Music Bands that are more famous for things other than music

I also believe that no one outside the US knows Keith Urban for his music. He is Nicole Kidman‘s husband and that’s about it.
 
Yep was going say The Misfits for the merch and their songs being covered by all and sundry.
They were defo underrated in their time.

Nirvana at least produced a few brilliant albums and had loads of bangers backed up by excellent live performances.

Still underrated now IMO, as the good stuff they've released has been buried by an enormous amount of crap records. The Danzig era is still great.

Agreed about Nirvana too. Obviously a great band, had a huge impact. Seems odd that they're heavily merchandised on the high street now, but not 20-25 years ago. And it doesn't look like the increase in Nirvana merch has coincided with their music having some kind of resurgence, as it has with Metallica due to Stranger Things and whatnot.
 
Still underrated now IMO, as the good stuff they've released has been buried by an enormous amount of crap records. The Danzig era is still great.

Agreed about Nirvana too. Obviously a great band, had a huge impact. Seems odd that they're heavily merchandised on the high street now, but not 20-25 years ago. And it doesn't look like the increase in Nirvana merch has coincided with their music having some kind of resurgence, as it has with Metallica due to Stranger Things and whatnot.
Misfits seemed to have a delayed reaction influence with most discovering them through the covers. Never really bothered with the non-Danzig stuff.

Thinking about it re Nirvana, I saw some of their smiley face tshirts in Cotton On, a fairly low end clothes shop here the other month. Def Leppard ones too, oddly.

80s Metallica was awesome too.
 
Misfits seemed to have a delayed reaction influence with most discovering them through the covers. Never really bothered with the non-Danzig stuff.

Thinking about it re Nirvana, I saw some of their smiley face tshirts in Cotton On, a fairly low end clothes shop here the other month. Def Leppard ones too, oddly.

80s Metallica was awesome too.

Best not to. The Danzig replacement, Michale Graves, ended up becoming a fully-fledged QAnon far right nutter. And he was also not very good.
 
Still underrated now IMO, as the good stuff they've released has been buried by an enormous amount of crap records. The Danzig era is still great.

Agreed about Nirvana too. Obviously a great band, had a huge impact. Seems odd that they're heavily merchandised on the high street now, but not 20-25 years ago. And it doesn't look like the increase in Nirvana merch has coincided with their music having some kind of resurgence, as it has with Metallica due to Stranger Things and whatnot.
Quite recently "Something in the way" featured quite heavily in the last Batman movie, but I don't know how much of an impact, if any, it had on their downloads/plays/etc.
 
Mötley Crüe.

I have known the band's name for ages, but I think I may have heard a song of theirs for the first time a couple of weeks ago on the radio - and I have already completely forgotten how it went.
 
Dead Kennedys

Most famous for the obscenity trial in the eighties and had their reputation destroyed by the rest of the band touring a karaoke version of the group for the last couple of decades without Jello Biafra, comparable to Motorhead trying to tour without Lemmy.

Despite that, see their t-shirts everywhere.
 
Mötley Crüe.

I have known the band's name for ages, but I think I may have heard a song of theirs for the first time a couple of weeks ago on the radio - and I have already completely forgotten how it went.
Shout at the Devil is an awesome album. Tommy Lee did more than bone Pam.
 
KSI... The dude has like two top selling albums somehow :annoyed:
I genuinely feel sad sometimes when I see the shit that’s popular these days. Thankfully it’s usually only with people below the age of 15 so you can just pass it off as a learning curve. I’ve never heard of any adult listening to ksi.
 
Shout at the Devil is an awesome album. Tommy Lee did more than bone Pam.

To be fair they were more famous for their debauchery than their music. That pentagram wound a lot of people up as well :lol:

Same for Kiss and Alice Cooper being more famous for the show than the records. None of this detracts from the music they created though as it was an integral part of all of their respective images.
 
Quite recently "Something in the way" featured quite heavily in the last Batman movie, but I don't know how much of an impact, if any, it had on their downloads/plays/etc.
I partially credit my hometown boys Hanson creating a meme through no action of their own:

F30195-F6-E692-405-D-A2-D5-42-A3-DCD1-DE4-C.webp


Top 10 T-shirt ever, in my humble opinion.
 
I genuinely feel sad sometimes when I see the shit that’s popular these days. Thankfully it’s usually only with people below the age of 15 so you can just pass it off as a learning curve. I’ve never heard of any adult listening to ksi.
Yeah I only found out he made music because I was trying to check his boxing record on wiki.

I still find new music I like but I really need to search for it.
 
Shout at the Devil is an awesome album. Tommy Lee did more than bone Pam.
I suppose it's the same with many of these bands that are mentioned here: some people really know, or were around when they were most active (thinking of Ramones here), and do feel they made a real musical contribution; but for outsiders, some bands might be all reputation and zero music.

Case in point:
Dead Kennedys

Most famous for the obscenity trial in the eighties and had their reputation destroyed by the rest of the band touring a karaoke version of the group for the last couple of decades without Jello Biafra, comparable to Motorhead trying to tour without Lemmy.

Despite that, see their t-shirts everywhere.
I know that happened, but it's not what DK is about for me. Their first album is absolutely brilliant, lyrically and musically.
 
Sure, controversy has made them somewhat known outside of their specific music scene, but at the very least they released a legendary album in the early years of the genre. Within the genre, their musical legacy is not in doubt.

True (or at least so I've read, not my particular music taste to put it mildly), but I think it's fair to say that the band history have made them (and the entire genre, really) much more famous (or infamous, rather) than they would've otherwise been.
 
Dead Kennedys

Most famous for the obscenity trial in the eighties and had their reputation destroyed by the rest of the band touring a karaoke version of the group for the last couple of decades without Jello Biafra, comparable to Motorhead trying to tour without Lemmy.

Despite that, see their t-shirts everywhere.
[/QUOTE
Eh?, DK are far more famous for Fresh Fruit just in itself never mind albums such as Plastic Surgery Disasters, Frankenchrist etc than any law suit or former members making a quick buck exploiting the name.
I would have agreed if you had said young kids wearing the t-shirt when all they may have heard is Too Drunk or Holiday in Cambodia.
Maybe an age thing though.

Agree with earlier posters re Misfits
 
Band of Brothers

Crass (people may know the prank and the logo but not the catalogue)
 
Lostprophets.

My first thought too. The other day I was reading about the story again and can't remember ever reading anything more sick.

Also bending the rules a bit going for solo artists but I'd add Gary Glitter and Rolf Harris.
 
Motorhead are going the same way as the ramones and joy division. Always see people in their shirts who look like they’d turn the radio off if Iron Fist came on.
 
Surprised nobody has said Jimi Hendrix yet. Everybody's heard of him but I bet many would struggle to name more than 3/4 songs.

Plus I saw a guy in a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt earlier and it reminded me.

Dead Kennedys

Most famous for the obscenity trial in the eighties and had their reputation destroyed by the rest of the band touring a karaoke version of the group for the last couple of decades without Jello Biafra, comparable to Motorhead trying to tour without Lemmy.

Despite that, see their t-shirts everywhere.

Not disputing you but I listen to them quite often and didn't know that. Tis interesting.

30 Seconds to Mars

Good shout. That band fronted by Jared Leto to most people.
 
Around these parts (East/Southeast Asia) at least, Kanye West is certainly more well-known for his Yeezy clothing/footwear line than his music.
 
To be fair they were more famous for their debauchery than their music. That pentagram wound a lot of people up as well :lol:

Same for Kiss and Alice Cooper being more famous for the show than the records. None of this detracts from the music they created though as it was an integral part of all of their respective images.
The Dirt was a great read was a great read tbf and Crue had some great stories. The Vince Neil sex tape was grim though. Slash's book was good too- when he had a moment of clarity and decided to get off heroin after Izzy Stradlin spurted on his thigh during a threesome:lol:.

Wonder if Ozzy would be in the same category, being more famous for the MTV show, debauchery and bat's head biting etc, for many maybe younger folk, despite his solid catalogue of solo and Sabbath stuff.
 
There was a Brazilian band who were apparently very popular in their home country who were involved in a horrible plane crash and pictures of their mangled organs and separated limbs were doing the rounds. I can’t actually remember the name of the band and I’m on my break at work right now so when I get a minute to look properly I’ll edit it in

edit 1 (the pics; NSFW): https://www.documentingreality.com/forum/f244/brazilian-rock-band-airplane-crash-72002/

edit 2 (information about the actual band for anyone who cares): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamonas_Assassinas
 
Last edited:
There was a Brazilian band who were apparently very popular in their home country who were involved in a horrible plane crash and pictures of them mangled organs and separated limbs were doing the rounds. I can’t actually remember the name of the band and I’m on my break at work right now so when I get a minute to look properly I’ll edit it in
That's cheered me up!
 
There was a Brazilian band who were apparently very popular in their home country who were involved in a horrible plane crash and pictures of their mangled organs and separated limbs were doing the rounds. I can’t actually remember the name of the band and I’m on my break at work right now so when I get a minute to look properly I’ll edit it in

Please hurry, I want to see that.