Most Underrated Bands of All Time

[mike]

May 3, 2010 12:06:58 GMT -5 stevedave said:

I really liked Terrorvision. A lot. But even I can see they were flawed to the point of never really having a chance of the big big time. They were just too goofy. Therapy? were frickin' awesome. Their cover of Diane by Husker Du is off the chart. Infernal Love is an under rated record for sure but the early shit Babyteeth, Nurse, Screamager, Femtex, Short Sharp Shock EP, Turn, Hide The Knives, their cover of CC Rider, . I loved that band.

i liked terrorvision a lot too. i went to school in bradford so if you were into rock it was practically compulsory. 'how to make friends and influence people' and 'regular urban survivors' are both singalong nostalgia classics for me, but they never had the same class as bands like the wildhearts and therapy? (and skunk anansie. they deserve a mention in this thread too.).

all that early therapy? stuff was amazing. i have a ridiculous amount of their 7"s. i think they stayed brilliant right up to 'suicide pact, you first', personally. 'infernal love' was somewhat patchy (but still had some of their best songs), but i think 'semi-detached' and 'suicide pact, you first' are both right up there with the early stuff. i think 'lonely, cryin' only' from semi-detached is the best single they ever released.

[Sunny D]

May 4, 2010 22:48:29 GMT -5 tlon said:

Mountain Goats always seem to get left out of year end lists.... John Darnielle is a better lyricist then ANYONE
and a damn good poet and fanfiction writer on his blog

THIS.

[tlon]

May 5, 2010 14:45:54 GMT -5 Sunny D said:

May 4, 2010 22:48:29 GMT -5 tlon said:

Mountain Goats always seem to get left out of year end lists.... John Darnielle is a better lyricist then ANYONE
and a damn good poet and fanfiction writer on his blog

THIS.

lastplanetojakarta.com/ - for anyone who hasn't seen it. he writes record reviews as poetry. he's beyond pretty much anyone lyrically... and yeah, I'm including Craig. sorry man

i'm thinking of getting that picture of the two of them in the New Yorker printed up poster-style for my wall

[Sunny D]

May 5, 2010 18:31:38 GMT -5 tlon said:

May 5, 2010 14:45:54 GMT -5 Sunny D said:

THIS.

lastplanetojakarta.com/ - for anyone who hasn't seen it. he writes record reviews as poetry. he's beyond pretty much anyone lyrically... and yeah, I'm including Craig. sorry man

i'm thinking of getting that picture of the two of them in the New Yorker printed up poster-style for my wall

Although I like THS slightly more than tMG I rate John Darnielle at the top lyrically.

This is the perfect time to ask. Were you the Tlon that posted a bit on the tMG forums a long time ago? I recognized your name from there.

[tlon]

May 5, 2010 22:06:31 GMT -5 Sunny D said:

May 5, 2010 18:31:38 GMT -5 tlon said:

lastplanetojakarta.com/ - for anyone who hasn't seen it. he writes record reviews as poetry. he's beyond pretty much anyone lyrically... and yeah, I'm including Craig. sorry man

i'm thinking of getting that picture of the two of them in the New Yorker printed up poster-style for my wall

Although I like THS slightly more than tMG I rate John Darnielle at the top lyrically.

This is the perfect time to ask. Were you the Tlon that posted a bit on the tMG forums a long time ago? I recognized your name from there.

yeah must have been me.
i stopped posting at Last Plane to Jakarta 'cause i didn't want John to be a guy i argued about nerdy shit with online
but after his show i might get back into it
what i love about him is his versatility/nerdiness. i love THS, but people who say he mostly writes about teens, partying, drugs and religion aren't trolling. Darnielle can slot a line from a cult PS2 game into a Biblical song about illness and make it work
but yeah it's pretty close
i wonder if they still hang out together. 'No John, I don't want to hear any more Norwegian blackened doom metal, no matter how kvlt it is'. 'Man, I listened to all those hardcore demos. Just because I'm a vego dosen't mean i'll like vegan straight-edge'

ANYWAY

[Sunny D]

May 5, 2010 22:15:34 GMT -5 tlon said:

May 5, 2010 22:06:31 GMT -5 Sunny D said:

Although I like THS slightly more than tMG I rate John Darnielle at the top lyrically.

This is the perfect time to ask. Were you the Tlon that posted a bit on the tMG forums a long time ago? I recognized your name from there.

yeah must have been me.
i stopped posting at Last Plane to Jakarta 'cause i didn't want John to be a guy i argued about nerdy shit with online
but after his show i might get back into it
what i love about him is his versatility/nerdiness. i love THS, but people who say he mostly writes about teens, partying, drugs and religion aren't trolling. Darnielle can slot a line from a cult PS2 game into a Biblical song about illness and make it work
but yeah it's pretty close
i wonder if they still hang out together. 'No John, I don't want to hear any more Norwegian blackened doom metal, no matter how kvlt it is'. 'Man, I listened to all those hardcore demos. Just because I'm a vego dosen't mean i'll like vegan straight-edge'

ANYWAY

I post a lot on the tMG forums, but I've rarely looked at the fourms of Last Plane To Jakarta.

And I completely agree with the whole Craig mostly writes about teens, partying, drugs and religion.

[doctoracula]

i like darnielle's lyrics alright, but there are definitely some people i'd put above him easily

john samson
neko case
stephin merritt
craig finn

[tlon]

May 6, 2010 0:03:41 GMT -5 doctoracula said:

i like darnielle's lyrics alright, but there are definitely some people i'd put above him easily

john samson
neko case
stephin merritt
craig finn

yeah fair enough... I love all those lyricists...
but like this is what John just tosses off on his blog:

"who among us has not stood near the abyss that claimed you,
and heard in its roar some ghost of a liar's promise,
and wondered how hard it it would be to find out, at last?
let those few of us count themselves blessed indeed."

so i'm utterly in awe of him. might just be me though

and the Barenaked Ladies are definitely underrated

i want to write a big thing about my fave 'played to 5 people, disappeared' Sydney bands but i don't know where to put it

[bigrob]

"Stunt" went Platinum four times in the US and Canada. Most people know at least one BnL song (usually "One Week", which was #1 on the Billboard charts).

Maybe their popularity has waned in the last few years, but the Barenaked Ladies aren't underrated.

That said, I am now on youtube watching all their videos.

[tlon]

yeah but nobody rates them as a serious band

[meoskop]

Right, BNL's rep is as a novelty / joke act - the really serious stuff they play around with isn't noted. Bring them up in most music discussion and people hit the mock button pretty fast. I can understand how that evolved, but their musical abilities aren't appreciated.

[mike]

May 6, 2010 19:45:22 GMT -5 meoskop said:

Right, BNL's rep is as a novelty / joke act - the really serious stuff they play around with isn't noted.

see also: they might be giants, sparks.

[toastie]

Kings of Convenience.

[stevedave]

What a goodboy is staggering in it's beauty. Bnl are so much more than the popular opinion of them allows. Isn't that the definition of under rated?

[eumenides]

American Music Club
Johnny Mathis' Feet
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTMR69pzGk0

Johnny looked at my collection of old punk rock posters—
Anonymous scenes of disaffection, chaos and torture—
And he said: "You are on the right track,
But you are a lamb jumping for the knife;
A real showman knows how to disappear in the spotlight..."

[smugsy]

May 6, 2010 18:54:22 GMT -5 bigrob said:

"Stunt" went Platinum four times in the US and Canada. Most people know at least one BnL song (usually "One Week", which was #1 on the Billboard charts).

Maybe their popularity has waned in the last few years, but the Barenaked Ladies aren't underrated.

That said, I am now on youtube watching all their videos.

Yeah, this is where the term "underrated" can get sticky. I was taking from the idea that while they had their 15 minutes they are often only remembered for "that one song where he talks really fast about Sailor Moon" (One Week) while songs like 'The Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel' are unheard of and at the same time fucking incredible.

[stevedave]

Where we used to live. Phenomenal song

[toastie]

May 7, 2010 12:17:52 GMT -5 smugsy said:

May 6, 2010 18:54:22 GMT -5 bigrob said:

"Stunt" went Platinum four times in the US and Canada. Most people know at least one BnL song (usually "One Week", which was #1 on the Billboard charts).

Maybe their popularity has waned in the last few years, but the Barenaked Ladies aren't underrated.

That said, I am now on youtube watching all their videos.

Yeah, this is where the term "underrated" can get sticky. I was taking from the idea that while they had their 15 minutes they are often only remembered for "that one song where he talks really fast about Sailor Moon" (One Week) while songs like 'The Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel' are unheard of and at the same time fucking incredible.

Don't forget about the Big Bang Theory theme song.

[smugsy]

I fully intend to forget about the Big Bang Theory theme song.

[bigrob]

Okay, okay, Barenaked Ladies are underrated. And they have a fantastic Christmas album.

[Sunny D]

I think that the Spin Doctors are underrated in the aspect that everyone only knows "Two Princes" and maybe "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong." I don't get why everyone hates them so much.

Fun funky 90s with every song unique.

[ontheradio]

May 7, 2010 18:01:52 GMT -5 bigrob said:

Okay, okay, Barenaked Ladies are underrated. And they have a fantastic Christmas album.

The lead singer got arrested for cocaine right up the road from me and as i understand it now leaves here. SMALL CITY EXCITEMENT. YEAH!

[tlon]

Fountains of Wayne have it worse then BNL. one of the best power-pop bands and they're known for a fluke novelty type song (Stacey's Mom)... everything they do is genius. even the Crank Yankers theme song

and yeah BNL are popular but nobody respects them. the Mountain Goats are underground, but in the underground they've got massive, massive respect

[schlitsz]

Archers of Loaf - loved them in the '90's and still listen to them all the time, of course

Eels - I think E is a genius and I guess his style isn't for everybody, but more people should know about his work

Harvey Danger - it always killed me that nobody seemed to like King James Version to the extent that I did

Fountains of Wayne - agree that it's a damn shame that most people know them only for Stacy's Mom...I've been a fan since their debut in '96 and they're just about the best at what they do...their cover of "...Baby One More Time" still makes me laugh every time I hear it - I first heard it live in '99 and the funny thing is, if you didn't know it was a Britney Spears song, they could totally pass that off as their own song and it would even be good, imo

Local H - I know they had some moderate success in the mid to late '90's, but it's a damn shame that not most people know they're still around and putting out, arguably, the best music they've ever made...12 Angry Months is definitely one of their best

who else? who else?

I might get shit for this, but I think I've seen some love for them on here before:

Alien Ant Farm - Yeah, they covered Smooth Criminal and that was the worst thing they could've done because, I'm assuming, most people consider them a joke when they actually have some damn catchy songs and others that just flat-out rock

Sebadoh - I got into them a little late in the game (Harmacy), but my ears just love Lou Barlow's voice...I know they had a decent following, but people that don't go out of their way to find music don't know them and Sebadoh is/was just awesome

[doctoracula]

May 9, 2010 20:39:13 GMT -5 schlitsz said:

Harvey Danger - it always killed me that nobody seemed to like King James Version to the extent that I did

hi, i'm joe.