10 Classic Rock Bands Who Deserve More Respect

rss79grad

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2012
Posts
14
Reaction score
0
Some severely underrated Classic Rock bands are:
Wishbone Ash
Starz
Angel
April Wine
Red Rider
Savoy Brown
J. Geils Band
Nazareth
Mott The Hoople
Head East
Greg Kihn
Harlequin
Grand Funk Railroad
George Thorogood
Dwight Twilley Band
Bad Company
Bachman Turner Overdrive
 

JimJam

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Posts
1,220
Reaction score
12
Location
California
I agree that Mott and J. Geils deserve more attention. Bad Company, however, i think are widely recognized.
 

architect

Supine In The Sunshine
Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Posts
3,475
Reaction score
18
Camel
Santana
ELO
Kevin Ayers
Jade Warrior
Caravan
Babe Ruth
Eloy
Steve Hillage
Colosseum
 

Jonny Come Lately

The New Kid In Town
Joined
Feb 19, 2014
Posts
406
Reaction score
20
Location
England
Based on my personal experiences elsewhere on the web and in real life, I'd have to agree with Wishbone Ash - a great and original band which pioneered twin-lead guitars in isolation from the southern rockers yet seem to be largely unknown nowadays even though they inspired a lot of bands like Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden who are substantially better known. In some ways though I feel Ash has somehow achieved a rare happy medium - the band is respected within the classic rock community but not sufficiently well known outside of it for the music to become overhyped. Argus is a fantastic album and was successful back in the day but has avoided the hyperbole attached to other classics like, say, Led Zeppelin IV or Sgt Pepper.

In terms of respect though, and I am aware that they are better known and more successful than most of the other bands mentioned so far, I'll add Dire Straits. There was a discussion on another board about the band and having stated my liking for Mark Knopfler and co I was repeatedly told that the band's success was largely down to the videos for Money For Nothing and Walk Of Life and that nothing else they did was as good. As a huge fan of the band, my love for them has nothing to do with the videos and everything to do with the music and I feel that anyone who makes this argument probably isn't familiar with anything much beyond Brothers In Arms. I also saw a documentary about Dire Straits which essentially made the same arguments for the videos, and I just can't agree with it. I consider Walk Of Life to be amongst their weakest songs, and there are 8-10 songs that I'd say are definitely superior to Money For Nothing as much as I like it, while by contrast the entire Communique album is pretty much written off by everyone other than the big fans in spite of containing excellent songs like Once Upon A Time In The West and Single Handed Sailor. In summary, what I'm trying to say is that I feel that the Dire Straits deserves more respect for their music and that a couple of their big hits have distorted the perception of their whole career.
 

Black Dahlia

A Seasoned Witch
Joined
Mar 30, 2013
Posts
2,366
Reaction score
348
Location
With lovers, buggers, & thieves.
I have always thought Great White were out of their time, and wrongfully lumped in with all the hair-metal bands of the '80's.
smiley1628_zpsbb6be704.gif


The Tragically Hip, I just don't understand why they were never huge. Across Canada, and in the US border towns they are still big, but I've heard they were practically unknown in the rest of the US.

I almost took The Faces off my list... they were big and could have been huge... maybe almost as big as the Stones... except for Rod's non-committal treatment of the band. Yeah, his solo thing was big and I can't blame him for not wanting to let that go, but had he focused that energy on the band, The Faces would have been huge. So... maybe not underrated after all; just under-productive.
smiley1910_zps6615aaed.gif


The Angels (Angel City)
Great White
Starz
Saxon
The Tragically Hip
Wishbone Ash
Renaissance
Be-Bop Deluxe
The Georgia Satellites
New England
The Faces
 

Sox

Avoiding The Swan Song
Joined
Jan 29, 2010
Posts
10,103
Reaction score
31
Location
Derbyshire, England
Ten that I think probably deserve a much wider acknowledgement and respect.

Hawkwind
Focus
Camel
Robin Trower
The Stranglers
Wishbone Ash
Mountain
Groundhogs
Savoy Brown
Uriah Heep
 

Vader

Veteran Of A Thousand Psychic Wars
Joined
Jul 3, 2014
Posts
10,723
Reaction score
17,842
Location
Mother Gaia
Ten Years After
Budgie
Nazareth
Eloy
Atomic Rooster
Robin Trower
UFO
Gentle Giant
Buffalo
Toad
 

Find member

Forum statistics

Threads
30,659
Posts
1,064,953
Members
6,353
Latest member
edmerka

Staff online

Members online

Top