You have just read some hyperbole. That title. If something was truly remembered by no one, then it wouldn’t be here, because not even the writer behind such a topic would remember it. The idea of something being 100% forgotten (like, genuinely by everyone) is a pretty mortifying thing, even if that something in question is not particularly good. It maybe recalls a quote by David Eagleman: “The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.”
That’s not very fun to think about. But at least these albums are enjoyable to listen to! No one here is absolutely massive in terms of being household names (though there is an argument to be made that legends like David Bowie, Pink Floyd, and Bob Dylan do have underrated albums), but they all deserve to be. And the albums at least broadly fit into the category of “rock” music, admittedly sometimes partially, all the while being released before the onset of the 1990s, which is when the period of classic rock had pretty much certainly come to an end.
10
‘From the Lions Mouth’ (1981)
The Sound
The story of The Sound is a pretty bleak one, but even if you don’t know the history behind the band, you can still feel a good deal of despair from the music alone. From the Lions Mouth is The Sound’s best and overall second album, sounding even better than Jeopardy, their debut, albeit that one probably leaned a little more into rock, or had more energy, at the very least.
Any energy in From the Lions Mouth is specifically of the anxious variety, so you’re kind of thrown between feeling a little on edge and then more than a little down in the dumps. It’s very well-executed despair, though, and this album is very easy to recommend to anyone who likes the sort of post-punk best exemplified (and maybe defined) by Joy Division.
9
‘Original Sin’ (1989)
Pandora’s Box
Meat Loaf probably needed composer/producer Jim Steinman slightly more than Jim Steinman needed Meat Loaf, but the fact remains that both men were at their respective bests when collaborating, as can clearly be heard on Bat Out of Hell, which sounds like an over-stimulated and more bombastic Born to Run. That album’s legendary, so why bring up Steinman? Well, his best Meat Loaf-less album isn’t too far off from the quality of Bat Out of Hell, as wild as that statement might sound.
It’s an album called Original Sin, and it was the only album released by the short-lived band/Jim Steinman project known as Pandora’s Box. Some of the tracks here became better known when later artists covered them, like Celine Dion doing “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” and Meat Loaf doing both “Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)” and “It Just Won’t Quit” on Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell. If you like over-the-top rock that has that unabashedly Wagnerian sound Steinman was very fond of, then Original Sin is a must-listen, even with the odd track here and there that underwhelms or confounds.
8
‘From A to B’ (1980)
New Musik
While New Musik might be a slightly silly name for a band, it turns out that the band in question was much better at writing engaging pop/rock/new wave tunes than it was at picking a band name. They were primarily a new wave band, with some synthpop thrown in for good measure, so not very rock-heavy, but they more than make up for that in the whole being underrated/largely forgotten thing.
The band’s best album, From A to B, is great, being a great listen from… well, from you know where to you (also) know where. “Straight Lines” and “Sanctuary” get the whole thing off to such a great start that you worry it’s peaked too early, but then all the remaining tracks end up being almost as good, so it’s really not an issue. This is just tightly written and exceedingly well-executed music, or musik, and so many more people ought to know about this band and (especially) this album.
7
‘Script of the Bridge’ (1983)
The Chameleons
The Chameleons have such a cinematic sound that it’s a mystery why so few films have utilized the band’s music in their soundtracks. They fit within the post-punk genre previously mentioned with regard to The Sound and Joy Division, but prove even more underrated than the former, and while it might sound like a hot take, they could well even be better than the latter.
Script of the Bridge is worth mentioning here because it combines a post-punk sound with some rock music traits to great effect.
Well, Script of the Bridge is a potentially better album than any individual one Joy Division put out, and it’s worth mentioning here because it does combine that post-punk sound with some rock music traits to great effect. It’s all very moody and atmospheric. Maybe that’s what makes the music sound like it would work in a good many soundtracks, but then, on the other hand, Script of the Bridge is also plenty cinematic on its own, without any visuals.
6
‘This Is the Sea’ (1985)
The Waterboys
Since The Waterboys had at least one big fan back in the 1980s, it’s once more a stretch to call them forgotten, but still, their best album, This Is the Sea, wasn’t quite a smash hit or anything. “The Whole of the Moon,” maybe, is a bit more recognizable, and it’s the standout song on the album for sure, yet far from the only worthwhile track here.
Really, all the tracks on This Is the Sea are great, albeit differing levels of great, from pretty great all the way through to the greatest of the 1980s, as far as rock music goes. It’s grand in its sound, being a little more theatrical, varied, and lush with its instrumentation than most “classic” rock, but that doesn’t stop the album from being worth a shoutout here, and it does overall still feel pretty underrated in the overall scheme of things.
5
‘Skylarking’ (1986)
XTC
There are lots of genres tackled throughout Skylarking, or maybe there are no genres tackled throughout Skylarking, and Skylarking is entirely its own thing. The band behind this album (one that’s now 40 years old, but doesn’t sound it) is XTC, and they’re probably best described as a new wave/pop/art rock band, and with a bit of post-punk thrown in for good measure. Plus some other stuff.
Of the band’s albums, Skylarking is not the most rock-heavy, yet it is the band’s best, and even if it’s only got a little by way of stuff that sounds like rock, it’s still too great to ignore, whenever there’s an opportunity to sing its praises. It’s aged eerily well, still sounding removed from time and unique, so it might well have sounded even crazier (in a good way) back in 1986. XTC remains a notable cult band, and so you will find people who remember and still love them, but not nearly as many as the band – and its legacy – deserve.
4
‘The Modern Lovers’ (1976)
The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers was the self-titled debut by the short-lived but influential – not to mention waaaay ahead of their time – punk rock band, The Modern Lovers. The album was released in 1976, and already sounded ahead of the curve in terms of where punk rock would go in the last few years of the 1970s, but the fact that the music here was recorded in the first few years of the decade makes The Modern Lovers all the more impressive.
If you’ve heard a song on this, it’s probably the opening track, “Roadrunner,” or maybe you’ve heard it incorporated by M.I.A. on the song “Bamboo Banga.” The whole album is eccentric and very engaging, though, even if you’re not usually too wild about punk rock. It probably rocks the most out of all the albums mentioned here, for what that’s worth, as far as energy and an overall classic rock feel are concerned (even while it’s also undeniably very punk in its sound and attitude).
3
‘Underwater Moonlight’ (1980)
The Soft Boys
Just take a look at that horrifying album cover. Why would you make that your album cover? Of course no one is going to want to buy that, especially in an era where vinyl records were the most convenient way to purchase and listen to music, and so that album cover is huge. And that’s before addressing the fact that the band is called The Soft Boys, which is also just an unpleasant name to go with the unpleasant album cover.
Said album cover is for Underwater Moonlight, but thankfully, the music contained within is so damn good that it makes the weird album cover and the weird band name more forgivable. This is one of the most anxious and jangly rock/post-punk/new wave albums ever made, but even labeling it with a bunch of different genres doesn’t go far enough in expressing how distinctive the whole thing is. If you like Violent Femmes but always wished they were even stranger and a good deal more surreal, then Underwater Moonlight is probably going to be your new favorite album of, like, all time.
2
‘Tim’ (1985)
The Replacements
The thing about Tim that jumps out before you play any of the music is the ridiculous album title, because it’s just called Tim. And the album cover isn’t much more comprehensible (though it’s admittedly not as alarming as the previously complained about cover for Underwater Moonlight). So, the first impression isn’t great, but then once you actually listen to the album, its title and cover don’t even matter; the music overwhelms and stuff.
It’s perhaps the best album The Replacements ever put out, or is neck-and-neck with their previous one, Let It Be, and the band’s always felt like one of the most underappreciated of their era. The Replacements had a knack for being cool and approachable in equal measure, kind of like Blondie at their best, but success beyond being a cult favorite eluded them, and though the fanbase might be a little bigger now than it was in the 1980s, it should nonetheless be bigger still.
1
’16 Lovers Lane’ (1988)
The Go-Betweens
It feels strange to talk about 16 Lovers Lane as a pop/rock album from the 1980s, because it largely sounds as though it could’ve come from the 21st century. At the very least, you can hear the influence this album (comfortably the best The Go-Betweens ever released) has had on groups still active to this day, but 16 Lovers Lane somehow was overlooked even in Australia, at least initially, which is where the band hailed from.
If you like The Smiths, then this one should scratch the same itch, and might well scratch that itch even more thoroughly. The dynamic in The Go-Betweens, with heartbreak and relationships between band members, also reflects that of Fleetwood Mac’s during the making of Rumours, but The Go-Betweens, as a full band, did not survive beyond the making of 16 Lovers Lane, which makes it (and the lyrics in particular) feel all the more bittersweet. The band’s main duo, Grant McLennan and Robert Forster, reformed about a decade later, but then that reformation was short-lived, as McLennan passed away suddenly at the age of just 48, in 2006.
