I don't think a lot of people read the original post or even the title before commenting.
"never made it big" "regional bands that never really made it past that" "never made it big" all in that initial post.
Great thread with a lot of my favorite college era bands already mentioned, plus some stuff I haven't heard of that I have added to my Spotify queue. However, the highlight of the thread is being introduced to the Cold War Kids song, "We Used to Vacation". Had heard the song a couple of times before (and likely once live), but never paid attention to the lyrics. As TAB said, they are brutal....in a good way.