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Under-rated bands (with good bassists)

Pedulla-Player

Pedulla-Player

Bassist for Reckless Dezire (Wausau, WI)
Supporting Member
Mar 5, 2009
3,212
2,560
Northern Wisconsin
#1
What are some under-rated bands with good bassists? I always liked The Afghan Whigs and thought they were a highly under-rated band. Their album 'Gentlemen' from 93' still gets into my rotation on occasion.
I really liked John Curley's bass playing and tone on that album. 'Black Love' from 96' was also a really good album from them. I do give them credit because the broke up and got back together and released albums in 2014 & 2017.
I'd like to hear what bands that you think were/are under-rated and deserved more notoriety and air play . Thanks.
**Try to keep it around the 90's era, but if there is a very under-rated band from a different era that you'd like to share with us - by all means do so. ;)


 
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#2
I changed the thread from under-rated bands from the 90's (with good bassists) to just under-rated bands (with good bassists). To open things up a little bit.
I guess try to keep it around the 90's era though (late 80's thru early 2000's), but by all means if there is an under-rated band not in that time frame that you think we should know about - please feel free to share it with us.
 
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#6
Riverdude said:
I've always thought D.R.I had some interesting bass lines.
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Is that the thrash/punk band D(irty) R(otten) I(mbecils)? I've heard of them, but have never listened to them. I'll have to check them out. Thanks.

**Edit**
I just listened to their song 'Thrash Zone'. Pretty good stuff. I am surprised that I never checked them out back in the day because I used to listen to bands like The Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves.
 
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#8
I'm going to stick with the 90's, just to narrow it down; that was such a weird time period, what with the grunge onslaught. There were so many under the radar yet interesting bands that came along with something different in spite of all that. For the most part, the bassists weren't necessarily astounding players, but they did their jobs, played for the song, and got an occasional high profile moment. This first band did have a loyal following, cranked out a lot of albums and singles, and while stylistically were a mash-up of the Velvet Underground, Swingle Singers, Bossa Nova, Jet-Age Lounge, Free Design, Joe Byrd, and motorik Krautrock like Neu!, Can, and La Dusseldorf, they still managed to sound like no one else...




The epitome of what was labeled 'twee pop', this Scottish outfit is still going strong after 25 years(I saw them last summer); not a lot of flash bass work, just what is needed, echoes of early Donovan, Simon & Garfunkel and Nick Drake in their stuff...




Even with the 'Britpop' surge, these guys got totally lost in the shuffle, great atmospherics, but hopelessly obscure...




This outfit had it going on for a brief period, very groovy transcendental 60's psychedelia, and no wonder...the lead singer/guitarist was the son of one of that decade's icons, Hayley Mills...

Invalid Link Removed
Kula Shaker - Tattva

No flannel anywhere.
 
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#9
Pedulla-Player said:
Is that the thrash/punk band D(irty) R(otten) I(mbecils)? I've heard of them, but have never listened to them. I'll have to check them out. Thanks.

**Edit**
I just listened to their song 'Thrash Zone'. Pretty good stuff. I am surprised that I never checked them out back in the day because I used to listen to bands like The Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves.
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yeah that's them, they're pretty hit or miss for me. My favorite albums of theirs are definition and live. The song acid rain has some cool bass.
 
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#10
Michedelic said:
I'm going to stick with the 90's, just to narrow it down; that was such a weird time period, what with the grunge onslaught. There were so many under the radar yet interesting bands that came along with something different in spite of all that
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I'd prefer if we stuck to the 90's, but I found out that the band I used as an example formed in the late 80's. lol

BTW - Thanks for your input. Definitely stuff I've never heard before. ;)
 
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#11
The D.R.I. post got me thinking of when I listened to some pretty weird off-the-wall stuff in the late 80's and early 90's and it made me think of a band that I haven't even thought of in over 25 years. I had no idea my brain could pop something out of no where that hasn't even crossed my mind in that long?!?
Mr. Bungle <--- Now that was one heck of a weird band. Not saying they are under-rated - just weird. ;)

 
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#14
biguglyman said:
How about King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard? Great Aussie band with some serious chops and weird ideas... like their disk Flying Microtonal Banana where they had guitars specially built with crazy frets to do the micro-tonal parts. They even put out five albums in one year. (2017)
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I'll have to check them out. Thanks.

**Edit**
Their live performance on KEPX was pretty dang cool. Thanks for mentioning them. ;)
 
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#15
Pedulla-Player said:
I'd prefer if we stuck to the 90's, but I found out that the band I used as an example formed in the late 80's. lol

BTW - Thanks for your input. Definitely stuff I've never heard before. ;)
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That's OK, I kinda spaced out a bit on the Delays, they're actually from the early/mid-2000's:woot:. Sad news about the singer/guitarist that I didn't know about, he's suffering from serious bowel cancer.
 

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