Most Significant (Rep of) Irish band since U2?

Duke Leonal Felmet

I have been thinking about this one lately, and I have to say I am struggling to think of one. We (the Irish Republic) haven't exactly been producing acts this past twenty years, have we? Off the top of my head, noteworthy (populist or otherwise) acts include:

- Whipping Boy
- Frank & Walters
- Sultans of Ping
- Cranberries
- The Thrills
- Boyzone
- Westlife
- The Frames
- Sinead o Connor
- The Script
- Damien Rice
- Bell X1


Are there more? Note that bands from Northern Ireland are banned from this, let's just stick to the Republic.

Either way, it's a fairly paltry list.

Welsh Megaman

Six

bucketybuck

All of those bands are better than U2. Including Six.

doughef

ash!! :cool:

karaokeman

You forgot....

The Corona's
The Corrs
Republic of Loose
The Blizzards
Imelda May

Yeah but I know what you mean there's not many at the moment. But if you want to know whose the best Irish band since U2 I would say The Script.

MrStuffins

doughef wrote: »

ash!! :cool:

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

Note that bands from Northern Ireland are banned from this, let's just stick to the Republic.

A lot of people write them off, I think these people are clowns who have never actually listened to them and have just heard the hits on the radio.

My nomination: Aslan!

doughef

oops.. my bad

I agree with Aslan..

also, The Stunning
The Saw Doctors

Funkfield

Adebisi Shank

Best Irish band ever.

/thread

pancuronium

Don't forget Jedward!!!!!

ricero

for success reasons id say the script and **** it i like some of there songs

Nolanger

This thread would be much longer if it was about the best recent bands from Wales or Scotland.

MrStuffins

Nolanger wrote: »

This thread would be much longer if it was about the best recent bands from Wales or Scotland.

Or Iraq!

flyswatter

My Bloody Valentine.

Eathrin

The coronas
Fox avenue
the rubberbandits

To name a few

karaokeman

bucketybuck wrote: »

All of those bands are better than U2. Including Six.

No U2 bashing please.

mikemac

Bewitched

The four girls set a record getting when their first four singles got UK number ones, never been done before and I think it's never been repeated.

Was a big deal at the time to get that record so I think it's worth mentioning

MrStuffins

Well I don't know who holds the current record, but I know Westlife had their first 6 singles go straight to No.1

karaokeman

MrStuffins wrote: »

Well I don't know who holds the current record, but I know Westlife had their first 6 singles go straight to No.1

Westlife have 14 UK #1 singles, that is the third highest in history only behind the Beatles and Elvis.

Also B*Witched broke America before they split so Ireland has had its moments in pop history.

MrStuffins

For me though, there is no magic in the No.1 single anymore. Any auld sh*te can make No.1 these days just as long as they're rammed down the listener's throat enough.

I mean, have you heard Swagger Jagger by Cher Lloyd? Horrible!

Also, Westlife have sold countless millions of albums and continue to do so! But mostly through very very clever marketing and timing. Have you ever noticed that every time they release a new album it's always in very late Oct or well into Nov? Plenty of time for their new cover version to be all over the radio and for everyone to buy the new album for their girlfriends, sisters and mothers for Christmas.

It's a very clever strategy that is making the Cowell fella ever more richer!

(Edit: Just checked their Discography. 10 Studio Albums and a Greatest Hits in 11 years (one each year) all released between 31st Oct - 30th Nov)

3hn2givr7mx1sc

karaokeman wrote: »

No U2 bashing please.

Who made you king?

muirsheen

Cry before Dawn brilliant Wexford band

karaokeman

baz2009 wrote: »

karaokeman wrote: »

No U2 bashing please.

Who made you king?

I'm not but thats just ludicrous to claim "all" of the bands listed by the OP are better than U2.

For instance Boyzone were mentioned. How on Earth are Boyzone better than U2???

MrStuffins

karaokeman wrote: »

I'm not but thats just ludicrous to claim "all" of the bands listed by the OP are better than U2.

For instance Boyzone were mentioned. How on Earth are Boyzone better than U2???

SOMEONE hasn't heard Love Me for a Reason!

karaokeman

MrStuffins wrote: »

SOMEONE hasn't heard Love Me for a Reason!

I'm not saying their songs are bad or anything like that.

The truth of the matter is they can't sing.

Anyone who has seen Ronan Keating live or heard some of his more recent stuff can tell. He struggles with both reaching the high notes and being able to stay in key.

Ronan like the other four hadn't really got any vocal training before joining the band, it just came to him. Fair enough he was a track-and-field athlete from a young age representing Ireland but that was where RK's talent lied.

Ronan admitted it some years later in an interview that he was just a normal guy who got lucky.

Stephen Gately was the only one of them who could sing well. All the others were living their own lives until they saw the advertisement for an Irish Take That.

MrStuffins

Sorry man I was being sarcastic. There's no denying (they dont deny it either) that they werent the most talented. They werent great singers and they werent Take That because they couldn't dance.

But that's pop music for ya. An awful lot of it has nothing to do with talent! Ah well!

SilverScreen

My Bloody Valentine and God Is an Astronaut. And both are better than U2.

Duke Leonal Felmet

- Whipping Boy
- Frank & Walters
- Sultans of Ping
- Cranberries
- The Thrills
- Boyzone
- Westlife
- The Frames
- Sinead o Connor
- The Script
- Damien Rice
- Bell X1
- Six
- The Corrs
- Republic of Loose
- The Blizzards
- Imelda May
- Aslan
- Adebisi Shank
- Jedward
- My Bloody Valentine
- The Coronas
- Fox Avenue
- The Rubberbandits
- Bewitched
- God Is an Astronaut


I think we are really scraping the barrel, in places. I guess I meant bands that have actually had an impact outside the Republic (and not some YouTube fad), even if it was just one single. I have highlighted the dodgy choices, based on whether they had a significant charting outside of ROI (source: Wiki). Let me know if I got one wrong there, and source your claim.

discobeaker

Ok im gonna go with these bands

Kerbdog
The Redneck Manifesto
The Radiators from Space
Future Kings of Spain
Woodstar
Messiah J and The Expert
Pet Lamb

teekayd25

Bearing in mind that everybody's probably got a favourite Irish band, and a favourite genre, let's look at the Frank and Walters, Aslan and Primordial. All three groups command significant respect and / or affection within their respective genres (yes, Aslan take a lot of heat, but who, within the general pop-rock sphere, doesn't? :cool:), along with also having had very long, sustained careers compared to most other Irish bands (Primordial have released seven studio albums, Aslan five, the Frank and Walters are currently working on their sixth). What we're basically looking for, I think, are bands who have enjoyed the best overall mix of critical and commercial success, and enjoyed it over a sustained period of time. These three bands would probably fit the bill (note that Primordial usually sell about 20,000 copies of a release, no mean feat within the world of metal).

If you talk about solo artists, Sinead O'Connor and Cathal Coughlan (who was in a couple of pretty good bands himself) are probably out on their own.

Bassfish

Cyclefly

J_E

flyswatter wrote: »

My Bloody Valentine.

Mind. Blown

Yakult

GIAA. I know they've been mentioned already but their first 6 albums are my most listened to albums. Never have a band actually influenced my life like they have and a sound sound bunch of guys.

doughef

Stephen Gately was the only one of them who could sing well??????????????????? :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


Stephen Gately was the worst singer of all time......
That nasal off key twang of his was awfully upsetting

karaokeman

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

- Fox Avenue

I guess I meant bands that have actually had an impact outside the Republic

Fox Avenue are only popular in Ireland as far as I know. They haven't even headlined the Olympia yet so they're far from breaking other places like the UK and that.

Hartys8

RUBYHORSE - The band never got the credit in Ireland. Were very successful in the states though. Some epic songs like Sparkle / Warning bells. A shame they broke up. Also had George Harrison from the Beatles on their debut album. Just a good band with very catchy tunes:D

Ellian

A House were a great band IMO. Three cracking albums anyway (was not so keen on the fourth one myself) and I'd also rate Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club. They may not be the best band ever, but anytime they loop around on my ipod I always get asked "who is this?" and other positive noises..

ItsAWindUp

Gavin Friday!

doughef

Mesner..

fantastic band. From Laois I think.. did really well during the 90's but it just didnt happen for them

JerryHandbag

Ritchie Egan AKA Jape.

Duke Leonal Felmet

Again, outside of the Republic, who has even heard of some of these acts?

Jerichoholic

F*ckbuttons, amazing lads.

I must say that the Script are worse than U2, the Script are an abomination.

laoch na mona

primordial they have won metal hammer awards

Jerichoholic

There's also Nouveaunoise, which shows us that all Irish music need not be singer/songwriter acoustic ring. Ireland has a lot of talent, but Irish music circles don't seem to get away from Damian Rice style pissmusic.

Here's one of the best tunes of the year that you won't hear Ray Foley playing.

http://soundcloud.com/nouveaunoise/believe

Nailz

Since when were U2 significant? God Is An Astronaut or Warpath in my opinion, in terms of quality of music anyway. Primordial also worth a rather honourable mention. I do enjoy a bit of Republic Of Loose, Bell X1 or Imelda May if I'm honest. I like Thérèse Fahy too, she's a great pianist.

shinny

muirsheen wrote: »

Cry before Dawn brilliant Wexford band

+1 I loved them. They had some brilliant songs. They never had much success outside of Ireland which always surprised me. Probably not managed very well!

From their reunion tour in Vicar St this year:

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

mick121

aslan and whipping boy

Duke Leonal Felmet

Nailz wrote: »

Since when were U2 significant? God Is An Astronaut or Warpath in my opinion, in terms of quality of music anyway. Primordial also worth a rather honourable mention. I do enjoy a bit of Republic Of Loose, Bell X1 or Imelda May if I'm honest. I like Thérèse Fahy too, she's a great pianist.

I think people may be misunderstanding this thread. Significant means global (or at least outside ROI) impact and/or global artistic credibility.

I can't think of many Irish acts since U2 that has achieved both. The vast majority of suggestions so far are boy bands or no-name bands that the poster happens to like. Or the odd 'shoulda been big' bands, like Aslan, Whipping Boy.

I guess my objective in this thread was to tally how Ireland has fared globally since U2.

Not so well it seems. Why is this, I wonder? Is the music scene in Ireland so bad? Or is nobody big looking for Irish acts to sign/promote?

HalloweenJack

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

Or is nobody big looking for Irish acts to sign/promote?

It should be irrelevant where a band is from. As long as they're good, they should be listened to.

FWIW, the biggest (not necessarily the "best" and definitely not my favourite) Irish groups since U2 have been the Script and Westlife.

Duke Leonal Felmet

HalloweenJack wrote: »

It should be irrelevant where a band is from. As long as they're good, they should be listened to.

FWIW, the biggest (not necessarily the "best" and definitely not my favourite) Irish groups since U2 have been the Script and Westlife.

Yeah, I guess what I mean is whether the mechanisms actually exist in Ireland for an Irish band to get signed to a big label and be adequately promoted. I'd imagine that 'mechanism' in the UK and US is more advanced than here in Ireland? Does more support exist for bands in these places?

As far as I can tell, the only support that exists here is for the Jedwards, Westlifes of this world.

**Vai**

Out of all the bands mentioned I'd go for Dream Theater. Jimmy O'Brie is a wonderful sean nós singer and the accordian player, John Óg Pethaughnessy, is ahead of his time. And dont get me started on Mícháel the bodhrán player.

Duke Leonal Felmet

I thought they were a US metal band?