What band(s) did you stupidly overlook for decades?

Of course I know their big hits well enough, but at 50 years old, I am just now hearing Aerosmith's first several albums for the very first time, and kicking myself for having never investigated them earlier. At the same time, I get to experience the joy of this discovery now instead of it being a distant memory--at a time in my life where I sometimes feel like I have "heard it all" (of course I have not), this doesn't happen very often anymore!

 

The Cult. From first video to first album listen took me decades. Only took a couple months to become one of my all time favorite bands.
Speaking of two guys make a band, took me at least two years to buy Steely Dans first album. And after buying Aja, it took decades to listen to their other albums.

 

Those 70's Aerosmith albums is among the greatest rock and roll ever written, so I envy your first exposure to them! Glad to hear you are enjoying them. Always better late than never.

Alice Cooper would be one for me. I mean, I've loved "Greatest Hits" for decades, but am relatively new to being immersed in their studio albums.

Faces is another one.

The Beatles were actually one! At least until the mid to late 90's.

 

The Police.

 

The Grateful Dead. Not so much overlook but thought my musical tastes were superior. I am now a full-on Dead Head.

 

JJ Cale.

I knew of him via Clapton but never actually listened to any of his albums. Now he's one of my absolute favorites.

 

For me it's 70's Genesis. After recently going through their 70's catalogue on iTunes, I remember quite a few songs from the radio, but back then I never knew those songs were by Genesis. There's some good stuff there!

Not only that... all those King Biscuit and Westwood One Genesis concerts I taped over-the-air back in the early 80's, the songs I wasn't familiar with are the ones from the 70's I had no clue of. It's like I finally get it now. Boy do I now wish I'd seen them in concert back in the early 80's.

 

Nick Drake, Sixto Rodriguez

 

The Fall. In the 80's there were so many more bands worth my time. That has changed.

 

Aerosmith was the first that came to mind for me also. I was certainly aware of them and have always liked the 70's songs I heard on the radio (later stuff not so much). It was just that they were just winding down down their 70's era right when I was ramping up and discovering new bands. I sort of skipped over them.
I have only picked up Rocks and Toys recently and they are getting a lot of play.

 

Cocteau Twins and Nico. A lot of it is introverted music you have to come to on their terms. As a youtt (using Joe Pesci voice here), I generally took to music that gave me a hard-hitting emotional rush, like The Ramones or Husker Du.

 

Maybe "stupidly" is putting it too strongly, but as a fan of 60s garage and 70s punk, I somehow completely missed The Dickies until just a few years ago — meaning I missed out on a whole lot of fun in the interim.

 

Good topic. I overlooked most of the common heavy metal / hard rock bands, maybe because I had no proper environment to influence me, only stupid reviewers in the daily papers who put them all down.

That includes Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Dio, Ozzy, Aerosmith, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Def Leppard, Moetley Crue, Ratt etc.

The last few years I've had my "revenge" buying this and that via Discogs..

It's probably too late for me to become a fan of more extreme genres though..

 

I've only been alive three decades so far, but I overlooked the Sundays until this year (age 30). Silly me, I thought they'd bore me. They are now one of my absolute favorites. Harriet and David, we miss ya. Come on back!

 

Queen. Their 80s stuff wasn't for me in the 80s. A few years ago, however, I tried their 70s albums. Lightbulb moment.

 

The Animals.

It wasn’t until I started getting into Blues that I started listening to the Animals and realizing just how great those blues/R&B influenced records are.

 

Bowie and most prog, most notably Genesis.

As a punk and new wave obsessed teenager, I became convinced that most progressive rock wasn't worth my time. I was wrong about that, but it took 30 years to figure it out.

Regarding Bowie - he was always beckoning to me, via connections to Iggy, Eno etc, but I kept resisting for some reason. I finally dove into his catalog about 6 or 7 seven years ago. I'm now a big fan.

 

I got lucky with one of the danish reviewers who promoted them, so I got their debut at the time. It was really something special

 

Big Star
The Jam
Guided by Voices
13th Floor Elevators

 

If you decide to pick up Night In The Ruts on CD, do yourself a favor and listen to it in this reimagined "album sequence":

(Side 1)
1- No Surprize
2- Chiquita
3- Cheesecake
4- Three Mile Smile

(Side 2)
5- Bone To Bone
6- Think About It
7- Remember Walking In The Sand
8- Mia

I always found the original track sequencing difficult to get through, but this way I promise you won't be sorry.

 

No rock bands. I always got them right first time.

However, jazz is a different matter. I ignored it disdainfully for years, but that's off thread.

 

Small Faces - I've always known about them and could sing the chorus of Itchycoo Park but never actually listened to them. As of about two weeks ago, I'm officially obsessed with them. Fantastic group.

Also, Pentangle. Bought a used compilation a year ago because it was cheap - $1. Decided it wasn't enough, so I gave it away and bought a well-regarded 2-CD anthology. But it still wasn't enough so I sold the anthology and bought the Albums: 1968-1972 box.

 

p.s. - John Coltrane, Lenny Breau

 

It's now to believe, but Pink Floyd and Steely Dan. They were bands that came on the radio and were ok; in my mind they were no Zeppelin or Deep Purple. Now I own every album, box set, dvd, etc. for both PF and SD. And also a total reversal in listening time … very rarely play Zepp or DP anymore.

 

Jethro Tull- the new Steven Wilson mixes and book sets have been a revelation to me. I’ve purchased and absorbed all of them and will continue to buy as long as they keep coming.

I’m also now getting into Gentle Giant. The Wilson Octopus remix has been my gateway, but I’m also purchasing the original releases as well. So much talent and originality in this music that I’m just now beginning to understand and appreciate.