Just because I'm bored and thinking about it, a quick list of artists that people either don't know or don't care enough about. Also, since this is about underappreciation, not complete anonymity, I'm avoiding indie types.
Junior Kimbrough- Blues guitarist extraordinaire and inspirer of much of The Black Keys' catalog.
Robert Johnson- The granddaddy of all rock, and possibly the best acoustic bluesman ever.
John Paul Jones- About 1/1000th as well-known as the other Led Zeppelin guys.
John Frusciante- Honestly, how is it that people don't love this guy? Guitar magazines know about him, but pretty much no one else.
John Densmore- The only really talented musician from The Doors, the one with the most artistic integrity, and a virtual unknown outside of drumming circles.
Topper Headon- Had he not had a massive drug problem, The Clash might have lasted a lot longer, which would have been pretty great. Also probably the best drummer in punk history.
Mick Jones- Speaking of The Clash (I definitely don't mean the guy from Foreigner), Mick was a more polished and accomplished guitarist than Joe Strummer and had just as much vocal skill, though he sang less. Ah well, to the frontman goes the glory.
Ginger Baker- All things considered, much cooler than Eric Clapton and one of the best rock drummers ever.
Dave Grohl- Not in his Foo Fighters incarnation, but with Nirvana. All anybody ever says about Nirvana is "Kurt Cobain, blah, blah, Kurt Cobain." I'm tired of it. Nirvana would have been a lot worse without the heavy, heavy drumming on Nevermind.
Brian May- Similar to above, completely overshadowed by Freddie Mercury in the public consciousness. May was one of the best guitarists of the last few decades. Not taking anything away from Freddie, but give the man some credit.
Art Garfunkel- Paul Simon wrote the songs, yes, and had an actual solo career, but Art Garfunkel was a better singer. By a fair margin.
Phife Dawg- By show of hands, how many out there knew that he was the other guy in A Tribe Called Quest?
Coming Soon: Over-Appreciated! (Although I'll probably just call it "Overrated").
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Good article, I enjoyed reading it. I do (however) think that Clash fans view Jones/Strummer as a Lennon McCartney type situation, it was by no means Joe's band.
ReplyDeleteI think that's how it should be, but I feel like a lot more people remember Strummer. Maybe that's because of the whole "dead artist boost" thing, but I do agree that they're fairly close.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Densmore is underrated as a drummer, he really is fantastic. But I disagree that he was the Doors' only talented musician. Robby Krieger was an amazing guitarist, and pretty advanced for the day- not many guys were playing slide guitar on an electric guitar back then, but he did.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Krieger was innovative, but that does not equate to talented. He tended to be simplistic.
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