Public opinion is a fickle thing.
Once you catch the public’s attention, it can be difficult to keep it. A hit single is no guarantee that you’ll maintain relevance. Just ask any of the hundreds of artists deemed “one-hit wonders.”
But a number of these alleged one-hit wonders actually have long and storied careers that the general public has largely ignored.
And by God, it makes me so irritated.
Today, I’m counting down my favorite bands whose best work went mostly unnoticed.
Thrice
Big Hit: Stare at the Sun
What You Missed: Broken Lungs
Recommended Album: Vheissu
Thrice may have never gotten mainstream success, but they were bonafide staples of the early 2000s punk/hardcore/emo scene. Their breakthrough album, The Artist in the Ambulance made it to number 16 on the Billboard Alternative chart, spawning two singles in the top 40.
Talking to most fans, it might seem like The Artist in the Ambulance was the last notable thing they’ve done. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The follow up to this breakthrough was Vheissu, a cerebral overhaul of their sound that found them adding electronics, electric pianos, and post metal elements into their sonic palette—a move that earned the nickname, “the Radiohead of heavy music.”
After Vheissu, they released a project called The Alchemy Index. This project stretched across four EPs, each dedicated to one of the four classical elements and exploring a singular element of their sound.
They never got quite as experimental again, but the rest of their career was similarly consistent. They’ve released three albums of experimental, heavy alternative music, with another on the way this September.
Fugazi
Big Hit: Waiting Room
What You Missed: Fell, Destroyed
Recommended Album: End Hits
This Washington DC post-hardcore foursome is among the most influential groups of all time. When I was getting into music in high school, most of the bands I listened to listed Fugazi as an influence.
13 Songs, a compilation of their first two EPs, was a huge hit, and it remains their most successful record, with total sales of over $3 million. “Waiting Room,” the bouncing, manic opening track, is their most popular track by a mile.
Which is a shame, because they have one of the most impressive discographies in punk history.
On their third full length, In On the Kill Taker, they started to add a healthy dose of experimentation. Their explosive brand of post hardcore was melded with noise rock, jazz, and dub.
To be fair, this genre-bending was inherent in their sound from their inception. Ian MacKaye’s initial vision for the project was to blend the Stooges with reggae. But as their discography trudged on, their experimentation became more sophisticated.
Their final three albums, Red Medicine, End Hits, and The Argument are each perfect ten albums. But there’s not a track from any of them on their Spotify top 5.
mewithoutYou
Big Hit: The Fox, The Crow, and the Cookie
What You Missed: O Porcupine
Required Listening: Catch For Us the Foxes
Most of the bands on this list are haunted by their early success. For mewithoutYou though, it’s a little more complicated.
Across two EPs, six full-lengths, and one of each on the way, mewithoutYou has explored crust punk, frantic post-hardcore, intricate indie rock, and folk punk.
Depending on which point a fan might have been introduced to their discography, opinions on the rest of the discography vary wildly. Fans of their furious debut [A–>B] Life threw up their hands when Brother, Sister was released. Fans of the rather quirky it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright looked on their screamy back catalog with confusion and disdain.
But for whatever reason, it’s all crazy! seemed to have garnered the most new fans. They might like Ten Stories, but they can’t stand the return-to-roots heaviness of Pale Horses.
If you got into mewithoutYou for the quirky folk punk, stay for the spiritually introspective lyrics. Grab the lyric sheet and push through their back catalog for a bit. It’ll be worth your while.
The Flaming Lips
Big Hit: Do You Realize???
What You Missed: Powerless
Required Listening: The Soft Bulletin
The Oklahoma alternative heroes have had a few breakthrough hits. Many people had already written them off as one hit wonders after the hit single “She Don’t Use Jelly,” but they managed to score an even bigger hit with the classic album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, especially the hit “Do You Realize???”
But the Flaming Lips have far more in their extensive catalog than that one brilliant album of Bowie-inspired space folk. Hell, Yoshimi was their tenth album, with masterpieces on either end of it.
The album before, The Soft Bulletin, is a seminal work of alternative pop. Their twelfth record, Embryonic, is a sprawling double album of sci-fi inspired, scorched-earth paranoia. Each of which is just as beautiful as their hit.
Radiohead
Big Hit: Creep
What You Missed: Frickin’ everything. But here’s Reckoner
Required Listening: Kid A, In Rainbows
After twenty-five years, nine albums, twenty Grammy nominations and three wins, Radiohead’s most popular single is still freaking “Creep.”
No one is more upset about this than Radiohead, but I’d like to think I get close.
Since their sophomore record, The Bends, Radiohead has consistently outdone themselves at every point. Whenever it seems like they can’t top themselves, they take a massive left turn. The mere fact that anything after Kid A gets any play at all is a testament to their boundless ingenuity.
And yet, after a quarter decade of being the most important band in the world, most casual listeners still identify them by a song Thom Yorke wrote in high school.
If you’ve found yourself guilty of dismissing any of the bands I’ve mentioned, there’s hope. You can right these wrongs.
Hop on Spotify, listen to these albums, and make up for lost time.