Bands ahead of their time.

IamNotNumber · 03-03-2015 11:48am #1

Listening to Big Black the legendary seattle band and I was amazed to hear this EP from 1982.Surely this band was at least 10 years ahead of their time.

"Lungs is the first EP by American Post-hardcore band Big Black. It was released in December 1982 on Ruthless Records, and was reissued in 1992 on Touch & Go Records.A 19-year-old Steve Albini played nearly every instrument on Lungs, with "sax bleats" by Albini's college friend John Bohnen and drums being handled by "Roland," a drum machine that was credited as a member of the band.
First track steelworker reminds me of Death in Vegas Aishia, but the whole Ep sounds like it could have being released yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ruuMh0fF5s

Steve Albini of course needs no introduction having produced and played in some of seattle most icon bands( Nirvana,Shellac).
Any other bands who seem to be a good few years ahead of their contemporaries? I would say Pixies and SY might fall into this category.Even in todays world anyone doing something that might be considered ahead of their time once we have the benefit of hindsight looking back in ten years?

O'Neill · 03-03-2015 11:54am

Think 'Oscillations' by Silver Apples was way ahead of its time, that song made was made in 1968! Madness

IamNotNumber · 03-03-2015 12:10pm

O'Neill wrote: »

Think 'Oscillations' by Silver Apples was way ahead of its time, that song made was made in 1968! Madness

Thats well cool! ..I'll post it to save others looking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1xOZyBc2Ck

Irish_rat · 03-03-2015 6:16pm

IamNotNumber wrote: »

Surely this band was at least 10 years ahead of their time.

I would say Pixies and SY might fall into this category.Even in todays world anyone doing something that might be considered ahead of their time once we have the benefit of hindsight looking back in ten years?

Radiohead the most modern influence IMO, Kid A is decades ahead of its time. Possibly Funeral too by AF.

Influences such as The Smiths, Pixies, The Cure, Joy Division, SY etc. will remain the biggest.

IamNotNumber · 03-03-2015 7:05pm

Irish_rat wrote: »

Radiohead the most modern influence IMO, Kid A is decades ahead of its time. Possibly Funeral too by AF.

Influences such as The Smiths, Pixies, The Cure, Joy Division, SY etc. will remain the biggest.

Dunno about KID A possibly ..have never listened to it ..(gets coat ->Leaves Forum) but AF great albums but of the times rather than ahead.

S.M.B. · 03-03-2015 10:24pm

I wouldn't say that Kid A is ahead of it's time and that's coming from a very big fan of the album.

It was more an example of a band on the brink of superstardom taking influence from non mainstream sources.

I think that philosophy always existed to a certain extent.

I think Slints spiderland still sounds like it could have been recorded only a year ago but I'm not sure if that's more standing the test of time as opposed to being ahead of it's time.

eviltimeban · 04-03-2015 10:56am

Kid A was not ahead of its time. They were taking influences from stuff that had been around for about a decade, stretching all the way back to Eno.

Big Star I always felt were ahead of their time - that jangly, guitary stuff became really popular in the 90s but they were two decades behind! Some of their songs could've been hits in the 90s.

Seefeel made a great album in 1993 that sounded way ahead of what other "shoegaze" bands were doing, it was more ambient electronic and had very little to do with "rock" music at all. Slowdive followed a similar path in 1995 with Pygmalion and only now are they getting the respect the deserved. OK, I don't necessarily think they were ahead of their time, but they certainly have more cred now than they did back then.

The Beta Band never really broke through but they were very influential at the time, but people don't really mention them any more. "The Three EPs" is a sublime record. In fact, I'm going to listen to it right now!

CatMalojinBlog · 04-03-2015 10:57am

Kid Creole and the Coconuts

smackbunnybaby · 04-03-2015 12:17pm

I was thinking someone like The Wipers, formed as a Punk band in 1977.
But this sounds like a blue print for the Nirvana and the likes!

Birneybau · 04-03-2015 4:04pm

Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92' left a long lasting legacy. Doubt there would have been a 'Kid A' without it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selected_Ambient_Works_85%E2%80%9392

Anesthetize · 04-03-2015 9:22pm

Wipers are one of my favourite punk bands and their first 3 albums have been acknowledged as major influences on a lot of alternative and indie rock. Nirvana also covered two songs of theirs, D-7 and Return of the Rat.

Dandelion6 · 05-03-2015 7:37am

The Red Crayola were doing post-punk in the 1960s.

daUbiq · 05-03-2015 1:35pm

Birneybau wrote: »

Aphex Twin's 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92' left a long lasting legacy. Doubt there would have been a 'Kid A' without it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selected_Ambient_Works_85%E2%80%9392

I reckon Autechre are a bigger influence on Kid A...

Birneybau · 05-03-2015 3:29pm

daUbiq wrote: »

I reckon Autechre are a bigger influence on Kid A...

Fair enough but I reckon the album I mentioned influenced a helluva lot of modern stuff.

fiachr_a · 05-03-2015 5:33pm

Dcbasehead - Playing with toys. It came out in the early '90s. People in the shop laughed that I bought the album as it sounded too weird. A few years later Beck arrived with the same sound and everyone got into it. Here's a track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-1L7kEKIto

eviltimeban · 05-03-2015 5:40pm

If you want to slide slightly to "albums before their time", Paul McCartney's "McCartney II" was more or less rubbished at the time but is now held up as some kind of electro-masterpiece (see [URL="[url]http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15536-mccartney-mccartney-ii/?utm_campaign=search&utm_medium=site&utm_source=search-ac[/url]"]this [/URL]Pitchfork review).

Some of it is a bit mad but there's a track called Secret Friend which is like an ambient dance track. And Check My Machine is very like the Beta Band (who I mentioned earlier).

fiachr_a · 06-03-2015 5:08pm

Curve doing what Garbage would do a few years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Plourz3Xs

Botany 5 doing what The farm would do a few years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3GJge-nuGY

The lurkers doing what Stone Roses would do a few years later.

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

daUbiq · 09-03-2015 11:31am

Gotta agree with that - Garbage totally copied Curve! :mad:

IamNotNumber · 09-03-2015 11:43am

Interesting article ..this is amazing(but ****e to listen to) from 1958!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW-n6GWFAvI

http://www.cracked.com/article_19094_6-songs-that-were-decades-ahead-groundbreaking-music.html

fiachr_a · 10-03-2015 5:03pm

Here's drum and bass from 1982, a decade early!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AQfvXrzUNI

IamNotNumber · 10-03-2015 11:25pm

Given the way this thread is heading anyone got music from the 40's or earlier that LCD soundsystem or someone just completely ripped off?

fiachr_a · 11-03-2015 3:52pm

Well that famous rock and roll song Blue moon song is taken from some classical music tune from about 1910. Andrew Lloyd Webber seems to 'borrow' a lot of older classical stuff for his songs. There's a Disney movie from the late 1970s called Black Stallion where someone plays the Chariots of fire theme on a flute. But that movie didn't get released until a few years later. Then there's the Mutiny on the Bounty movie from about 1962 when in the last ten minutes the orchestra on the soundtrack starts playing the Jaws theme when a shark appeared. This was over a decade before that movie came out. Wouldn't know much about LCD soundsystem though.

IamNotNumber · 11-03-2015 7:54pm

fiachr_a wrote: »

Well that famous rock and roll song Blue moon song is taken from some classical music tune from about 1910. Andrew Lloyd Webber seems to 'borrow' a lot of older classical stuff for his songs. There's a Disney movie from the late 1970s called Black Stallion where someone plays the Chariots of fire theme on a flute. But that movie didn't get released until a few years later. Then there's the Mutiny on the Bounty movie from about 1962 when in the last ten minutes the orchestra on the soundtrack starts playing the Jaws theme when a shark appeared. This was over a decade before that movie came out. Wouldn't know much about LCD soundsystem though.

That was just a joke really but thanks for the interesting information!

fiachr_a · 12-03-2015 6:48pm

Anyone into Philip Glass/Steve Reich/John Adams? Check this music out from the 1930s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOm6TM-QPRI

Rothko · 13-03-2015 9:32pm

The Monks. They were around in the mid-60's but sound like they could have been a part of the punk rock scene in the 70's.

Rothko · 13-03-2015 9:33pm

eviltimeban wrote: »

Big Star I always felt were ahead of their time - that jangly, guitary stuff became really popular in the 90s but they were two decades behind! Some of their songs could've been hits in the 90s.

I think they sound very 60's-ish.

STG.Otaku · 13-03-2015 9:35pm

daUbiq wrote: »

I reckon Autechre are a bigger influence on Kid A...

I'd say Model 500/Juan Atkins, Dave Angel, Derrick May, Joey Beltram and Jeff Mills were even bigger influences on all of those.

May I add Roy Ayers, Weather Report and Goblin to the master list as well?

IamNotNumber · 13-03-2015 11:57pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnTFA3Bp0hg

They invented something in 1979 ,,prehaps the aphex twin ,,off their bleeding rockers.

fiachr_a · 14-03-2015 3:16pm

Always thought Ocean colour scene were the same band as Corduroy with vocals added!

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

eviltimeban · 16-03-2015 10:33am

fiachr_a wrote: »

Always thought Ocean colour scene were the same band as Corduroy with vocals added!

Weren't they out around the same time though?

noby · 16-03-2015 3:19pm

Plus, Ocean Colour Scene were distinctly retro, so sounding like them wouldn't exactly make you ahead of your time. That's like saying Dr. Feelgood were ahead of their time because The Strypes.

Bands ahead of their time.

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