Ain't no cure for the summertime blues.. great Eddie Cochran cover. First 'heavy metal' band in the world I think...

my 60's and 70's music knowledge is tremendous, but outside of the White Stripes I know dick-all about recent music, which is too bad because there's a lot of great bands out there right now in almost every genre.

The 80's were pure fucking hell for music. Suckiest decade ever. I still feel robbed.

yup
more musically talented than Black Sabbath, but weren't as good at writing hooks and had too many personal problems...should have been legends ala Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, etc.

mm no. Well maybe with some songs. So many worth mentioning though....

Fast Train
You Could Have Been A Lady
Bad side of the moon
Drop your guns
Weeping Widow
Lady Run, Lady Hide
Tonite Is A Wonderful Time To Fall In Love
Rock N' Roll Is A Vicious Game
Roller
Oowhatanight
I Wouldn't Want To Lose Your Love
Sign Of The Gypsy Queen
I'm On Fire For You Baby
You Won't Dance With Me
Say Hello





Every one of those tunes hit the top 10 here. All got severe play internationally, and I would probably put them right behind Rush as being one of Canada's premier bands. They have stood the test of time, always coming out with fresh and appealing songs where other bands fizzled. These guys are about as real as it gets, and on a world scale I would say without a doubt highly underrated.

I remember 'Oh What a Night' with Frankie Valley (or one of those doo-wop italian guys) helping out on vocals. Really excellent song!

Actually I got curious enough to look it up, the song I'm thinking of was by The Four Seasons. So I guess I still don't recognize April Wine.

Give those above titles a download, I'm sure they will jog your memory in a big way. "You Could Have Been a Lady", for example, originally recorded in England by Hot Chocolate, was a phenomenal hit for April Wine. This song provided them with a #1 hit in Canada and allowed them to crack Billboard's Top 30 in the USA where it remained for 11 weeks. On the same Record was another notable tune; a cover of Elton John's Bad Side Of The Moon.

I just thought of a couple more.

Mountain (Leslie West is one badass guitarist) and Super Tramp.

Neil Young
April Wine
The Tragically Hip (Canadians will know this one, but most US and music fans in other countries won't unfortunately)

Like I said earlier, Canada is chock full of great bands that are either unkown or highly underrated on the world market.


April Wine Fans will find this page a great read: http://www.aprilwine.ca/history.html .... And when you get to the part about their first comeback concert being in Manitoba..... I was at that concert, it was the Strawberry festival in Portage La Prairie.

Awesome site. I just took a superficial read and will check it out again later to read it in full.

Speaking of Canadian bands, Rush I don't think ever got near the fame that they deserved. Neil Peart is still regarded as one of the greatest drummers to play the instrument. :2 cents:

I'd have to go with Tool. They're amazing musicians!

Well, they sold over 30 million albums, but I suppose there is always room for more recognition.

brave combo.

i defy anyone to see them in concert and not end up on the stage with them, dancing like a polka-lovin fool.

and a special mention for Peter K Tonio

One of the bands I think is underrated was Faith No More. If you listen to a variety of their music the guys really are talented.

Another band on the metal scene would be Dead Horse. A texas metal band that was liked by many bands like Slayer etc. These guys have a great sound to em, but never really made it big.

There are a ton of underrated bands thats for sure.

I second that.

Rage Against The Machine...

)EIB(

Mike Patton (of FNM/Fantomas/Mr Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3 & collaborations with John Zorn etc) is a real musical genius.

Good answers so far.. Trying not to repeat:

The Ramones
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
Anthrax
Biohazard
Junkyard
Faster Pussycat
Queensryche
Saliva

:2 cents: :thumbsup

The Guess Who were fantastic, with or without Bachman.

I don't know if I'd say they were underrated though.

Back in the day they were fucking huge.

Little Feat

Cabaret Voltaire
Butthole Surfers

KISS - Elivs is the only American act with more Gold records.

no they weren't, not in the U.S. - musical footnotes. they are VERY underrated.

first album i ever bought, must have been 8, was Guess Who Live At The Paramount.

No Sugar Tonight :thumbsup

Everclear

American woman topped the charts in the US, made a huge impact. Huge.
Also the song "No time"

Did I mention how huge that impact was?


But maybe over the entire life of the band and since, maybe there is some underrating to them. Personally I love a lot of their tunes, and since they are actually from Winnipeg I have no problem seeing them get more recognition than they already have.