Not bands you missed on the scene, but bands you've just not clicked into and never really heard about, or just heard, until years after the fact. In short, what bands are you a late-comer to?

Example: It's kind of like when you know of a movie, but you just never sat and watched it. Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, etc. You know they're "classics", but have you ever sat and watched them?

So on the music front, what are the bands that you were a late-comer to?

For me, it was so much. I grew up in white-bred Oklahoma, so soul and R&B music was a novelty at times, rather than the norm. Radio started to change in the 70's, and that's when I was a little kiddo. So I missed it when radio stations would play great stuff late at night or something.

It wasn't until my 30's that I really dug into Parliament/Funkadelic stuff. Same with James Brown. Always knew who James was, and knew the "popular" songs, but never dug deep enough to have recognized that sample of "The Payback" that En Vogue (and a dozen others) used in their music.

Same with Lyn Collins (which was much more recent for me). I knew the "it takes two to make a thing go right" sample was an old song, but it just never dawned on me to look it up. Someone played it recently on their radio show. It was 1:30 a.m. and I sat straight up in bed and thought "WTF?!" I felt stupid because I had never motivated myself to look up that sample before. Now I know.

I had always heard of Donny Hathaway, and even watched the TV|ONE Unsung episode on him. I knew a couple of his songs, like "A Song For You", but never dug into those few albums he put out before he

I knew Marvin Gaye from a Ronco compilation LP I had, but never went and listened to his "classic" albums until about 10 or 12 years ago.

I was late on the Graham Central Station train too. But around 1998, I bought their records at a mom & pop shop here, and edumacated myself on them. I even remember hipping a very young 20-something neighbor downstairs to GCS. He flipped when he heard "The Jam" for the first time, as I played Ain't No 'Bout A-Doubt It in the car.

There's a list of folks I have that I'm constantly catching up on. I may never memorize or know the songs from the first few bars, but I'm still listening and learning.

What are those bands/acts/singers for you?

Great thread

Lets see..

Peter Gabriel - When watching all those best videos of the 80's programs, they would always have his video for "Sledgehammer" from his album "So". I then checked his stuff out on youtube and found that he has some really amazing songs.

Stevie Wonder - I've heard so much praise for his 70's albums that I just had to check all of his music out. He has so many great songs from the 70's. I also love I Just Called To Say I Love You, and Get It with MJ.

George Michael - Similar to Peter Gabriel, when watching the best videos of 80's they would always show his video for "Faith". Faith and Listen Without Prejudice has some really awesome songs. I really haven't been able to get his songs past that though.

Yup, like you I really am just constantly learning of so many awesome artists.

I always find it kind of sad when people just say "I only listen to "insert band/artist". I never limit myself to what music I listen to. I always keep an open mind for all sorts of genres as well.

Having said that I do tend to flock to listen to more Legendary artists, like Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Nirvana , but musical variety is the spice of life

Glad you're hearing Stevie and George more. George does a lot of Stevie covers, because their vocal range is the same (although, obviously, their tone and innotations are quite different.) George had a big hit in the UK with "As", a duet with Mary J. Blige. If you dig around, there are a lot of live Stevie covers he's done on tours. I still think George is probably one of the top five male voices in the industry still today.

Peter is cool, and I can appreciate his talent, but at times he's a bit too arty for me. His Growing Up Tour DVD is pretty cool though. I have the Still Growing Up Live DVD. He's very fan friendly, and puts a lot of stuff out.

I've also been listening to Heatwave a lot lately. It wasn't until recent months (the last year) that I realized Rod Temperton was Heatwave. I knew who Rod was as a songwriter, because he wrote stuff like "Off The Wall", "Thriller", "Baby Be, Mine", "The Lady In My Life", "Rock With You", and "Burn This Disco Out" for Michael Jackson. Dude's a white funk factory! Of course he wrote some of the most memorable Heatwave songs, like "The Groove Line", "Always And Forever", "Boogie Nights", and more. If you listen to "Groove Line", and "Boogie Nights", then cue up the Off The Wall songs, you can hear that time period reflecting in all those songs.

I'm starting to really delve in the work of Bowie, Iggy Pop, some other punk music, Funkadelic, and other bands. Even groups I had long admired like the Stones and Nirvana and such.

The first one that comes to mind is Depeche Mode.

My sister has always been into them, but I really hated "Speak & Spell", so I kinda dismissed them. Over the years, I liked "Personal Jesus", and that was it.

A few years back, I went with her to a concert, but borrowed all her albums to familiarize myself with the music... I had a ball at the concert, and along the way I discovered I actually liked their stuff. I've gone to concerts with her 2 more times, and have "caught up" on their music.

• Laura Nyro
• Funkadelic
• The Rolling Stones
• Weldon Irvine
• Cherrelle
• Angela Bofill
• Gil Scott-Heron
• Grace Jones
• Lonnie Liston Smith
• Van Morrison

I've never gotten into D'Angelo, but tonight actually I'm listening to Brown Sugar. I hate his cover of "She's Always In My Hair". But didn't he ask Prince if he could record a bootleg/unreleased track of Prince's? I forget.

Tomorrow - Voodoo

I love discussions like these.

Considering I spent my entire childhood and high school daze listening to more rock oriented music, I'd say the entire Motown/R&B scene was very late for me. But I've been listening to it for the past 20 years religiously now.

As far as late to the scene today, I just started getting into the Pretenders and the Cars this past year and am really enjoying them.

I've still got a mountain of undiscovered music to get to, probably with Van Morrison at the top of the pile. After that will probably be Angie Stone.

[Edited 7/7/10 5:32am]

I would like to discover these artists;

Johnathan Butler

Rachelle Ferrell

Angie Stone

Sylvester. The only thing the radio in my area ever played from him was "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" and I didn't even know who sang it at the time. All throughout the early 1980s, I used to see articles about him in "Right On" and "Black Beat" magazines but had never heard any of his music. It wasn't until the 1990s when I discovered him in a gay club and have since bought all his albums.

The Beatles (I have always loved other artists interpretations of their music, but I wasn't intrested, untill I heard The "Blue" album, which is still a heavy rotation to this day. My next stop will be The White Album).

Sly & The Family Stone (Have always been fimiliar with them, But "Dance To The Medly" made me sit down and pay attention to their whole body of work - released or unreleased. Sly Stewart was a MAD MAN in his heyday).

Kid Creole & The Coconuts (I had their "Ultimate Collection" & "Goin' Places" compilations since their releases. This was the year that I decided to persue the rest of their albums. Great band!)

Santana (Samba Pa ti hit me in the chest like a wall of bricks the 1st time I heard it, being partial to keyboardists, I've never paid that much attention to guitarists in general, I'd admire their work in passing, but not enough to actually sit down and observe. Santana changed all of that with his Abraxas).

silverchild said:

Lonnie Liston Smith

One of my fave keyboardists.

Expansions is one of my fave albums.

Okay who knows about Angela Johnson? I JUST ran across her today, and damn it if I don't forget how. I'm trying to grab some of her stuff to listen further to either affirm or disallow my initial thoughts on this girl. So far....

ernestsewell said:

Okay who knows about Angela Johnson? I JUST ran across her today, and damn it if I don't forget how. I'm trying to grab some of her stuff to listen further to either affirm or disallow my initial thoughts on this girl. So far....

The only song I know is I'll Always Love You or something like that. It's great! I should check her out too.

Okay, here's one for you guys: Anita Ward! I always knew Ring My Bell, but I just recently purchased her 2 albums on 1 CD. She can sing the hell out of a ballad! You Lied is my favorite. If you like Minnie, Deniece or Syreeta then you will probably love Anita too.

MidniteMagnet said:

The only song I know is I'll Always Love You or something like that. It's great! I should check her out too.

Okay, here's one for you guys: Anita Ward! I always knew Ring My Bell, but I just recently purchased her 2 albums on 1 CD. She can sing the hell out of a ballad! You Lied is my favorite. If you like Minnie, Deniece or Syreeta then you will probably love Anita too.

Sometimes, that's why the one-hit wonder thing is an even bigger detriment to truly great artists. When Anita Ward was around, folks still pretty much depending on raw talent, despite the disco track behind them. Yet, they get their first song out, and that's it. The old adage of the public keeping folks in a remains true, even 40 years later. It's unfortunate because people like Anita Ward, or whoever, ooze talent, yet the public just wants to hear one song over and over. How clone-like and boring of them.

After Prince played 'Spanish Castle Magic' last year, I got into Jimi Hendrix. Through his music I got into The Beatles and The Doors. Through their music I got into Oasis.

Love it when music leads to new discoveries.

rlittler81 said:

After Prince played 'Spanish Castle Magic' last year, I got into Jimi Hendrix. Through his music I got into The Beatles and The Doors. Through their music I got into Oasis.

Love it when music leads to new discoveries.

Co-sign 101%

Thats how I mostly discovered my music, through a previous musical source.

And like you, Prince was the door that led me to the ones I mentioned in my previous post.

rlittler81 said:

After Prince played 'Spanish Castle Magic' last year, I got into Jimi Hendrix. Through his music I got into The Beatles and The Doors. Through their music I got into Oasis.

Love it when music leads to new discoveries.

It was in 1998 that I finally locked onto Graham Central Station and gave myself a crash course in their music.

Leonard Cohen. I didn't hear him for the first time till I was in my 30s. A friend of mine in grad school mentioned his name to me and something clicked. I thought, I need to check him out. I bought the Best of CD and I was floored. I have been a huge admirer since. One of my all-time top acts now.

He is one of the few acts that Prince didn't lead me into, although there are so many that I got into eventually through either my appreciation of Prince, or his appreciation and outspoken admiration of:

Joni Mitchell

Sly & The Family Stone/Larry Graham

Chaka Khan

Miles Davis

Santana

Stevie Wonder (I know...)

George Clinton/P-Funk

James Brown

I knew about Bjork, Fleetwood Mac, Kate Bush and the Cocteaus, even had some of their records, but Prince made me go back and listen again.