Bands that started a lot earlier than you think

Pulp. Always think of them as starting in about 1992 but nope 1978 wtf.

Simply Red. Thought they started around the time of Fairground. Obviously this is a silly opinion as I know they had hits from the beginning but I only came to know them around the time of fairground.

Any more?

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Fuckin hell had no idea they were about for so long.

Xtc started as teenagers before punk, I think 1975

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My Bloody Valentine in 1983, Napalm Death in 1981. Both about five years earlier than I thought

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Radiohead - 1985

Guided by Voices - 1983

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cabaret voltaire formed in '73. shocked me a bit when I found that out. I’d always presumed they were kids with esoteric interests/tastes that were galvanised by punk. seems it was more BBC radiophonic workshop/Eno they were inspired by.

Similarly, Suicide formed in '70. suppose they have musical commonalities with 50’s rock n roll, Stooges and velvets so it’s not as surprising but still.

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same with Devo who also formed in 73. some of the early demo recordings on the Hardcore compilations are like very primitive post-punk before punk has even happened

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I just love that Napalm Death were so unstable that the only person who played on both sides of Scum, their debut, was the drummer. So by their first album, they didn’t even have any original members. This is a hell of a timeline.

Notes

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Nomeansno - 1979
Faith no more- 1979
Soundgarden- 1984

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Mental isn’t it?! Even more so for a band that’s still going today and has had pretty much the same line up for the last 30 years

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saw the thread title and came here to say Pulp. You got there first :smiley:

Television - 1972

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Pulp was who i was gonna say when I read the thread title

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The Flaming Lips -1983

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Wow

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Neurosis- 1985

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Always find stuff like this a bit suss, when the first few years seems to just be them dicking around in school rehearsal rooms.

The wikipedia page for Deftones lists 1988 for them for much the same reasons.

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Doors - 7pm

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All hail this picture of Pulp from 1983, apparently with Gillian Anderson in the band?!?

image

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This is surprising. That Countdown album is generally considered a compilation of their early output and starts from 1983, but I’m not sure I’ve ever made my way all of the way through it. I seem to remember reading an early producer insisted on being unnamed on the album credits for fear of reputational risk!

Yeah I think it’s another case of kids at school not doing anything really

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The Chemical Brothers - 1989

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