Your Favorite Underrated Artists

Alex everybody on the planet loves Talk Talk

Yeah, must try harder there!

I'm trying to think of someone underrated but not obscure, since I think that meets John's intent best. I honestly don't know who I would choose offhand as a result.

afghan whigs
karl hendricks

the Libertines
Luther Vandross

junior kimbrough? while he was alive, anyway

j0hn have you heard the Equals, Eddy Grant's first band??

http://youtube.com/watch?v=P9Jz8MjYyR0

is Rites of Spring underrated? I dig them big haired punks.
I've never met another Steeleye Span fan, but I dig it.

the Libertines

I personally think this is OTM as though they're massively famous nobody gives them respect and their best jams are like really fucking good

I've been wanting to hear the Equals but didn't think to look on YouTube, thanks Mr. Que!

Alex everybody on the planet loves Talk Talk.

Everybody on Planet ILX, maybe.

http://www.cirithungol.chaos-lords.de/cover020.jpg

holy shit everything about that Equals footage is amazing

Quite. I haven't kept track of the Libertines' escapades and various solo projects, but their first two albums are full of coiled rockers. One of the few bands whose leaders write songs about and for each other without turning into massive bores.

Fat Larry's Band

blink-182!!

Karen Carpenter: tragically underrated

yah roight whatevs she had a movie and like 3240923409 tribute songs. Cirith Ungol roolz this thread.

not more underrated than Eddy Grant though, that dude is a monster

but Cirith Ungol is still too slept on by people, so for that matter is Sadist from Italy who had clearly listened to their Cirith Ungol records

no, y'see, I was making a weak anorexia joke, playing off the similarity between the words "underate" and...awnevermind

I nominate Connie Smith, Altered Images, and The Walkabouts

You mean Eddy Grant who sang Electric Avenue?

Is this the Eddy Grant disc you're referring to?

Hahaha, goddammit, I was going to suggest the Walkabouts as well but thought they just weren't well known enough to count as underrated. But lord god almighty are they still one of my most favorite bands anywhere, ever.

One day -- maybe years from now -- the appeal of the Libertines will make itself known to me, perhaps. Distance might be the only answer. I have trouble hearing them now as anything else but a long-tapped-out vein.

Diddy

I like to imagine the Walkabouts topping the pop charts and filling stadiums in tiny Eastern European countries like Slovenia and Montenegro. Of course the reality is that they had one or two minor hits in Germany or somewhere thereabouts, which makes them semi-obscure in Europe as opposed to flat-out unknown in the US. Better than nothing, but they deserve better...

Oh another - The Plasmatics! Absolutely adored them as a junior high schooler. On my English folder, I wrote every song title of theirs AND every spoken intro. The spoken intros were circled so you could tell the difference. Still love the shit outta them. Where punk and camp meet (which didn't happen too often...maybe that Streets comp counts). Avoid newish DVD on MVD (in fact, avoid ALL MVD DVDs).

i thought of one - ups & downs. vastly better than 95% of the australian stuff that gets all the attention. prefer them to the church any day, for example

Animals That Swim !!

their albums are long out of print as far as i know which makes me sad because they deserve more attention than they got

I kinda agree with Diddy and Blink 182

I want to add: Transplants!

Their first album is bananas, man.

DeBarge despite pockets of love around here.

Animals That Swim

Heh, still have two of their albums around.

I've never met another Steeleye Span fan, but I dig it.

loooove steeleye span, all the way through all around my hat.

i think BIG COUNTRY is underrated, to the extent anyone rates them. first album at least. second album too really.

(big country's rhythm section is especially underrated)

^ Oh, third album too. And everyone loves teh drums on Love, so half of the rhythm section is only underrated in context.

i like the 3rd album (kate bush!) but i wasn't gonna force the issue.

I just looked at the tracklist and I think I can still hum at least half of it.

In the spirit of J0hn's post, I'll nominate Billy Squier. Usually mentioned only as a punchline, but Don't Say No is classic, the Emotions In Motion singles kick, and dude gave a rhythm track to half of all hip-hop.

my favorite thing about billy squier is the possibly-apocryphal story that he wrote "everybody wants you" after a flight stuck in first class with an insufferable maurice gibb. (i think maurice was the story. maybe barry...)

I love that story but I think the only place I've actually heard it was here: Billy Squire: Classic of Dud?

i know. i heard it from a friend in high school who said he heard it in a billy squier interview on the radio (wcmf) so with that kind of sourcing how can you doubt?

Candlemass

Daniel Belanger (outside of Quebec), Autour de Lucie, southpacific, Len (still patiently waiting for their next one), and I will happily second Juliana Hatfield.

iain matthews/matthews southern comfort

have trouble hearing them now as anything else but a long-tapped-out vein.

Hiss!

I need to hear more Eddy Grant. As it turns out, I heard the "Romancing the Stone" theme a few weeks ago -- not bad.

Campag Velocet

Puressence

Wot no Darkwave?

Mike Viola/Candy Butchers
Ivy

Is this the Eddy Grant disc you're referring to?

Yes! The thirteen minute Living on the Frontline is completely insane.

Morphine

<i>the Libertines
Luther Vandross</i>

I get called out for citing Talk Talk and you let these fly?? Hell, my MOM knows both of these artists. Ask your average Joe on the street (i.e. not an ILX head or music snob) about Talk Talk and *MAYBE* they'll hum "It's My Life" at you. By and large, <i>Spirit of Eden</i> and <i>Laughing Stock</i> are wholly undiscovered by the majority.

And good call on the Plasmatics!!!

I didn't what to say about Luther Vandross, that one I don't get. But when do you ever hear anybody say anything favorable about the Libertines? They're famous, but everybody always says how bad they suck. Talk Talk, on the other hand: anybody who ever has anything to say about them says how godlike they are, how the two albums you cite are masterpieces, etc. If you look up "critics' favorite" in the dictionary, there's a picture of Talk Talk there. So underappreciated/not known at a level commensurate with their aesthetic accomplishment, maybe - underrated? Everyone who rates them does so highly!

I still wanna know what "to tout Midlands spastics" refers to cos I have no idea WTF they were on about!

Probably true, I'm talking more general public types and radio programmers. I don't think I've ever heard an Eric Bloom sung BOC song on the radio, and he was their de facto lead singer.

xpost

still wanna know what "to tout Midlands spastics" refers to cos I have no idea WTF they were on about!

Yeah, I ignored that part cuz I had no idea myself...

Where is the LOVE for all these Christian rock acts who are ripe for hipster reappraisal?

Rank & File - just the first two albums, anyway.

Another vote for Nada Surf. The best power pop band in the world.

Jason Falkner-- MC, Friday, 30 November 2007 15:18 (1 hour ago)

I'd totally agree - but that new record isn't going to win any new fans ... nine years between full length records for that - ugh!

The Fall: Nobody cared about this band until sometime in mid-2001, when the critics had run out of classic overlooked 80's English bands to tout Midlands spastics for people merely looking to expand their record collections.

this is crap, every generation discovers the fall eventually.

"still wanna know what "to tout Midlands spastics" refers to cos I have no idea WTF they were on about!"

that was a lack of proofreading and clarity of expression, that is what that was about. I should have been clearer:

The Fall: Nobody cared about this band until sometime in mid-2001, when the critics had run out of classic overlooked 80's English bands to tout. The Fall were just spastics from the Midlands, and their records were for people merely looking to expand their record collections.

I sincerely hope that one day I will listen to the Fall and hear the genius that others seem to hear, and that I'm wrong on this.

Also, dang, I hate Tom Waits so much.

Uh, the Fall were not from the Midlands.

Any more bullshit for us? :)

it took me six years of hearing and disliking random things by the fall before I "got" them.

so don't give up on the fall, however, you may want to pause before hitting the "submit response" button in the future.

I think Falkner's new album is pretty good. Not too different stylistically from the past, so is your problem with the level of the tunes? "This Time," "NYC," "The Knew," "Anondah," and "I Don't Mind" are all quality IMO.

Speaking of underrated power pop, I agree on Nada Surf (being underrated, not the "best")

For best underrated, I'd go with Superdrag, Sloan, The Shazam, or even Falkner if you throw him in there.

Actually, underrated... power pop... you could even say Cheap Trick, but I don't think we want to have that conversation on ILM yet again.

"King Crimson's modern improvs - The ProjeKCts (1 - 4 + X). I am possibly the biggest crimhead this side of Alpha Centuri an believe this is the pinacle of their existence.

I dunno man. I bought the first Project and all I could hear was the terrible V-drum presets that Belew was playing. He even talks in the liner notes about getting the drums in the mail, unwrapping the box, plugging them in, and recording. That is not the proper use of any sort of synthetic instrument.

***

The Fall -- I saw the Middle Class Revolt tour (Brix was back!). Just an awesome show. And a great (UNDER-RATED) album. Mark Smith paced the stage glaring at his bandmates, kicking the mic out of the kickdrum, away from the bass amp, and eventually stormed off stage. Brix finished the set for him. Could have been preconceived. Didn't matter.

People don't seem to take Three Dog Night very seriously. It's
not all walrus mustaches and chest fever...they had such a great run of singles. And they chose the best songwriters of the time. Eli's Coming is so frenetic and creepy.

Cher and Cass Elliott are eternally underrated. Also, Joe South is a lot more interesting to me than most of the new Dylans types who came after him. Except Loudon Wainwright, whose sad songs aren't given as much attention as his goofy/witty ones, I don't think, which is a shame cause they're so much better.

As for things a bit more obscure,I think Marilyn's album Despite Straight Lines sounds really great. He tried so hard w/the Was Not Was people and all.

The Pulsars record from 1997 is my favorite synthpop record since the mid Eighties.

Blue Hippos -- Late-80s Twintone trio.

Spastic and angularly hepped-up joints and r-rated rants

Binary Star

Claude Delcloo

hot 8 brass band
rebirth brass band
new birth brass band
free agents brass band
soul rebels brass band

NO-MAN

Nortt

hell yeah on the eddy grant love.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a359/ettiem/killerontherampage.jpg
good tunes, great legs!

hell yeah, too, on the ray parker jr. love. been picking up raydio records on sight the last year or so. evey one has at least a few fantastic tunes. favorite at the moment is "more than one way to love a woman." the chorus is almost steve millerish.

"Michael & His Slipper Tree" rules!...one of those tunes that burrows into your head after just one listen...

my fave underrated artist is Scott 4...(the band, not the LP)...motorik country/western, don't know how they slipped through the cracks...

Ashlee Simpson

Guns N' Roses (very underrated on ILX)

Buckethead

Nate Carson, Tuesday, 4 December 2007 02:59 (Yesterday)

I'll admit, Projekct 2 is my least favorite of them all. 3 and 4, on teh other hand stand out especially to me considering it sounds like nothing they've done previously and was only touched upon on THE POWER TO BELIEVE. Projekct One is excellent but is reminiscent of some of their previous work.

I hear Tony's back in the band so I'll see how it goes from here.

Guns N' Roses (very underrated on ILX)

In some strange alternate universe, maybe.

this will probably cause an explosion of laughter but I really liked the one New Radicals album

Suzy Mangion, as well as her band George.

early Piano Magic.

" 'Guns N' Roses (very underrated on ILX)
In some strange alternate universe, maybe."

they're evaluated fairly in the posts from 5+ years ago, but not now. The response to the leaked Chinese Democracy tracks is particulary bad (maybe I should have listed nuGNR as underrated too).

eX-Girl
Smile Like Dog
Salk Vacchin
Luminous Orange

Monroe Mustang particularly their first album on Trance Syndicate.
Silkworm
Unwound

I found Killer On The Rampage by Eddy Grant in a Scope shop a month or 2 ago :)

I like eX-Girl. That's a good one.

THAT FIRST URBAN VERBS RECORD IS SO FRIGGIN' GOOD. IT'S LIKE A DOLLAR RECORD.

SAME WITH HUMAN SEXUAL RESPONSE RECORDS. SO GREAT AND SO UNDERRATED OR WHATEVER.

SAME WITH THAT FIRST TRANSLATOR ALBUM. PEOPLE MIGHT REMEMBER EVERYWHERE THAT I'M NOT BUT THAT ALBUM IS SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT.

BUT THAT URBAN VERBS RECORD, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR...ROCKS SO GOOD.