Sorry, you could still say Led Zepplin.
Most underrated band/performer of all time
- Thread starter Short Bus
- Start date
Sorry, you could still say Led Zepplin.
Jandek and Daniel Johnston. Incredibly powerful musicians and talented songwriters.
mjp
Founding member
Hmm, how about someone nobody's ever heard of?
Curt Almsted, a.k.a. Curtiss A.
Recorded for Minneapolis label Twin Tone in the late 70s early 80s. A good songwriter and one of the greatest rock and roll voices ever scraped up from a basement floor, always pegged by everyone locally as someone who would break out and become famous. Never quite did.
Some samples from his period classic and "just-about-to-break-out" (when Rolling Stone gives your record a five star review you can reasonably assume good things are about to happen) album Courtesy.
Curt Almsted, a.k.a. Curtiss A.
Recorded for Minneapolis label Twin Tone in the late 70s early 80s. A good songwriter and one of the greatest rock and roll voices ever scraped up from a basement floor, always pegged by everyone locally as someone who would break out and become famous. Never quite did.
Some samples from his period classic and "just-about-to-break-out" (when Rolling Stone gives your record a five star review you can reasonably assume good things are about to happen) album Courtesy.
Jocelyn Pook is quite under rated. Has a similar sound to Dead Can Dance (Australian). Pook did the soundtrack to the movie Eyes Wide Shut. Most memorable track set the scene in the mansion during the orgy.
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
My favorite artist is Dave Carter. Local guy out of Portland (transplanted from Texas and various other places), but I actually found out about him through folk festivals out in the Tri-State area... Brilliant songwriter, along the lines of Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan (maybe not as good, but still brilliant).
Thing is that he and his partner Tracy Grammer were getting accolades from all kinds of smaller music magazines and were becoming huge in songwriting circles when he died in 2002. They also toured with Joan Baez and received some acclaim from her too... but he died before he could get any further.
Most underrated? Probably not, but to me he is.
Thing is that he and his partner Tracy Grammer were getting accolades from all kinds of smaller music magazines and were becoming huge in songwriting circles when he died in 2002. They also toured with Joan Baez and received some acclaim from her too... but he died before he could get any further.
Most underrated? Probably not, but to me he is.
Digney in Burnaby
donkeys live a long time
A friend from work made me several mix tapes years ago (early 1980s) and the only thing that stuck out then, and that I still remember fondly, was by The Birthday Party.
Sad to learn of Roland S Howard's passing.
I don't know about 'of all time' but a very under-rated band (at least here in Australia) is Modest Mouse. The gained some recognition a few years back with "Float on" and recently back in the lime light as Heath Ledger directed a video for them shortly before he passed called "King Rat" (which.. meh.. not their best work). They are very unusual but I love them, have several albums under their belt, notables are "Good News for people who love bad news" and "We were dead before the ship even sank" - They do a song about Bukowski as well, which always makes me laugh. Well worth a listen.
mjp
Founding member
You're kidding.
Modest Mouse are huge.
The Mountain Goats.
mjp
Founding member
Oh god, those videos are hilarious. Though unintentionally, I suspect.
I don't think you could classify that cookie-cutter 80s pop rock as underrated. If it is, then there must be a thousand other underrated groups, because they all sounded the same.
Oh I do apologise for being new and not knowing what has and has not been mentioned 4391 times here before. It was a side note in what I was saying. I do honestly believe they are under-rated. Thanks for not being an arsehole about it.
As I said, they aren't here.
mjp
Founding member
You're welcome!
number6horse
okyoutwopixiesoutyougo
Good call. And I might add John Vanderslice, too.
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
I would also like to nominate the Gin Blossoms. Big in their time for a song or two, but their deeper cuts are also spectacular (and Til I Hear It From You is one of my favorite pop songs ever).