Criminially Underappreciated 90's Guitar Bands

SLOAN!

yeah, I'm going for Sloan too (although partly because they're practically the only band on here that stuck around and made one of their best albums in this decade).

if the wedding present doesn't top this poll i will eat my computer.

i think the absence of Archers of Loaf on the list proves a point

ditto here, that's a great album. Sloan still make great records, although live their April Wine obsession can become a bit oppressive.

Not trying to have a go at the pollster but I don't really think many of those bands are exactly "criminally unappreciated". (like boohoo, no one pays any attention to poor old Mercury Rev). In fact if anything, many of those bands are overrated IMO.

Triple Fast Action was the type of thing I was going to vote for. (Walt Mink would qualify, maybe the Figgs... etc)

Um Royal Trux is on this list guys.

Was Luna and Guided By Voices really all that underappreciated?

Also when did Stereolab avoid guitars entirely?

Is there a single Portishead track with "no" guitars on it?

Ah, here comes the nitpicking, yay. It's all to varying degrees. We don't care who you think is overrated, you only have to pick one underappreciated one. I meant to include Archers of Loaf but forgot. To keep the list under, say, 500 bands I limited it to bands who had at least 4 albums in the 90s, with the two worthy exceptions being Screaming Trees and Wedding Present, who could fill the gap with their compilations. I'd assume whatever band you pick would also likely be one of your top 5 or 10 overall favorites of the 90s. Hence the lack of [insert your favorite local band with maybe 1-1/2 albums worth of decent songs here].

I'm just asking questions. I already voted.

Also when did Stereolab avoid guitars entirely?

Yeah, I was going to say this. Stereolab used loads of guitars.

I voted for Mano Negra.

I also prefer Stone Temple Pilots to almost every single band on this list (and don't understand in what sense they were more "conservative" or "bland" than most of them. Sorry, but that's ridiculous.)

"It was hard to be a good guitar band in the 90s."

really untrue! but whatever. it's yer poll.

us nits be picking.

If there be nits, they wilst be picked.

I think that Gumball were maybe the most sadly underappreciated bands of the era.

there is a thread somewhere where people pick their fave forgotten 90's alt/whatever records and there are TONS of guitar rock records on it.

they might not have gotten famous, but there was no lack of great guitar action. from that list above my faves are probably goat, chrome, and circa:now. but there is a lot of indie shmindie stuff up there that i've never heard.

I voted for the Afghan Whigs as their last album was their best album hinting at something even better, and they brought back a sense of groove and sex which most of these other bands lack.

Another thing I find perplexing: Were Talk Talk actually a big deal to anybody in the '90s? If they were, it totally passed me by. The way so many people on this board seem so obsessed with them actually makes me curious about their post-one-(or two or however many)-hit-wonder career, but I can see a whole bunch of bands on that (mostly bland and conservative by the way) list that I noticed getting "appreciated" more than Talk Talk in the '90s. But maybe Talk Talk were big with, like, British critics, or huge in the rest of the world? (I've no opinion on their music at all, either way.)

Also, obviously plenty of great bands are missing (including but not remotely limited to a bunch that might be termed "metal".) (Also, I'd take Caifanes over Mango Negra, Cafe Tacuba, or Los Cadillacs for whatever that's worth.)

talk talk were a big deal to me in the 90's.

and the 80's.

To see people citing the likes of Gumball and The Archers of Loaf is ridiculous when Redd Kross are not included. Third Eye and Phaseshifter are two essential 90's albums. Gumball were just horrible - the beginning of the end for me in terms of enjoying this kind of music.

Teenage Fanclub: underappreciated?

UK chart positions:
Bandwagonesque (1991) #22
Thirteen (1993) #14
Grand Prix (1995) #7
Songs From Northern Britain (1997) #3

teenage fanclub can never be underappreciated enough.

i should probably buy a polvo album. i'd probably like it. i don't own any bitch magnet records either.

And Teenage Fanclub (who Scott is right about, btw -- i.e., they sucked) won a frigging Spin magazine album of the year poll too, didn't they?

I need to hear more Six Finger Satellite one of these days. The stuff I heard was vaguely intriguing.

now playing: Tiamat - Wildhoney (1994)

thanks to the interweb everything always seems appreciated.

haha, exactly scott

it's a shame we don't get more talk about Low's 400 albums on ilm.

write-in vote for thinking fellers union local 282, actual vote for polvo.

oh yeah, I forgot about Redd Kross (and Urge Overkill also).

What was so bad about Gumball in your opinion?

I think Don Fleming is a great songwriter and always has been. It's actually a shame that he wasted so much time in B.A.L.L. mainly doing silly Beatles piss-takes etc. He is also rarely appreciated for being as important a part of Half Japanese as he actually was. (His mom asked me to write this stuff).

Redd Kross are actually one of my favorite bands, just ask anyone who has to put up with me on a regular basis. I have probably forced more people to watch their movies than they have! They of course really have their roots in the 80s which is maybe why I didn't think of them right away. But their 90s output is absolutely great, agreed, no question.

China Drum and Compulsion were the best guitar bands on the 90s.

Ok, maybe not, but in my top 10 for sure.

And Strangelove. What about the Blue Aeroplanes, they use loads of guitars.

I mentioned Talk Talk and Slint merely as stylistc milestones that a certain number of musicians paid keen attention to, even if the masses were unaware of them.

After Bandwagonesque, Teenage Fanclub were largely forgotten in the U.S. They hardly sucked (at least not as bad as STP ;), but it's understandable how they wouldn't appeal to all iLxers.

Metal doesn't really apply here -- especially the pretty extreme sounding stuff that I liked in the 90s. As great as, say, Entombed were, one would ever expect them to be very popular outside of their subculture. And bands like Monster Magnet and Kyuss didn't really seem underappreciated to me.

Yes, nit pickers, I should have said "avoided guitars almost entirely." I saw Stereolab a couple times, there was some use of guitars. But I rarely heard them, as they were overwhelmed by the gloriously distorted keyboards.

Chuck wasn't alone in characterizing the bulk of these bands as "mostly bland and conservative." Sure, I often found the likes of Disco Inferno, DJ Shadow, Cornelius, etc. as more interesting and thrilling at times. But in actually relistening to the guitar bands, I found them pretty diverse sounding, with a lot of great songs that have been unfairly written off overall.

Please do listen to some SFS and Polvo and Bitch Magnet. I forgot about TFUL282 cuz I sold those CDs, crap. I need to hear some Caifanes, and probably revisit Redd Kross even though I've tried to get into them a few times already. Blue Aero are there, but I'm unfamiliar with China Drum, Compulsion, Strangelove.

Redd Kross ...have their roots in the 80s

Not to mention all of their great music

their 90s output is absolutely great, agreed, no question

I would question this, actually. Never really understood why people cared after Neurotica.

entombed were more popular than friggin' red red meat!

er, in response to:

"As great as, say, Entombed were, one would ever expect them to be very popular outside of their subculture."

6fs were great, but not a guitar band!

"Never really understood why people cared after Neurotica."

and after neurotica you could just listen to urge overkill instead. until they sucked.

don't mind me. i'm just bored before work. these little old lady threads kinda agitate me sometimes. i'll leave you guys to it. love you all!

see, I like Phaseshifter and Saturation.

I guess I suck.

OK, Yo La Tengo? "Underappreciated"? This reeks.

I can maybe get behind Walt Mink in the above list, as they theoretically could have become the American Rush (and their lead guy had guitar chops to impress pretty much anyone anywhere). Everyone else seems to have gotten about the level of appreciation they deserved (and I like a lot of these bands).

I can sort of imagine an alternate universe where the Grifters ditched almost everything that made them interesting and became stars, but thankfully that didn't happen. That one Springsteen-sounding track on the Eureka EP kind of points the way to a commercial breakthrough that never materialized.

And Urge Overkill really could probably have made it if they hadn't screwed up.

And aren't Sloan like on Canadian currency or something. I mean, I'm sure there are lots of US hitmakers who are obscure in Sri Lanka.

Nah, Sloan are marginally and perenially popular here but nothing like the Tragically Hip's massive stature. There's only one song of theirs that gets played on the radio and it's from 10 years ago.

I think Red Red Meat's high point is Bunny Gets Paid. What a perfect collision of post-Crazy Horse, indie, lo-fi fuckery, industrial fuzz, and straight up Stones.

Never really understood why people cared after Neurotica.

You've said this on ILM before, I think on the Redd Kross thread. I'm surprised you can't at least understand the love for Phaseshifter and Third Eye - Phaseshifter in particular is a brilliant, hard-driving rock album that's really difficult not to love. Give it another spin one of these days and maybe you'll see. It's not power-pop at all in my book.

Showworld however is disapointing, except for "My Secret Life".

What a bunch of cranky responses! I thought this would get more feedback like, "oh, I haven't thought about them in years, I should dig 'em out." Why are the Americans on this thread working today? Go relax, have a long island iced tea and blow up some cherry bombs. Not necessarily in that order...

I'm trying to think of how I'd redo that list, but just as an example, I think I'd probably put Fastball on it. Got huge temporarily, based on one song, but really faded away and most of their fans probably never appreciated quite how good they were. They were still slogging on a few years ago, with a pretty damn decent album that had no good reason for not being a minor hit.

Anyway, when I think of "criminally underappreciated" I think of bands that should (realistically) have been huge and stayed huge. Not most of the groups listed who (again, realistically) were never going to have mass appeal.

Not working: waiting for the coals to settle down. Also, it *is* kind of rainy.

The Wedding Present don't really count, because their time was really 87-92. They had plenty of attention then. They might have been underappreciated after 1992 (I honestly don't know if they were worth appreciating by then, because I'd lost all interest), but they were appreciated before that.

Similarly Ride. They were massive (in as much as Indie guitar groups could be massive in those days) when they burst onto the scene in 1990, and in the end of year polls for the weeklies they were voted top. In 1991 they had a high profile considering they didn't really do anything. In 1992 there was a lot of expectation for their second album: when it turned up it wasn't that good and they lost half their fanbase overnight. Again, they might have been underappreciated after 1992 (I honestly don't know if they were worth appreciating by then, because I'd lost all interest), but they were appreciated before that.

I'm amazed to find out that Catherine Wheel and Swervedriver were still going in 1997. In my mind they both exist solely in 1991.

I'll go for the Boos, just because there's been a couple of threads about them on here recently so I've re-listened to some of their stuff.

No Dodgy or Ocean Colour Scene, no credibility! ;)

And Material Issue is missing from this list because?

maybe not the intention, but to me, that list amounts to a weird definition of "guitar bands." i'd vote for dwarves, royal trux, the fall, dead c, those brilliant early '90s Verlaines albums, dadamah, couch (the midwestern one), the gories, and satisfact as the best sort of indie rock bands (with guitar players) from the '90s that were not all that popular. ok, my own band, too. plus classic singles by bands like monoshock for instance.

the Gories were more of an 80s thing for me. They had a track on It Came From The Garage #2 (1987) that Bill Kelly used to play every week on WFMU. That really got me into them bc I never missed his show back then. By the 90's it didn't seem to me that they were breaking a lot of new ground so I kind of peaced out from there.

Their version of "Gimme Some Money" is absolute genius though and that was defo the 90s...

Just out of curiosity, what band were you in? Were you famous?!!

yeah my favorite gories record is i know you fine, but how you doin' - the one alex chilton produced! and i think that was '89.

i was in a band called the nephews and we had a self-released album from '93 called the heliocentric worlds of the nephews and an album on sympathy for the record industry from '95 called this world. we didn't tour much and weren't known much outside of hometown (san diego).

thanks for asking!

those albums didn't find the place in the world i hoped they would. and they're not readily available anywhere for people to hear them now. i still hope they'll find some other audience.

Here's a video of that midwestern band Couch I was talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV7mh_oW09Q&mode=related&search=

The Jesus Lizard could lay to waste any of those bands in a live setting.

this list does not have HUM "YOU'D PREFER AN ASTRONAUT"

but inclusion of silkworm gives validity to this list

credibility, you might say?

Ooh! This looks like a fantastic poll. Cheers.

yeah my favorite gories record is i know you fine, but how you doin' - the one alex chilton produced! and i think that was '89.

Yeah, me too!! Is it just me or did the White Stripes rip off a bit of their thing?

i don't know - that's possible

i thought they just ripped off the flat duo jets. and the pixies. and the gun club.

In what way were Yo la Tengo, GBV, Afghan Whigs, Built to Spill, The Jesus Lizard, JSBX & Royal Trux "criminally underappreciated"? Those bands, along with Pavement, pretty much ruled the indie scene.

i was in a band called the nephews and we had a self-released album from '93 called the heliocentric worlds of the nephews and an album on sympathy for the record industry from '95 called this world. we didn't tour much and weren't known much outside of hometown (san diego).

All the earmarkings of being criminally underappreciated!

Hey wow, I always wondered where the unsold copies of the Sympathy album ended up and it looks like there are some available here priced at a dollar:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:6h77gjlmo6ia~T4

Geraldine Fibbers, maybe?

Oh, I guess they didn't have 4 albums.

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282!!! Dammit!!!

In their absence, I pick Unwound. Some of these bands were extremely appreciated at the time, as has been noted.

I never thought Built to Spill were really appreciated till "Keep It Like a Secret", so I voted for them, with Afghan Whigs coming up bee-hind

I think Built to Spill will have about the same critical consensus as Camper Van Beethoven or Husker Du in about 5 more years.

Wow, I just completely avoided indie during the 90s.

Mano Negra??? They were huge in Spain, France and God only knows, where else, they were never underappreciated, just in the UK and the US. Also, I wouldn't call them a guitar band.
And I went for Luna.

Also, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Cafe Tacvba, they never were "indie guitar bands", like the others on the list

Scrawl were criminally underappreciated I think!

yeah, that's a good one!! :-)

I think that any band that has had a documentary made about them is not "criminally underappreciated".

jesus lizard, GBV, yo la tengo and a bunch of others of these seem pretty highly rated to me....

anyway i voted for silkworm cuz i was thinking they'd probably get no votes from anyone else.

"I voted for Mano Negra"

Me too.

They'll be bound to win then.

Had to go with Souled American, 'cause they were local heroes for me - but yeah - I'm pulling out rekkids of 11th dream day, walt mink, redredmeat, swervedriver, seam and the fannies thanks to this poll today ... would be interesting to play connect the dots between USA/limey/continent/world guitar band influences in the nineties though. I was in Canterbury, UK in 1990 and wow did they ever get grunge, noise, and USA-post-punk long before Americans did - very refreshing to absorb that along with madchester sound and bring back to the states to share with my friends.

A Nephews record came into the shop yesterday Tim, but I haven't listened to it yet. e_e

which one??

I have heard a grand total of one of these albums (Everything's Alright Forever). I need to get out more.

What about stuff like Turbonegro and Kyuss? Both have had their critical re-assessment at this point (and hard rock in general), but you didn't hear a ton about those guys in Spin/RS/Magnet in the 90s.

The Grifters, you know I loved you, but I had to vote Polvo and fast before I started to think "well, maybe it should be Unwound".

I have heard a grand total of one of these albums (Everything's Alright Forever). I need to get out more.
-- Curt1s Stephens

If you wanna hear more of those albums, you actually gotta *stay in* more! :)

no Kitchens of Distinction on the list = no vote from me...

Also when did Stereolab avoid guitars entirely?

Roland Thomas Clontle definitively proved that they didn't use 'em.

(Oops, Ronald)

write-in vote for thinking fellers union local 282

Thirded (or fourthed - I didn't scan the entire thread).

I voted for Eleventh Dream Day

In what way were Yo la Tengo, GBV, Afghan Whigs, Built to Spill, The Jesus Lizard, JSBX & Royal Trux "criminally underappreciated"? Those bands, along with Pavement, pretty much ruled the indie scene.

Boo Radleys, but no Moose?

as Swervedriver are the only band in that list i still give time to, i plumped for them.
though if the list had included Compulsion as indicated above, the choice would have been a lot more diffcult.

I think the only album from that list that I still own is Mercury Rev Boces.

I saw about 35 of the bands I listed live. Many of them (not all mind you, before you get yer panties in a bunch) either in the early, middle or late stages in their careers, could not sell out the Lounge Ax in Chicago or Uptown Bar in Minneapolis. That's not a lot of people (about 100). Hence, underappreciated. Now that bands that don't even have an album out regularly sell out bigger venues, I wonder how some of them would have fared post-Napster.

Material Issue never occurred to me. That damn song drove me nuts, the radio wouldn't stop playing it. But yeah, I should hear their other albums.

Mercury Rev are totally NOT underappreciated, gah.

Which Material Issue song? Kim The Waitress?

you brought up the phrase "Criminally Underappreciated" with a board that is full of music critics. blood in the water as they say.

this thread does bring up some good bands from the 90's that really didn't make it that big.

fwiw, the boo radleys but you already know that.

moose were criminally underappreciated.

no Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments no etc.

see, you even got Brent to chime in.

Were those GUITARS Material Issue were using? You would never know with that production...

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion were hyped a plenty. MTV staple for a couple of years. Great band, just needed some better songwriting.

No Archers of Loaf, Drive Like Jehu, Superchunk, etc...Went with silkworm who aren't my favorite from the list but seem to best fit the 'underapreciated' tag. Also, No Chavez makes me very sad.

could not sell out the Lounge Ax in Chicago or Uptown Bar in Minneapolis

Sounds like more of a problem with the audiences there than with the bands you list. Polvo, JSBE, Low and especially YLT sold out bigger venues here.

No Chavez makes me sad too.

Which Material Issue song? Kim The Waitress?

That's the go-to song, but all the albums are pretty solid.

And if you're going to list the Blue Aeroplanes, you have to list the Jazz Butcher too.

The correct answer here is clearly Come. Eleven:Eleven is a damn near perfect guitar rock record and no-one ever wrote a better song than 'Off To One Side' IMO.

Is anything ever criminally underappreciated by the tiny handful of indie cognoscenti? I thought it went without saying that the bands, while worshipped by their cult audiences of varying sizes, did not have very large audiences in the U.S. A few could sell out 500-1,000 capacity venues during their peaks. But I've seen countless shitty bands sell out stadiums in the manner of minutes, and NONE of these bands have come close to that level of popularity, at least in the U.S.

I think the bulk of Jazz Butcher's best work was in the 80s. I thought Drive Like Jehu only had one album, forgot about their self titled. Some bands I just didn't like much, like Kitchens and Hum, but still should have included them in the poll. Will I ever be forgiven?

Seriously though, no one here could come up with a list that pleased everyone. But that's the other benefit of this thread, to shake the nest and catch all the other interesting droppings (Archers, TJSA, Chavez, Come, Superchunk, Poster Children, Scrawl - all bands I liked and saw live but never got around to buying their albums). Some bands reflect the holes in my knowledge, as I've never heard Moose, Strangelove, Compulsion or China Drum. Thanks.

Compulsion's first album was OK. 2nd album was generic rubbish.

China Drum were also pretty generic. If they were American they would have been on Fat Wreck or Epitaph. What next, Joyrider were underappreciated?

So Kim The Waitress/Material Issue was a trick question, since it leads to The Green Pajamas!

I think the bulk of Jazz Butcher's best work was in the 80s.

Word. Still think the Thinking Fellers would win if they were on here.

Hmm. Some of my favorites:

Afghan Whigs - Some scratching of heads by the indie rock kids at my college newspaper when I picked Gentlemen as best album of '93. Still holds up.

Rocket From the Crypt - Initially underappreciated by critics largely cuz they stole their name from another critics darling. Minor umbrage ensued IIRC.

Guided By Voices! (Just kidding. Seriously should not be on this list, unless you think GBV deserved rotation on rock radio, which they never had a shot at, they were appreciated, are still appreciated, and will be appreciated 10 years from now.)

Screaming Trees - Though not my favorite band on the list I might vote for them because Dust was so awesome and so ignored, it was truly criminal.

Sloan - Probably my favorite band on the list, but not nearly as criminal as they are beloved in Canada, which counts, right?

Ride - Carnival of Light is very good and very unappreciated. Tarantula blows though.

Six Finger Satellite - I never did coke, but after seeing this band live I felt like I had. Devo reinvented as a Satanic krautrock band. Never appreciated enough to be underappreciated if you know what I'm saying.

Teenage Fanclub - Not quite sure why they're on here either. Maybe cuz they kept getting better even though they were less and less appreciated? Yeah that's it...

Swervedriver - They had their shot, but the world just was not ready. Still isn't.

Rein Sanction

half string

Sloan are not as beloved as The Tragically Hip, Barenaked Ladies or Nickelback, for that matter.

I never made it past the 1st Archers of Loaf LP ("she's an indie rocker, and nothing's gonna stop her"?!). It sounded like an exercise in combining bits of Pavement and Superchunk in non-interesting ways, though "Wrong" and a couple other songs were OK. Did they eventually get good?

BTW I went with Unwound, though Polvo, Grifters, and TFUL282 were all a big deal to me at the time as well. I still listen to them pretty regularly when driving (the tapes have pretty much never left my car since they were current).

for me, the missing answer is Gas Huffer: stooped over twang-punk with minutia-obsessed lyrics. But I'd have voted for Gallon Drunk anyways.

Two bands not mentioned: Ruth Ruth and Local H. Less well-known: Pittsburgh's Frampton Brothers, who released three excellent albums and two worthy EPs from 1991-1999. Singer/songwriter Ed Masley now leads Phoenix's The Breakup Society, whose 2003 "James At 35" and soon-to-be-released "Nobody Likes A Winner" have them well on their way to making the list of "Criminally Underappreciated '00s Guitar Bands."

I might have voted for Boo Radleys, but other than the underrated "Wake Up" album, and possibly "Kingsize", the rest of their output was overrated rather than underrated.

Besides Dodgy and Ocean Colour Scene, Supernaturals, Kula Shaker, Gene and (at least for a while) The Bluetones were also underrated though.

Ok. Voted for Teenage Fanclub, even though their best album ("Songs From Northern Britan) isn't listed.

Same problem about Ride as about Boo Radleys. "Twisterella" was great, the "Going Blank Again" album was generally good, but what they usually did was not.

polvo, but only because royal trux and the jesus lizard are REALLY well-appreciated around here

Swervedriver gets my vote - all their albums are great and I still listen to them a lot. They were definitely underappreciated - they had a real hard time getting their last couple records released in the US, truly criminal!

I might have voted for Urge Overkill if they were on the list - Saturation and Exit The Dragon were both classics and Exit The Dragon definitely qualifies as underappreciated.

Stereolab is my favorite band, and yes, their music has lots of guitar, but I have a hard time thinking of them as a "guitar band". I've never thought of the guitar as the main focus of their music, it just adds another layer to the overall drone. Plus, they are hardly underappreciated.

Yeah, where's UO?

i voted screaming trees. some great bands on that list, but the distance between trees' greatness, and the 'success' they enjoyed, is so poignant they have to be my choice.

Did they eventually get good?

The handful of up-thread mentions, together with the glaring omission, of Archers of Loaf might just make them the winner of this poll. (I mean, is their any better indication of the criminality of their unappreciated-ness than their omission?)

Although one may concede that "Icky Mettle" mightn't have been the Loaf's best album (although a much needed/long overdue remaster might turn a few more heads), few, if any, 1990's bands made guitar interplay more dynamic or more rocking - during the 1990's.

For those that didn't make it past "Icky Mettle" because it sounded like an "uninteresting" hybrid of Superchunk and Pavement (Pavement!?!? I love Pavement, but Pavement!?!?) - I suggest giving both their EP "Vs. The Greatest of All-Time" and second full-length, "Vee Vee" a whirl. Archers of Loaf may just surprise you in just how "good" and consequently, criminally underappreciated, they got (and/or were).

Compulsion's first album was OK. 2nd album was generic rubbish.

China Drum were also pretty generic.

I must respectfully disagree. Both first albums by Compulsion and China Drum were solid pop-punk affairs in the Buzzcocks tradition (China Drum's debut had a great cover of Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights") but their second albums really took a quantum leap in terms of songwriting and balancing the punk attack with great melodies.

I think the bulk of Jazz Butcher's best work was in the 80s.

True, but the 90s started with a gem in _Cult Of The Basement_ while the next 3 proper studio albums all had great stuff on them but it was almost like a different band as his songwriting style moved away from the goofy party style to something more, er, mature.

This is a good thread for getting ideas of things to reexamine.

http://janilanemusic.com/images/front_image6.jpg

just kidding

Another vote for Walt Mink, largely because due to parallel evolution, they got wrongfully tarred with the Smashing-Pumpkins-ripoff brush and never really recovered.

archers got v. good - greatest of all time and vee vee are way excellent and better/more interesting than icky mettle, which i do like as well

not the winner but a case for Swervedriver:

this band might have peaked too early. they did some great things but their first three ep's, with a total of 12 songs, are their best. only the Boo Radleys have a better first three.

Risewas an amazing debut with it helping me to form an opinion, at the time, that 'shoegaze' music was the best music ever.

then came Mezcal Head with everything falling into place perfectly. a tour that was remarkable with only bigger things to come. they were so good that you wondered why the rest of the nation wasn't being exposed. Soundgarden took them on their tour and everything stated falling apart.

Ejector Seat Reservaton was held hostage by Creation Records (who were actually Sony at this time) so Geffen was never able to release it. though fans like to think of this as their Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but unlike that great record, this one really does fall flat. it does have some really good songs but compared to anything above it doesn't stack up. also saw this tour, disappointing in Los Angeles with no encore...surreal.

99th Dream was financed by Geffen but they didn't release it because of their merger with a different major label. by far the weakest thing they did but a reunion tour in about seven years might be perfect.

*forgive me Swervedriver fans if i have some of the time-line wrong as it has been a few years.

i voted for six finger satellite.

I went with Unwound, albeit under "Where's the Loaf!?!" protest.

Write-in votes tally:

Archers Of Loaf 4
Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 3
Urge Overkill 3
Redd Kross 2
Moose 2
Scrawl 2

I didn't mention the many that received one vote. Some were hard to discern whether it was an actual vote (that it's actually a band they favored above all listed in this poll) or just looking for holes in the list. I'm surprised about Urge Overkill. During their one decent album, they were really popular, on the radio, on MTV, playing large venues. But I always thought they mostly sucked.

I haven't been able to find any Archers albums new or used. Time to go to Amazon I guess.

The new Buffalo Tom album got good reviews, but I'm not feelin it. I liked Birdbrain for its passion and potential, and their truly transcendent show at 7th Street Entry in 1990, but they always seemed to be missing something, so they remained a tier 2 favorite.

i think the absence of Archers of Loaf on the list proves a point

QED. Lock poll.

I haven't been able to find any Archers albums new or used. Time to go to Amazon I guess.

Or Half or eBay or Other Music's newish digital store - there's plenty to of Archers to be had at very reasonable prices.

Btw, just 'cuz four (or now five) people have "wrote-in" Loaf votes doesn't mean they wouldn't have garnered more votes from those that abstained from adding a comment regarding their absence.

(I know, kinda nitpicky...thanks for the tally! I'm curious to see the poll's results [which is my backhanded, complimentary way of saying the idea of this poll was a good one!].)

one very boring vote for catherine wheel here

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Urge Overkill had two decent albums and a great EP. Supersonic Storybook (which I actually pulled out not that long ago) is pretty good, though not as good as Saturation. The Hot Chocolate cover stands up pretty well. Stull is actually their classic, despite Pulp Fiction. Title track, Stitches In My Head and Barclords are all classics.

xpost

dude, Urge suck, okay?

Nope. Are you from Chicago or something.

Urge Overkill underappreciated? WTF?! They were EVERYWHERE for the couple months that Pulp Fiction was around and when Chrissie Hynde, etc. wouldn't shut up about them.

Then Exit The Dragon was released directly to the used bins of record stores nationwide.

I'd be willing to bet that 99% of the people who know the song from Pulp Fiction couldn't identify the name of the band or a single other track by them. Agree that Dragon met the fate it deserved.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

-- ILX System, Saturday, 14 July 2007 23:01 (Yesterday) Link

It's about motherfucking time.

Agree that Dragon met the fate it deserved.

You are wrong. In some ways Exit the Dragon is better than Saturation. Less camp + more hooks = Better in my book. Don't know what you're smoking.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Run off between Boo Radleys and Screaming Trees. I vote Screaming Trees.

Other than that, I'm not sure what else this poll tells us. There was just too many choices.

Screaming Trees! Afghan Whigs!

Listening to Dust right now. "Sworn and Broken" is such a fucking good song.

Dust and Sweet Oblivion are 2 of my favourite 90s albums easily.

Oh noes! After all the kvetchin' about leaving out this and that, in the end there were just too. Many. Choices.

Even if I doubled the Archers of Loaf tally they'd only have tied for 4th. I was pleased that at least three people mentioned Walt Mink, a great band I got to see all the time in college, but only one of them actually voted for 'em.

Screaming Trees were great. Does anyone know the story about an album they recorded prior to Dust that never got released due to label bs?

I recently bought Boo Rad's Everything Alright Forever but am not impressed. Downloaded Giant Steps, which is more interesting, but still haven't gotten into it. I'm enjoying Ride and Catherine Wheel more.

the boo fucking radleys? u mad.

turns out a bunch of underappreciated 90s guitar bands are also being underappreciated in this poll - go figure

more like BOOOOOOOOOOO RADLEYS

Other than that, I'm not sure what else this poll tells us
Fuck you, Rock en Espanol!

Back in my own college days of yore I owned (and will have to check the basement/back-up storage if I still own) Boo Radley's Giant Steps; aside from a few tracks, I think it might've been ahead of me at the time (i.e., I remember them being too eclectic, or...). Time for a re-eval?

"turns out a bunch of underappreciated 90s guitar bands are also being underappreciated in this poll - go figure"

It's almost as if the results of the poll are indicating that the underappreciated bands that we appreciate most, are also simultaneously the underappreciated bands that are actually the least underappreciated.....

I must admit that I did expect The Wedding Present to be less underappreciated than they apparently are 'though.

i realized tonight...that Th' Faith Healers were the missing band on this poll.

Yeah, Th' Faith Healers were definitely underappreciated. Anytime I introduce them to someone who has never heard them before, they are an instant hit. Maybe they broke up too early?

Local H are so underappreciated that they weren't even included in this poll.

I should have also mentioned Quicksand.

Why aren't The Rolling Stones in this poll?

I like some of the above bands, but I don't think any of them will be troubling posterity much, tbh.

Just thought I'd mention that I saw Swervedriver Saturday night and it was mostly excellent. They played a few too many later period songs that were a bit sluggish early in the set, but overall it was great. Friends not as familiar with them were duly impressed.

Make a wish on ILM and it comes true! Will have to test this ILM fairy-dust theory on someone else. How about Screaming Blue Messiahs...

Fastnbulbous - it was a great show on Sat! ... AND I will make a wish for Screaming Blue Messiahs too! Has anyone seen the Polvo reunions? I missed the local one here in Chicago ...

The Reader says Polvo July 25 at Subterranean.

played w/ swervedriver last week when they came thru and thought they were super boring. the soundsystem at that place was really great too. ah well

I would've voted for Material Issue (a teenage fave).

(if they were evenoffered as an option)

Along with Chrome, I finally got a copy of Giant Steps. There's some great songs, but not totally sinking in yet. Will listen more.