[Music] Most underated band ever?

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I'd have to dispute that many bands were much more ground breaking than The Beatles. The Sixties was a decade of continuous musical innovation, but The Beatles were continuously ground breaking and that's the difference. Every single and every album was different and eagerly anticipated because you never knew where they would go next. Having lived through that momentous decade and listened to as much music as I could, I cannot describe the thrill and the buzz of anticipation for every scrap of new Beatles music and they never failed to deliver, year in and year out. The Doors, Beach Boys, Kinks, Stones, Dylan to name but a few, were all wonderful but, unlike The Beatles, they lacked consistency in their groundbreaking. A great decade for a music loving kid to grow up.

I am not saying that just because I don't like them much they aren't great. Taste is personal. I am just amazed that anyone can say they are the most 'underrated' band ever. I was then goaded by my disdain for that post into having a poke. The thread is about underrated bands and, as I illustrated, they are far from that.

Legendaty Pink Dots, anyone?

 

[CorgiRegisteredFriend]

 

[Weststander]

I am not saying that just because I don't like them much they aren't great. Taste is personal. I am just amazed that anyone can say they are the most 'underrated' band ever. I was then goaded by my disdain for that post into having a poke. The thread is about underrated bands and, as I illustrated, they are far from that.

Legendaty Pink Dots, anyone?

Didn't it start with one jokey comment "The Beatles", obviously said ironically?

I noticed over the years that music threads often get hijecked by the pro / anti Beatles camps.

@HWT, I disapprove of what you say about the Beatles, but I will defend to the death on NSC your right to say it.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Not in response to anyone in particularly, I think this thread misses the point a little at times. Surely to be underated, a band has to be rated in the public eye to some extent, rather than obscure but enjoyed by the poster and a handful of others, in the know or otherwise. In other words, I need to have heard of them

 

[CliveWalkerWingWizard]

Can I add replacements and suicide to the mix? Loved the people saints, I think the first time I saw them they were supporting the stone roses. Then saw them twice with the boo radleys and I think once with lush. Has anybody listened to the ora album, with the original of sight of you?

 

[smillie's garden]

The Go-Betweens and The Mekons are among my fave ever bands. It's an interesting question whether they, and some other bands mentioned on this thread, are underrated: they definitely aren't by many music nerds/critics. I suppose this is what makes a cult band: beloved, but never having a massive hit for various reasons (lack of promotion, politics, strangeness, just not chasing it etc). Another band I love is The Replacements. They were biggish in the states, but never really cracked it in the U.K. The Minneapolis band made rough, fumbling, drunk music about being young. "Let it Be"(!) is a fantastic album - even the silly stuff and the Kiss cover.





The Replacements even did a song called "Alex Chilton", showing their affinity for the original hard luck cult band - Big Star.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

@HWT, I disapprove of what you say about the Beatles, but I will defend to the death on NSC your right to say it.

I salute your indefatigability

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Not in response to anyone in particularly, I think this thread misses the point a little at times. Surely to be underated, a band has to be rated in the public eye to some extent, rather than obscure but enjoyed by the poster and a handful of others, in the know or otherwise. In other words, I need to have heard of them

I think that effing brilliant yet nobody has heard of them counts if the band are old. New (last 5 years) does not count (or I would have sprayed all over this thread - 'O Children', anyone... ).

But I agree that if the band has actually been dismissed by the proletariate and also the music press then you have gold. Which is why the Chameleons and the Comsat Angels win. Been around for ever, the press laughed at them, the sales are poor, and yet they are (still, in various forms) brilliant. And therefore much underrated. Actually, add Killing Joke and *The Sound to that list.

*No longer around after Adrian Borland's sad demise

 

[colinz]

Here I give you the whole abum, the best album, by one of the unluckies bands (dodgy managers etc) ever. They are still playing (Canterbury festival this summer) but sadly without Richard the drummer who died a couple of years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7uR3dDa4eY

shit, I have just spilled my curry over my laptop

Still have the album on vinyl. Play it occasionally.

 

[Megazone]

Taste (Rory Gallagher)

 

[colinz]

Has to be the Gentleman below with his band of 5 journeyman musicians.

 

[Perfidious Albion]

The Hamsters.

Anybody who saw them live will lnow what I mean.

 

[Pevenseagull]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qUQyDfg8rfE

Different gravy

 

[withdeanwombat]

Haven’t been through all of these, but I’ll go with The Desperate Dan Band.

 

[pearl]

I bought That Shallot yesterday

 

[Binney on acid]

I saw him three times. He was by no means a class live act, and actively didn't like performing, and had no end of problems in his life which often manifested themselves live. His great strengths were his songwriting, and his arrangements and production.

My problem is that I compare every singer songwriter with Jackson Browne when he was at his peak. No one, apart from Springsteen has come close. It's a bit like comparing every number 7 with George Best in his heyday. You're ultimately disappointed, but I struggle to avoid making such comparisons.

 

[Pevenseagull]

My problem is that I compare every singer songwriter with Jackson Browne when he was at his peak. No one, apart from Springsteen has come close. It's a bit like comparing every number 7 with George Best in his heyday. You're ultimately disappointed, but I struggle to avoid making such comparisons.

.....and Browne was a teenager when he wrote this ....https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6kk7vCHvof4

 

[1234andcounting]

Iron Butterfly fit the bill perfectly. Massively successful but just a few years after the big hit they were forgotten, and even regarded as shit. The band's seminal 1968 album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is among the world's 40 best-selling albums, selling more than 30 million copies. And I expect few on here have heard of them.

For the record, I have never heard a single track by this lot. Not one. Ever.

A group of us got together as kit sponsors, starting with Kurt Nogan; for reasons to obscure to go in to here, we called ourselves In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. We were Kerry Mayo's kit sponsor for several seasons. When we were presented with our signed shirt on the pitch at Withdean we presented him with a copy of the Iron Butterfly album. He looked suitably baffled.

Oh, and it is a rubbish album.

 

[Pevenseagull]

On the subject of Jackson Browne 10,000 Maniacs did a decent cover https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PYRO-kHlYPA

Playfully on the B side of https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-HLxpWGCzc

Which was nice

 

[Surf's Up]

Blue, not the boy band but the Scottish connection

Are you referring to the guys who did one album on Elton Johns label?? If yes, they were bloody brilliant!