Big Star seemed to flash brightly in the late 80's when everyone fell in love with Teenage Fanclub and realised that Bandwagonesque sounded just like Big Star. Alex Chilton came out of retirement and they toured for a while. I've never checked them out personally, mind...

Here's a few thoughts...

Dinosaur Jr should have been bigger than Nirvana.
Pale Saints should have been bigger than My Bloody Valentine.
Mick Softley should have been bigger than Donovan.
Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come should have been bigger than The Crazy World...
The Shamen with without Mr C should have been bigger than The Shamen with Mr C

Not sure if this was what you had in mind, but it's an interesting theme to explore!