Shufflepuck - s/t (1996, Interscope)

Shufflepuck's one and only album never really had a chance to become a "forgotten treasure".... as it was never released.  The Shufflepuck story is perhaps best told by the frontman himself, Adam Orth, over at his website (where the album is also available for listening).  Though to make a short story even shorter, ill summarize here... The band formed in the early 90s by a few guys from L.A. who were friends with/had played in bands with members of Weezer (drummer Keith Fallis played in Carnival Art with Brian Bell, Adam Orth was involved in Weezer side project "Homie", Justin Fisher was in 80s heavy metal band Avante Garde with Rivers Cuomo and briefly toured with The Rentals, plus Matt Sharp apparently gave the band the moniker Shufflepuck). Interscope Records soon signed the band and they entered the studio in 1995 to record what was planned to make up their self-titled debut.  Everything was looking good until their A&R guy left and the band quickly became a non-priority at the label - causing several release dates to pass without the album seeing the light of day.  By '97 Shufflepuck had gotten out of their Interscope contract, but by that point few other labels were interested, and the band broke up on stage at a show not long after. 

This is all a truly tragic story, because the record is a collection of near-perfect Weezer-esque power pop songs, with all the crunch and energy of the best 90s pop-punk (not like the garbage that passes for pop-punk these days).  I'll be damned if "Mistreated" isn't the best possible candidate for a mid-late 90s rock radio hit.  After Shufflepuck, Adam Orth played in Neighborly with Tom Ackerman (Skiploader, Sunday's Best) and is now a successful video game designer. Justin Fisher went on to play in Nerf Herder (another band you could compare Shufflepuck's sound to) and later in Psoma.

Listen @ Adam Orth's Website