Suggested by Woops, a thread for the Underrated artists.

[IK]

OK, so here it is, my start of this thread in which we actually name those who DON'T have massive fame, but maybe should.

I'll start with myspace links to music from my girls, Juliana and Heidi. 

In the first link, Juliana sings and plays pretty much every instrument except drums on the first two songs.  The third is a reunion with her old band, The Blake Babies, and the fourth is a song with Freda and Heidi in their band Some Girls.

http://www.myspace.com/julianahatfield

The second link is the girls.

http://www.myspace.com/somegirlsband

The third link is the youngest of the 3 ladies, Heidi.  Such an amazing talent, and she sings, as well as playing every instrument (except drums) in every song.
http://www.myspace.com/heidigluck

[Woops]

Bands/artists that doesn't get many credit, aren't taken seriously, or not talked about (ie music magazines, MTV/VH1).



The Jets, Virtually forgotten now except from nostalgic Gen Xers and some into '80's pop music. They actually had catchy/fun pop songs like "Crush On You", "Curiousity", and  ballads like "Make It Real".

Taylor Dayne, Great voice, hardly gets recognition

Dokken, They actually had great songs like "Breaking The Chains", "In My Dreams", and "Alone Again".

Faith No More "Epic" is the first mainstream  hard alternative rock song, not "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from Nirvana, IMHO since it sounded like nothing on Top 40/MTV in 1990. "We Care A Lot", "Falling To Pieces" are also great songs.

[originaldonald]

Since Febraury 10th is the 50th Grammys ceremony, I'll pick the most lauded FEMALE by NARAS Alison Krauss. I highly recommend her latest work Raising Sand, which she did with Robert Plant.

The Original GG/TXRDonald
Do NOT insult her by comparing her to that no-talent Yoko Ono

[sweetsangria]

www.myspace.com/siobhandonaghyparlophone

A talented 22 year old that is unappreciated in the UK.

 

[Dariusz]

How far back do you want to go for artists that are under appreciated? Probably quite a fair few depending on when.

[IK]

As far as you'd like, Dariusz.

Sweetsangria, I checked out that myspace page.  Those are some good tunes.  I like! 

[sweetsangria]

Juliana's Myspace Blog

quote
"I believe that television,cable tv and the internet is ruining our country. Ruining Us"

Agree.

[IK]

Yup.  Jules has never been a big fan of the 'net, sweetsangria.  Yet, ironically, she was one of the first artists to offer music downloads on the honor system.  Heh...bands like "RadioHead"  try to pawn themselves off as "pioneers" on this?  LOL!  Can't do anything but laugh when I hear that on the radio.  At the time (maybe just 3 years ago) this was a woman who had a loyal following of forum geeks (like me), on sites she approved but probably never saw...a total "net-phobe".  Yet, within months, her friends like Stacee (cool chick) convinced her to promote herself on the net.  Next came the "honor system" download offering of new songs, then a MySpace page?  Wow!  My girl, Jules, really surprised us all with those things.  Then, a reincarnation of the downloads took place, offering a whole new chain of ADDITIONAL songs, which I again happily paid for...since Jules has turned out no junk.  Again, I wasn't AT ALL disappointed.

[sweetsangria]

Yup.  Jules has never been a big fan of the 'net, sweetsangria.  Yet, ironically, she was one of the first artists to offer music downloads on the honor system.  Heh...bands like "RadioHead"  try to pawn themselves off as "pioneers" on this?  LOL!  Can't do anything but laugh when I hear that on the radio.  At the time (maybe just 3 years ago) this was a woman who had a loyal following of forum geeks (like me), on sites she approved but probably never saw...a total "net-phobe".  Yet, within months, her friends like Stacee (cool chick) convinced her to promote herself on the net.  Next came the "honor system" download offering of new songs, then a MySpace page?  Wow!  My girl, Jules, really surprised us all with those things.  Then, a reincarnation of the downloads took place, offering a whole new chain of ADDITIONAL songs, which I again happily paid for...since Jules has turned out no junk.  Again, I wasn't AT ALL disappointed.

I bought Juliana's "In Excile Deo" album last week and really enjoyed it.

[IK]

That's great, sweetsangria!  I'm glad you enjoyed it.  If you can still find it, I recommend "Become What You Are", its one of my favorites. 

[Woops]

From actors that sing, Zooey Deschannel actually has a good voice.

Worst, would be a long list...

Though Rick Springfield's average, some of his songs are good

[Woops]

Cinderella, most people would give them flack for their name, but their music is actually great like  "Night Songs" ("Shake Me", "Nobody's Fool", "Somebody Save Me", "Push Push") and "Long Cold Winter" ("Don't Know What You Got Til It's Gone", "Gypsy Road", "The Last Mile", "Coming Home").

Two more  hair bands that doesn't get the recognition are Ratt (most people only familiar with "Round & Round") and Dokken (George Lynch is one of the best guitarists).


It's strange that some of my favorite artists from the '80's are also those that are overshadowed by Madonna, Michael Jackson, U2, Bon Jovi, and Van Halen. Nothing against them, but there's some that are just as good or better than some of the bands mentioned.