I think there is still so much room to experiment with Grotesk typefaces. Perhaps the frustration is caused by everygoing going Druk in Magazine design and custom Corporate typography that's just incredibly...corporate. Every other grotesk fork of Akzidenz tends to follow Helvetica's path and the New York aesthetic. Public apathy is understandable.
The other fork of Akzidenz is Univers and its derivates; they are wonderful, especially for technical communication. I can't pinpoint why, perhaps it is nostalgia, but perhaps it is its formality and the way it is kerned by Adrian. Genius. I wrote about it on HN a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19621544
There are only a couple of decent typefaces that are alternatives to Univers. Unica77 and Swiss 721, both again trying to bring Helvetica into the Univers business.
So, I've taken up the task of propelling Univers forward. I hope it won't melt your eyes.