List your "late to the party" artists

[bobzor]

Oh gosh, there are so many of these. There are tons of classic bands I missed out on during my youth when I was getting into music. I mean, there's only so much money and time you can put on albums while growing up and exploring your taste that you simply cannot check out everything. For me, I started with the heavy metal classics, moving pretty fast into extreme metal territory and pretty much staying there for a loooong time. Only recently, the last years or so, have I been going back in time to start checking out stuff I missed. For example, I bought my first Def Leppard CD two weeks ago. Prior to that, I had maybe heard one or two songs of them...

Other examples of my late to the party bands:
The Beatles
Deep Purple
Black Sabbath (beyond the debut album, that is)

It's great to finally be catching up!

[jingle.boy]

Depends how many years constitutes "late".  W.A.S.P. comes to mind for me (thanks Kade!).  Is 1989 considered 'late' for Rush?  Fates Warning might also apply - I tried APSOG in the late 90s, and dismissed them.  After Theories of Flight, I went back and gave some earlier albums a chance, and man are those good.  As for classic bands, I'd put Journey and Styx as candidates - I always knew the 'hits', but never owned any full albums.  I think I tackled Journey sometime around 2014, and Styx in 2016.  Kamelot is another - Momento Mori was my first experience of them (in 2011 with my first roulette), and it didn't click at first.  I then gave them a chance when Tommy joined and was suitably wow'd when I went back to the Khan-era stuff.

[MirrorMask]

Tommy is awesome, but having missed the Khan years definitively constitutes a "late to the party" in case of Kamelot.

[twosuitsluke]

100% Anathema.

I am only really just getting into them now. Their early stuff is like Paradise Lost, and although I don't LOVE PL, I've liked them for years. Anathema's more recent stuff has certainly be raved about on DTF in 7 years I've been visiting. So really, it's a surprise it's taken me so long to really start loving this band.

[twosuitsluke]

Ignore my double post 

[Dedalus]

Yesterday I finally finished listening to all the Hogarth-era albums.

I only remembered/knew two songs from the whole H-era! Easter and Beautiful.

Lots of interesting stuff! It was finally worth taking the time to listen to everything. I will continue to listen. 

Thanks HOF for the comment that served as a boost.   

[dparrott]

Metallica - wasn't mentally ready for them in the 80's but was ready in the 90's
Porcupine Tree - just never heard of them until Deadwing
Depeche Mode - didn't really notice them until Violator
rap group Ugly Duckling - too underground, never heard of them
Obviously stuff that came out before I was born...

[HOF]

Yesterday I finally finished listening to all the Hogarth-era albums.

I only remembered/knew two songs from the whole H-era! Easter and Beautiful.

Lots of interesting stuff! It was finally worth taking the time to listen to everything. I will continue to listen. 

Thanks HOF for the comment that served as a boost.   

Very cool! Glad you enjoyed it!

[ozzy554]

Fates Warning. Only got into them a couple years ago and now they're one of my favorite bands. Not one bad album in their entire discography imo.

Also Honorable mention to Iced Earth before Schaffer kinda ruined that one

[jammindude]

Fates Warning. Only got into them a couple years ago and now they're one of my favorite bands. Not one bad album in their entire discography imo.

Also Honorable mention to Iced Earth before Schaffer kinda ruined that one

Nice to hear the love for the older stuff. I still remember when Brocken/Spectre/Guardian were the only albums they had...and being gutted when I found out Arch was gone and they were working on a new album with new kid at the helm.

Turned to be the right move, but I still revisit those first few from time to time. And Arch/Matheos was a brilliant comeback for that writing team.

[kirksnosehair]

Spock's Beard - I didn't  hear anything from Spock's Beard until around 2001 when their most recent album was V


I discovered The Flower Kings around the same time, they already had several albums under their belts. 


 

[KevShmev]

2018: XTC
2019: R.E.M.
2020: Alanis Morissette
2021: Taylor Swift

As noted in the OP, this was my list from the start.

2022 will probably belong to Iron Maiden.  Even though I went through the whole discography and got into them in the fall of 2021, their domination of my CD player didn't really kick in until earlier this year, so I will give them 2022. 

The Gathering was close to becoming one for 2022 as well, but while I am digging most of what I am hearing, I am not going back to much of it on any kind of regular basis, and a "late to the party" artist for me has to be one that dominates my CD player for a pretty good period of time.

Anyone else have artists they feel they got into in 2022 that they feel maybe they should have sooner?

[soupytwist]

Within the last month I've discovered Powerwolf.  While they'll never be one of my very favorites there is a lot of great stuff on their 8 studios albums and I've had a lot of fun with them.

[twosuitsluke]

Last year was Deftones, this year is King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

[LithoJazzoSphere]

I guess this year it's been Sylvaine.  I'd heard a song or two of her's a year or two before, but didn't really dig into the albums until early this year. 

I'm not sure whether to count Alcest or not.  I heard them in the 00s and they didn't click, and I somehow wrote off the whole blackgaze scene until about '20.  But I listened to a ton of Alcest finally last year, so perhaps they sort of count. 

But otherwise last year it was either VOLA, Anubis Gate, or Spiritbox.  It should probably be Anubis Gate, because I knew about them in the 00s, but people in my circles weren't really into them for some reason, so I didn't bother checking them out at the time.  Spiritbox doesn't feel fair because I rarely check out bands before they have a full-length, but trawling around the internet everyone seems to have already known about them from the EP and singles and were talking about being "late" even not discovering them until '19.  And they don't even seem very popular here, somewhat understandably, but it just felt late getting into them a year ago the way people talked about them. 

[romdrums]

Iron Maiden would be mine.  I’d known about them for ages, and I was somewhat familiar with their history and all, but I never really sat down and consciously listened to them until my buddy played The Book of Souls album for me.  For some reason, that album clicked with me, and it inspired me to go back and get a significant portion of their back catalog (all Reunion era and the classic albums with Bruce and Adrian).  I still don’t have the first two or the 90s records, but I feel like I’ve really come to appreciate their greatness.

[DragonAttack]

I'd never heard of Dream Theater until 2003....

[OpenYourEyes311]

Biggest one for me is Genesis. Got into them in the early 2010's, after their "final" tour, and after Phil "retired" from music. I was lucky enough to get to see Phil come out of retirement a couple years ago, but I don't think Genesis will be back. They've pushed back they're reunion tour dates back for a second time to next year, and who knows if those will even happen. Not to mention the tour is only in Europe. I just wish a got into them pre-2007 so I could have seen them on their first reunion tour.

I'm happy to report that I got to see Genesis's last two North American shows ever. The final night about 8-9 rows from the front of the stage. It was as amazing as I knew it would be.

[Adami]

I didn't discover classical music until the late 20th century.

[twosuitsluke]

I only discovered Pizza Death this year

[bluefox4000]

A bunch.

Opeth
Porcupine Tree
The Tangent
Taylor Swift (yes i'm a Swift-y.  though Midnights was my disappointment of 2022....don't like it at all...just....no)
Trivium
Tom Petty
Flower Kings

I have ore i'll post if i think.

[Skeever]

Joe Satriani, for one. I really only started to explore his music this year, and capped it off last week with seeing him live. Phenomenal.

[twosuitsluke]

Oh, Type O Negative are another one for me this year

[Samsara]

I got into the following bands way, way too late:

Led Zeppelin
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Rush
Fates Warning

My intro into music was essentially Survivor's Vital Signs, the Rocky V soundtrack, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, and then finally Queensryche and Fifth Angel, where I noticed I liked more intense metal. For the longest time, while I dug stuff like Skid Row and Winger, and the whole late-80s pop metal movement (aside from QR, Fifth Angel and some others), it wasn't until the late-1990s I really expanded my knowledge. I became a fan of all the above bands, most recently, The Beatles' latter catalog. I became a big Maiden fan in 2000, for example. I became a big Rush fan about 2007 or so.

I guess with me, I get fixated on something, and just didn't give the classic bands a lot of attention. And then I remember one day I said to myself that I would go listen to all the bands that really influenced my favorite artist (the original lineup of Queensryche). I was going to give all of them the attention they deserved. And then boom, it all eventually clicked.

I'm now a hardcore fan of Fates Warning, Iron Maiden and Rush. I'd probably consider myself a solid fan of Led Zeppelin and a more casual fan of Judas Priest, The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

[bluefox4000]

I got into the following bands way, way too late:

Led Zeppelin
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Rush
Fates Warning

My intro into music was essentially Survivor's Vital Signs, the Rocky V soundtrack, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake, and then finally Queensryche and Fifth Angel, where I noticed I liked more intense metal. For the longest time, while I dug stuff like Skid Row and Winger, and the whole late-80s pop metal movement (aside from QR, Fifth Angel and some others), it wasn't until the late-1990s I really expanded my knowledge. I became a fan of all the above bands, most recently, The Beatles' latter catalog. I became a big Maiden fan in 2000, for example. I became a big Rush fan about 2007 or so.

I guess with me, I get fixated on something, and just didn't give the classic bands a lot of attention. And then I remember one day I said to myself that I would go listen to all the bands that really influenced my favorite artist (the original lineup of Queensryche). I was going to give all of them the attention they deserved. And then boom, it all eventually clicked.

I'm now a hardcore fan of Fates Warning, Iron Maiden and Rush. I'd probably consider myself a solid fan of Led Zeppelin and a more casual fan of Judas Priest, The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

Vital Signs is one of my favorite album of all time.  great stuff.

[MirrorMask]

Within the last month I've discovered Powerwolf.  While they'll never be one of my very favorites there is a lot of great stuff on their 8 studios albums and I've had a lot of fun with them.

I saw them live for the third time yesterday and I searched the forums to see if someone was talking about them.

That was the third time for me - in 2017 they were second in the bill of a festival held in a medium-big venue, behind Stratovarius; the next year they were on their own tour and they filled that venue (a wonder it wasn't sold out in advance), and yesterday they play in a bigger venue, usually filled by the likes of Blind Guardian and Helloween pre-reunion, and they filled it as well. Not sold out, but it was packed.

Some bands in the genre are waaaay too serious. Others are waaaay too cheesy and borderline parodic. Powerwolf walk the thin line between writing legit songs with the underlying cheesiness not being too much overbearing. It seems easy, but it's not for everyone to write a song called "Resurrection by erection" and make it work 

Also, their live show is amazing. The coreography and stage show is top notch, and the singer doesn't miss a beat and is awesome live, basically it's like hearing the studio version.

As you said, they're never be a really favorite of mine, but they are really entertaining live, and every album while it has always 2-3 forgettable songs is still very good. They're on the rise and they will surely become one of the main live draws in years to come.

[nick_z]

I lost track of Powerwolf a bit, but I have a few of their earlier albums...

I mean, they obviously have a schtick, but I remember at least Lupus Dei and Bible of the Beast were legit, entertaining metal albums.

[Sacul]

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Finally set out to explore his discography outside of their last 3 albums and damn, what a treat so far.

[DoctorAction]

Napalm Death - just this year. Love their last album, and extreme metal barely ever gets me these days.

Survivor - a couple of years back. I knew the Rocky songs since the 80s but little else. When Seconds Count is my favourite. Amazing.

[Lethean]

I feel like almost all of my favorite artists are late to the party artists, though it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Rush in the 90s
Dream Theater, Fates Warning Threshold, and Angra in the 2000s
Katatonia in the 2010s

I got into Leprous and Riverside pretty early on. And Tesseract.

[twosuitsluke]

Napalm Death - just this year. Love their last album, and extreme metal barely ever gets me these days.

I'm with you on this, I knly really delves into Napalm Death this year. I'm really enjoying Scum and Utilitarian. I'm working my way through their catalogue, so got a ways to go. I was surprised by how much they sounded like Fear Factory in the mid 90s!

[Samsara]

Vital Signs is one of my favorite album of all time.  great stuff.

Yeah, it's a great record. I remember a childhood friend and I used to have sleepovers at his house. He had a big family, but they had this camper parked on the driveway behind the house (long driveway to the road) before the garage. We used to take his old brother's cassette tapes and listen. I must have heard it either fall 1984 or spring 1985, and it just resonated with me. Because I remember going into the grocery store with my mother a year or so later and seeing the Rocky IV soundtrack on cassette at the small music section there, and that it had Survivor on it, and I begged her to buy it for me. My love for music exploded after that.

On a funny note, she bought me Styx' Pieces of Eight probably several months later, when I asked her if she could buy me a new tape - I wasn't specific but wanted something rock. She must have asked the clerk at the store what album would be good for someone who liked Survivor, and he/she must have recommended it. I hated it. 

Now, I like it. But back then, Styx and I didn't connect.

Good memories. Miss my parents. They've been gone a long time.

[DoctorAction]

Napalm Death - just this year. Love their last album, and extreme metal barely ever gets me these days.

I'm with you on this, I knly really delves into Napalm Death this year. I'm really enjoying Scum and Utilitarian. I'm working my way through their catalogue, so got a ways to go. I was surprised by how much they sounded like Fear Factory in the mid 90s!

I dig Utilitarian too. Apex Predator also delivers. I've avoided the early stuff as was exposed to it back in the day but am familiar with some 90s bits. Breed To Breathe was on a Kerrang cover cd iirc...