Bands who were big regionally before breaking big

[ParaDime77]

Case in point, Sammy Hagar being big in the Midwest and especially STL before having huge national success.

Who else was big regionally before getting the national spotlight?

[LAglamrocker]

Every band on cover of Metal Edge 86-92
Funhouse-Firehouse-Fasterpussycat

[DemonFilth2001]

Hootie and the Blowfish. Huge regional band for 4+ years. Debut album came out...nothing. Then they appeared on Letterman...boom.

[Sleek]

Bob Seger famously ..." In June 1976, Seger played the Pontiac Silverdome in metropolitan Detroit at a historic concert that also included Point Blank, Elvin Bishop and Todd Rundgren. 78,000 people were in attendance and the concert lasted until nearly 1:30 a.m. The next night, Seger played for fewer than a thousand people in Chicago."

...but the winner has to be Kix. I NEVER heard of that band until I met the Poison guys, and found out how big they were in their little East-coast pocket.

[RaceFan3]

Sleek beat me to Bob Seger. He was around for several years and albums before Live Bullet broke big.

Twisted Sister comes to mind in the NY area. Kix was mentioned. Tons of Strip/California bands, of course.

[mrspeedgene]

Uncle Ted

[LitaStrauss]

Rush was big in the midwest and broke in Cleveland.

Kiss and Alice Cooper were also big in the midwest and blew up in Detroit.

[The Sacred Cowman]

My wife went to UPENN. You could hear "Find Another Way" by Heavens Edge on the radio quite often.

[SW]

My wife went to UPENN. You could hear "Find Another Way" by Heavens Edge on the radio quite often.

I never thought about reading Heavens Edge and breaking big in the same sentence.

[dmbrocker]

My wife went to UPENN. You could hear "Find Another Way" by Heavens Edge on the radio quite often.

I never thought about reading Heavens Edge and breaking big in the same sentence.

Unfortunately. they didn't, and Columbia dropped them like a hot potato just as "Find Another Way" was about to be released as the debut album's second single, which is a shame, as it could have broke them a bit bigger. Maybe not Crue/Jovi/Poison/G'n'R-level big, but maybe about as big as Kix were when "Don't Close Your Eyes" hit for a short period.

[CrankerBait]

The Triumph documentary talks about how they were still playing nothing bigger than clubs, when they started getting airplay in parts of Texas and were asked to replace Sammy Hagar as the headliner in a 5000 + seat venue in San Antonio. Considering how rock radio worked in the 70s and into the 80s, I believe it, but those days are long gone.

[Wiseacre]

This should be a Twisted Sister thread.

[Bono Nettencourt]

My wife went to UPENN. You could hear "Find Another Way" by Heavens Edge on the radio quite often.

I never thought about reading Heavens Edge and breaking big in the same sentence.

Unfortunately. they didn't, and Columbia dropped them like a hot potato just as "Find Another Way" was about to be released as the debut album's second single, which is a shame, as it could have broke them a bit bigger. Maybe not Crue/Jovi/Poison/G'n'R-level big, but maybe about as big as Kix were when "Don't Close Your Eyes" hit for a short period.

The Hooters were a Philly band that actually did break big. By the time Nervous Night hit the shelves I was fucking sick of them already.

[TheDeadBastard]

Dave Matthews Band toured non-stop in the mid-Atlantic in the early 90s, and their independent debut sold pretty well there.

[GoodJudge]

Dave Matthews Band toured non-stop in the mid-Atlantic in the early 90s, and their independent debut sold pretty well there.

Mid-Atlantic? Like, where the Titanic went down, or further south? Anyway, it seems like the best place for them - no-one has to hear them there except the gulls (poor bastards).