My list of Underrated bands

This is Daniel chiming in with my list of 5 Most Underrated Bands/Groups.


Most of these groups had one or two hits, but I feel they are just footnotes in music history. Some bands just get passed over for whatever reason. Whether it's from not being able to quite gain more recognition after a few very successful songs or it might be the musicians just never quite caught on. I feel the need to bring a few of my favorite underrated bands back to the light for a moment to "enlighten the masses." (Wow, that sounded less pretentious in my head.)

Okay Let's get started then:




#5. Spin Doctors - While best known for their songs "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong," Spin Doctors are a solid group with a knack for making some "feel good" songs. They are a tight group of musicians and they should get more recognition.













#4. Mott the Hoople - In the US, Mott the Hoople were hardly known at all. They got some light radio play with All the Young Dudes. Glam rock never had a huge venue in the states; America was only selectively interested in some of those musicians such as David Bowie. Mott the Hoople however, had some interesting insights into the Glam Rock genre. Read the lyrics to All the Young Dudes. It epitomises the rocker of their day with real issues and troubles, the genre was not just about the show, it was about a creative escape from the pressures of life. With a unique style and some really good guitar playing, Mott The Hoople deserves more recognition.







#3. Steppenwolf - All Hail the Great Rock Organ! While in their hayday of the late '60s, Steppenwolf was a great act. Somehow their music didn't have the staying power it should have. (My guess is because most people can't name more than two of their songs.) Now all but a footnote of great classic rock, this underrated band mostly gets credit coining the term heavy metal and having an awesome grasp of how to use a Hammond organ in classic rock properly. Yes Magic Carpet Ride and Born to Be Wild are good, but I really like the tight rock grooves they have going on for some of their other songs. Some of my favorites are Sookie Sookie, Tighten Up Your Wig, and Berry Rides Again (Tribute to Chuck Berry, another one of my favorites.)







#2. MeatLoaf - This one I think really applies to the US. Sure he is written off as cheesy and all show sometimes. MeatLoaf is underrated in the US for several reasons: #1 Because Bat out of Hell is the third best selling album of all time. It is still selling about 200,00 albums a year. #2 MeatLoaf is a great singer with a very powerful voice and an impressive range. #3 Try singing along with Bat out of Hell. There is no good alternate interpretation of those songs, the best way to sing them is how Meat sang them: all out, over the top, and hamtastic. There is just simply no other way to do it and you couldn't find a better singer for the job. It's that simple.








#1 Thin Lizzy - C'mon admit it, if you had one of their albums it was the one on the left. Most widely known for their song "The Boys are Back in Town" this Irish founded group was a great source of inspiration and pure talent. This band had everything from the bombastic drums to duel guitar runs in harmony (sometimes bass played along too) and good lyrics. Jailbreak was a fantastic album from the Title track to Emerald it was one good song after another. And this is where Thin Lizzy may have hit a little problem. The album was so good that they never really could capture that kind of magic again and their sales waned. This band influenced a great many musicians and were about as tight and in-sync as a band could get. Just for sheer guitar playing skill listen to Emerald or Whisky in the Jar. Although those songs are two very different styles you can still hear the precision and flow that the guitar players possesed. Thin Lizzy really was an underrated band that really should have gotten more recognition than it did.


Can you think of anymore good underrated bands? If so, post a comment, let me know what you think!