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Originally Posted by batreleaser
the wipers??
theyre one of my all time favorite bands, but theyre pretty well known and loved and discussed.
one thing that is underrated about them though is greg sage's guitar playing. best guitar player out of all the protopunk bands and 77 punk bands
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I had the same reaction as you when I saw him list The Wipers, but then I thought about it, and they
do deserve more attention. They should be considered a classic rock band along the lines of CCR and an American punk band rivaling Black Flag and the Ramones in importance. They don't get those kind of accolades, and they will probably never be in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame or even get the retrospective credit from the likes of Rolling Stone that plenty of other bands they ignored the first time around get.
But my list does lean (for the most part) towards the more obscure:
Giant Sand (awesome group doing remarkable stuff from the '80s until today with little recognition despite the obvious influence on Will Oldham and that whole roots indie movement.)
Peter Jefferies (man's a fucking songwriter genius and my favorite album by him I bought in a cut out bin at Phantom City in Olympia where people are supposedly hip to this stuff.)
The For Carnation
The Beat Nigs (Michael Franti's best group by far, they should have been legends, but are largely forgotten because their mix of industrial post-punk and hip hop influenced poetics was too hard for the world to digest.)
Rocket from the Tombs (yeah, we read all the time how important they are, and of course any band that spawned the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu should get that kind of credit, but when I saw them live, there were literally under 50 people in the room and tickets were like ten bucks.)
The Sonics and the Wailers (seeing as how they inspired the Who, the Kinks, the first generation of punk rock, and the best garage bands from the '80s on, these two Tacoma WA bands ought to be as familiar as their progeny, but they really aren't)
Noggin (this guitar/electric violin noise duo is vastly influential and bridged the generational worlds of post-punk noise and free jazz improv. Full disclosure: Eric is a good friend of mine, and Michael was too. We sadly lost him last month.)
Vexed (Seattle band from the '80s and '90s who were on the apex of goth, grunge, and prog without being cheesy the way all three of those genres usually are. Heard of them? Of course you haven't, but they played on bills with Soundgarden and other people who got rich and famous before all that shit hit the fan.)
Blowhole (absolutely amazing Seattle noise/improv band who I sorely miss)
Amy Denio (whether in the Tone Dogs, the Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, one of her other infinite number of groups, or totally solo, Amy just fucking rules. Experimental while never failing to have brilliant pop sensibilities and a perfect grasp of our quirky world. Full disclosure: another good friend, but I was sure a fan first.)
Cabaret Voltaire (they basically invented the whole techno dance thing years before it became all kids listened to, and they did it with a punky political panache that made it always interesting unlike many of their progeny.)
The Screamers (one of the first American punk bands and they used all synths to devastating effect. They have a certain amount of hind sight critical acclaim, but not at all on the level of the Germs, who they completely rivaled in intensity and even importance.)
Zoviet France (ambient musique concrete genius.)
Crank Sturgeon (easily one of the very most entertaining performers I have ever seen. Full disclosure: we're good friends, though it came from me worshiping his insanely good and insane live set.)
Christian Marclay (you know who he is, but most of the world sadly doesn't.)
Black Dice (they range from angry noise to beautiful atmospheric wall of sound, and they are mildly popular, but I think they should be huge.)
Tape Beatles (I love Negativland and all, but these poor guys never got sued and so didn't get a 1/100th as famous.)