Greatest most underrated rock songs of all time

[musiclawyer]

Criteria: 1) has to be a relatively well known band/artist; 2) not remembered much for the song nominated because they had other more famous hits; but most importantly 3) you think the song is great, like top 25 of all time when lined up against the other great rock compositions no matter how famous.

My vote "Feel the Benefit" 10cc. Exquisite, complex, well engineered, band spot on, and just flat out beautiful. And to think it was after Creme and Godly left the band. Had they been around it might have been something greater, or different (or they may have screwed it up?) Don't matter. It's a classic in my book.

[Richardo]

1. "Victim of Love" by the Eagles

Live in the studio, kicks ass. Best track on Hotel California IMO. Beats the tar out of the overplayed title track and 'Life in the freakin fast lane'

[VelmaD]

19. Oh god...

talk about painful high school memories associated with THAT song.

But you're right...it is the best song on that album.

[JVS]

2. WE BUILT THIS CITY

[Taverner]

3. "Third World Man" By Steely Dan

My all time favorite, and the last tune off Gaucho, the last album before their hiatus (or sebbatical as I like to think of it...)

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. "I Love You, Goodbye" -- Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby of course well known for "She Blinded Me With Science" and a few other minor tunes.

This song, off Astronauts and Heretics in '93, is freaking brilliant. He has several Cajun guest stars playing on it, which gives this a far more down home feel than a lot of his more techno stuff. The cool mix of Brit techno and Cajun is really cool.

He even adds the sounds of swamps-- frogs, insects, etc in the background. Plus the production is great (well obviously, it's Dolby!).

FSC

[grace0418]

7. I effing love that song!

Thomas Dolby is very underrated in general.

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. Yep!

I wasn't really that into him in high school, but I bought that album based on that song.

Then I went back and bought his greatest hits (which I was listening to just this morning, actually!)

FSC

[jobycom]

5. Civil War-- Guns N Roses

[DoBotherMe]

6. "Still...you turn me on." ELP

[On the Road]

8. "Dead Flowers," Rolling Stones

along with "Sweet Virginia." My two faves by them.

[kodi]

13. agree about Dead Flowers. it my fave Stones song. a true R&B classic

in May i had a visitor from Belgium who was listening to it from a cd i had burned, he had never heard it and thought it was an american blues band playing. he was shocked to learn it was the stones.

[speedoo]

10. "Into the Fire" by The Boss.

Springsteen's passionate and heartbreaking tribute to the FDNY men who went into the towers has been buried by the bushista's constant use of 9/11 to justify it's lies and bankrupt foreign policy.

[LynneSin]

11. Drowse & Some Day One Day by Queen

:D

There's a whole slew of great songs that never got noticed because Freddie Mercury did not do the vocals on them

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. "One Of These Days" and "Fearless" by Pink Floyd

"What Difference Does It Make" by The Smiths

"Killing an Arab" by The Cure*

* THIS must be the most unfairly derided song EVER. It is about the EXACT OPPOSITE of what its detractors think it is. The lyrics talk about a man (Israeli soldier perhaps?) who has just killed another human being for the first time and feels himself crushed with guilt and dying inside, looking at the eyes of the man whose life he just took, lying motionless on a beach.

[xmas74]

14. Killing an Arab is a great song.

Everyone thinks of songs like "Love Song", "Fascination Street" or, of course, "Just Like Heaven" when they talk about The Cure. They really miss out by not listening to their other work.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. Positively CHILLING lyrics

Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring down the barrel
At the arab on the ground
See his open mouth
But I hear no sound

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm a stranger
Killing an arab

I can turn
And walk away
Or I can fire the gun
Staring at the sky
Staring at the sun
Whichever I choose
It amounts to the same
Absolutely nothing

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm a stranger
Killing an arab

I feel the silver jump
Smooth in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
Staring at myself
Reflected in the eyes
Of the dead man on the beach
The dead man on the beach

I'm alive
I'm dead
I'm the stranger
Killing an arab

[xmas74]

26. Now I need to listen to that.

I'll have to dig through my collection. I think I still have it somewhere-possibly still on cassette.

[LynneSin]

17. I love Fearless by Pink Floyd

it's so mellow yet happy and inspiring

[Zomby Woof]

15. "The Ballad of Curtis Loew" - Lynyrd Skynyrd

From 'Second Helping', the same album which gave us "Sweet Home Alabama". 'Curtis Loew' is based on a true story, and effectively proves the band was not racist at the same time paying tribute to their African-American blues roots.

[asthmaticeog]

18. The Beatles, "Hey Bulldog."

It was never a hit, and was actually kind of a throwaway tune, but damn, does it kick some high ass.

[Richardo]

21. You rock, asthmatic...

...as does 'Hey Bulldog'. :yourock:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

20. "Come On In" by the Music Machine

The Music Machine was a 60's rock group with a style ahead of its time, more like New Wave and known primarily for their hit "Talk Talk". But "Come On In" is a tune I have always liked a lot, for its haunting melody that would even make a good jazz head if played by a tenor sax. I've never heard it played on the radio, even during the 60's.

Another tune that gets my vote for an obscure but great tune is "From Home" by the Troggs, which has one of the most interesting guitar solos of any I heard during the 60's, both for tone and style. The Troggs were known almost solely for "Wild Thing" and were not considered great musicians. So who was playing on that guitar solo? I think it was the flip side of "Wild Thing" in England on the 45.

[benny05]

22. Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull

or "Thick as a Brick"

Another one, "The Wizard" by Uriah Heep

[liberalpragmatist]

23. "RAIN" by the Beatles

Fantastic song. Probably my favorite song ever. It's just so cool, trancey, and it's melodically perfect - one of the Beatles' best melodies. What's more, it came from John! Show that to people who say that Paul was the only Beatle with a good sense of melody.

[Richardo]

24. Paul plays a kickass bass line in that song, tho

Definitely a team.

[GumboYaYa]

25. The Police - "Tea in the Sahara"

I love that tune. It was on the Synchronicity album along with "Every Breath You Take", "King of Pain" and "Synchronicity", so it never go any air time.