service, Dead End Kids, Magnum. Angel used to come through here a lot, they sorta made it big kinda. Skid Row a couple few years later, with another one that had a video hit or two I can't think of the name.

 

rct

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Growing up I don't remember a band working Florida harder than this band from Tampa Bay - they never quite broke out...

Nice guys too (my little 80s band opened for them once).

 

I liked that. :)

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Yeah. KIX made it pretty big with Blow My Fuse album. But some of their earlier stuff is even better IMO.

 

Then there was Crack The Sky and The Ravyns. The Ravyns actually got their song "Raised On the Radio" into the Fast Times At Ridgemont High soundtrack.

 

In the 90s and early 2000s their was SR71 who played locally for years as Honor Among Thieves before changing their name. And don't forget Jimmy's Chicken Shack. Jimmy Haha just played in Annapolis recently.

 

 

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Saw Kix couple times up here at D1ck Lees, where everyone played who was anyone.

 

Nan Mancini and Johnnys Dance Band was a great version and should have blown up but didn't.

 

Wintergreen was a band I had a short time in when I was way too young. Them guys shoulda made it big.

 

Couple others from just outside Philly in sj, some I was in for a while and some not. A bunch of them guys should have made it big time. Secret Service, Dead End Kids, Magnum. Angel used to come through here a lot, they sorta made it big kinda. Skid Row a couple few years later, with another one that had a video hit or two I can't think of the name.

 

rct

 

HAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! dude you just totally flashed back my head! names i had completely forgotten! i wonder if you remember a band called "jack of diamonds"? they had a video on early mtv but they never did much. i dated one of the guitar player's sister, until she tried to kill me. [crying]

maybe you are thinking of cinderella?

(couple few years later, with another one that had a video hit or two I can't think of the name.)
they were a great band that never seemed to get the recognition they deserved. hopefully your not referring to robert hazzard or any of the other crap bands idolized by john debella and the zoo.

 

another band i just remembered that was awesome and never really hit it as big as they should have was Y&T. speaking of hot women, i dated a girl who could have been twins with the one in this video. beware the heavy metal jazz hands

 

https://youtu.be/zWrqI1FI4TU

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Well around here we have Donnie Iris. He had a few top 40 hits in the early 80s. "Ah Leah" chief among them.

Also Joe Grushecky who's had a long friendship with Bruce Springsteen but he never could get that one hit to break nationally.

 

Bonus points for anyone that can name the hit song Iris had with his early 70s band that reached #2 on the charts.

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Yeah. KIX made it pretty big with Blow My Fuse album. But some of their earlier stuff is even better IMO.

 

Then there was Crack The Sky and The Ravyns. The Ravyns actually got their song "Raised On the Radio" into the Fast Times At Ridgemont High soundtrack.

 

In the 90s and early 2000s their was SR71 who played locally for years as Honor Among Thieves before changing their name. And don't forget Jimmy's Chicken Shack. Jimmy Haha just played in Annapolis recently.

 

Honor among thieves was a Rockville band right? I think that's the band that some of the members are now in Charm city devils who are another great local band.

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