[minimus]

I think there were a whole bunch of bands that released albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s that were just a few years ahead of the times and missed out on the "grunge"/alternative wave that Nirvana helped to create and that benefited from both changes in public taste (away from hair metal bands) and the pinnacle of MTV's influence on popular music. Many of these bands had far more to offer than a lot of bands that followed Nirvana's success (e.g. Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, and arguably Pearl Jam.) Because music was distributed through brick and mortar stores and mainstream FM radio, these "undiscovered" bands never had the kind of commercial success that they would have had in today's environment, where music and music criticism is largely distributed through the web and is therefore much less expensive and more populist. Instead, they were relegated to college radio stations, worked day jobs, and usually played to small crowds in small venues.

So, these are 5 albums from that period that I think were deserving of far more commercial success than they actually received:

The Replacements -- Let It Be
Husker Du -- Zen Arcade
Government Issue -- You
Fugazi -- 7 Songs
Bullet LaVolta -- The Gift

Michael Azeradd's book "Our Band Could Be Your Life" describes the experiences of a lot of these bands and is a great read for anyone who was into alternative music in the late 80s and early 90s.

 

[Skylab]

I like "Let It Be", although I am more familiar with "Tim" from the Replacements. And while I love Husker Du's "New Day Rising", I don't think I have ever heard "Zen Arcade". Shame on me!

 

[rehabitat]

Interestingly, Fugazi became quite well respected and even moderately popular (from an underground perspective) despite, or because of their deliberate shunning of the mainstream.

I hope they come out of their semi-retirement one day. I never did get to see any of their legendary shows back in the day.

 

[tru blu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab /img/forum/go_quote.gif And while I love Husker Du's "New Day Rising", I don't think I have ever heard "Zen Arcade". Shame on me!

Yes, shame on you! (I kid, I kid…

) At the time, I loved Zen Arcade so much I actually dismissed New Day Rising as merely more of the same. The Dü disc I feel is overlooked, though, is Candy Apple Grey, the first one they did for a major label. It's beyond excellent.

But since whomever mentioned Michael Azerrad, we might as well namecheck the album with the song that gave his book its name:

The Minutemen - Double Nickels On The Dime

I dug them even more than Hüsker Dü…D. Boon was taken from us waaayyyyy too soon.

 

[JDGAFFLIN]

Moke - "Carnival" An amazingly fun record with great harmonies, terrific songwriting, and solid production.

King's X - Their whole catalog. For the life of me, I still don't understand why this Houston based trio hasn't blown up, even after 10+ amazing records.

The Replacements - "All Shook Down" Their swan song.

 

[fjrabon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDGAFFLIN /img/forum/go_quote.gif King's X - Their whole catalog. For the life of me, I still don't understand why this Houston based trio hasn't blown up, even after 10+ amazing records.

They were borderline Jesus rock when Jesus rock wasn't cool, then when Jesus rock started to become semi mainstream they renounced Christianity, which alienated some of their fanbase and made them miss out on riding the Creed wave to popularity. They are too poppy to really turn the hardcore guitar guys on, and too guitar-y to really become all that popular in the mainstream. They also never settle on a regular mix of rock/pop/metal/prog, instead going very eclectic within those genres, which always unnerves record execs.

 

[Deep Funk]

'A Storm In Heaven' by The Verve, very underrated and I don't understand why I like it but every time I take the time to listen I find it hard to take a pause or stop it. I have an weak spot for that sound.

'Troubleman' by Marvin Gaye, a soundtrack that almost equals 'What's Going On' for me just by listening to it. I love instrumentals.

'Curtis' by Curtis Mayfield, some of my all time favourite tracks come from this album. His voice is sweet but his words are hard(/heart) hitting. I'm surprised this albums doesn't get mentioned more often among the Soul aficionados.

 

[elbuzzard]

SCREEMING TREES! -Sweet Oblivion.
Melvins-Lysol/Houdini.
Sleep-Holy Mountain/Dopesmoker.
Jawbreaker-24 hr Revenge Therapy/Dear you.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

x2 on Kings X, ppl need to chill and just enjoy the music! Dogman is one of my favourite albums

Nudeswirl - Nudeswirl
A relatively unknown band atleast AFAIK whose self-titled album which I absolutely loved. No one I've ever spoken to has even known that band :|

Extreme - Waiting For the Puncline
I think its considered their worst album, but it ranks as my favourite or atleast on par with III sides to Every story. Its a vastly underrated album IMO.

The White Stripes - The White Stripes

While the White Stripes are now a huge band, they didnt become seriously popular before Elephant, and hardly anyone cared about their first album which IMO is their absolute best album. Its just fantastic heart and soul poured into own comps and covers by Jack White who completely made it all his own.

Savatage - Dead Winter Dead

While they are a relatively well known band, this album is a true stand out epic and an all time favourite of mine with some of my favourite guitar work.

Freak Kitchen - Move

While Mattias has a dedicated fan following, Move is a very very accessible album and can easily hit mainstream while remaining quite technical and complex. Its a perfect blend of guitar mastery and time signatures and commercial pop and simple lyrics.

Blues Saraceno - Hairpick

One of the best guitar albums ever, not many ppl know him and this album is pretty much impossible to get without spending stupid amount of money. Its just sad that such a great album is relegated to OOP status for no reason.

Oops I did 6, oh well...

 

[Zarathustra19]

Dead in the Water - Echoes...In the Ruins Not may people have heard of this album, and granted Doom records typically aren't popular, but I think they should be, ha ha.


Cradle of Filth - Dusk and Her Embrace Cradle's newer work is more popular than ever, but this classic gothic metal album wasn't accepted in the mainstream. Maybe a good thing looking at how they're seen by the metal community now with Nymphetamine, Thornography, and Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder have been received.

November's Doom - The Pale Haunt Departure These guys have gained some fame within the metal community of late, so maybe more popular than others, but this album changed my view of metal in general and turned me on to Doom in force.

Andrew Jackson Jihad - People Who Can Eat People are the Luckiest People There Are The point of anti-folk is to be unpopular, really, but after being turned on to these guys by a fellow member, I wish more people knew about them.

Anti - The Insignificance of Life IMO, one of the best DSBM records made in recent times. Most people in the scene like it, but the black metal community in general hasn't acknowledged the quality of it. Hopefully that will change some day.

Cheers,
Zach

 

[zumpp99]

The Silos - "Cuba"
Kyf Brewer - Salvidor Deli
Slobberbone - Barrel Chested
Paul Burch - Blue notes
Wondermints - Wondermints or Bali

 

[rehabitat]

Winter - Into Darkness
A seminal doom metal album. Precurser to the drone-doom sound. Sounds like Celtic Frost on an old walkman that's low on batteries. Classic stuff.

 

[dBs]

Aurosonic - Always Together

Hybrid - Wider Angle

Eluveitie - take your pick of album =P (they are usually an opener act so I count them as underrated)

Oceanlab - Sirens of the Sea

Pitchshifter - ..:[ www.pitchshifter.com ]:.. (yes album name XD)

 

[Landis]

Roswell Rudd Quartet - Keep Your Heart Right

Great album and I'm surprised with the jazz vocal scene moderately peaking a bit with Michael Buble, Diana Krall and such folks over the past few years that it hadn't at least gained a little bit of time in the spotlight. It's also a shame that the performance they did at the JVC Jazz Festival on Youtube is of such low quality-- I can't even give friends a good listen to it unless they're at my house!

 

[grokit]

"Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" comes to mind; it was the end of Elton John's superstar run, and the least commercially-successful album out of his "prime" period. It was very well received critically, and by far his best effort ever IMO.

I also really liked "Big World" by Joe Jackson, "The Nightfly" by Donald Fagen, "Muddy Water Blues" by Paul Rodgers, and "It's Like This" by Rikki Lee Jones, all "lesser" releases by well-known popular artists that didn't seem to really catch on with their respective mass audiences. Honorable mention goes to "True Love", Pat Benatar's one and only blues album.