This is a list of some songs from various Irish bands I listened to when I was in secondary school (high school for you Americans). MP3s of songs by these bands can be found here and here.
Some of my favourites:
I saw them play in Empire Music in Limerick, the day before my last exam in first year, right after buying the bottle of tequila that lead to my failing said exam :)
Their first album was grunge/metal, their second was poppier. They later became Wilt. Their singer had trouble signing on the dole (welfare) after the band split up, and had to produce the invoice for £1m from their record company :)
Pet Lamb started as a noise punk band, but became a more standard rock band. I preferred them as a noise punk band.
Revelino wrote some of the most achingly beautiful songs I've ever heard.
Metal guitars with pop vocals. Kinda.
Punky. "Skydiver" was a great song.
An odd band. They released their first two (three?) albums as mail order cassettes, recorded on a 4-track. Both of the albums I have by them have parodies for cover art - Marlboros on "Mindless Optimism", and a letter on "Charm and Arrogance".
Tooth were a Limerick band. The first time I went out in Limerick, with the guys I was sharing digs with, we went to a pub to meet up with one of the guys class mates. A friend of theirs took a look at the length of my hair, asked if I played guitar, and when I said "yes", told me to try out for his band. Naturally, I thought he was a nutter and didn't go. During the summer holidays a girl took me to see a gig. And that guy's band, Tooth (Nero at the time), were playing. Been kicking myself since...
My friend's band, Red Tide, had a song appear on a CD with them.
Therapy? were the band in 1994. Punk with a metal touch. Their web site has videos as well as rare songs.
"Twinkle" is one of my favourite songs. The lyrics struck me as a typical love song at first: "She's the air I breathe", "She's the only one for me"; until I actually listened to them:
Waiting to be bled
Turning tricks just like your mother
Left my dreams for dead
Getting off with every other
She's the air I breathe not too pure for me
She's the air I breathe not too cheap for me
Wilt were Kerbdog, a much better band. Then they recruited another guitarist, Derren, who used to be in Immodium, also a better band. Waste.
A truly odd band. Punky, but strange.