Don't forget New Pornographers.

I've heard of (or heard of sufficiently that I recognize their name) exactly four of those acts.

So just out of curiosity are those mostly reasonably well known bands or a few big names with a lot of essentially unknowns?

There are about 5 categories that the bands fall into.

* There are about a dozen or so that would be considered big names that most people have heard of whether they're into music/that genre or not (Bjork, RHCP, Decemberists, Rage, Willie Nelson...)

* There's a large chunk that are considered big-if-you're-into-it, but not surprising that people who don't listen to music much or don't get exposure to a particular genre haven't heard of them.

* The names that, if you're paying attention and listening to a lot of public radio you might have heard them.

* This group really gained traction last year - the My Space bands. I still haven't really delved into that world, but it's where a lot of new bands are getting exposure.

* Unknowns/Little knowns.

There's also the special bonus category of reunited old bands that WERE big but may only be known by those of us who are a good bit above the mean attendee age. This year, that includes Sonic Youth, Crowded House, and The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Add ing to what GD said, personally one of the pleasures of this festival takes place long before the concert takes place, as you start researching the bands, listening to clips, and discovering new music. This continues at the convert, with so many bands playing it's a smorgesborg of music - and it seems the most memorable performances are never anticipated.

What are the dozen or so big "everybody should have heard of them" bands? The four I've heard of are Bjork, Sonic Youth (couldn't name a song, but the name is familiar), Red Hot Chili Peppers (I had heard of them independent of Rockin' at DL), and Willie Nelson.

Willie Nelson is the only one where I'm confident I could both pick him out of a lineup and recognize a song as his without being told.

Looking back, a dozen might be too high. Hard for me to say because I'm somewhere between the second and third category, so I know a lot of the names but I suppose not everyone would. The one glaring one that I'm surprised you haven't heard of is Rage Against the Machine. Beyond that, most of the other ones that I'd consider top-tier names (Arcade Fire, Decemberists, Brazilian Girls) reached their popularity within the last few years while the ones you mentioned have all been around well over a decade, so I can see a cutoff there. The Roots is the biggest name with longevity that you don't mention, but while they've been huge within hip hop for a couple decades, they only became widely known outside of their genre relatively recently.

I consider Jesus and Mary Chain and Crowded House to be big names too, but I have no good perspective on them.

I am not the person to tell you who is "big" or not. My view is skewed. The very first time I ever heard that "Big Butts" song was at Ken and Teresa's wedding.

I'm always surprised when someone knows about a band I actually like. I often get the black stare when I say I'm going to see a band.

Sonic Youth never broke up. They've been working and touring pretty consistantly since 1981. The members have done a lot of independent projects, but they never stopped working as a band.

I stand corrected. I guess I should drop the "reunited" from the category description. Sonic Youth fits that bill.

While I've heard of quite a few of these bands, I don't know that I've heard much if anything BY them.

Perhaps its time to remedy that. I feel musically stagnated lately. Not that I'm lacking music ... there's plenty of it in my life - - but nothing much new for a few years now.


Hmmmmmm.