Bands you knew before they became famous

My friend and i were talking about this yesterday, and I was just curious what bands (any genre) you guys knew before they went big. I remember Rise Against from their Revolutions Per Minute days (2002), also knew the Sick Puppies before they were popular in the US (not sure about how popular they are in AUS). Breaking Benjamin was pretty unknown when I found out about them. I'm sure a lot of you guys who are older than me will have a lot more and I'm curious to know what they are.

I dunno if it was before they were famous, but I saw Anti-Flag, Anberlin and Paramore in shitty little venues before they started playing big arenas. I'm actually going to see Rise Against in July in one of the biggest concert venues in Brisbane. The Unraveling was always my favourite of theirs.

It doesn't exactly fit as I didn't know them personally and it's a second hand story at best, but the son of one of my primary school teachers was in Silverchair before they got big. She went over to England for a year as part of an exchange teacher program and because of his commitment to the band he was originally going to stay behind with friends. He ultimately decided to go over with her and the rest of the family for the experience of living abroad for a year; as such, he had to drop out of the band and they ended up getting their big break not that long after.

I'm still trying to find Aussies who were familiar with The Grand Silent System and Clann Zu, those were two fantastic Aussie bands.

I got to interview Papa Roach a long time ago, when they first toured outside of the US and came to France. They were getting famous in the US but not anywhere else yet.
Also got to see Linkin Park (I was invited, not that I would ever pay to see this shit) for their first show in Paris, in a tiny ass venue.

Other than that, I am friends with an indie band called Kaddisfly, and my best friend has been Korn's cameraman/photographer/websmaster for years now, so I've seen them and spent time with them countless times. Don't believe me? You fool! Here I am with Fieldy:

Blatantly photoshopped.

Wut??? Look at how the specular lighting from the flash looks identical on our respective beards!

I knew this person, but I don't know if he's famous, he's at least on a label with some "famous" groups so it sorta counts: http://www.plan-it-x.org/artist/matty-pop-chart/

As for bands I just listened to before they got more popular, there's really too many to list. The Quarrymen never got as popular as I thought they might though.

I knew local band Slapshock before they became popular here. I'm friends with their former vocalist.

I saw Amity Affliction in front of about 30-40 people in a little nightclub like an hour from Melbourne. This was one of their last gigs:



I've known of/listened to a tonne of bands before they got "big" but with the sort of music I like there's not many bands that get genuinely famous.

I've known of/listened to a tonne of bands before they got "big" but with the sort of music I like there's not many bands that get genuinely famous.

Yeah, that was one of my issues. I guess there's things like My Chemical Romance/Thursday/Alexisonfire/etc. where I listened to their first album in the month of release, and they didn't get "big" until like years later but that was still at the tail end of the era where you had to get somewhat big in the niche before you got a significant label contract in the first place. Does that kind of thing count? Because that number I could never fathom.

And then there's how many who I know who didn't get famous or even "big" or broke up. But still did things like put out multiple albums, etc. I was in on the second floor of Sounds of Animals Fighting, there's no way I'd consider them to be famous, for example.

I saw the Amity Affliction when they supported Anberlin the first time I saw them. It's crazy to think they're so big now after seeing them in such a small venue.

Didn't want to make a new thread and the video does somewhat fit-in with the thread topic.

Full concert footage of RATM's first ever public performance at The Quad, Cal State Northridge, Northridge, CA on Oct. 23, 1991.

Setlist:
1: Killing In The Name (Instrumental)
2: Take The Power Back
3: Autologic
4: Bullet In The Head
5: Hit The Deck
6: Township Rebellion
7: Darkness Of Greed
8: Clear The Lane
9: Clampdown
10: Know Your Enemy (alternate version)
11: Freedom

"These guys any good?"

phpBB [video]

Let us all wish Nick well, then exploit the connection if Rainbow Massacre makes it big,