underrated artists ahead of their time

there are so many things wrong with this post that i wouldn't know where to start.

 

on that note im gonig to have to mention mr. mcfly

CRISPIN "HELLION" GLOVER
i have his cd somewhere - it is about as weird as you would expect coming from this guy.

 

Ornette Coleman - Created a new theory of musical arrangement, which he calls harmolodics. There's no way I can adequately summarize this theory, but here's the stupid version: Most improvised music is based on improvising off some kind of underlying structure - chords or maybe a scale - along with a basic meter. Coleman, however, has all improvisation based off the "leader" at any given time. Therefore, the leader plays the "solo" and the band improvises behind that. The harmony and meter change behind it, which the leader then responds to. The end result is that there really isn't a leader anymore, and every part is equal to one another. This is often called "free jazz" but there is actually a quite complicated logic behind it. Consequently, it still hasn't been integrated into most musical forms, even thought Ornette started it almost 50 years ago.

John Cale with the Velvet Underground - Lou Reed and Nico get the bulk of the attention, but Cale is the one who really made them musically revolutionary. He's the first rock musician to really understand how to use drones and feedback to create musical soundscapes. He was also capable of mixing these darker sounds with prettier, lighter sounds (like a Celeste). Listen to 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' and listen to the stuff in the background. The indie Phil Spector, speaking of which.....

Phil Spector - It's too bad he's a psycho because he's the one of the two fathers of modern recording. Along with Les Paul, speaking of which.....

Les Paul - The other father of modern recording. He pioneered multi-track recording, without which none of the artists listed in this thread have been able to accomplish their feats.

 

Living Color - the band. [Vernon Reid]

Rocket RIver

 

still ahead of their time - amazing live band too!

 

badfinger

 

Rush.

Not sure if they're underrated or not, but they haven't had a song on the radio or MTV in about 20 years....and they still sell out every arena they play.

How many musicians out there grew up listening to Rush and how many of them would probably have never even decided to pick up a guitar/bass/pair of drumsticks if not for their influence? I know I wouldn't have.

 

Would Chuck Berry count, or is he too famous to be considered "underrated"?

 

that charlatan stole his whole act from michael j. fox!

 

Roxy Music
Leonard Cohen
My Bloody Valentine
The Cocteau Twins

 

With all "due respect," that statement is pure, unadulterated crap. I have a busy day today, but later, when I have the time, I'll show you just how full of crap that statement was with regards to the Elevators. One can easily argue that they invented psychedelic music in the mid-'60's. They were listed above bands like the Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. I've seen the playbills. I was partying with their drummer when you were a twinkle in mommie and daddy's eyes. Get a grip, dude. I'll let others speak to the rest of the groups you mentioned. Frankly, I don't know why I bothered replying, because you clearly don't know a damn thing about music.

With all due respect. And none is due.

 

i forgot to add roky eriksson in all his diff setups....

 

wait wait wiat. . Is that partial Respect or is it ALL DUE Respect?

*grin*

Rocket River
some odd reason this just plain funny
I guess I'm sleep deprived

 

Montrose. I'm not a big Hagar fan, but I loved the band. They never really took off though.

 

PM Dawn.

 

Shuggie Otis



Amazon.com
Like Stevie Wonder and Allen Toussaint before him--and Prince and D'Angelo afterward--Shuggie Otis was a musical visionary whose early 1970s recordings showed he could do it all, writing, arranging, performing, and producing some of the decade's most satisfying, innovative, and, unfortunately, overlooked music. This reissue of his 1974 Inspiration Information album--a soulful song cycle that took three years to create and was worth every minute--ranges from early drum machine-driven experiments like "Xl-30" and "Aht Uh Mi Hed" (note the Sly Stone spelling influence) to Otis's most stunning pop confection ever, "Strawberry Letter 23." (The latter song, which ended up being a big hit for the Brothers Johnson, is one of four bonus tracks taken from Otis's 1971 Freedom Flight album). Otis, who once turned down an offer to replace Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones, continues to perform around the Bay Area on his own and with his father, bandleader Johnny Otis. Hopefully, the long-awaited resurrection of this material will help bring him the attention he deserves. --Bill Forman

Product Description
Inspiration Information, the brainchild of guitar prodigy Shuggie Otis, more than justifies the cult following garnered in the years since its (largely ignored) 1974 release. Son of R&B legend Johnny Otis, Shuggie was a late-'60s celebrity due to his Super Session duets with Al Kooper. Opting out of arena rock -- he reputedly refused an offer to join the Rolling Stones -- the 19-year-old Otis spent three years in the studio generating this one-man opus. His multitracked rhythms recall the laid-back funk of the Meters embroidered with psychedelic filigree, and his voice resembles Allan Toussaint's. But in every other regard, this is singular, sexy music, dislocated in time. Drum machines propel "Island Letter" and the beat-box-plus-organ stabs of "XL-30" predate England's Young Marble Giants by several years. Also featured are four bonus cuts from the artist's 1971 set Freedom Flight, including "Strawberry Letter 23," which was later a hit for the Brothers Johnson. Heard here in its original form (with a surprise prog-guitar coda), the song conveys the impression of "Good Vibrations" being played by a lone musician. Unbelievably wonderful. - Billboard

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000CC833?v=glance

 

they were quite a different type of hip hop band

Rocket River
Public Enemy was before their time. . change Rap to the Positive
almost single handedly .. .

 

MC HAMMER - the Godfather of the Wholesale Sample

before hammer people took snippets not the whole frickin song

Rocket River