I think all of those are very well known bands.
Maybe well known to people like us, that actually make it a point to find new or different music, but to the "majority" they are mostly less than commonly known.
Dont get me wrong, I enjoy the success that they ve achieved, but if you were to mention some of these bands at say a party or a "commercial" type concert, you d have alot of people scratching their heads and saying something like " Soooo are they like.. 3 Doors Down?, or more like Seether?" Know what I mean?
Porcupine Tree has been mentioned a few times and if you go to a site like Youtube, compare their view count to some of the other bands mentioned... Its kind of surprising that they re not played more, or more well known. Its the way that mass-marketed bands that are played out day after day have just been accepted by too many people that dont care enough about expanding their tastes, and are content to just listen to it, day in, day out, and when their favorite radio station execs think that the "sheep" are ready for a new flavor in their slop, they introduce it, play it alot, play it more and more, and continue to play it out until another similar song or band comes out, and they repeat the cycle.
Sorry for that huge run-on sentence, btw...
But you get my gist. Alot of the bands mentioned here are well-known, but have they really "made it big?" I ve said it before and I ll reiterate- I like the fact that alot of these bands arent household name-bands, It means that if they re still around, and still playing shows, I can still get a decent seat and I dont have to deal with the all the idiots that are there for the tailgating, or just there because its where everyone's friends are at...Like OzzFest, or Dave Matthews Band, or (damn, I just broke my cigarette, lol) what Lollapalooza was becoming.
For a quick example, I went to a Yes show a few years back, and the parking lot was empty. When we got in the venue, it was so empty that we were able to get the best seats because no one was there to argue with us. And Yes was a HUGE band back in the day. We went to the same venue(E- Center in Camden, NJ) a week or two later for DMB, it was the complete opposite. Same with OzzFest, the general behaviour of the crowd was so bad, we had to leave before something ended up happening. What does that say about concert-goers today? Sorry to whoop n holler, but I d like some of my favorite bands to stay alittle bit "under the radar" so to speak...sorry but so on and so forth, etc, etc, etc....: )