Silverspoon's Sunday Discussion Topic #16: What band/artist do you think is criminally underrated and should be considered atleast top 5 in their genre?

[SilverspoonGaming | 334]

Feel free to break down the sub genres as far as you want for your answer...

[SilverspoonGaming | 334]

For me, the first band that I feel has always been super underrated is The Offspring.  They have so many hit songs with staying power that I even though in their main genres they are forgotten about, when you break it down to Pop-Punk, they need to be top 5 alongside Green Day and Blink-182.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

Faith No More is definitely a top 5 rap rock lounge singing funk death metal band

 

[AstralSoul | 503]

I don't know about top 5, but Sponge is definitely underrated and in my opinion one of the best post-grunge bands of the 90s, and one of my personal favorite bands. They are still active today too and still putting out good music. 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by AstralSoul

[SilverspoonGaming | 334]

3 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Faith No More is definitely a top 5 rap rock lounge singing funk death metal band

 

One of my favorite bands!  They are going back on tour this year.

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

 

[SilverspoonGaming | 334]

I dont know what sub genres Smashing Pumpkins falls into underneath the Alternative Rock label, but I believe they should be mentioned up there with Soundgarden right behind Nirvana and Pearl Jam during the grunge era.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

7 minutes ago, SilverspoonGaming said:

I dont know what sub genres Smashing Pumpkins falls into underneath the Alternative Rock label, but I believe they should be mentioned up there with Soundgarden right behind Nirvana and Pearl Jam during the grunge era.

You think Smashing Pumpkins was "criminally underrated"?  Really?

Maybe it was regional, but I remember them being thought of as a pretty big deal in the mid-90's.

Though while I can listen to their occasional older song for nostalgia -- I heard one of their newer releases on the radio and I found Billy's voice to be pretty grating.  Maybe it's just the conversion to being a dad and having to listen to whining/crying kids making it a bit too much to take.

[SilverspoonGaming | 334]

2 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

You think Smashing Pumpkins was "criminally underrated"?  Really?

Maybe it was regional, but I remember them being thought of as a pretty big deal in the mid-90's.

Though while I can listen to their occasional older song for nostalgia -- I heard one of their newer releases on the radio and I found Billy's voice to be pretty grating.  Maybe it's just the conversion to being a dad and having to listen to whining/crying kids making it a bit too much to take.

They are definitely underrated!  When people talk about alternative rock from that time period its always Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

8 minutes ago, SilverspoonGaming said:

They are definitely underrated!  When people talk about alternative rock from that time period its always Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains.

Well you have a chance to rep your boys in the next round

https://www.videogamesage.com/forums/topic/8051-special-music-debate-the-new-song-bracket-13/?tab=comments#comment-201720

[Abelardo | 154]

Wire is an awesome first wave punk band that always seems to be overshadowed by more well known bands like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, etc. Easily top 5 in my book.

Maybe not top 5 but a lot of modern bands are criminally underrated.

[RH | 4,980]

4 hours ago, SilverspoonGaming said:

I dont know what sub genres Smashing Pumpkins falls into underneath the Alternative Rock label, but I believe they should be mentioned up there with Soundgarden right behind Nirvana and Pearl Jam during the grunge era.

I wasn't going to say it but I thought it.  The Smashing Pumpkins was the most musically capable of grunge bands of the 90s, although technically they are more a 90s twist on 80s prog rock. Regardless, IMHO, The Smashing Pumpkins were the best band from that era, and I didn't personally come to that conclusion until I really started to listen and pay attention to music in my college years. No, they weren't really underrated in their time but they definitely didn't maintain the accolades than other bands of that era, which is criminally unfortunate.

I think another band that I'll throw out there is the Monkees. They were suppose to be a generic, knock-off, Americanized version of The Beatles and much of their music was just that. However, after hearing various songs throughout their career, I could tell that they were an actual capable band and had they not started as a goof, they could have been a bigger, much more noteworthy band from the 60's. They weren't my favorite band of the era, but they are worth noting.

I know there are much better answers, but I can't think of any in the moment.

Edited June 29, 2021 by RH

[nesmaster14 | 436]

Mort Garson had some pretty cool ideas for electronic music in the 60s.  I think he should be up there with Wendy Carlos, but he seemed overlooked for many years.  Mort had a very dynamic style and wasn't afraid to experiment with the medium, making occult-themed albums (under psuedonyms Lucifer and Ataraxia) to covers of contemporary popular music like The Fifth Dimension, to music for plants.  I enjoy putting his music on at times or when the season is right, really captures an atmosphere and echoes his passion for creativity and exploring the boundaries of music.

His original vinyls finally got a re-pressing in recent years, and I think his Plantasia album got popular on YT, so he's gained a bit more recognition which is cool.  Another neat fact is that he wrote jingles that were broadcast during the moon landing coverage in 1969. 

 

[SilverspoonGaming | 334]

2 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Well you have a chance to rep your boys in the next round

https://www.videogamesage.com/forums/topic/8051-special-music-debate-the-new-song-bracket-13/?tab=comments#comment-201720

Voted, but not an easy choice against Weezer.  Another fairly underrated band as they do have an enormous cult following compared to Smashing Pumpkins.

[SilverspoonGaming | 334]

2 hours ago, Abelardo said:

Wire is an awesome first wave punk band that always seems to be overshadowed by more well known bands like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, etc. Easily top 5 in my book.

Maybe not top 5 but a lot of modern bands are criminally underrated.

I just listened to a couple of their songs.  They sound much more like OMD and Depeche Mode than the Clash or Ramones to me.

[SilverspoonGaming | 334]

21 minutes ago, nesmaster14 said:

Mort Garson had some pretty cool ideas for electronic music in the 60s.  I think he should be up there with Wendy Carlos, but he seemed overlooked for many years.  Mort had a very dynamic style and wasn't afraid to experiment with the medium, making occult-themed albums (under psuedonyms Lucifer and Ataraxia) to covers of contemporary popular music like The Fifth Dimension, to music for plants.  I enjoy putting his music on at times or when the season is right, really captures an atmosphere and echoes his passion for creativity and exploring the boundaries of music.

His original vinyls finally got a re-pressing in recent years, and I think his Plantasia album got popular on YT, so he's gained a bit more recognition which is cool.  Another neat fact is that he wrote jingles that were broadcast during the moon landing coverage in 1969. 

 

That sounds like a Final Fantasy game on SNES.  Its interesting for sure.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,588]

2 minutes ago, SilverspoonGaming said:

Voted, but not an easy choice against Weezer.  Another fairly underrated band as they do have an enormous cult following compared to Smashing Pumpkins.

Wait, I left that one open?  

That one is two weeks old and already decided.

[Abelardo | 154]

14 minutes ago, SilverspoonGaming said:

I just listened to a couple of their songs.  They sound much more like OMD and Depeche Mode than the Clash or Ramones to me.

Try the first record, their best regarded and has no synth. Some punk bands transitioned into post-punk and incorporated synths so yeah some of the later stuff sounds a bit like synthpop.

This is their most well known song, but the whole LP is fantastic:

 

 

[koifish | 561]

I figure he's probably another "musician with a legion of fans that just aren't that visible compared to others" but my boy Todd Rundgren has to be my pick. He's one of the only musicians I know that is both driven to create and driven to innovate, but who also has the pure strength of will to power through and do the entire music creation process. He's also proven to be very forward-thinking on music creation and distribution, as well as on audience interaction, and on top of that, his works are just really interesting on top of being enjoyable listening material. I feel like most people just remember him as "Hello It's Me", the guy who faded away after 1971, and yet his career has been so rich and storied, and nobody really seems to know about it. He's also really funny and enjoyable whenever he's in interviews. Just seems like the rare dude where not only do I like the music, but I might also like the guy as well.

One of my favorite videos about his exploits (notable too as rundgren is the reason that this album even happened):

 

[Robot_Ninjutsu | 122]

20 hours ago, arch_8ngel said:

You think Smashing Pumpkins was "criminally underrated"?  Really?

Maybe it was regional, but I remember them being thought of as a pretty big deal in the mid-90's.

Though while I can listen to their occasional older song for nostalgia -- I heard one of their newer releases on the radio and I found Billy's voice to be pretty grating.  Maybe it's just the conversion to being a dad and having to listen to whining/crying kids making it a bit too much to take.

I think SP are underrated now, vs in the 90's.  Billy was talking about his band vs. Foo Fighters, and wondering how come The Foo's are rock legends (which they should be) but SP aren't even despite he/they had two of the best selling albums of the entire decade.

 

And you aren't crazy about your issue with the newer songs. The classic stuff (to me) had Billy's vocals mixed more organically with the music, whereas today it seems his vocals are mixed to be in front of the music.  I really like the guitar heaviness of Zeitgeist, but the front and center vocal mixing really, really brings the album down.