Rocktober is Almost Here!

The time for Rocktober is nigh, my friends!  As I do every year, I am going to fill your love muffin (I have no idea what that means) with a daily dose of rock, at least on the weekdays in October where I'm in the office or have access to a computer.  This year, the theme is Rocktober Deep Cut Artists, and I'm featuring a different song each day by a band or artist that kicks ass (in my opinion, anyway), but whose awesomeness for some reason did not translate (or has not yet translated) to chart success.  My hope is that you'll discover some music from an artist that you've never heard of or maybe just heard about, but never had a chance to listen to their music.

Because this is not 'Nam, there are rules:

1. The band or artist cannot be a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so bands like The Velvet Underground and The Stooges -- who may not have had chart success, but have been recognized as so influential that they merit induction in the HOF –- are not eligible. 

2.  The band or artist must have released at least two studio albums.  This will eliminate one-off side projects, as well as bands that are just starting out.

3.  The band or artist cannot have had any song that charted higher than #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, although any band or artist with more than two Top 40 songs is ineligible.

4.  (a) the band or artist cannot have had a studio album that has charted higher than #20 on the Billboard album charts; or (b) if they have an album that charted between #11 and #20 on the Billboard album charts, it cannot have been certified platinum by the RIAA (meaning it has at least one million sales).  Album sales have gone through various stages over the years, so an album that charted at #25 in 1985 might have gone platinum, while an album that charted #11 in 2013 probably didn't (and won't).  That said, no band or artist with an album that cracked the top 10 will be eligible.

5.  The band or artist has to have a Wikipedia page.  I'm adding this criterion to resist the urge to include random or local bands that there's no way you ever would have heard of.  The purpose of the exercise is to highlight bands that arguably could have made it big, but didn't for some reason (at least not in the U.S.).

For each band or artist, I'll list their highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, highest-charting album on the Billboard album charts, the years they were active, and the number of studio albums they've made.

Remember that this is Rocktober, so these will all be bands, artists, and songs that rock.  There will be hard rock, classic rock, metal, indie rock, garage rock, punk, and alt rock, among others.  There will be bands that broke up over thirty years ago, and there will be bands that are making music as we speak.  You will probably have heard of some of the bands and artists, but others you may not have.  Some of the bands or artists that I feature this Rocktober may be more popular or successful in other countries, but since I live in the US and most of my readers are from the US, my focus is on a band's popularity or success here in the States.  I'm going to try my best not to repeat bands or artists that I have featured in prior Rocktobers, but that will be difficult, so there may be some overlap.  For this, I give you my sincerest of insincere apologies.

As always, Fridays will feature songs from the hair band genre, and the week before Halloween (and Halloween itself) will feature songs with dark, evil, or macabre themes.  Retro Video of the Week will be suspended during Rocktober, but Hair Band Friday will continue to pound away like a fucking jackhammer.