Bands/Artists you didn't know were big

Thought i'd create this thread as I thought it would be quite interesting to see how much of a bubble we're all in musically. And to see if we're not too embarrassed to mention some big names we've missed haha

Plus I didn't know where else to this

I think i'm pretty well educated when it comes to most music. Even in genres I don't like, I still know who the big bands are. But I saw this weeks weekly poll for at the top of the forum and thought... who the hell are Stars? Are they one of those bands that are popular on here and not anywhere else? Then I looked them up and they're huge! Individual songs I can understand passing me by, but they have 1.2 million listeners on Last.fm alone. I looked at their similar artists section and I recognise most of them, but not Stars.

It just surprises me how I can miss a band seemingly so popular.

 

I'm always a little shocked by how big Dance Gavin Dance are. I've liked them since DBM but don't really have a pulse on what is "in", and haven't been able to make it to one of their shows in a while.

 

I wouldn't quite say Stars are even that big - they're even a pretty niche indie band in Canada, although they are an incredible band. A couple members from Stars (I believe Torq and Amy) are in Broken Social Scene as well

One band I'm always surprised how massive they are now is Coheed and Cambria - I became a fan in 03 after IKSOSE:3, and I figured they would stay an underground emo/prog secret - they are now a worldwide rock staple, playing shows with symphonies and filling arenas. You honestly love to see it