# Who? Cult bands.



## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Ok, some of you on the Big Names thread were clearly itching to tell us all about the best band on the planet, so this is the place to do it. 
You know, the cult bands that have a massive underground following pulling in thousands to their gigs, that you've seen dozens of times, and that the music media hate because they won't stick to the media's idea of what a band should be doing.

One of the biggest & most important cult bands in the UK since the late 70s has of course been Cardiacs. I first saw them in about 1990. The music press hate them, TV channels and radio stations never played them, except for Mark and Lard on BBC Radio who love them & used to regularly have them in to play radio sessions.

I've seen them more than any other band, probably about 20 times. I've even travelled to London from Sweden to see them at their annual xmas gig at the Astoria three times, sadly the last one was in 2007. In early 2008 Tim Smith Cardiacs' leader had a heart attack.

Cardiacs are a favourite of Damon Albarn, I actually stood next to him at a Cardiacs gig in Milton Keynes in the early 90s. Also a favourite of Clearlake, who acknowledged them and borrowed from them on their first album, and Oceansize and Mike Patton (FNM) and Sidi Bou Said and the NSRO and Stars in Battledress and Marillion, who had them as a support band in the 80s on one gig at the Hammermsith Odeon. 
Blur (who borrowed from them on their first album) had them as support at the Mile End gig mid-90s, the gig where Phil Daniels sang on Park Life.
Bic a former Cardiacs guitarist left and formed Levitation. Also influenced Miranda Sex Garden and Medieval Baebes

The people and bands that Cardiacs have influenced and produced is endless. The bands that have said they have been influenced by and love Cardiacs is also long.They've been my favourite band since 89. I have all of their many albums, all their singles (bar one) and some videos.

But have you heard of them? I hope not 

PS I'm not even going to attempt to describe their unique brand of prog meeets pronk (commonly referered to as Pronk) meets pop meets mayhem. You can decide for yourself 
START HERE: https://www.cardiacs.com/new-to-cardiacs/


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## but_ch (May 4, 2010)

I'll bite.

Southern Culture on the Skids

Los Straitjackets


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## sowilson (Jul 27, 2009)

Sonic's Rendezvous Band.

Prong - not the Heavy Metal band () ) but the Detroit punk band (circa 1976) that would trash out Leonard Cohen as well as Zappa.

Fela Kuti (ok, well known in Europe but not US)
National Health


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## VictorRomeo (Sep 11, 2009)

Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven are one of my favourite alltime groups. They formed as CvB but lead David Lowrey(lead singer/writer for both bands) broke and formed Cracker in 1990. Their sound is alternative rock/country and fits nicely winin my hillbilly leanings . They've had limited commercial success but did have a platinum album in the early 90's.

Known for the song 'Take The Skinheads Bowling' and Low, I've been into them since about 1987.

Other favourites that might fall into this category are NYC band The Smithereens, English band XTC and of course They Might Be Giants.


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## Cruiser (Jul 21, 2006)

Although I haven't been into this scene in many years, clearly the biggest cult band in the history of the planet has to have been The Grateful Dead. Although they were seldom heard on the radio or seen on the charts, thousands of deadheads planned their lives around Dead tours for years. Nearly everyone has heard of The Grateful Dead, but very few actually know what their music sounded like. I find many to be shocked at the steel guitar and country sound of many of their songs.

A little trivia, the late Dead leader Jerry Garcia arranged and played steel guitar on _Teach Your Children_ by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. More non-deadheads probably recognize Garcia's ties more than his actual music.

Cruiser


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Cruiser said:


> A little trivia, the late Dead leader Jerry Garcia arranged and played steel guitar on _Teach Your Children_ by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.


You old head you! 
And on the same album John Sebastian played mouth harp on the title track, Deja Vu.


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## Centaur (Feb 2, 2010)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> ... sadly the last one was in 2007. In early 2008 Tim Smith Cardiacs' leader had a heart attack.


Hardly laughing matter, but with a band name like that, it must always have been a slight risk.

On the subject of cult bands, I used to be quite well informed, listening to John Peel's late show from around 1977, and I have been searching the recesses of my mind for the names of some of the less well-known punk bands he used to play then, but it's too long ago. And the bands I did get to see live then were so obscure and short-lived (and cult, in a way) that even if I could remember their names, it would be fairly meaningless, probably, to anyone else on this forum.


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## msphotog (Jul 5, 2006)

My all-time favorite cult band was The Butthole Surfers, and they used to tour with The Dead Kennedys, and a really strange band called Sharon Tate's Baby


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## roman totale XVII (Sep 18, 2009)

Wow - never thought I'd hear the name Cardiacs on AAAC! Big fan and seen them countless times over the years. I was in the crowd for the Mare's Nest shoot at Salisbury Arts Centre back in the day. Just spent a long car journey this week listening to "Archive Cardiacs" over and over - never gets old...

Just the other day I was commenting to someone that Blur's "Bank Holiday", especially the middle eight, is nothing short of a homage to Cardiacs.

My musical tastes were firmly set by the John Peel show through the 80s and into the mid 90s. Bogshed, Head of David, Atari Teenage Riot and Melt Banana remain firm favourites. The latter being *the* greatest live band I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of gigs...

As my username betrays, top of the pile remain The Fall. As Peel himself said, "...the standard by which all others must be judged".


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