…or who are the greatest band that will never get into the rock and roll Hall of Fame? I don’t just want your opinion; I need reasons too.
My vote goes to Faith No More… they are responsible for the whole rap-metal thing that’s huge today at least as much as Run DMC and Aerosmith.
They and Depeche Mode (who I’d have voted for if I didn’t think they were getting in already) also pioneered the use of synths to back a guitar sound which is almost de rigeur for modern rock records…
Rod Stewart and Bonnie Tyler for their outstanding work in supporting the throat lozenge industry.
The Pixies are up there, for the rock scene.
If Faith No More is responsible for Limp Bizkit and their ilk, I think FNM deserves the death penalty.
My vote would be for Dinosaur Jr. In 10 years, bands will be covering J Mascis’ songs and everyone will wonder how he was ignored for so long. Wonderfully raw, yet nuanced, guitar noise coupled with the best broken-hearted lyrics this side of country music, sung in a voice that is paradoxically sweet and nearly unlistenable. Pop music by an anti-pop savior.
SINGLE ARTIST: Davy Graham. This self taught guitarist single-handedly started the world music genre back in the early 1960s. His work spans the globe from Indian ragas, Turko-Arabic dances, British folk, American blues, Jazz, Classical, Spanish classical and all points in between. Often backed by some of the finest side men in Europe, his work is streets ahead of nearly all other artists.
GROUP: Pentangle. A typical set might begin with a 14[sup]th[/sup] century French dance, followed by American blues, a little British traditional folk, a work by Charles Mingus and finish with their own excellent style of jazz rock. John Renbourn and Bert Jansch (composer of “Blackwater Side” by Led Zeppelin) remain among some of the finest finger pick guitarists in the world. Backed by Danny Thompson on the double bass, Terry Cox on percussion and accompanied by the angelic vocals of Jaqui M[sup]c[/sup]Shee, the band left their contemporaries in the dust.
Little Feat featuring the incomparable Lowell George (d), and his amazing slide guitar.
I think Tori Amos is incredibly underrated in some respects. I mean, sure there are few who will say she cant sing, but she is amazing and hardly ever gets air or TV time unless its some VH1 special she manages to fit into (or something along that idea)
Would you blame the geneses of the mambo for Lou Bega?
All kidding aside, “Limp Bizkit and their ilk”, ie. Korn, Linkin Park, Staind, etc. have gone platinum several dozen times over, regardless of how vapid and devoid of meaning their music may be (and Limp Bizkit actually have some clever stuff once you get around the heavy radio-play singles).
…Which is true, but says nothing about the quality of their music.
I have to mention The Allman Brothers Band, of course, mostly because calling them a “Southern rock” band (and lumping them with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet and a lot of other, lesser bands) neglects the fact that they blended the blues, jazz and rock in a way nobody else was doing at the time, and few have done since.
Since it was obvious I was going to say them, I’ll also say in general that a lot of pre-WWII artists don’t get recognition in proportion to their influence or ability. Without Muddy Waters, for example, you probably don’t have The British Invasion. (There were other major names, but he was probably the biggest.)
And many of Waters’ most famous songs were written by Willie Dixon, who has been called “The Poet Laureate of the Blues.” He wrote probably half the songs considered blues standards today.
I’m not really looking for quality here- in music, quality is an entirely subjective concept; I consider greatness in musical terms to be measured in terms of originality and particularly in influence on future muscians.
I should have included this in the OP, but for everyone who has posted or will post their nominee, if you could provide the name of what you consider their best works (songs or albums) I would much appreciate it.
My vote goes to Bob Mould . Bob was a member of Husker Du, a band partially responsible for the forward progress of punk rock in the early to mid 1980’s. Once Husker Du dismantled, Bob went on to create two of the greatest CDs availalbe: Workbook and Black Sheets of Rain.
In the early 90’s, Bob formed a new band named Sugar . Sugar released 4 decent CD’s before disbanding. Most recent “punk” bands (Foo Fighters and Nirvana to name two) site Husker Du as a major influence.
I agree.
A lot of the artists cited so far have sold a LOT of records.
Don’t you think the world’s most underrated rock/pop act would NOT have sold a million records, a la Tori Amos or the Allman Brothers? Someone who sells a million albums isn’t very underrated. Beyond a certain level of attention, you’re a certified star, and I would say that level is way below Tori Amos.
I mean, my gut reaction when I read the thread title was The Tragically Hip. I love them. But that’s an objectively wrong choice, because they’ve sold TEN MILLION albums, at least 500,000-1,000,000 of which were US sales (the customary bugaboo of Canadian fans.) I can’t rationally state that a band that sold ten million albums and has toured the world for big bux and made about a jillion dollars and was the subject of a thousand magazine, newspaper and TV articles is the most underrated band ever. I just think of them because they’re MY favourite band so I want them to be hailed as the best ever. Same with Tori Amos - the woman has sold millions of albums.
Seems to me the world’s most underrated band logically is probably a terrific band struggling somewhere with a large body of self-written, first-rate numbers that can’t even get a record deal or sell many copies of their self-produced album.
The Funk Brothers. If you haven’t seen the movie “Standing In The Shadow of Motown”, find it and go. These guys were responsible for the backup music for nearly every hit group of the Motown era and were featured on more #1 hits than Elvis and The Beatles combined. They were some of the best musicians of the Detroit scene and of their time.
Seems to me that would make for a very short thread, since it would have to be a band nobody has heard of. And I don’t think it’s illogical to say that there are different levels of underrated-ness.
There’s also the question of “underrated by whom?” Husker Du and The Pixies are acclaimed for the bands they’ve influenced, but never sold a ton of records. On the other hands, we had a thread here recently about AC/DC, who have also influenced a lot of bands and sold plenty of albums and never had much critical respect.
Even though the RnR HoF has become a parody of itself, the greatest band that will never get into the rock and roll Hall of Fame is Black Sabbath.
True, they’ve sold sold a millions of albums…but they can still be considered underrated based on the OP’s criteria of originality and particular influence on future muscians.
Their first 6 studio albums:
Black Sabbath 1970
Paranoid 1971
Master of Reality 1971
Vol. 4 1972
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath 1974 and
Sabotage 1975
Were all ground breaking, intense, unique works; with rhythm, tempo and chord changes that no one has yet to duplicate.
From what I’ve both read and seen, they were constantly panned, pissed on and ignored by the music industry (Record Companies, Critics & Radio PD’s alike)
For more contemporary proof I offer AC/DC as an example. How they got into the HoF ahead of Sabbath is beyond me. Whether it’s the fact that former Osborne (who has also become a parody of himself) has requested their nomination be pulled or not isn’t the point. Sabbath’s music and unparalleled style stands head and shoulders over any group from the “hard rock” genre.
Several tribute albums, loads of cover versions and more Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice T samples than you can shake a stick at is additional proof.
In fact I think they get more airplay now then they did in their heyday…but that I can’t prove.
Black Sabbath won’t get into the Hall of Fame? I beg to differ…
Ben Folds. With or without the Five (which is actually two, but you know what I mean).
The man is incredible. I’m a classically trained pianist, but I’d give that all up to be able to play the piano like he does. He’s a regular one-man-band (see his Rockin’ the Suburbs album), has original lyric/songwriting abilities, and has an awesome stage presence.
I have no idea how much he’s made in record sales, but no matter what it is it’s not what he’s worth. Besides, a surprisingly high number of people have no clue who he is. I say that I’m a big fan of Ben Folds, and they say, “Who?” I have to remind them of the classic abortion hit “Brick”, which isn’t even a good representation of his music or his talent. If I could only play for them his rendition of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” at the end of his long improvision at the end of “Philosophy”… :sigh:
I thought until fairly recently that the band was named “Ben folds five”, as in Ben drops his poker hand five times or something…
I can’t see Uncle Tupelo ever making the Hall of Fame, unless Wilco starts to get a lot more popular, which I suppose could happen. I don’t know if Wilco will make it, but they have a better chance than Uncle Tupelo, I think. OutKast probably won’t make it, even though they’re very popular. I just can’t see the Hall of Fame putting any more than the bare minimum of rap artists in there. Who cares anyway. If Lynyrd Skynyrd and Black Sabbath aren’t in it, it’s just a rather silly ego trip for whoever runs it. Sort of like the Grammys.