Under-rated musicians; Know of some? Share!

[NoBonus]

I was listening to a few musical artists and I was thinking, "Man, these guys are under-rated! The music is SO good! But they never got the respect or credit like other musicians."

So, I wanted to see what musical artists you feel are underrated. A link to a youtube clip would be handy, too.

My first underrated musical artist?

Badfinger
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badfinger
I was watching the finale of Breaking Bad when Badfinger's "Baby Blue" came on... blew me away. I have loved Badfinger all my life, but no one else seems to care about them... So cool, so tragic. Great songs and they wrote a bunch of hits for other people including the Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey hit "Without You"

Here is "Baby Blue"

 

[funkykingston]

There are literally hundreds of acts that I really like that I don't think have had the level of commercial success they deserve.

But one that is interesting to me is Tommy James and the Shondells for pretty much the opposite reason. They had HUGE commercial success and yet few people mention them when talking about big pop acts of the 60's and early 70's.

Their list of hit singles includes:
Hanky Panky
I Think We're Alone Now
Mirage
Mony Mony
Crimson & Clover
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Draggin' the Line
Sweet Cherry Wine
Ball of Fire

They disbanded years before I was born (Tommy James actually collapsed coming off stage and was pronounced dead but actually recovered and left the band afterward) but "Crimson & Clover" has always been one of my favorite songs.

And what makes things more interesting is that in the 80's a run of artists brought them back to the mainstream with hit covers. Joan Jett did "Crimson & Clover", Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now" and of course Billy Idol's rendition of "Mony Mony" among others.

 

[funkykingston]

Another group that got virtually no credit despite playing on more #1 singles than the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Elvis combined was the MoTown house band "The Funk Brothers" led by one of my musical heroes, James Jamerson. Studio cats simply didn't get recognition in that era which is almost criminal in a musical sense, at least to me since those are the guys that MADE those songs.

Check out the documentary Standing in The Shadows of Motown for the full story.

 

[Telemachus]

Another group that got virtually no credit despite playing on more #1 singles than the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Elvis combined was the MoTown house band "The Funk Brothers" led by one of my musical heroes, James Jamerson. Studio cats simply didn't get recognition in that era which is almost criminal in a musical sense, at least to me since those are the guys that MADE those songs.

Check out the documentary Standing in The Shadows of Motown for the full story.

You better make sure you have enough time to watch the entire documentary when you turn it on, because once you start it you won't stop watching till it's over.

 

[LPKingsFan]

There are literally hundreds of acts that I really like that I don't think have had the level of commercial success they deserve.

But one that is interesting to me is Tommy James and the Shondells for pretty much the opposite reason. They had HUGE commercial success and yet few people mention them when talking about big pop acts of the 60's and early 70's.

Their list of hit singles includes:
Hanky Panky
I Think We're Alone Now
Mirage
Mony Mony
Crimson & Clover
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Draggin' the Line
Sweet Cherry Wine
Ball of Fire

They disbanded years before I was born (Tommy James actually collapsed coming off stage and was pronounced dead but actually recovered and left the band afterward) but "Crimson & Clover" has always been one of my favorite songs.

And what makes things more interesting is that in the 80's a run of artists brought them back to the mainstream with hit covers. Joan Jett did "Crimson & Clover", Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now" and of course Billy Idol's rendition of "Mony Mony" among others.

Mony mony was (might still be?) an Arco staple. Usually when the Kings were playing well and the other team called a timeout, from what I recall.

 

[Warhawk]

Young American Primitive - only released one CD, my cousin gave me one. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I like it. One of their songs I uploaded a while back for one of the desert island competitions here:

 

[Warhawk]

Heck, looks like someone just uploaded the whole darn album:

You can't buy it anywhere.

 

[sdballer]

Fantastic Negrito=san francisco based and really good. Check out Honest Man

 

[The Hammer]

Lisa Hannigan

 

[pdxKingsFan]

One of my favorite bands The Bellfuries just released their first album in ~10 years last week. It's on spotify if people are interested. Kind of a hybrid of their first album sound which is a modern rockabilly masterpiece and their second album which had more of a 60's pop vibe. For my money Joey Simeone is one of the best lyricists today.

 

[NoBonus]

There are literally hundreds of acts that I really like that I don't think have had the level of commercial success they deserve.

But one that is interesting to me is Tommy James and the Shondells for pretty much the opposite reason. They had HUGE commercial success and yet few people mention them when talking about big pop acts of the 60's and early 70's.

Their list of hit singles includes:
Hanky Panky
I Think We're Alone Now
Mirage
Mony Mony
Crimson & Clover
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Draggin' the Line
Sweet Cherry Wine
Ball of Fire

They disbanded years before I was born (Tommy James actually collapsed coming off stage and was pronounced dead but actually recovered and left the band afterward) but "Crimson & Clover" has always been one of my favorite songs.

And what makes things more interesting is that in the 80's a run of artists brought them back to the mainstream with hit covers. Joan Jett did "Crimson & Clover", Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now" and of course Billy Idol's rendition of "Mony Mony" among others.

They really were a wonderful group! I've always loved Tommy James... so, so many great songs.

 

[Hadlowe]

Hard Believer is one of the very few albums I have purchased recently.

Clever indie music videos and great vocals.

 

[lawlman91]

Utah Jazz

Konichi

Jam Thieves

 

[Letsgokings13]

G-Eazy

 

[IfAt1st]

Badfinger's a great call.
Have always loved their music.

It's actually hard to think of bands that are great musicians that aren't regarded for their musicianship, because at some point most of them have had their talents spotlighted.

The one person I'd think is a better musician than people think of is Tori Amos. All of the rest of her claims so much attention, it can be overlooked that-
She's captivating as a performer of music (which is very close, but not exactly synonymous with musicianship), and some of her more sincere recordings (the ones where she services the music over her ego) display some of stunning control of a song (volume, pace, emotion, etc).