most underated song writer

Shel Silverson...while he has been respected in the music industry for his songwriting...I don't think the general public realizes he was the man behind all the dr hook classics...and scores of hits by rock and country artists.
 
Willy Dixon..Great songwriter{Blues}.I think that he had a gig as a bassist for Muddy Waters..Led Zep did alot of his songs..Great stuff..


Don
 
Very good Henri. Somebody knows their rock and roll history!

Other artists that covered Willie's songs were Cream, Clapton, Steppenwolf and I beleive the Stones but I would have to check on that one.
 
Many of the white blues purists (Page, Beck, Richards, Clapton, et al.) were fans of Willy Dixon which is why a lot of his tunes were covered by those guys. Any fan of those guitarists should know the name of Willy Dixon. But yes- he would be an underrated songwriter, except by those great guitarists who covered his songs.

-c
 
Great to hear there also so many Waits fans over here. Tom Waits his contribution to music may not be overlooked.

I would like to add Nick Cave to the songwriters list.
 
FRANK BLACK...FRANK BLACK...FRANK BLACK....previously of ...duh...The Pixies, and now with a fantastic new band called "Frank Black and the Catholics".....same ol' Frank with less quirkiness, more kinda Neil Young rock....also.....Adam Franklin of the most underrated pop rock band on the planet..Swervedriver......do yourself the favor......thanks for lookin
 
Frank Black defenitely is worth mentionning. Although I still love his Pixies work a lot more than his work with the Catholics.
 
I enjoy the Catholics... but the Pixies are classic.

I wonder what we mean by under-rated, though. The Pixies was a hugely popular group; doesn't this in turn mean that many people appreciated Frank Black's songs... i.e. he wasn't under-rated, he was popular. That could go for a number of writers mentioned here.
 
I take rated and unrated

to mean that they are not celebrated in the 'big' rock things.

You know, in the rolling stone review of records, the lookback shows, that kind of thing.

And more importantly, by non-music type people.

Like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are known by a large segment of the population, mentioned in other writing, in Time magazine and the like.

Whereas for most people, Frank Black might get a 'huh'?, or a 'you mean that guy from the millenium show'?

That's how I take it, anyway.


All incarnations of Frank Black are pretty much limited to a fairly small genre, after all. As are thousands of other songwriters in many genres.

Maybe with the 'narrowcasting' that music seems to be in right now, maybe there will never be the big genre-crossing songwriters that there were 20 years ago. Like Neil Young writing songs that were hits not by him - 'It's gonna take a lot of love' and "love is a rose' being good examples.

I think a good comparison would be television. 20 years ago, there were the big three american networks, and a bunch of little guys, led by PBS. Nowadays you have all these little networks, so that 'Sex in the city' is a modern hit, but you can only watch it if you have HBO.

To me, it seems that music is the same way. Richard Thompson and John Prine are big names to me, and to the people that I know. But outside of their genres, they're virtually unknown. They've always been like that, but if you like, say, drum'n'bass, the people who are known in that genre are only known to the rave kids who buy that stuff.

I never thought I would yearn for the big bad days of corporate rock!

Back in the 80's I thought that a pop hit was automatically bad, and not up to my snobby standards.

Now when I hear the big hits of yesteryear Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Prince, John Cougar, there WAS good music on the top 40. There's not much I like there now.

And none of this rambling is meant to suggest that quality and popularity are in any way intertwined. Some people like to be obscure, some people want to be famous. I don't think that J.J. Cale and N'Sync would want to change places.

Bruce Springsteen, I think, wouldn't have been able to put Born In The USA out in the same way if he didn't know that america would hear what he had to say.

It's just that once upon a time, an obscure singer with something to say could catch the worlds ear for a minute or two. Like Tracy Chapman did once upon a time, getting famous by fluke, and putting a much needed authentic voice on the radio.

Could that happen today? I like to hope so, but I doubt it.
 
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Bad Company produced a lot of "bubble gum" rock in the 70's, but like the Beatles (to a lesser degree), everybody knows a Bad Co song.
Paul Rogers and Mick Ralphs wrote a ton of good stuff for several years:
Seagull
Ready for Love
Deal with the Preacher
Wild Fire Woman
Good Lovin' gone Bad
Sweet Little Sister

I think Rogers has always been under-rated as a vocalist as well. Anybody catch "Moonlight Lady" or his cover of "You've lost that Lovin' Feeling" from his days with the Firm?
 
Teenager of the Year -- one of the top ten albums of the frickin' century.

Elvis Costello is quite prolific and a master of melody.

Bpdjosam
 
Hey Middleman,

thanks for reminding me of an old friend and favorite,

Blues Man Willie. a BMW we can all afford!!

Tim
 
I've always liked the Pixies, but don't think I would consider much of it very good songwriting. Someone mentioned John Prine - I don't think he's underrated, just unknown (along the same lines as Robert Pollard). I don't know anyone familiar with either of them who don't acknowledge their songwriting. Paul Westerberg is a good call, Clark.

Anyone mentioned Bob Mould yet?
 
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