Underrated Music Bands

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shawncollins512@reddit

The Church Billy Bragg New Model Army Rave-Ups Too Much Joy Charlie Sexton Lightning Seeds Electronic

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DainasaurusRex@reddit

Whoa - Charlie Sexton: memories unlocked!

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shawncollins512@reddit

In 2013 or so I wandered into the Continental Club in Austin and he was playing. So cool to see him in such an intimate environment.

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DainasaurusRex@reddit

Saw them several years ago. Thought they would be phoning it in, but instead they were great!

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crone_Andre3000@reddit

I would love to see them - they are on my bucket list

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loveallcreatures@reddit

Correct answer. Too English for America. Same as the Jam.

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shawncollins512@reddit

I heard them plenty on alternative radio in the US and 120 Minutes on MTV.

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bmiller218@reddit

You could argue that they were more popular in the US at times because of the success of "Dear God"

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And Blancmange. I forgot about XTC. 🤦‍♀️ I feel like all of the ska/ mod bands are forgotten about, besides maybe Madness. And back on this side of the pond, do we hear much Oingo Boingo? I know Danny Elfman moved to to film.

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Key-Cattle-2866@reddit

XTC and Dukes of Stratosphear are great.

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bmiller218@reddit

I new they existed since the 80's and only recently got into them. I really love Nigel, King for a Day, Peter Pumpkinhead. Travels in Nihilon is a deep cut that I really like, it sounds nothing like their other songs.

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loveallcreatures@reddit

That’s a very sophisticated, nuanced take. Indeed. Please plug into the dukes of the stratosphere for additional mind altering music.

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bmiller218@reddit

I have listened to one of the albums. Interesting experiment and I heard that it actually sold better then most of their regular studio albums.

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Carrollz@reddit

I'm not a big fan of them myself but Dear God is still one of my all time favorite songs.

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Rand_74@reddit

Fastway

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kimfair@reddit

The Teardrop Explodes

The Mekons

Game Theory

The Bevis Frond

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Waffuru@reddit

Always Oingo Boingo. They are fantastic! One of my all time favorite bands. The lyrics are clever, the music is often unique and interesting, Danny Elfman has an incredible voice! They had so many good songs I just can't understand how they never had a hit. Their biggest song, "Weird Science," wasn't even really a hit, and, to be honest, they had so many better. How was "Dead Man's Party" not a top 10 hit? "No One Lives Forever" also should have been a hit. All the videos they had, not a single hit. Unbelievable.

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CitizenChatt@reddit

The Call

The Alarm

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Key-Cattle-2866@reddit

Mike Peters of The Alarm recently passed away. A friend of mine was part of their road crew in recent years.

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Carrollz@reddit

I Still (Can't) Belleve the Call wasn't more popular!

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CitizenChatt@reddit

Their big album came out the same week as U2's Joshua Tree. It got buried.

Dumb

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Carrollz@reddit

Squeeze!

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Key-Cattle-2866@reddit

I saw Squeeze with 10,000 Maniacs at The University of Alabama in 1988.

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bughunter_@reddit

Soul Coughing (Mike Doughty actually) and their follow-on, Ghosts of Vroom.

Wry, stream of consciousness lyrics. Sebastian on fretless bass. Some really catchy hooks... never understood why Mike didn't make it bigger.

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Key-Cattle-2866@reddit

Soul Coughing is one of my favorite bands from the ‘90s.

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Manfrenjensenjen@reddit

From what I understand, Mike developed a drug habit, and the band imploded circa El Oso. I believe they did recently tour, not sure if any new material is forthcoming, though.

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Key-Cattle-2866@reddit

Love and Rockets

The Replacements

World Party

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SarahJaneB17@reddit

The Smithereens.

Concrete Blonde.

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Key-Cattle-2866@reddit

I saw The Smithereens 3 or 4 times back in the day. One of my favorites from my college years. Concrete Blonde is one of the bands I regret never seeing.

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El_diablo_blanco_27@reddit

Joy Division (later renamed New Order after the original singers suicide).

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monsterlynn@reddit

I saw Daniel ash live at a club roughly 20 years ago and it was an absolute riot. The crowd was was mostly post-post punk Gen X women absolutely fangirling over him. He did a lot of tones on tale stuff and when he broke into "Go!" the whole club turned into a conga-line snaking through the club. Probably one of the funnest shows I've been to. Best thing about it was my friend and I totally went on a lark because we saw he was going to be playing there a few days before and he tickets were super cheap.

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monsterlynn@reddit

The Moody Blues

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raf_boy@reddit

The Stranglers

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Bathysphered@reddit

Men Without Hats.

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raf_boy@reddit

Kept scrolling until I saw this.

First 2 albums were excellent. Every track.

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mhicheal@reddit

Fun Boy Three!

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earinsound@reddit

the Colourfield!

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HousesRoadsAvenues@reddit

RIP Terry Hall. That was a hard one for me.

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earinsound@reddit

yes, most definitely. i also love his duet with Sinead O’Connor, All Kinds of Everything

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HousesRoadsAvenues@reddit

I forgot he and she did that duet.

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cmore_1967@reddit

Midnight Oil

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Pillynap@reddit

Kingmaker

Shed Seven

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DaddieTang@reddit

James

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the_OG_fett@reddit

Running joke in my house. When they come on, I’ll always say, “underrated band”. Saw the like in 2024 and 2025. When they play Sound with dual drummers…man that hits.

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DaddieTang@reddit

I'm a stupid turd for missing last years shows.

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79killingtime@reddit

Saw them live for the first time in 2024, insanely good!

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pauliepitstains@reddit

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion 💥

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the_OG_fett@reddit

James

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Perplexio76@reddit

ICEHOUSE/Flowers comes to mind. They actually WERE that big in their native Australia, but in the US they really only made a splash with "Electric Blue" and maybe "Crazy." But they've got some solid material beyond that-- "Don't Believe Any More", "Great Southern Land," "Desdemona," "We Can Get Together," and "Can't Help Myself" to name a few.

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whiterock73@reddit

Hum. Always Hum

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Daetiralso@reddit

My first "Columbia House" order came with a mixed CD of sorts, and Hum was on there. It was Awesome

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Double_Dimension9948@reddit

Missing Persons I don’t hear much about Bauhaus or New Order anymore.

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SilentImplosion@reddit

I miss Missing Persons. Terry Bozzio is 75 believe it or not and is still a beast on the drums. Bauhaus morphed into Love and Rockets, well at least most of them did. I haven't heard anything regarding New Order for a long time. Another great one from back then.

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Carrollz@reddit

And there was Tones on Tale in between. Seeing Love and Rockets at The Greek in Berkeley was one of the highlights of my life. I have a special love of horns in music but the saxophone usually less so however it made such an amazing silhouette on that stage that night with Daniel Ash's spiky hair and coat tails that the image is forever burned in my brain and the music carried so well in that space it sounded like something from out of this world. It was the first and only concert where I just spent the whole time actually sitting and listening and taking it all in and the most the lyrics "I'm alive, so alive!" ever resonated with me!

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Double_Dimension9948@reddit

Yes! I love tones on Tail and love and rockets. I saw them, I think, in Santa Barbara. Or maybe Irvine. It was so long ago.

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Carrollz@reddit

Ugh, I don't even know whether to blame my phone or myself for this one, but thank you for the comment and correction, Tail not Tale!

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HousesRoadsAvenues@reddit

Terry Bozzio is 75? Damn! I just read Moon Unit Zappa's autobiography. She mentions having a crush on him when she was barely a teenager.

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earinsound@reddit

New Order (minus Hook) is still around

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lectroid@reddit

Fair warning: Dale Bozzio was touring with a band of hired guns as Missing Persons up to at least a few years ago. The band is serviceable, but don’t hold a candle to Terry or Warren

And Dale… well, it’s not a crime to get old, but her voice was never exactly a fine tuned instrument. Age seldom helps hitting those squeaky high notes.

I still tell myself I’m gonna learn the US Drag drum groove, but I know I never will.

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HandaZuke@reddit

Gary Newman. I think most people are completely unaware of his career beyond the “in cars” song

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Carrollz@reddit

I loved Tubeway Army and I'm unaware of his career beyond (as in post) Cars. I was listening to My Shadow in Vain recently and thought to look him up and see whatever happened to him and was shocked to see he's currently on tour and has a new album coming out!

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jax2love@reddit

His live shows are absolutely amazing. Definitely use ear plugs.

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themodefanatic@reddit

His last 4-5 albums have been absolutely mind blowing. Especially his work with Trent Reznor and his love for DM. His career and musical output should seriously be studied.

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Inca-Vacation@reddit

Yes to all three of those. Thompson Twins were massive for years and now in the memory hole.

OMD....

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BrolandoDoom@reddit

Modest Mouse

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Witty-Atmosphere-211@reddit

Japan

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thembones44@reddit

Kicking Harrold

Sponge

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https://youtu.be/r3DqBk9YNXA?si=2tuhiAunyAgKeTA6