Unknown/underrated bands

Buckethead 

Not a band, but Ted Hawkins is a pretty unknown musician and his music is really fucking good, particularly his song, "Sorry You're Sick".

He's great! Hadn't heard of him before here, have now added him to my Spotify. 

All credit goes to my wife for that one; she's introduced me to a shit load of super talented musicians that I would otherwise never heard of. Another two worth checking out area Shiny Ribs (he has a great song called, "Poor People store") and Dan Reeder. Dan's song, "Clean Elvis", is so fucking strange but so fucking good. My wife and I used it as our first dance song and it confused the shit out of everyone, haha. Fun memory.

Local H
 

The Black Moods!

https://youtu.be/zU1Y-Lwheb8?si=c3Ls1G-I8TPTP_UE

Melvins 

Mudcrutch 

Steve, I have now seen Local H 3 times(every time at Wooly's in Des Moines) since you first introduced them to me on here like 7 years ago. I had heard them before but never knew the bands name.
Apparently they have been popular around here for awhile. They once played a short set at Urbandale High School in Des Moines. 

Hell yeah brother!!! i've been to chicago 3 times the last 2 years just to see them. They are unreal live. I think im a total of 7 with them.

Guttural Slug 

Ultra Vox - Private Lives (2008 Remaster) -

A band that should have had more success. While not exactly unknown they never seemed to break big. While all the keyboard aces jumped on MiniMoogs, Billy Currie showed everyone what you could do on an Arp Odyssey! Beautiful, elegant lines ... I could listen to him solo all day. 

For metalheads. 
Friend of the family and my helper in remodeling when he’s not on tour is Sean Elg. He is currently the drummer for a new band that formed right as Covid struck so it’s taken awhile to get moving. KK’s Priest 

Led by KK Downing who was a founding member of Judas Priest. Lead singer is Tim ripper Owen’s who was also on Priest at one time and was the guy Mark Wahlberg played in the movie Rockstar. Sean’s the drummer, don’t remember who plays base guitar. 
My son Casey plays with Tim and Sean in a smaller band called the 3 Tremors and they have toured all over Europe. That one has taken a backseat to KK’s Priest who just this week started their first US tour which began in Florida a few days ago. 

I know some may laugh at this, but one band that was greatly under appreciated was Tommy Tutone.  Yes, they were a one-hit-wonder but both of their first two albums were fantastic. I still listen to them pretty often and I generally leave the overplayed ‘one hit’ til the end because the rest of the catalog is so good. 
 

Unknown AND underrated:

Truly/Robert Roth (who basically was Truly)

Bitch Magnet

REO Speedealer

I have a bunch of Hoodoo Gurus CDs..  Their singles were great fun.  The last few CD’s I haven’t bought,  but their 80s/90s stuff was great.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Ik-OuZTI0&pp=ygUdaG9vZG9vIGd1cnVzIGhhcmQgZGF5J3MgbmlnaHQ%3D

Blue Rodeo, Diamond Mine.  To me, one of the coolest songs ever.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=opIyFDOtSzQ&pp=ygUYYmx1ZSByb2RlbyBkaWFtb25kIG1pbmUg

Went to see Mastodon and Khemmis was their opener.. I was blown away became an instant fan that night. 

This is obviously a cover, but their songs are awesome. 

Tex &The Horse Heads

Minus The Bear is a great band that has been around since early 2000’s. 

Local H was on one of the mini warriors videos, right? The name is ringing a bell, and I remember the song being awesome.

Edit* Found it

Theres a band out of Oregon I can't stop listening to called Steaksauce Mustache.  It's like Every Time I Die, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Horse the Band had a baby. 

When We Escape is in my top 50 songs all time.

I started listening to them back in 94ish
That’s an awesome band

Anybody remember the Smithereens?

https://youtu.be/5LwjD8z2mOg?si=WPLetram0Xc5-G-a

Or the replacements?

I’m probably a couple years older than you are. I lived in Bellevue between 89-92ish and they were pretty big regionally then, along with Tad, Mudhoney, and obviously the bands that blew up like Soundgarden, MLB, AIC, Pearl Jam/Mookie Blaylock, Nirvana, etc. Screaming Trees were pretty good, but part of that may have been my bias because they were from eastern Washington. 

And you can’t mention the Seattle music scene from that era without mentioning Citizen Dick with Cliff Poncier!!!!