Best of the Naughts: Unfairly Obscure

Though everyone in this series is unfairly obscure, two bands stand out for me, one because I've been following them almost all my life, and the other because I know next to nothing about them.

The Blastoids are yet another group featuring the talents of my old and very dear friend Dominic Shaeffer. My awe for Dominic will never fade, because the very first local band I ever saw was Earwacks, down in Nik Moon's basement in the early 70s sometime. Yes, almost 40 years ago. This was a far cry from me shouting Inna-Gadda-Da-Vida into a tiny reel-to-reel tape recorder with Gary Wilson in the fourth grade. This was no bunch of fools playing covers badly. This was a full-out rock band playing original material that was polished and professional sounding. They sounded much better when they were teenagers than a lot of bands of grown men do today, and they were writing songs that were as good as anything I'd ever heard. Even as a bitter, alienated teenager I knew they were great.

Here's one from their only CD, Memories Will Pay. The lyric and tone are somber and real.

Then there's The Sayers. This band was one I never got to see live, but listening to their incredible single on Steve Pick's or Cat Pick's radio show won me over instantly. 5-4-3-2-1 is a song that is so great, that once you hear it, you'll want to hear it over and over. It's such pure uncut rock that you won't believe your ears.

Download Memories Will Pay.



Download 5-4-3-2-1.