Ever search through your record collection and see some records that make you stop and think to yourself, “Why wasn’t this record bigger than it should have been?” Exactly. Every once in a while we’ll come across a record and it seems everything is perfect: the tunes, the solos, the lyrics and the works. However for some strange reason it never seemed to catch on. There’s both a blessing and a curse to this theory. The blessing comes from the fact that because it didn’t catch on, but also because you were on to it, it means so much more personally to you as a music lover. The curse however is that the band seems like it never got a chance to fully shine in its respective light during their heyday.

I present to you faithful reader, ten of the most underrated albums that always hold up, but somehow missed the boat in their respective times.

#10. King’s X - King’s X (1992)

Back in the early 90’s grunge was king of the hill. Because of Seattle’s stranglehold on the burgeoning alternative rock scene, many other genres of rock were overlooked and overshadowed. Houston, Texas’ own King’s X released their fourth album, King’s X, in the spring of 1992 on Atlantic Records (their first with a major label) with an eclectic mixture of soul, progressive rock, meaty and complex guitar riffs and overall excellent musicianship. With their complex sound, King’s X contained many themes of soul searching, self-acceptance and discovery of personal virtues with songs such as “The World Around Me”, “Lost In Germany”, “Silent Wind”, and their awesome but only hit single, “Black Flag”. While this record boasted a ton of great songs, King’s X stalled in music sales compared to their previous effort 1990’s Faith, Hope, Love. The other major event which lead to this record’s particular fate stemmed from the band’s departure of traditional progressive rock in favor of a more mainstream, but progressive influenced sound which alienated earlier hardcore fans. Overall, this is a diamond in the rough album and it still holds up. Bassist/singer Doug Pinnick just wails like no one else. Seriously he’s really good.

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#9. Fishbone - The Reality Of My Surroundings (1991)

1991 became a very significant year not only in music, but also politically as well. Operation: Desert Storm took hold of the nation with the forces over in the Middle East as well as the dealings of racial tensions. To coincide with the changes of this year, legendary ska outfits Fishbone released their third and arguably their finest record The Reality Of My Surroundings. With their strongly political lyrics dealing with race, drug addiction, African-American rights as well as poking fun at American culture, Fishbone brought a significant amount of critical acclaim in terms of both musicianship and power. Their combinations of funk, jazz, soul, thick guitars, strong horn sections and vocalist Angelo Moore’s frantic wailing, Fishbone were at one point a force to be reckoned with. On such tunes as “Fight The Youth”, “Housework”, and “Behavioral Control Technician” the band looked like they’d be on top of the world. Sadly this success was short lived. While this record reached an impressive #49 on the Billboard 200, lots of factors began to hurt the band in the long run and the band never fully recovered from the aftermath such as original guitarist Kendall Jones’ mental breakdown as well as the departure of original keyboardist Chris Dowd. What should have been a mega album quickly became a huge underground classic and bands such as No Doubt, later Red Hot Chili Peppers and pretty much every Orange County ska band still owe a debt to them to this day. Either way you look at it however, their messages still hold up regarding racial peace and the music flat out rocks.

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#8. Monster Magnet - Dopes To Infinity (1995)

Whenever Monster Magnet comes on in any way shape or form, it’s always a trip back to the deep, gloomy basements of the 1970’s. Guitarist/songwriter Dave Wyndorf’s sprawling and abstract lyrics combined with some incredibly thick layered guitars always cuts through the fat and leaves a gigantic musical impression on the eardrums. For the New Jersey space rock outfit, their third album and arguably their greatest work Dopes To Infinity, falls into the category of “love it or hate it” territory with no third direction. Wyndorf and the gang craft some of their heaviest offerings here such as “Dopes To Infinity”, “Dead Christmas”, I Control, I Fly” and their moderately successful single from the 1994 cult film S.F.W. “Negasonic Teenage Warhead”. Wyndorf’s manic tales of drugs, destruction and rockstars ruling the world are all here and prevalent on this record. While the band’s earlier efforts explored more spacy/stoner rock feelings, Infinity tried to go into a more mainstream direction with 70’s rock themes attached to the tail ends of it. As mentioned before, the 90’s became Seattle’s musical utopia and stoner rock was put on hold for quite some time. For the quintessential times, Monster Magnet should have had their hands in their own musical pie, but the times passed by too quickly and too soon without their due given to them. However, the bright side regarding this record is in the production alone, and Wyndorf’s musicianship is nothing short of excellent. Take the day off of work, turn the lights off and ride the warhead on into Infinity. It’s nothing short of a good time for this underrated classic.

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#7. Husker Du - Warehouse: Songs & Stories (1987)

The blueprints for grunge, alternative rock, college rock, whatever you want to call it all stem from these guys and this album specifically. The legendary Minneapolis trio that was Husker Du which consisted of guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, drummer/vocalist Grant Hart and bassist Greg Norton released their second record with Sire/Warner Bros. which eventually became their swan song: Warehouse: Songs & Stories. On this double record, the trio penned some of their most livid, realistic portrayals of everyday life such as dealing with depression, failure, relationships, apathy, self-acceptance and among other things, individuality. While the band struggled to find a mainstream audience (even appearing on the short-lived The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers), they were highly regarded in the underground/college rock scene as some of the most original and honest music ever conceived. What should have given the keys to the future for these guys quickly faded as the band broke up amidst bitter internal strife and drug addiction. Tunes such as “These Important Years,” “Visionary”, “Ice Cold Ice” and their biggest tune off the record “Could You Be The One?” paved the pathways for the alternative rock world, but the unfortunate fact was that the band in their heyday never reaped the potential of their benefits. Nevertheless, Warehouse holds up, even amidst some production issues in the drums, and proves that it doesn’t matter how old you get, you’ll still have to deal with life’s everyday problems.

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Husker Du - Could You Be The One?

#6. The Living End - Roll On (2001)

The Living End are one of those bands that comes around in a great while and delivers a powerful album when it’s least expected. This is the case with their 2001 sophomore release Roll On. Guitarist/vocalist Chris Cheney’s innovative guitar tones, techniques, songwriting and overall musicianship shine through incredibly strong here. For Australia’s blessed sons of punk rock, The Living End’s Roll On raised the bar on not just the temporary norm of punk rock; it breathed new life into the entire friggin’ genre. No more were the traditional punk I-IV-V chord progressions but instead, Cheney fused together his love of punk, rockabilly, blues and Australian lifestyle into one big musical inferno. Tunes such as “Roll On”, the scorching “Carry Me Home”, “Astoria Paranoia” and the hilarious “Uncle Harry” painted vivid punk rock palettes with unique strokes. While a short three city U.S. tour (including one in Boston) and a spot on Late Night With David Letterman resulted from the album’s release, it seemed to miss it’s mark except for their native Australia where it sold double platinum. However, the real trouble began later that year when Cheney survived a brutal car accident which left him out of the loop for six months as well as drummer Travis Demsey leaving the band for personal reasons. As 2001 became the birth of emo music, which eventually took the world by storm, The Living End’s sophomore album seemed to fade away from the public, but the album did acclaim much critical success in regards to the band’s songwriting. This represents a prime example of an album that should have been something cajunga, but never got the respect it rightfully deserved.

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#5. Galactic Cowboys - Galactic Cowboys (1991)

It’s rare enough as a band to make it onto a major label. It’s even rarer to expect to be labeled as “the next big thing.” This is the case for Houston, Texas’ own Galactic Cowboys. While the original band led by bassist Monty Colvin blended heavy metal, acoustic guitars, and alternative rock together with strong Beatles-style vocal harmonies in the vein of their Texas counterparts King’s X, they are considered one of the saddest cases in recent music history. With that being said, their debut album, Galactic Cowboys was released in 1991 on DGC/Geffen Records. As the band prepared for the release of their debut and subsequent tour which many people highly anticipated, Seattle’s own Nirvana released their debut for DGC/Geffen as well, the legendary Nevermind. Because of the runaway success of Nirvana and Cobain simultaneously becoming the unofficial spokesman for Generation X, Geffen switched gears to pour their resources into Nirvana which left the Galactic Cowboys abruptly forgotten and dead in the water. The truly terrible perspective that comes from this is that the Cowboys’ debut is seriously underrated. With soulful songs such as “I’m Not Amused” the melancholy “My School”, the ode to the 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil spill “Kaptain Krude” and arguably the album’s best song, “Someone For Everyone”, the Galactic Cowboys ventured into territory that many bands copy from without referencing the original. They did happen to make a memorable cameo as the Sons of Thunder in the 1994 cult movie Airheads, to which Steve Buscemi responds, “The Sons of Thunder? Didn’t we blow these queebs off the stage at Che Bang about six months ago?” In the graveyard of records, this one deserves it’s own fortress of a crypt, as this could have changed the course of rock history forever.

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Galactic Cowboys - My School

#4. Faith No More - The Real Thing (1989)

As the late 80’s came to a close, the world of music suddenly became confused and undefinable. While the 1980’s made its existence known on European synthesized music, hair metal, hardcore punk, MTV, New Wave and the works, the late 80’s seemed to break down all of that and transform itself into this hybrid musical swamp monster. For starters, San Francisco based rock band Faith No More came blazing out of the cage with their eclectic mix of progressive rock, jazz, funk, rap and a grabbag of other musical oddities. With the release of their third album, The Real Thing, Mike Patton of Mr. Bungle fame took over on lead vocals and arguably became the image of the band for the rest of their career. While the band had an initial cult following, The Real Thing pushed them into the spotlight, as well as with the release of their strongest tune, “Epic”. Controversy soon arose however from animal rights activists over the video in which the fish at the end of the video was shown flopping out of water. What followed for the band as a result of the controversy and the album’s release included memorable performances on SNL and MTV. A subsequent world tour followed with success in the rest of the world, but barely a dent in the U.S. Sadly as a result of the success of “Epic”, the band quickly became a one-hit wonder, despite the rest of the album sounding incredibly better than the trademark song. With buzzsaw guitars grinding away on “From Out Of Nowhere”, “Woodpecker From Mars,” “Zombie Eaters”, Mike Patton’s impressive vocal range on “Underwater Love” and their pristine cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”, Faith No More should have been give more. Unfortunately, this never bore the fruits of labor in the U.S. that the band should have rightfully harvested. As mentioned before, the late 80’s had no idea where it was going musically, but there were some pretty awesome steps along the way. Faith No More paved a huge part of that.

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#3. The Screaming Blue Messiahs - Bikini Red (1987)

Once in a while, certain bands come and go that they don’t even have time to wear out their welcome mats. This is the case with London’s power trio The Screaming Blue Messiahs. Led by bald-headed manic guitarist/vocalist Bill Carter, they were so ahead of their time that if they snapped their necks backward to the present, they’d disintegrate into a million pieces. While part of that is true in regards to their eerie lyrical narratives about nuclear war, Americana, fast cars, guns and the Flintstones, The Screaming Blue Messiahs never reached atop the waters of mainstream. The real kicker is that the late famed British producer Vic Maile produced one of the very best rock records to ever come out of the 1980’s which was Bikini Red. Carter’s disjointed guitar over bassist Chris Thompson’s contrapuntal basslines and drummer Kenny Harris’ rhythmic pulses created some of the wildest, yet honest rock and roll ever conceived. Not much is known about this mysterious three piece, save for their only hit single, “I Wanna Be A Flintstone”, which became a top ten hit in their native UK, as well as the closing song for the ill-fated 1993 movie adaptation of the same name. Disregarding the novelty song’s spurned sucess, the electric trio penned some of the fiercest rock n’ roll tunes ever to grace on one album. Tunes such as “Bikini Red” “Big Brother Muscle”, “Jesus Chrysler Drives A Dodge” and one of the best album openers of all time, “Sweet Water Pools” made this hard-to-find album worth the price. It’s a shame really this band never got the attention it deserved, despite taking on two major tours with The Cramps and Echo & The Bunnymen as well as serving as David Bowie’s opening band for a few shows. Lyrically, Carter spoke of a gloomy future and some of it cuts close to the bone. The biggest mystery exists however in their eighteen-year unsolved mystery as to why they broke up. For now, enjoy the tunes as they really are hard to find.

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#2. The Ramones - End Of The Century (1980)

What can be said about The Ramones that already hasn’t been said? As one of New York’s finest bands of all time, The Ramones burst out of Queens with an intensity and an iconic image that set the templates for punk rock for the rest of the world to follow. Every single rock band post 1974 owes some sort of debt to the legendary Queens quartet and their influence grows with each passing year. With the release of their fifth album End Of The Century, the band put all their eggs in their basket and wagered arguably the biggest gamble in their career. As fans of his earlier works, the band hired famed producer Phil Spector to produce the record, as he wanted End Of The Century to be the biggest album of 1980. The recording sessions regarding the album dogged the band as Spector spent countless amounts of times overproducing, rehashing, recording and painfully extracting each note out of the band. As a result, this began to wedge the friendship between Joey and Johnny, due to Spector’s intense dedication to Joey’s vocals with minimal attention paid to the rest of the band. Drama regarding the record aside, upon its release with the lead single “Do You Remember Rock & Roll Radio?”, even with Spector’s production stamp of approval, the album still failed to sell, to which the band never understood the reasonings and were branded outsiders of the punk genre for life. With time however, this album has shown significant influence ranging from the Foo Fighters to Tom Waits covering “Danny Says”. The highlights of this record include “I’m Affected”, “Chinese Rocks”, “This Ain’t Havana”, and the Spector tinged love ballad, “Baby I Love You.” While this is less heavier than their previous albums, The Ramones knew how to craft great honest pop music that never gets old.

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#1. The Replacements - Tim (1985)

By far one of the greatest modern day musical Greek tragedies exists with Minneapolis’ chosen ones The Replacements fourth masterpiece Tim. After signing with Sire/Warner Bros, the band released arguably their second best record, following their epic third album Let It Be. Produced by Tommy Ramone, Tim took major steps in different musical directions than their previous efforts yielded at the time. Guitarist/vocalist Paul Westerberg penned some of the harshest portrayals of American life as realistic as possible in memorable songs such as “Hold My Life”, “Swingin’ Party”, the youthfully charged anthem in “Bastards Of Young” and the melancholy, but honest closer, “Here Comes A Regular”. Each song cut into the human heart deeper than the next. As a result of the band’s fame, they performed in the early Winter of 1986 on SNL, to which their well-known stage antics banned them for life. While this album was critically acclaimed for it’s honesty, cohesive musicianship and overall approach to the human heart, this record sadly didn’t catch on as expected, leaving The Replacements strictly an underground act. Much like their Minneapolis counterparts Husker Du, both bands paved the yellow brick roads for alternative rock and college rock. It’s only within the past two or three years that Tim has seen a turnaround of events and finally been given the claim and respect it’s been due for over twenty years. This album also marks the end of the original band as lead guitarist Bob Stinson parted ways shortly after the album was released. Regardless however, Tim never gets old and quite possibly becomes more and more relevant as time goes on. It just goes to show you how ahead of the bell curve Minneapolis was compared to the other metropolitan areas of the time. Tim single handedly changed many things regarding rock music in general, but it should have been so much more than it was back in its heyday.

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There you have it, an elaborate history of ten of rock’s more underrated records of all time. Hope you enjoyed the ride!

Categories: CoS Exclusive Features, Features, List 'Em Carefully
Tags: Faith No More, Fishbone, Galactic Cowboys, Husker Du, King's X, Monster Magnet, The Living End, The Ramones, The Replacements, The Screaming Blue Messiahs