Ask Lemmy

I found Royal Republic way too late in my life

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. If there was ever a voice of love and peace, it was a giant of a man with a giant's heart. If I could bring one musician back from the dead, it would be the Hawaiian avatar of humankind's best qualities.

But there may be a worthy successor to his voice.

I somewhat recently found out about an artist called Foreground Eclipse. According to the Touhou Wiki, they disbanded in 2013 and they were considered a screamo and post-hardcore metal band but because of the singers voice, they might fall under "kawaii metal" (cute metal). A good example of their music would be In A Night When Her Sorrow Resounds Around.

I recently discovered a (sub) genre too late - Riot Grrrl music. Bikini Kill is one of the founding bands.

Choking Victim

Warren Zevon

The Graduate

Hers

There is this really funky band called mating ritual, and I got really into their music over the past year. After awhile I started to wonder if they were touring, and found out that they had just wrapped up their 'goodbye forever' tour, including a show in my city a couple months ago.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

Edit: that is assuming too late as in “wish I would have been into this band in high school” and not “half the band has died or they are broken up”

Daft Punk. Discovered them too late to go to an actual concert.

And same with Caravan Palace. Loved the original ensemble and style, the spirit of their concerts. The current getup is nice too, but with different vocalist and a few other band member changes, it's just not the same...

Consider the Following

Big Country - Influenced your favorite band, bagpipe guitars, google it.

They Might be Giants - Not JUST a fun jokey band, just mostly one. Some of their songs are lyrically and musically brilliant tho despite the light tone.

The Menzingers - A lighter hardcore band with a southern rock vibe that puts out really heartfelt and just awesome stuff.

Amy Winehouse.

Every time I heard the band name "Daft Punk," it meant nothing to me. Toward the end of their existence I finally put the name with the music and hot damn that's good stuff.

I discovered Jeff Buckley just after he toured Australia. I was looking forward to his next tour, then he died. 😥

As a tween I, for some unknown reason, decided that I liked Nirvana and therefore didn't like Pearl Jam. It wasn't until I was much older that I realised that was silly and I could like both if I wanted.

Nirvana. It hit me hard ten years later.

My old roommate sucked. His favorite band was a Canadian thrash metal band called 3 Inches of Blood. I assumed they also sucked. Many years later I actually listened to them and they're amazing. In the meantime they had broken up.

Happy ending, though. They did a reunion show last year and I was able to go see it!

At the Drive-In - Literally the hot shit of late 00s and early 10s done in the mid 90s. They were so ahead of their time it's a shame they kinda get lost being inspiration for what came later. They totally deserved to be the focal point.

Converge - I was always aware of them. They were kind of just another band at the time they were at their best. Then I really got into them this past year. I totally wish I could have fully appreciated them when we were younger. Going to one of their early shows would have been a highlight of my life.

Nine Inch Nails - I just never gave them a proper chance until the past few years. They totally deserve their reputation. Their stuff is awesome.

Deadsy

The Do is so underrated. Unfortunately, they disbanded but their music is eternal.

Musical tastes change over your lifetime too, so what was cool when you were a teenager might become cringe later on in life, and vice versa.

And even later on, the things that became cringe might make a comeback and become cool again.

As a broad category, 70s Disco is a great example of that. The Bee Gees, Donna Summer, ABBA, etc etc. were overplayed, but it was popular music because it was good.

60s and 70s soul samples become the foundations for new rap and dance tracks.

I love Judy Collins, Mary Hopkins, Harry Belafonte and other late 60s and 70s vocalists even though they were big before I was born.

Low. Heard Hey What and absolutely loved it, then found out that Mimi had just died. Saw Alan solo a couple years later at a festival, and you could still really feel his grief in his voice.

Bear vs. Shark.

By the time I discovered them, they had already broken up. Very short lived band that apparently put on great live shows.

ETA: not sure if this is the kind of answer you were looking for, but it's the first thing that popped in my head.

SOPHIE. They died like a month after I found their stuff. Hell of a producer.

Saving this post to go spelunking after it has amassed some replies. Great question! I love music exploration.

Oingo Boingo was done and gone like almost a decade before I became a fan. And I started out right, becoming a fan of the "Only a Lad" album before most of the rest. Never did come around to the 1994 album "Boingo," but to each their own.

Toots Hibbert (and the Maytals). He died in 2020. I would never have been able to enjoy his music before then anyway so.... there's always the recordings. My morning playlist is almost all Toots

• Get up stand up
• Spiritual healing
• Reggae got soul
• Beautiful woman
• Broadway jungle
• etc..

LEPER

Rush. I had heard the occasional song, but it never really stuck.

Then a few years ago, I listened to a full album. Then another. Now I'm a huge Rush fan (and my spouse is sooo tired of hearing them).

I got tickets to see them play next year.

The herbalizer. Discovered them after they already broke up

The Vincent Black Shadow. They only put out a couple albums, but they were absolutely fantastic.

Nightmare boyzzz from Alabama. Moved to the south 10 years too late! Awesome punk rock.

Slade

Skitliv. Big fan of the 'Maniac' era in Mayhem (Wolfs lair, Grand declaration, Chimera) then one day I learn that Maniac is vocalist in Skitliv. However I'm to late to the party so no live concert's or anything 😡

Almost all of them. And I often think they’re someone no one else listens to. Like I found this singer I really liked last December who I thought at first was America’s answer to Corinne Bailey Rae until I heard her speak and found out she’s British too. Still, I liked her sound and was in my happy little bubble listening to the indie artist I found who no one else knew about: Olivia Dean.

Now I’m just dreading finding out that Apes of the State have won a Pulitzer Prize or something. At least I know no one’s heard of this Britney Spears person I’ve started listening to.