Underrated bands from the late 80's/early 90's

[11t]

I have been thinking about this for sometime and my answer is that the Smashing Pumpkins are totally underrated. They released several major records, all to critical acclaim although Adore was not well recieved by the public. If I recall correctly, they sold ~10 million records and they flat out [censored] rock.

The pumpkins can cover the entire panorama of music, from gutteral guitar's to almost dreamy/lullaby love songs.

You could probably put Tool in there as well but Tool has such a massive and extremely loyal fanbase that you could probably call them overrated to an extent.

Anyway, what other bands that flat out kick ass are under the shadow of Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and Nirvana from the late 80's/early 90's?

[TexArcher]

I don't know if it qualifies since it's a side project, but Mad Season put out one of the best CDs of that time period and most people have never heard of it.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

Smashing Pumpkins are awesome, and nowhere close to underrated.
plus they were in an awesome Simpsons episode

Corgan: Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins.
Homer: Homer Simpson, smiling politely.

Homer: I'll miss you, Pumpkins, but I just can't share your bleak
world view. I've got too much to live for.
Corgan: We envy you, Homer. All we have is our music, our legions
of fans, our million of dollars and our youth.
[pause]
Woo-Hoo!
Iha: Let's all go out and buy fur coats!

[suited89]

Soundgarden, go download Fell on Black Days and Rusty Cage

[PokerBob]

buffalo tom.

[captZEEbo]

uncle tupelo

[marsvolta619]

Sunny Day Real Estate

[11t]

I think it could be cool if people could explain what type of music these bands play since a lot of people might not necessarilly know of them. Perhaps a list of suggested songs to check out that kind of outlines what type of band it is.

IE I would say if you downloaded these five songs from The Smashing Pumpkins you would get a good idea of what they sound like.

1. Jelly Belly - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: Dawn to Dusk

2. Hummer - Siamese Dream

3. 1979 - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: Twilight to Starlight

4. Stand Inside Your Love - Machina

5. Disarm - Siamese Dream

[prohornblower]

Living Colour would be one.

[MicroBob]

I don't see how the smashing pumpkins are underrated.

They grew to be pretty well known and I'm pretty sure the critics consistently raved about them (not sure if that means anything though).


I saw the Pumpkins in July of 92 just as they were getting big...but still played some small places.
This was just a little bar in Madison, WI that could only hold a few hundred people but the line was pretty long.

Thought I would have no chance of getting in but found somebody with extra tix and he was willing to sell them for face-value ($5).

Great great show.
Their cover of Steve Miller Band's Space Cowboy was hilarious and awesome.