Famous bands you saw before they were famous

[circusboy28]

Way back in the mid 70's I saw ACDC at a pub in Melbourne called the Croxton Park Hotel. They used to call it Rock at the Croc.

This was a 2 foot high stage in a beer barn setting, tables with punters drinking beer with most people going there looking to pick up. ACDC had already had a minor hit with Baby Please Don't Go, and as I recall they did 2 or 3 sets with quite a few covers.

I was pretty young (underage!) but I remember it because me & my mates laughed our arses off at Angus in his school uniform jumping on a table & kicking over beer jugs.

My mate Evan reckons that we had a beer with Bon Scott but I don't remember that so he could be making it up. One thing I do know is that if you'd told me back then how famous ACDC would later become I would have laughed at you. They were a good rock n roll pub band who knew how to have fun.

I saw a few other bands who went on to be big - Nick Cave & the Boys Next Door and also Men at Work very early on , but I'm interested in other people's stories. Come on - who saw Led Zep on the New Yardbirds tour & thought they were a good average bar band for example?

[Adwex]

Guns and Roses, just before Appetite for Destruction came out. Read about them in a mag., had to check it out.

Not a band, but I saw Billy Sheehan way before he got big. In 1981, I spent my freshman year of college at the University of Buffalo (NY). Since I had an interest in music, I always heard raves about this local band called Talas. One night they played at the pub on campus. As I'm watching this band, my jaw was constantly dropping to the floor as a result of the energetic antics, and fiery stage presence of the bass player. I'm tellin' ya, the guy was Eddie Van Halen on the friggin' bass. I kept saying to myself, I have no idea who this guy was,...who was playing on a tiny stage, in a small pub, in a University dormitory building....but he's gonna be famous.

[monroe]

Kiss
Styxx
The Rockets
The Knack
The Romantics

[rickym]

Went to see my cousin's band play a gig in Santa Monica around '92. They opened for a band called Mighty Joe Young (Stone Temple Pilots).

Saw a band at a local party called Mammoth in the 70s. Any guesses?

[SFK]

Played a couple gigs out east in the fall of 92 with the Stone Temple Pilots. (Must've changed the name sometime in 92.)

That was late Oct. Early Nov.

I remember seeing the Video on MTV right after we got home.





Oh and...Of course. VAN HALEN used to be Mammoth.

[PMcG No.6]

No one near as famous as the previous bands, but I've seen Verve Pipe and The Electric Six beore they hit big. Electric Six used to be called The WildBunch.

[73roadrunner]

Originally Posted by PMcG No.6

No one near as famous as the previous bands, but I've seen Verve Pipe and The Electric Six beore they hit big. Electric Six used to be called The WildBunch.

I WANNA TAKE YA TO A GAY BAR!!!!!

[Geetarguy]

1) Guns N Roses, before Appetite, at a party in Claremont CA.
2) Korn at the Cal State Fullerton Pub before they became a hit...they started playing and cleared the place out...I left too!!! Never really got the Korn thing........

[GeeJay]

Van Halen, when they toured with Black Sabbath in '78. Nobody had heard of them in the UK.

[Sgt.Pepper]

He might not remember, but I used to babysit Slash as a baby.
I'm not much good at reading tea leaves but in his nappy leavings, I forsaw his success with quite a few number ones and the odd number two!

- Not really, it's all sh*t. I never saw any famous musicians untill long after they'd stopped being famous.

[single cut 54]

Originally Posted by Sgt.Pepper

He might not remember, but I used to babysit Slash as a baby.
I'm not much good at reading tea leaves but in his nappy leavings, I forsaw his success with quite a few number ones and the odd number two!

- Not really, it's all sh*t. I never saw any famous musicians untill long after they'd stopped being famous.

Hey Sgt P ,what about The Finn Brothers?

[Sgt.Pepper]

I heard that Neil doesn't realize he's famous yet, so he doesn't count.

[GeeJay]

Originally Posted by single cut 54

Hey Sgt P ,what about The Finn Brothers?

I saw the Finn Brothers when they were both in Split Enz in the mid/late 70's. Saw them twice at Friars in Aylesbury. They were really great, I wouldn't have classed them as 'famous' though (Split Enz that is). And I guess Neil has become more famous through Crowded House, who I've not seen.

[single cut 54]

1969/70 every Friday night at the George Hotel in Walsall ,they had an up and coming Rock Band .The likes of Thin Lizzy ,Mott the Hoople and Argent
Sadly the George burnt to the ground and was replaced by a Tesco
supermarket.

[KSG_Standard]

I saw SRV in a small bar in Austin...Way back in the day. What a freakin performer!

[BigLou]

I saw the Deftones at a backyard party here in Stockton a couple of years before they hit it big. Sadly, their bass player was in a terrible car accident in November and I believe he is still in a coma. Hope he pulls through.

[mike newport]

Queensryche, Culprit, Rottwieller.

[Wolff]

I saw U2 and REM at a small rock club in Boston and also U2 in the gym of RISD.

[Blues Power]

a young fella named Brian Stezter with the stray cats, Pat Benetar if you can call that rock but she was hot back then. Blue Osyter Cult, Twisted sister

jes im dating myself here lol

[coldsteal2]

Van Halen
Motley Crue
Quiet Riot
LA Gunns
Ratt
Autograph
Lita Ford
Great White (Dante Fox at that time)
more than saw them, i giged with them
in the LA rock scene 76-83, the only band i saw
become famous before i moved away was Van Halen

just a bunch of regular broke ass musicians like the rest
of us, trying to bum free beers at the clubs after playing
stardom came to them later, i was literaly watching them
on MTV on the weekends at Navy Boot Camp;.................

and more but slip my mind at the moment
but those stuck out the most

[dennistruckdriver]

I saw the Charlie Daniels Band at the Ice Chalet, an ice skating rink in Columbia MO, in 1976.

[dennistruckdriver]

Originally Posted by blues power

a young fella named brian stezter with the stray cats, pat benetar if you can call that rock but she was hot back then. Blue osyter cult, twisted sister

jes im dating myself here lol

s-e-t-z-e-r......b-e-n-a-t-a-r......o-y-s-t-e-r....

[roamer]

Originally Posted by rickym

Saw a band at a local party called Mammoth in the 70s. Any guesses?

Van Halen was originally Mammoth.

[captainbraindamage]

Before Kansas ever put out a record they broke up for awhile and some of them were in a band called White Clover. They used to play a bar in Hays Ks. every month or two, 1972-73.
When I saw Van Halen it was an all day summer jam thing. There were 8 or so bands, I think they played 2nd or 3rd. Everyone was asking "who is that?". They had just put out their 1st album and nobody around here had heard of them yet.

[Es Paul]

Back Door Slam. They're on the verge of becoming famous. I saw them at a bar in White Plains NY in March 08. Hung out with the boys. Bought them some Magners I think it was called. Great blues band from the Isle of Mann. lead Guitarist Davey Knowles was unreal. Great guys too. They're now touring with Gov't. Mule.

[Redbird]

Shinedown. Guys voice blew everyone away.

[Scooter2112]

I saw Metallica with a crowd of about 100 others in the basement of the old (burned down) Cleveland Agora in about 1982 or more likely 1983. The only reason I was there is because I knew the guys in the opening band (called Breaker). I've never become a Metallica fan.

I'm not sure how popular they are nationwide or worldwide, but I've seen Mushroomhead plenty of times in very small bars. Local guys.

Rush played the catholic high school across the street from my high school in about 1974. I was only 8, so I wasn't there, but I know plenty of people who were. I played at that same high school 8 or 9 years later.

[HARDWEAR]

We used to go see ZEBRA at the CYO dances all the time.....and also at a place called "Ole Man Rivers" here in Louisiana. Lead guitarist and song writer Randy Jackson is a hell of a nice guy, incredibly tanented musician, and IMO think he and Zebra were seriously under-rated back in the day. They still play out a lot today. Randy also does acoustic sets in smaller clubs in between regular tour dates.

[arcanis494]

Originally Posted by Es Paul

Back Door Slam. They're on the verge of becoming famous. I saw them at a bar in White Plains NY in March 08. Hung out with the boys. Bought them some Magners I think it was called. Great blues band from the Isle of Mann. lead Guitarist Davey Knowles was unreal. Great guys too. They're now touring with Gov't. Mule.

+1

I saw them opening in november
Hopefully they'll make it big...


They are great guys! They were just standing by the merch table after their set willing to talk and meet everyone.

YouTube - Back Door Slam - Tear Down The Wall--EXCLUSIVE!!!

YouTube - Back Door Slam - Tear Down The Wall--EXCLUSIVE!!!

[Es Paul]

see what I mean? They're getting there. I posted something about them last year...people ignored it. They're awesome!