Not because I didn’t know who, but because once I started, I couldn’t stop.So, here’s my top five list (but I think I could have a top 100, at least).Not necessarily the most obscure.These are the ones that hit different.The ones people never really heard right, even if they heard them at all.
TalkTalk
People think they know them because of “It’s My Life”.
What they became—Spirit of Eden, Laughing Stock—that was something entirely different.Those records aren’t even albums.They’re confessions set to silence and light.They sound like someone carefully breaking apart their own soul, track by track.
It’s not music you dance to.It’s music you disappear into.
JudeeSill
She’s one of those artists you don’t discover—you stumble across her when you need her most.
There’s something ancient in her songs.She sang like she was trying to heal you and break you at the same time.Do you know she was influenced by Bach?Her life was tragic and I have a feeling that she pulled her inspiration from everything she lived.
She should’ve been known for more than liner notes and footnotes.She wrote grace into melody and no one noticed until it was too late.
The Smithereens
Their songs carried heartbreak in every line—grief that hadn’t faded, hope that refused to die.
Especially for You has more feeling than half the moody posturing of bigger acts.They weren’t trying to be cool—they just wanted to make it hurt a little less.
That kind of sincerity doesn’t get awards.It just stays with you.
The Fixx
Everyone remembers “One Thing Leads to Another,” but barely anyone listens to the rest.
Which is wild, because Shuttered Room and Phantom Living are some of the smartest, most emotionally restrained albums I’ve ever heard.There’s a tension in their songs—slick production hiding real panic.
They sound like the world falling apart in slow motion—but making it sound good enough to sing along.
The Church
They got one hit—“Under the Milky Way”—and then the rest just kind of drifted into classic cult territory.
But that’s what makes them matter more.
The Blurred Crusade,Heyday, even Seance—those albums are dreamscapes.
They write in half-truths, as if trying to remember something they were never supposed to forget.Like someone who lost their memory but still feels the heartbeat of their loved one—even when they can’t name them.
Their songs feel like walking through a city you’ve never been to but somehow miss.
There, my top five bands I might die for ...might, because I can barely survive, so how can I be someone’s savior?
ChapterForty-Two
Private Message | EchoZone Internal Chat
From: StringTheory27
To: DeadStrings
Date: May 14th, 1997, 12:04 AM
Subject: The Church?Really?
