Tell me yours... Mine is The Kinks... They have so many great songs and maintained a high degree of quality in their releases for longer than anyone with the possible exception of Elvis Costello but he isn't under rated. He gets his props as he should. The kinks were the hardest rockers of the British invasion. They revolutionized and innovated guitar sounds. 20 years later they were the anthem and theme song of MTV. They were the song being played while the moon man was planting the MTV flag on the moon. Just their popular songs would make them under appreciated today. I'm going with You Really Got Me (covered by Van Halen 20 years later). Lola, Superman, Come Dancing, All Day and All of the Night, Destroyer, etc. But those hits don't really even tell half the story. There are so many songs such as Waterloo Sunset, This Is Where I Belong... etc. that tell a a whole different story. Then there is also their Tin Pan Alley sound which is featured heavily on the Something Else Album. Their concept album Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire ...) They had an influence on groups such as the Jam who covered their masterful un-touted song David Watts. They also influenced The Libertines, Yo La Tengo, Jonathan Richman, Van Halen, The Pretenders, etc. Yet despite all of this it seems like the main groups you hear about from the 60's are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeplin, and The Who (in that order). I can appreciate the contribution of all of those groups, but in my opinion only one of those ranks above the Kinks who aren't talked about nearly as much.
Hmm... Duncan Sheik comes to mind. His one big pop hit was "Barely Breathing" back in the mid-90s, but after that his fifteen minutes were pretty much over. In the past decade he's actually had success writing musicals, including the Tony award-winning Spring Awakening. He does have some good light pop songs ("Barely Breathing" and "Genius," for instance), but his more mellow stuff is even better. His best songs aren't ones that a whole lot of people are going to appreciate immediately, but listen to them enough and they get under your skin. He has a pretty mesmerizing vocal quality... kinda Jackson Browne-like, sliding softly between notes. And he rocks at writing lyrics (e.g. "Reasons for Living," "Sad Stephen's Song," "Mr. Chess"). Whether he's the most under-rated ever, I dunno... I suppose that would really go to some garage band that no one has ever heard of at all, but certainly Sheik deserves more attention that he's gotten. <iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IcxV5Y7KNnw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Z7WC8FAmEM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lM-Lz3gxd_Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A perfect circle That band deserved much much more. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k2A8H0EZFig" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
2nd on A Perfect Circle. Mer de Noms is a top 10 album for me and they were extremely beautiful live. I'm one of the biggest Tool fans alive but if I had to choose which band Maynard had to front right now...
It's hard for me to say one specific band or group. I'll have to think about it. I can say an album that is underrated and completely perfect in my opinion is Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights. Currently the most underrated group out there that can do no wrong in my eyes are these guys. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OQ5rI461KNE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I always thought School of Fish was a bit underrated. I even like their more obscure 2nd album. <iframe width="420" height="280" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xTobR-5IwoY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Dude....major rep to you. I have a 2 CD "best of" The Kinks in my truck, about 50 some-odd songs. When I was driving the other day and listening to their music, I actually thought about starting such a thread as this. The Kinks were unbelievably good, but their albums sold small, and some of their greatest songs didn't really catch fire here in the States. When I first put on the Kinks in the truck, my wife perked up really quick; she didn't know about them, having come from Brazil. She was like, "Wow, this music is awesome." (Naturally, she was hooked from the get-go; "You Really Got Me" was the first song, but they honestly have so many great tunes, and a wry sense of humor in many, as evidenced by more than just "Lola"). CRIMINALLY underrated band.
Definitely a top 10 all-time album for me as well. Every song is great. It is a nearly perfect album. Some of the lyrics are stupid, but I think it was done in an ironic tone, something that has clearly influenced bands like The National. The biggest knock on the band is that some viewed them as nothing more than a Joy Division revivalist group. But I think at least in the hipster collective it is a pretty revered work. I think Antics is pretty underrated for what it is. If it was judged apart from TOTBL I think it would have stood well on it's own. I saw them at Verizon back in 2010. Some guy in the back just kept yelling STELLLLLLLLA.
Love the Kinks. Not a band per se, but Townes Van Zandt should be more well known. His words move me. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/embed/xTGKzWDakK8[/youtube]
