Favorite Songs or Videos That No One Else Has Heard Of

[aquarian1]

... or that few people have heard.

 

Here's one of mine.  I love this song from the 80s that no one else I know seems to know.   The lyrics make no sense, but I still love it.  And I love this guy's voice.   I present to you "That's Love That It Is" by Blancmange.

 

 

 

 

[BizBuzz]

Excellent topic!

Ok, so Hotel California is one my all-time favorite albums. When I had it back in the 9th grade (1976) I wore the grooves, literally, off of it.

Wasted Time (the last song on Side A and a reprise on Side B) was my fave song off the album. I had a long time off/on grade/middle/high school relationship with a guy that kept thinking we weren't exclusive (HA!), and this song always got me through our never ending break-ups/make-ups.

No one remembers this song. It's like it never existed. I am just thinking I hang with the wrong people now. ::giggle::

[aquarian1]

I shared this one elsewhere, but that was a limited audience.   I love this song.

 

[BizBuzz]

You turned me on to this song recently @aquarian1 and I have listened to it daily since then. So I thank you, deeply.

[aquarian1]

I've listened to it every day since I discovered it too!

[Boots]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NrAWAxE5dM

[CherryMalotte]

 

One of my all time fave videos...it was one I had caught late night early morning on MTV, you know when they used to actually show videos.  I don't think it ever became a huge hit.  Michel Gondry makes great videos, even if I'm not a fan of the particular song I always enjoy his visuals.

 

Aquarian1 - I remember Blancmange, great band!  My fave of theirs was Living On The Ceiling. 

Edited June 3, 2014 by CherryMalotte

[RescueMom]

Mine is a whole album that nobody I meet ever seems to have heard of.  Famous Blue Raincoat by Jennifer Warnes. She was a backup singer for Lenoard Cohen in the 70's, and she released this album of her singing his songs in the 80's.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

If you're a fan of great guitar playing, Frank Zappa's all-instrumental Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar trilogy (Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar, Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar Some More and Return of the Son of Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar) has some awesome, awesome stuff. He's remembered for his wacky persona and weird songs, but he could be a phenomenal guitarist.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Sir RaiderDuck OMS

[bosawks]

The duet by Rosanne Cash and her father Johnny, "September When it Comes", should have been huge and I'll never understand why it wasn't.

[DXD526]

Anyone familiar with this? -

 

 

Have loved this song for over 30 years. Such pain and passion; I love how some of it rhymes and some doesn't, the songwriter was obviously a mess when he wrote it! And those vocals...I hope you're pleased WITH WHAT YOU'VE DONE!! This song still gives me goosebumps, even after all these years, even after hearing it probably some 500 times. Wow.

 

I was never a big fan of vodeos, but this is one of my favorites -

 

[Shannon L.]

Unless you watched Rockstar: Super Nova, then you probably aren't familiar with this one.  Ladylike by Storm Large

 

http://stormlarge.com/listen/

 

Scroll down to Ladylike the album, then the song and you can listen to the whole thing.  BTW: it's listed as "explicit"--the f-word is all through it.  I'm not linking the video, though, because the lyrics lead to an explicitly sexy video and it appears that some fans have done a rather disturbing video to it as well.    Personally, I can see where a video could get sexy, but I don't get disturbing from the song. 

 

Anyway, I love the song.

[AimingforYoko]

Weirdest video I've ever seen, from the early MTV days:

Edited June 16, 2014 by AimingforYoko

[Jeebus Cripes]

LOL. My vote for weirdest video I've ever seen is this right here:

[Rick Kitchen]

Jefferson Airplane's "Surrealistic Pillow" is one of the greatest albums of all time, and every cut off of it is a classic, but maybe the least appreciated is "3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds":

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etv16q0iMNw

 

My favorite song on the whole album is "Today".

 

This video from "Monterey Pop" is weird, because the camera concentrates on Grace Slick, but it's Marty Balin who's singing.

 

Edited June 20, 2014 by Rick Kitchen

[lucindabelle]

I used to dance to that blancmange song in many soma clubs in the 80s!

[Hybridcookie]

More of a band than anything, but nobody I know has ever heard of Poets of the Fall. Carnival of Rust is one my favourite songs of all time

 

[Sharpie66]

One of my very favorite albums of all time is "Bonk" from a 1980s Australian band called Big Pig. They did okay on the college charts in the U.S. with Breakaway, which also was the song that played in the opening credits of the first Bill and Ted film:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBCcnazy88U

 

But a lot of other songs on the album are even better. Hungry Town:

 

 

I also love Tin Drum and Devil's Song.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Sharpie66

[Jeebus Cripes]

"Tangle With Your Mind" by Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots & Velvet Revolver fame. His solo albums never got much attention, and honestly, I can kinda see why because as a whole they aren't that great. Having said that, there are a handful of tunes that do stand out, and this song is an absolute gem. 

[Starfruit]

Some of these may actually be recognizable to a few people.

 

Get Higher - Paper Tongues

Mother, We Just Can't Get Enough - The New Radicals 

Wonderful - Gary Go 

Edward Maya - Stereo Love 

Mya - Fear of Flying

Vampire Weekend - Run

702 - You don't Know

Danity Kane - Right Now

Kelly Price - Mirror, Mirror

Hedley - Perfect

Phoenix - 1901

[aquarian1]

@Sharpie66 - I have Big Pig's Bonk, too! I love all of it, especially Devil's Song, Nation and Hungry Town.  

[Sharpie66]

I always thought the their song "Big Hotel"would make a great soundtrack for a fanvid for the show Angel.

[AimingforYoko]

The Suburbs was not just the name of an Arcade Fire album, it is also the name of a 1980s new wave band from Minnneapolis. The closest they got to stardom was "Love is the Law", but this was my favorite song:

[zbornak]

Debbie Harry's solo work is generally underrated, but her most recent solo album seemed to pass by completely unnoticed. The lead single, Two Times Blue, was terrific.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wHBufAwOQ4

[turnitwayup]

Love both of these vids cause they look like they're having so much fun. The band is great live and Ty has so much energy.

 

 

[Tabbyclaw]

Carnival of Rust is one my favourite songs of all time

 

And now it's one of mine.

[Hybridcookie]

And now it's one of mine.

 

Yay! That makes me happy. It's nice that more people are hearing about them and this amazing song

[PrincessLuceval]

Split Enz is my favorite all time band. They just didn't pick up much of a following in the US, although they're considered a national treasure in New Zealand and Australia. There are a bunch of songs I like of theirs with good videos, but one I remember from the very earliest days of Mtv was this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAzIzmfzN_Q

[harrie]

Except for I've Got You (due to old boyfriend baggage), I love almost everything about Split Enz, Crowded House, and just about anyone surnamed Finn. Yet i had not heard this one - thanks for posting it, PrincessLuceval, I like it a lot.

[PrincessLuceval]

Yay, a kindred spirit! Here's another version of that song, when the Enz were guesting on the old Paul Hogan show. I actually like it better than the official video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVFbNYNPbUY

[Jeebus Cripes]

Except for I've Got You (due to old boyfriend baggage), I love almost everything about Split Enz, Crowded House, and just about anyone surnamed Finn. Yet i had not heard this one - thanks for posting it, PrincessLuceval, I like it a lot.

 

Are they identical twins or what? My mind got all twisted the other day while watching a Split Enz video because I thought it was Neil Finn.

[PrincessLuceval]

No, the brothers Finn are about six years apart. They do look alike in that one, though! Here's another good one that haunted people when it first played on Mtv:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrdH4ZHTVJE

[BetterButter]

 

Edited September 23, 2014 by BetterButter

[Hybridcookie]

Wicked Girls by Seanan McGuire. Posting the live version from youtube.

 

 

3.53  to the end is my favourite part. I love the lyrics and the message

 

 

[BetterButter]

[Sandman87]

This could turn out to be The Thread That Ate All My Spare Time. For a long time my greatest joy in life was finding cool obscure songs, and the stranger they were, the better I liked it.

Just a few examples:

"Don't Nobody Move (This is a Heist)" by Tony Powers

Did you know that Tim Curry has released a few LPs? There's a reggae cover of a Beatles song on one of them.

"The Funky Western Civilization" - Social commentary rock from Tonio K. with a touch of surf guitar and a dash of country pickin'.

Barnes & Barnes produced a wonderfully bizarre album for actor Crispin Glover. "Clowny Clown Clown" comes from that.

[Rick Kitchen]

My favorite new song right now.  Not too sure about the video.

 

[Sandman87]

Back when I was in college I worked at the campus radio station, which meant that whenever they sold off some of their duplicate LPs I could sometimes score incredibly obscure LPs with tunes I liked, especially when they had novelty value. Like these:

Landscape was a more well known in the UK than here in the US. They got a tiny amount of play on MTV, usually in the wee hours of the morning, with "Norman Bates" from the album From the Tea Rooms of Mars to the Hellholes of Uranus.

An AMV that uses the hilariously awful "Down on the Electronic Farm" from The Android Sisters. "Who?" I hear you ask. Exactly.

[PrincessLuceval]

Eddie Rayner and Brian Baker have been collaborating on music for a long time. (See: The Makers, from mid 80s.) This is one of their more recent ones, and I just love its easy jazz feel.

[Sandman87]

Now that we're getting close to the holiday season I figured that I'd share the only Christmas song that ever made me play my air guitar: Alien Sex Fiend - "Stuff the Turkey"

[Sandman87]

A couple of decades ago John Paul Jones (the one from Led Zeppelin) put out an album with scary, scary performance artist Diamanda Galas. The track that got airplay on various college stations was "Do You Take This Man?".

---------------------

On a less threatening note; everyone loves The Wizard of Oz, right? The Squirrels certainly did, and they did this medley to prove it: "Oz on 45"

[DkNNy79]

Recent Christmas Songs:

 

I know Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" is the gold standard for best new Christmas song written in the last couple of decades.  However, I really like Rob Thomas' "New York City Christmas."  It doesn't get a lof of airplay anymore, but its one of my favorites.

[BetterButter]

[navelgazer]

I have a couple songs that fit here.  One is "25 Lovers" by Jennifer Rush.  She was huge in Europe, didn't do so well in the US.  She wrote "Power of Love," one of Celine Dion's greatest hits. 

 

Another band that remains on the mainstream fringes but has a huge following is Marillion.  "Kayleigh" is off of "Misplaced Childhood," which is one of the best albums from cut 1 to cut 10 that I have ever heard. 

[auntiemel]

This song has been on my radar since I studied abroad in 2000. I could only find a live performance of it. SO GOOD!

[Sandman87]

One of my favorite mostly unknown songs from the '80s was by Robin Scott, otherwise known as the M who did "Pop Music". He released this song, "The Bridge", on the album Famous Last Words:

It almost sounds like something Gary Numan might have done, but with more intelligible singing.

The whole album was fairly interesting, with a lot of variations in style. It's got a bunch of well known (at the time) musicians contributing to it, like Yukihiro Takahashi from YMO, Thomas Dolby, and Andy Gill. I wish I could find it on CD, since my copy of the LP is all worn out.