I love The Embarrassment.
For my money, they made the greatest pop music ever to come from Central Standard Time, USA. The only bad thing I can say about them, is they're arguably to blame for R.E.M. and the insipid "college rock" sound that followed their ascent.
But, hell, we don't condemn the awesome beauty of Buddy Holly and the Crickets for the treacly bile of Huey Lewis and the News, do we?

Also, The (Mortal) Micronotz kick ass.

----- The earth may fail, but we will quiver

After 30 years in (and often screwed by) the music business they never became superstars but three decades in and they're still going as prolific genre-hopping side-project-spawning veterans of the biz.  I give you:  the Mekons.

Cursed with bad record-company relations just as they reached their peak (in many fans' opinions) with their 1989 album "Rock 'n' Roll" that album and its 1991 follow-up "The Curse of the Mekons" deserved to be runaway successes -- instead record label A&M decided not to release Curse in the USA -- fans resorted to expensive European imports but the album which should have greatly broadened the band's appeal never had a chance.

In recent years the band members, transplanted to Chicago, have been mostly active via solo albums and side-projects, ranging from hard-rocking alternative country (Mekon Jon Langford's "Waco Brothers" project) to albums of childrens' songs (released as the "Wee Hairy Beasties") but the Mekons remain active more than thirty years after their first single was released and I still get asked, just about any time I spin one of their records for someone else, "Who was that?"

I would never consider them "blunders" but they're pretty clearly destined to be one of those for-fans-only bands that go entire careers flying beneath the pop-culture radar.

... because he did have one hit, from his very first album.

But damn it's been a nearly 20-year dry spell since then.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr. Aimee Mann, Sean's older brother, Michael Penn.

His lyrics are literate, multi-syllabic poetry. His music is either straight-ahead power pop or brooding and introspectively acoustic, but either variant fairly bristles with unshakable hooks.

But for whatever reason, after No Myth nobody gave a damn save a small, deeply-disturbed following of foaming rabid fans.

Grrr.

{Insert amusing quotation here}

    It's not always bad that bands stay under the national radar, IMO. For instance, there's no telling the amount of damage these losers might have done to rock if they'd ever gotten traction outside of New York. Fortunately, fans had the good sense to recognize a punk boy band when they saw one, and their career stagnated.

Ex ignorantia ad sapientiam; e luce ad tenebras

One of my favorite bands ever is The Samples. I did a write-up for them once on plastic but it never got out of the subQ because everyone was all who the fuck is this. The friendliest comment was jbou's "Wow, I didn't know anyone outside my home town knew those guys existed." They were quietly massively popular when I was in college (other side of the country from their hometown) so I was kinda surprised more people weren't open to them. They're hardly a blunder, in fact, they're still great. I suppose they're happy with the below the radar success they have...I can't think of any other reason why they wouldn't have had at least one big time hit in their decade plus, like that crapfest Ben Folds.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

The Libertines. While they enjoyed some moderate success in the UK, and were for awhile very loudly trumpeted as the Next. Big. Thing., Pete Doherty's drug problems and his tabloidesque relationship with Kate Moss ultimately scuppered whatever potential that the band might've had...

Somewhere in my soul, there's always Rock -n- Roll... Joe Strummer

I did a little research to find out what happened to these guys.

Many years ago, in another life I married someone who grew up with these guys, and when we visited his family for the holidays we went to see them play.  They were the ultimate good time bar band, and whenever we visited KC,MO, if they were playing, we were there.

IMO, anything they did once they got the Polygram contract sucked ass.  I was surprised to find they played Europe after we thought they had dropped off the face of the earth.    

I think what really happened was, they just weren't meant for the mainstream.  They were not necessarily good, but they were fun.   I don't think that translated so well into the music business.

I used to really like these guys but I don't know what happened to them.  They had a female lead singer and a more bluesy sound, now they're all twangy, ugh.   I translated it over to MP3 and got rid of the tape a while back, so I'll never know who she was or what happened to her, but what a voice she had.   I'm glad I thought to do that before the tape completely fell apart.  If you click on the link you can't hear any of that from what they're doing now.  

I don't get to hear bar bands in person now, just when people send me cds and tapes.  All the bar bands here play hulas and Jimmy Buffet type stuff the tourists want to hear. :(    

"It was an ancient rule of Hawaiians that no one should hurt another bodily, or through theft of goods or through injury to feelings.These were the only sins."

I was listening to one of the cable music channels and I heard this song "Leader of the Band" from "The Lost Album" by a guy called Lewis Taylor.

Not what you'd call a band with a rich history of hits, but one which nonetheless was one of the most interesting, amusing and entertaining groups ever.  I still have my copy of "We're Only In It For The Money" I bought lo those many decades ago.

Illegitimi non carborundum.