So, are there any bands you've read about prior to the internet and when Youtube came to be decided to check them out ?

[Blazer]

These days it's so easy, you'll hear the name of an artist and you'll go "Let's go check them out on Youtube."

But it wasn't always like that, most of us grew up in an age where word of mouth had you discover music or in most cases, reading interviews in music mags which had one go "Who are they, where can I find their music?" and heading off to a record store.

In my own case, I collected guitar catalogs and the ones from Ibanez in particular were full of cool pictures and interviews. But actually finding that music was a tough call.

One guy who's name I got familiar with through that method was Frank Gambale. I knew nothing about him other than the fact that he was the poster boy for Ibanez' sabre series. But I knew that there must be a very good reason why Ibanez was endorsing him.

So once Youtube came around he was the first guy that I thought of I should check out.

Holy crap, talk about a first impression.

Another band I kept reading about and never had an idea on what they sounded like was Kings X. dUg Pinnick's name kept on coming up in guitar mags and I was going "Six foot long dude with a mohawk playing a 12 string bass upside down, how RAD is he?"

So when looking Kings X up on youtube, once again I wasn't dissappointed with what I found.

That bass sounds like a steam engine running at full speed. But those vocal harmonies, HOLY CRAP!

So those are artists who I read about but truly discovered through Youtube.

 

[edvard]

Blues Saraceno. I'm still chewing on that one...

 

[teletail]

Sky - How's that treatin' your mouth



Trigger - Somebody like you

 

[985plowboy]

King Crimson
Free
Pink Floyd

A bunch of others that I really can’t remember

 

[Willie Johnson]

John Frusciante's solo/non-RHCP output. I've only scraped the surface. It's brilliant, and commercial success-repellent:

 

[Mjark]

That's way too long ago. I did see that Royal Republic is touring with Toten Hosen today. I'd never heard of them until this morning I watched one of their videos. I follow Royal Republic because the drummer is related to me.

 

[ChicknPickn]

Stanley Jordan was like that for me. Went to Blues Alley and was reminded that there are indeed instrumental prodigies in this world.

 

[Jakedog]

I discovered most music I actually find worth listening to without the internet. Cause I’m old. Hahaha!

For me it was mostly record stores. I would just go in to browse, and listen to whatever they were playing in the store that day. As a kid in my teens, they all got to know me. They knew if I heard something interesting I was going to buy it, so they usually played some interesting stuff. That’s how I got into a lot of the 80’s Alternative music, into the early 90’s.

My home town had one radio station that played rock and pop music. Everything else was country or Tejano, and we had one oldies station that played 50’s and 60’s stuff. That one station had a fairly limited play list during daylight hours. But after midnight, and up til about 4 AM, the over night DJ’s would spin stuff you didn’t usually hear. I had my radio on really low next to my bed every night while I slept, and I’d often hear little jewels when I’d wake up at intervals that would send me to the record store the next day.

Those were the last days when being a DJ gave anyone any power. They used to make their own playlists. Guided by the program director, of course, but they actually played records. You could call the station and get on the phone with them to make requests. The late night guys and girls had real freedom. If they wanted to spin something new some label had sent them, and they liked it, they could. And they could get it in rotation if it got good feedback.

Nowadays they’re just announcers. Everything is pre-programmed at corporate and every station sounds the same. “DJ”, as far as radio is concerned, is a largely an empty title now. But man, back in the day they used to really turn me on to cool stuff.

These days I still don’t look to the internet for stuff very much at all. It’s still person to person. If a friend with similar tastes, or another songwriter I’m doing a show with suggests something to check out, I usually will. But that’s how I find stuff.

 

[Red Ryder]

The Animals, the Beatles, the McCoy's, the Doors, the Kinks, wow, I'll bet there's probably more than 10 bands that arrived before the internet.

 

[loopfinding]

i remember seeing the "come to daddy" or "windowlicker" vids by aphex twin on MTV late night in middle school and thought it was cool. so i told my friend about it, and he was like, "oh if you like that, you'll dig this stuff too." he turned me on to squarepusher and other warp CDs he had and that's how i got into electronic music. prior to that my only exposure to electronic stuff was cheesy trance stuff the gamer nerds used to listen to that i thought was terrible. but i was really into like chick corea and weather report at the time through another friend i was in a jazz program with, so squarepusher was a great gateway.

 

[Engine Swap]

 

[Spox]

i remember seeing the "come to daddy" or "windowlicker" vids by aphex twin on MTV late night in middle school and thought it was cool. so i told my friend about it, and he was like, oh if you like that, you'll dig this stuff too. he turned me on to squarepusher and other warp CDs he had and that's how i got into electronic music. prior to that my only exposure to electronic stuff was cheesy trance stuff the gamer nerds used to listen to that i thought was terrible. but i was really into like chick corea and weather report at the time through another friend i was in a jazz program with, so squarepusher was a great gateway.

Incase you've never heard this, I recorded it to tape when it went out on air and it always remained a favourite mix.

A friend got me into him and Aphex Twin back in the mid 90s, he'd record albums to tape for me and stick 12's of them at the end.
I was fortunate enough to see both of them live. I bought Feed Me Weird Things and Big Loada same kind of timescale, second half of 90s.

 

[loopfinding]

Incase you've never heard this, I recorded it to tape when it went out on air and it always remained a favourite mix.

A friend got me into him and Aphex Twin back in the mid 90s, he'd record albums to tape for me and stick 12's of them at the end.
I was fortunate enough to see both of them live. I bought Feed Me Weird Things and Big Loada same kind of timescale, second half of 90s.

Nice. I’ve only ever had two opportunities to see him. Once around ultravisitor but I couldn’t go because it was 21+. Then sometime around ufabulum, but I wasn’t into what he was making then and spaced on it.

 

[24 track]

a lovely tune ,but you cant dance to it!

 

[radiocaster]

Static X. Really horrible, I have no words.

Coal Chamber. Not as horrible as Static X, but that would hard to top.

 

[Fiesta Red]

Butterfield Blues Band and Electric Flag.

You don’t hear them on the radio (even on blues shows/stations) and I just never got around to buying the records of either band, even though a lot of people said they’d be right up my alley.

I checked them out on YouTube years later.

Also, I would check out specific rare or off-the-wall albums of artists I was very familiar with, such as Muddy Waters’ “After The Rain” (which I think succeeded where “Electric Mud” failed…and I don’t think Electric Mud was an abject failure, but I understand why Mr. Morganfield was unhappy with it)