Underrated Artists

[Archive_Reports]

What band / artist do you feel was influential to whatever genre, or music as a whole, but doesn't get the credit they deserve? Also, why?

Scarlet: Metalcore band in the same vein as The Dillinger Escape Plan but less chaotic. They were good from their inception but got better with each release. By the end of their run (2006) they were mixing spastic metalcore, use of cleans (with a legitimately good singer), with electronics and programming which many bands adopted in the following years. This Was Always Meant to Fall Apart should be considered a genre classic but, sadly, most people haven't even heard of them.

[chuckrh]

Neil Finn. Consistently fine playing & songwriting for the last 40 years in whatever playing situation he's in. A very nice guy too.

[dlb]

Alot of bands fall into this category but it always baffles me how absolutely no one I know has heard of Curve:

[richardp]

While they're essentially broken up now, MUTEMATH was a band that I ALWAYS thought deserved far more attention and credit than they ever received.

[katara]

spastic

FYI, this is considered a highly offensive derogatory term, at least where I'm from.

Keeping this on topic, I'm going to pick Collide, an eclectic duo from LA. Much of their music is electronic-based, with trip-hop, Middle Eastern, and industrial elements. They've been making music since 1992.
Their cover of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit gained some traction, and to this day, it's one of their most popular songs.
Some pretty cool people in underground circles have remixed their material. Chris Vrenna, Charlie Clouser, and cEvin Key among them.

One of my personal favourites is Tempted off their third album Some Kind of Strange.



For those wanting to know a place to start, their last major album Color Of Nothing is very solid indeed. I'd also recommend Chasing The Ghost and Some Kind of Strange.

They have their own record label Noiseplus Records, self-releasing everything through their website.

[GulDukat]

The Monkees. They have one of the best body-of-work of any artist from the 1960's. A lot of it they didn't write (or play on), but they were awesome.

[katara]

The Monkees. They have one of the best body-of-work of any artist from the 1960's. A lot of it they didn't write (or play on), but they were awesome.

Weren't The Monkees incredibly successful? They're still a household name over 50 years after their debut.

[eversonpoe]

Rosetta

beautiful, sprawling songs, mostly screamed vocals, really cool lyrical concepts. their first album came out in 2005 and they've done a lot since then. they're also totally DIY (though their first couple albums were released by Translation Loss). they've also been hugely inspirational in my own music. i've only seen them live twice (and the first time i only got to stay for one song). mike armine, the vocalist, is a high school psychology teacher, so their touring availability is very limited.

here's a really good example of their style:

[neorev]

I nominate LA based band Woven. I absolutely love this band. I discovered them back in late 2002/early 2003-ish. Got to see them live in NYC and hung out with Jonathan from the band. He brought my girl and I around to meet the whole band. He chilled and hung out with us during the opening act and we chatted. I actually found him later on Facebook and we became friends and still chat on there. I also got a crazy story involving this band and me meeting my girlfriend who I've been with for 16+ years. Sadly, after their EP and album, Interscope dropped them. When they came through NYC, they were doing a little US tour and selling their brand new Aftermath EP on tour. A little later, they dropped their follow up album Designer Codes.

WOVEN
https://www.discogs.com/artist/178782-Woven

[GulDukat]

Weren't The Monkees incredibly successful? They're still a household name over 50 years after their debut.

They were, but they never got the critical respect that they deserve. They still aren't in the Rock n' Roll HOF.

[katara]

The Monkees. They have one of the best body-of-work of any artist from the 1960's. A lot of it they didn't write (or play on), but they were awesome.

Weren't The Monkees incredibly successful? They're still a household name over 50 years after their debut.

They were, but they never got the critical respect that they deserve. They still aren't in the Rock n' Roll HOF.

The Monkees were the first (as far as I know) manufactured boy band. They deserve to be in here (and the RnR HOF) as much as Backstreet Boys or One Direction.

Speaking of people who deserve to be in here...

Remember Sneaker Pimps? They made one great album and then fizzled out of the public eye when they kicked out their vocalist, Kelli Dayton (she wanted to write as well as sing). Guaranteed, every comment section about this band turns into a bitchfest because of this fact.



Becoming X is one of my favourite albums of all time. Their subsequent releases were good, just not really the same without Kelli. What the complainers forget is that she rebranded herself as Kelli Ali and still makes music to this day, ranging from sugar-sweet pop to down and dirty trip-hop just like in Sneaker Pimps.

[neorev]

Remember Sneaker Pimps? They made one great album and then fizzled out of the public eye when they kicked out their vocalist, Kelli Dayton (she wanted to write as well as sing). Guaranteed, every comment section about this band turns into a bitchfest because of this fact.

Becoming X is great. I couldn't get into their follow up albums with the guy taking over singing.

[theimage13]

They Might Be Giants.

There's a generation of people who know that they did "that song that was on Tiny Toons", then there's a relatively small cult following that will allow them to sell out clubs & small theaters...and that's about it. 30+ years, hundreds of songs, extremely intelligent lyrics over unique instrumentation. Those who do give them credit certainly give them that which is due, but there are SO many people who simply have never even heard of them. When was the last time you actually heard this band on the radio?

[bobbie solo]

Kenna. But i attribute his underratedness to being his own fault/label drama.

[GulDukat]

The Monkees were the first (as far as I know) manufactured boy band. They deserve to be in here (and the RnR HOF) as much as Backstreet Boys or One Direction.

The Backstreet Boys and One Direction didn't eventually take creative control of their music, start to play their own instruments and write their own songs.

[halo eighteen]

FYI, this is considered a highly offensive derogatory term, at least where I'm from.

Well the UK certainly has an incredibly even moreso derogatory term for cigarette, so yeah.

[katara]

The Backstreet Boys and One Direction didn't eventually take creative control of their music, start to play their own instruments and write their own songs.

That doesn't change the fact that these are all successful, popular bands that are in no way underrated.

Well the UK certainly has an incredibly even moreso derogatory term for cigarette, so yeah.

That word is also disgusting and should be banned. What point are you trying to make here?

[eversonpoe]

Remember Sneaker Pimps? They made one great album and then fizzled out of the public eye when they kicked out their vocalist, Kelli Dayton (she wanted to write as well as sing). Guaranteed, every comment section about this band turns into a bitchfest because of this fact.

Becoming X is great. I couldn't get into their follow up albums with the guy taking over singing.

i love becoming x and i really like kelli's voice, BUT since chris was the one writing the lyrics, if you listen to live recordings of him singing the songs, the emotion comes through so much stronger. i actually think Splinter is their best album. and i adore chris' solo project, IAMX, that he started when sneaker pimps dissolved. many of the songs on the first IAMX album were actually meant to be on the fourth sneaker pimps album. i saw IAMX live and it was a truly amazing show at my favorite venue in chicago.

i'm going to add Rachel's. every single album they put out was gorgeous. each one was strictly or loosely based around a particular concept. a brilliant collection of musicians that varied from album to album but always included the same core members (though Jason Noble doesn't appear on Music For Egon Schiele, as it's just piano, cell, & viola). Rachel Grimes is still releasing music that's gorgeous (The Clearing is an amazing album), but i don't know if anything similar will ever top the actual band for me.



incredible opener for my favorite album of theirs, Selenography

[GulDukat]

That doesn't change the fact that these are all successful, popular bands that are in no way underrated.

I'm arguing that the Monkees body-of-work is underrated and that their contribution to popular music warrants their induction to the HOF. Their actual popularity and the popularity of One Direction or the Backstreet Boys is not relevant.

How popular a band/artist is doesn't necessarily have anything to do whether or not they are underrated. Yes, they were successful, but I am arguing that they are critically underrated and never really got the recognition or respect that they deserve.

I would also add that Micky Dolenz is a very underrated singer and Mike Nesmith was a sorely underrated songwriter.

[neorev]

LORN
http://www.lorn.bandcamp.com

Honestly, one of the most amazing producers out there. I put him up there with legendary sound designers like Richard D. James and Amon Tobin. His stuff sounds especially amazing on headphones with the spatial effects he uses. He ran a bassline through a broken subwoofer speaker to record the vibration of the broken pieces to add on top of the bassline. He should be scoring film and TV series. Plus the dude gives away most of his music for free thru his Bandcamp.

[Helpmeiaminhell (is now in hell)]

Justin K Broadrick.....Dude is a legend. Does Napalm Deaths debut album as a teenager. Then forms the mighty Godflesh who are extremely influential on the entire industrial/metal scene (lot of bands took the Godflesh formula and commercialized it and made some big $$$$. Lookin at you Korn and Fear Factory)....Then forms Jesu which is at the forefront of the whole post-metal boom circa 2004....So many artists have been influenced by JK ranging from Greg Puciato to Mike Patton to our beloved Trent (Burning Bright Field on Fire sounds more like Godflesh than the last Flesh LP).......Justin gets respect and people who know their shit know how influential he is but he still is underrated as fuck. Ministry got all the accolades and big tours and big $$$$

[eversonpoe]

LORN
http://www.lorn.bandcamp.com

i discovered him because one of his songs was used in a perfume ad, of all things. but holy shit did i love it.

[neorev]

i discovered him because one of his songs was used in a perfume ad, of all things. but holy shit did i love it.

Such a good track! His whole Maze To Nowhere trilogy is great and this tune is one of my faves from it.

[Bachy]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor is one of those bands that’s very easy to overlook given the size of their library but that’s mainly due to the sheer length of their pieces. I call them pieces because I don’t know if I’d necessarily put them in the category of a song per se. The below one has been in my playlist the last month:

[Deadpool]

Sneaker Pimps are an all-timer for me. They're definitely underrated compared to the giant, defining acts of the 90s but their debut (which seems to be the favorite around here) is by far their most well-known and popular. Hell, Michael Bay's last movie was called 6 UNDERGROUND(!!)

Their 2nd and 3rd albums are far more underrated imo: their songwriting is more mature and the sound design sampling is way more sophisticated. Some of my favorite music production I've ever heard is on Bloodsport. Chris Corner (currently of IAMX) and Liam Howe (who would go on to work with fka twigs, Lana Del Rey, Ellie Goulding) self-produced that album and it's a stunner. They reunited last year to finally finish their 4th album but there hasn't been much news since.


Bloodsport still sounds ahead of its time whereas Becoming X sounds very much of its era (not so much a criticism as much as an observation). I think the unique chemistry of Chris and Liam combined with their cumulative studio experience and the less-than-earth-shattering response are textbook conditions for a highly overlooked, under-appreciated work.

Kelli's voice is iconic and I love it, but I think Chris's comparatively less striking vocals on Splinter (a beautiful, deeply melancholic album) and Bloodsport make those latter two albums easy to ignore. <3

[frankie teardrop]

y'all already hit curve, but i'll add the following:

the comsat angels
lowlife
the sound
cranes
wire
felt
manic street preachers

i mean, i specialize in 'underrated' and 'obscure,' so we can be here all night...

[allegate]

While they're essentially broken up now, MUTEMATH was a band that I ALWAYS thought deserved far more attention and credit than they ever received.

those first two were just amazing, the drums alone were just *chef's kiss*. Them and Frightened Rabbits "Percussion Gun", just something about that drum sound that gets me.

[allegate]

i discovered him because one of his songs was used in a perfume ad, of all things. but holy shit did i love it.

it's like Aphex Twin and Carpenter Brut got together. fucking wow.

[richardp]

those first two were just amazing, the drums alone were just *chef's kiss*. Them and Frightened Rabbits "Percussion Gun", just something about that drum sound that gets me.

Dude I have a fucking STACK of used drumsticks from Darren from my days of seeing them live those first few years. I always planted myself right in front of his kit and ended up walking away from so many shows with sticks, setlists, broken drumheads, etc. Those were great times.

[neorev]

i discovered him because one of his songs was used in a perfume ad, of all things. but holy shit did i love it.

If you like Lorn, you should check out Dolor...
https://dolor.bandcamp.com

Lorn & Dolor have collaborated many times. They were both on Wednesday Sound label with adoptahighway.

Lorn & Dolor recently dropped a collab EP...
https://lorn.bandcamp.com/album/zero-bounce