Underrated Bands and Singers.

[Engimal]

Front End Loader. Great band, very little recognition.

 

[Bd70]

The Saints.
One of Australia's best ever bands who -along with a few others- deserve to be considered amongst the world's best.
And not just on the basis of their 'punk' era, either.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

The Saints.
One of Australia's best ever bands who -along with a few others- deserve to be considered amongst the world's best.
And not just on the basis of their 'punk' era, either.

I don't think you'll find The Saints were underrated.

Just under appreciated.

Chris Bailey is a bit of a tool too.

 

[mianfei]

The Sweet. Reputation was bogged down by their pop days, they produced some awesome heavy rock tracks. Listen to ‘Sweet FA’, ‘Windy City’ and the Give us a Wink album. Great musos and Brian Connolly was a fine singer before the grog got to him.

Although the Sweet are not my cup of tea, I respect Joe S. Harrington a great deal and he listed Desolation Boulevard as one of his Top 100 Albums back in 2001 to 2003:

79. Desolation Boulevard – the Sweet (Capitol, 1975):
An album so cool you need gloves to pick it up as well as an icepick to get into its totally out-of-the-frame membrane. When this came out in 1975 these guys were no better than a bubblegum act in America – famous for ‘Little Willy.’ When I was a little kid I once saw my teenage neighbour Vicky Balzanno swing her love beads to that song in a state of wild sexual abandon and something clicked in my head…the girls hear the guitars and they go MAD! Well, on Desolation Boulevard Sweet apply this girls/guitars theory to the nth degree – and as such effectively invent eighties metal (well, Kiss would have to be in there as well but the only album of theirs that had a chance of making it was Dressed to Kill). Pure and simple, there is no way around the fact that songs like ‘A.C.D.C’ (not to be confused with the band of the same name) and ‘Set Me Free’ are Mötley Crüe already in 1975. Which to me is pretty amazing (although you may scratch your head and say “eeeh, he thinks this is a good thing?”) If you look at the cover, you see once again…. Mötley Crüe! The concept of absolutely singing decadence-run-amok that runs through this album is a foreshadowing of Guns’n’Roses at least ten years BEFORE THE FACT. In addition, do not doubt the influence on punks – ask Mike Saunders or Tesco Vee sometime about these guys. ‘Fox on the Run’ was the ultimate power-heavy AM oasis back then in the birth of disco and when singer Brian Connolly goes into the falsetto on ‘Solid Gold Brass’ it’s a cause for a kind of ginchiness that’s indescribable. Dilly is right about ‘I Wanna Be Committed,’ however – it is the worst song on the album. Why is this list beginning to look like a vindication of heavy metal?

Among my own discoveries, Renaissance and Annie Haslam in the 1970s produced many records that sound almost exactly like the “Lilith Fair” artists of the 1990s:

Robin Holcomb’s earthy, yet jazzy and personal, songs on her self-titled 1990 album and Rockabye are something few even critics have heard of but which are down-to-earth like little else in a period dominated by extremes of individualism.

At the same time, her songs could be really dark, as in ‘Iowa Lands’ with its depiction of scenes like the fabled “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s.

Slightly more modern is Seattle’s Sky Cries Mary, whose free-form, yet catchy songs possess power that moves the aware listener like the ocean, and at times the keyboards of Gordon Raphael really do resemble such:

 

[JimmyBeerCans]

Budgie, Hit the scene around the same time as Zep n' Sabbath & Tony Bourge was as much a riff king as Iommi for mine. Great Band

 

[DaRick]

BrokenCYDE....

Just kidding.

Seriously, though:
- Alice in Chains (Seem to be under-appreciated in Australia, but probably my favourite of the Big 4 grunge bands)
- Cheap Trick (not in Japan, but seem to be oft-forgotten these days - too bad; their 70's stuff is quality)
- Danzig (Their first album in particular is excellent)
- Dokken (a great guitarist and some solid songs)
- Japan (a big influence on New Wave, but never mentioned)
- Roxy Music (Brian Eno is revolutionary, Bryan Ferry is an underrated vocalist)
- The Cult (impressively diverse band)

 

[I Lost My Keays]

BrokenCYDE....

Just kidding.

Seriously, though:
- Alice in Chains (Seem to be under-appreciated in Australia, but probably my favourite of the Big 4 grunge bands)
- Cheap Trick (not in Japan, but seem to be oft-forgotten these days - too bad; their 70's stuff is quality)
- Danzig (Their first album in particular is excellent)
- Dokken (a great guitarist and some solid songs)
- Japan (a big influence on New Wave, but never mentioned)
- Roxy Music (Brian Eno is revolutionary, Bryan Ferry is an underrated vocalist)
- The Cult (impressively diverse band)

Check my brain , by Alice In Chains is fantastic

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Clutch and Neil Fallon.

Unmistakable in his sound and delivery.

 

[adammania9]

Kaleo

 

[Crowbots are dead]

Modest mouse. Much , much more than their big hit ' float on' . They have some awesome albums

 

[Cruyff14]

Modest mouse. Much , much more than their big hit ' float on' . They have some awesome albums

Talkin' s**t About A Pretty Sunset is amazing.

 

[Crowbots are dead]

Talkin' s**t About A Pretty Sunset is amazing.

Lonesome crowded west and the moon and Antartica are incredible albums too

 

[bok_party]

Apparently he's pretty horrible live though but recorded, they are fantastic.

 

[Pea Nut]

Awesome thread !! One I hadn't seen before. A couple of local QLD bands that I really big into. HELM and Ninth of May. Both catch the progressive tag, but both make amazing music. HELM - Heavy/sludgey.



Ninth of May - Alternative/progressive. Just damn good !!

 

[Pea Nut]

Another couple that I think are worthy mentions, two heavy instrumental bands. Both Australian bands. "Balloons Kill Babies", from Brisbane and "Dumbsaint", who are from Sydney. Both are off the charts good !!

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Another couple that I think are worthy mentions, two heavy instrumental bands. Both Australian bands. "Balloons Kill Babies", from Brisbane and "Dumbsaint", who are from Sydney. Both are off the charts good !!

Do you like Laura?

 

[bok_party]

Do you like Laura?

Laura are fantastic

 

[krisholio14]

Any band who recorded on Flying Nun up to the mid 90's.

 

[Pea Nut]

Do you like Laura?

Yeah, absolutely a fan. Haven't listened to them much recently. Thanks for the reminder !!
They certainly belong in this list.

 

[mianfei]

I only own their first 5 albums (their heyday really), but very much love them too. One of my favourite acts from the 80s, so many classic tracks and renditions. They developed a lot over that period as well, without losing their central essence and ethos.

There is a brutal power in their first two albums (Red Roses for Me, the first, is underrated) that is quite unlike anything else (Lambchop’s I Hope You’re Sitting Down and How I Quit Smoking are also underrated and the nearest comparison) but with more production they did not achieve the gains one would hope for in their orchestration. The in-your-face power of Shane’s voice can be refreshing, too.

 

[Papa G]

Ammonia - Mint 400 was a great album.

 

[Damon_3388]

Steve Miller Band.

Everyone knows the songs, but most probably wouldn't be able to name the artist.

Miler got inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year (so did Cheap Trick, mentioned a few posts up), but probably doesn't get the everyday plaudits and nostalgia credits he should as far as classic mainstream rock artists of the '70s and '80s go.

 

[Cruyff14]

Rockin' Me is ******* ace.

 

[DT2000]

Not sure how they are rated but I love these bands and I don;t know anyone else that digs them.

Wild Beasts
The Grates
Arctic Monkeys
Client Liaison
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

 

[NitroFan]

Not sure how they are rated but I love these bands and I don;t know anyone else that digs them.

Wild Beasts
The Grates
Arctic Monkeys
Client Liaison
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

you dont know anyone who likes Arctic Monkeys? do you live on a deserted island?