ah yes. MSI. shockrock. good stuff. so's tool

Godspeed You Black Emperor.

You may not agree but I think Radiohead is pretty damn unique.
As for ground coverage I would have to say the Notwist. They're from Germany and their first release in 1990 is like post-punk/hardcore but their singer maintains a calm voice in their heavy sound. I love them probaby as much as I love Radiohead. Their newer stuff is more electronic but still great. They use banjos and all sorts of stuff. Great great great.
BulletBob mentioned Primus. My former favorite band. Inspired me to play bass.
Mr. Bungle is quite unique.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Converge is unique.
Anyone ever heard of Manu Chao? He's definitely unique.
Although I'm not a big fan of him I think Bright Eyes could be considered unique. The other Saddle Creek bands are really good.
Calexico has a good sound, although maybe not unique they're still awesome.
Buckethead.
I think Thursday is pretty unique too. Even though I'm afraid they might get too big. I think the whole "emo-core" or anything associated with core or emo or melodic-core anything is just a gimmick. a lot of it is shit and most of the people that label their band that or what they listen to are unoriginal and should be put against the wall.
Faith No More.

That's all I can think of right now.

Tool, Aphex Twin ( well the selected ambient works vol 2 album, haven't heard much else), Sigur Ros, The Flaming Lips, Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa all have a pretty much unmistakable unique sound.

very fucking cool stuff here. Saw Godspeed a few months ago at the Abbey Pub in Chicago. A good show, but not the type of music to be played at deafening volumes. Best experienced at medium volumes with a good audio setup that will reveal all of their subtle nuances.

god, i love this thread.


all of you have named some great bands.. all the ones I was going to name, in fact.

it's good to know there are some originators still left in music. people who are blazing their own path instead of following someone elses.

bands already mentioned: mars volta, mr. bungle, dredg, sigur ros, bjork,

here's a throwback..... what about Queen? They were doing stuff unlike anyone else... you can't mistake a Queen song when you hear one.

I'd say Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. They did a lot to start the whole progressive bluegrass thing, and how many bands do you know that have an electric banjo player, an insanely good bass player(vic wooten), and a drummer who plays a guitar-like instrument that makes synth drum sounds.

no means no, frank zappa, king crimson, negativland, the frantics, the wedding present, air...look them up and enjoy
if you like darker stuff try unto ashes, galloping corpses, brujeria, hermann nitsch, premature ejaculation, december wolves, rudimentary peni

Man, how could we forget Queen. They definitely belong here.

A lot of great bands have been listed, but I'm going to throw in my vote for Mars Volta. I'm absolutely in love with their CD.

dog fashion disco

I agree with Jethro Tull and TMBG... Good choices there.

I may get hit hard for this one, but I think Rage against the Machine is fairly unique. You don't get many ripoffs of them.

oh also Flogging Molly! They are effin sweet

Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

Viva AT THE DRIVE-IN...along with its offspring Mars Volta and Sparta...
another band that comes to mind is....Mindless self-indulgence but i guess you could say they're a marylin manson spinoff..whatevs

hmmmm....lets see here. I would say that a couple of unique bands are The Beta Band. They are like folkish, hippy, rocked out hip hop. I used to hate them but after my girlfriend played them over and over again i realized they actually had talent.
Another band with a unique sound is Cibo Matto. Never heard anything like their album "Viva La Woman".
And finally, I hate to say it (cause i'm embarrassed that I still like them alright!!!)....but the old Beastie Boys. They can go from 70's funk, to 90's Hip Hop, to 80's DC punk.

Back to SOAD, just listen to their self titled album, the whole thing, I know of no other band thats like that.
Rage, well they are my favorite band of all time, trying to decide if I think they sound totally unique.... ok yeh I think they do sound unique up until Renegades. That album just blew.
At the Drive in, yeh they are a pretty rare breed, also a good band though.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Sigur Ros, Mindless Self Indulgence, Tool, The Roots

Lou Reed formerly of Velvet Underground...his album MEtal Machine Music is probably the most unique thing I have ever heard

I have to put another vote for MSI, Mindless Self Indulgence. They're somewhat new enough so their haven't been any followers, nor do I think of them as spinoffs.

But this thread gots some great bands listed
Tool
Radiohead
The Mars Volta
Beta Band
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Bjork
Aphex Twin

All are unique in their own right, but MSI right now seems to hold the lead for uniqueness.

TOOL and System of a Down.

System of a Down's lyrics are really off the wall and i also really hate how they got thrown into the nu metal genre.

Oh and Rage Against the Machine. Zach de la Rocha is a fucking genius.

Mindless Self Indulgence is the best band ever.
The Locusts, I believe is their name, they're weird too.

SPARTA and AT THE DRIVE IN....... god they kicks ass

Mars Volta, MSI (mindless self indulgence), SOAD (system). Pink floyd.

I never listened to AT THE DRIVE in. but i got the mars volta cd just because it had alot of hype from some website i go to. it's one of the most active choatic things ive ever heard. very talented and eclected weird and wonderful.

MSI is just nuts. i know they take some stuff from MR. Bangle. but thier nuts. what can i say. they'll write a song about anything. including the hit nikolodeon song Clarissa Explains it All. nuiff said.

If you think system of a down is watered down or pop. by any means see them live. thier wierd and original as shit. Mostly because of Daron's strange stage presence...yes see them like. best show you'll ever see.

I forgot all about the LEFT RIGHTS. it's an offshoot of MSI. but it's zany as hell. download Poo Out My Ass. catch and fun and you'll bust a gut laughing.

finally Pink Floyd. They're very unique. i consider them the pioneers. they're not operetic rock by any means. sure The Wall. but thats just the commercial stuff. THe way thier cds all flow together. is incredible. Listen to Meddle or even better ANIMALS very unique stuff.

There are alot of bands that have unique sounds, its just trying to find a band that has a listenable unique sound, that is hard. I like Modest Mouse, Starlight Mints, Dismemberment Plan, Broken social Scene, Beck, Sigor Ross, Radiohead, Bjork, danielson family, Single Frame, Postal Service, Interpol, and losts of others, but these are some of my favs.

The Roots, Sonic Youth

Replying to a few suggestions:

String Cheese are certainly versatile, and good at what they do, but taken individually, none of it is really different.

There are a lot of satirical songwriters around; Weird Al just happens to be the best known.

I always thought Ben Folds Five sounded a lot like the Whitlams

Careful with Floyd; they were far from alone in their genre. The difference with them is that they were the only ones to make the genre sound any good at all.

Jethro Tull have an unmistakeable sound, but only because of the recorder. Take that away, and you'd easily confuse them with any of a dozen other bands from the era. The instrument is unusual; the sound isn't.

We also need to distinguish between unique and unmistakeable. Eddie Vedder's voice is unmistakeable, but Pearl Jam aren't really unique. Likewise, anything composed by Jim Steinman and anything played by The Who. By the same argument, I would deny that TMBG, The Doors or TOOL are unique, even though they are all unmistakeable and talented. They are all examples of established genres; they just happen to be remarkable instances thereof.

I started downloading a bunch of his songs today. That guy is good... like off the wall good. Up there with Eddie VanHalen, Joe Satriani, and Jeff Beck. "Big Sur Moon" is my favorite so far.

anyone for Elixir?

give it a try.

Of the bands I actually listen to, I'd say Devin Townsend hands down... I have yet to hear anything that sounds similar to his stuff...

Of course I'm sure there are tons of unique bands I've never heard of, but one of the weirder ones I have heard is Mindless Self Indulgence...

BTW, I'll have to check out the Midievil Panflute Death Metal... sounds interesting...

pink floyd
system of a down

and to many who wont agree Queen lots of copies out there but they did it without becoming a sick joke.

Pink Floyd for their time. Primus because it's lead bass. I gotta go with Ween.

Apocalyptica doesn't have any imitators. Still they play same good music. Even if they started out doing Metallica covers. I think that Michael Kamen came up with Metallica S&M after hearing Apocalyptica.

Heavy metal played on 4 cello's gives a really interesting sound. It's pretty good actually.

Most unique for their time: Led Zeppelin
Most unique now: Alabama 3, Queens of the Stone Age, White Stripes

What about Sigur Ros?

2 skinee J's

Deep Purple
Pink Floyd
Led Zeppelin
Yes
Golden Earring
CCR

Don't think I've ever heard anything like any of them. They're all a little different, but they're all good and always will be good.

Anything with Mike Patton.

Fantomas, Mr. Bungle, etc...

A3
Beta Band
Bozzio, Levin, Stevens
ELO

this is a hard topic... there are a lot of bands that I find completely recognizable and sounding not really like any other band, but I can also hear how derivative they are. They have their own sound, but it's built on others' sounds and I don't think that fits the question posed here. ELO is a perfect example.

There are also a lot of bands that are completely unique in image or message, but the music isn't really anything new. GWAR, for example.

Oh, this might work...
Morphine

Zen Guerriila is among the most unique to me - love that acid blues craziness - but I do agree that Fantomas really did create a whole new thing as well...