Wilco rose to the attention of many thousands by eeking out a narrative of under-appreciation. Thousands bought it. And although I think they are enormously talented, I think they have been well beyond the press-darling syndrome for years. A perfect example of Rolling Stone's ability to view just about anything through the lens of nostalgia.

Atari should really kill that tag, those giant paintings make this page miles long, and difficult to decipher.

I want sonic youth action fan mail.

Because by the time they're paying attention to it, its already dead most of the time. Like screamo. etc. The bands that broke the style killed the style, and rollingstone finally wrote about it. That magazine is printed behind the hollywood sign.

Is there any good music related magazines still out there?

I kinda like 'under the radar,' but as far as magazines concerned with punk music, I have no idea. What music-type coverage are you looking for?

Here's a list off the top of my head that makes much more sense (focusing on long term artists, and leaving off anyone like Nick Drake who would have made it had his music not turned up in a car commercial.) Sonic Youth have received way more "appreciation" than any of these groups. I also considered Yellow Magic Orchestra, but they've only lacked the appreciation in the U.S., while in their homeland they were bigger than the Beatles.:

1. Rocket from the Tombs (who split into Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys after writing all the classic songs of both!)
2. Suicide (who make way more sense than the Cars, and I'm sure Rick Ocasek would agree)
3. Hawkwind (the hippy band who influenced the Sex Pistols among others)
4. The Last Poets (who arguably invented rap music in the '60s way before hip hop)
5. The Sonics (NW punk rock from the early '60s who influenced the Who, the Kinks, The Cramps, etc...)
6. Pere Ubu (who make infinite more sense than their scene contemporaries Devo)
7. Wire
8. NEU!
9. The Fall
10. The Soft Boys
11. Television (in place of Talking Heads)
12. The Heartbreakers (way more underapreciated than Thunders first band, and better musically too.)
13. The Runaways
14. The Bad Brains
15. The Slits
16. Love
17. Laurie Anderson
18. The Birthday Party
19. The Spacemen 3
20. The Contortions
21. Richard Hell & the Voidoids
22. The Raincoats
23. Lydia Lunch/Teenage Jesus & the Jerks/Eight Eyed Spy
24. The Germs
25. The Screamers

Runners up: the Dictators, Gang of Four (slightly more "appreciated" than Sonic Youth), Gary Numan (barely disqualified because of "Cars" being the mega hit it is, but the rest of his period catalog is way overlooked), Swans, Pussy Galore, Big Black, Hood, The Ex, of course this could go on forever...

wow, i thought this list would have omoide hatoba or something. nah, just a bunch of bands who are already hugely successful..

Underappreciated. And by that I mean they should attract a crowd larger then the Arcade Fire / create a bigger hype in the music world.

1. Pavement
2. 12RODS
3. Sonic Youth
4. Yo La Tengo
5. Silver Jews
6. Wilco
7. Grandaddy
8. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
9. Matthew Good (canadian) - listen to "Giant" and you will understand.
10. the band i wish i had.

what?!

1. Pavement - the quintessential indie rock band, EVERYONE appreciates them
3. Sonic Youth - WHAT?! they're appreciated plenty!
6. Wilco - hahaha.. you're kidding.
8. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - they got a 10/10 from pitchfork. they're way too appreciated.

Grandaddy are boring.

here's my unappreciated bands.

+/-, 90 day men, 400 blows, a minor forest, a trillion barnacle lapse, akimbo, brainiac, cerberus shoal, chromelodeon, clouddead, dazzling killmen, el guapo, erase errata (face it, they're extremely underappreciated), ex-girl, experimental dental school, fly pan am, funeral diner, gastr del sol, giddy motors, honor role, hot snakes, ikara colt, jesu, june of 44, loincloth, man or astroman, ooioo, omoide hatoba, ooo, pan sonic, polvo, polysics, ruins, ruinhorse, rumah sakit, satisfact, scissor shock, secret chiefs 3, servotron, silver apples, six finger satellite, slowdive, stereolab, sweep the leg johnny, the coughs, unwound, us maple, xiu xiu (seriously, do any mainstream mags even cover them?), yaphet kotto, and yowie.

there are tons more, obviously, but that's what came to mind first.

Uh...he's quite big up here. I'm a fan though.



I would say Mission of Burma, the Wipers, Swans, the Sonics (and probably countless of their garage rock contemporaries) are underappreciated




and Pere Ubu

hell yes, the wipers!!!!!! that dude is one of my favorite guitar players.

Depends what underappreciated means doesnt it. It could mean an artist who has had a massive influence without much recognition or one who has continually changed and pushed the boundaries of their particular fanbase, OR an artist who has created something which has resonated and influenced for years after the fact.

On those terms, off the top of my head
The first instance - Sonic Youth,
Second - ... Sonic Youth. Radiohead with Kid A, Mars Volta
Third - Manic Street Preachers with The Holy bible, Joy Division with Unkown pleasures. As with many, massive influence on more popular bands but not massive concerns.

come to think of it, i don't really care if music is under or overappreciated, as long as i can listen to them, i am fine.

I really liked that mag "Skratch" but its hard to find, it was free too.

Most of those, yes. Stereolab are about as huge as Pavement though, to apply the same standard you used on that kid earlier. Not that I don't think they're a great band, one of my faves actually, just that they are pretty hugely appreciated.

if you are stupid. Or you listned to like...Todd Zilla/Fambly Cat and draw your conclusions from this.

Under The Western Freeway
Sophtware Slump

ridicuously good.

wow, stereolab are considered that big? i honestly never knew that. i mean, obviously prolific, but i've never seen 'em mentioned much in mainstream rags.

If by underappreciated you mean should be played on mainstream radio but for some reason arn't then that isn't actually too bad a list. Otherwise there are problems like that a lot of them (Tom Waits, Fugazi, SY, The Band etc) are critic's darlings and have pretty healthy fanbases in their respective sectors.

Could be worse. A lot worse.

EDIT: Can't make sense of The Cars or Tom Petty though, they don't strike me as underappreciated in any way, shape or form.