Well, great to see so much response on this thread. Hope a few more folks still speak to this issue. I can't believe Yates hasn't weighed in yet. I'm guessing he's still scouring his data base and compiling a top 5 list for each of the many genres about which he has encyclopedic knowledge. I purposely kepy my query open ended, but I guess I tend to go with the people who say that a record that for a record to be criminally underappreciated it had to sell less the 50,000 copies (and better still less than 8000). So anyway, here are a couple that I really liked. No twang I'm afraid. Northwesterners may not find these so obscure, but everyone else may: 1. Tarbabies: "Death Trip". The swan song from probably the best band ever to come out of Madison, Wi. That mythical hybrid of James Blood Ulmer and the Minutemen that everyone should have in their life. If you don't own this one and the three SST releases (recorded by Butch Vig--this is the shit he made his indy rock rep on along with Killdozer), you are missing out. Funky Funky FUnky. 2. Love Battery: Straight Freak Ticket. This record defines criminally underappreciated for me. It is a great psychedelic pop record. It's the only one on a major label. If you like Television style noir, check out "Nehru Jacket." This is a beautiful record. Ron Nine can write a pop song. 3. The Gits: "Frenching the Bully," "Enter the Conquering Chicken," Kings and Queens" IMHO, the Gits were the best punk rock band of the '90s (although the New Bomb Turks are close). Aside from maybe Exene Cervenka, there is no other female singer in punk rock who could hold a candle to Mia Zappata. She truly was the Janis Joplin of Punk rock, a singer perfect for the genre and yet so powerful that she transcends the genre's limitations. Unfortunately, this band was short lived. Mia was tragically murdered about five years ago right as the band was on the verge of breaking through to the next level (just think, it could have been them instead of Green Day). All three records are good. Frenching is probably the most fully formed. Chicken was finished after Mia died, so they had to use her scratch vocals. Nevertheless, it's a great work. Kings and Queens was released after Chicken. But it was actually the first demos the band recorded in 1987 live to 2-track. Nevertheless, it's all there and in some ways it's the best of the bunch. 4. The Meices. "Tastes Like Chicken." A real good Replacements style work out. Take a look if you haven't had a chance. Well, that'll have to do for now jake Jake London
