Rock's Backpages, available free to you through Christchurch City Libraries.
"Underrated" is a term that is widely and oftentimes overused when talking about music and rightly so, it's a passionate subject!
When I think of "underrated", in terms of music at least, I think of The Saints - a punk/rock band well ahead of their time, contemporaries of The Ramones, pre-dating The Sex Pistols & The Clash, and hailing from OUR OWN REGION! - albeit on the other side of the Tasman (1970s Brisbane), so why are they not as noted as these others?? They certainly deserve to be, in my humble musical opinion!
My first exposure to The Saints was being handed an old cassette (remember those?!?) by a boyfriend of my older sister back in the 1980s. The tape was many-generations-of-overdubs old with illegible scribbles all over the labels. One side had some pretty decent Australian Rock'n'Roll, on the other side ... Eternally Yours by The Saints. It was loud, it was raw & packed with lyrics shouting at you to "Wake Up" & see what's happening around you! Fair to say it blew my young mind & changed the way I viewed (& engaged) with music and the world forever, and it still sits on my regular playlists today.
See more articles about The Saints in Rock's Backpages.
In this modern age of accessibility I'm pleased to see that The Saints are now achieving some kind of recognition, with notable artists such as Nick Cave or the Hives claiming them as direct inspiration. The growth of digitisation of historic articles is also making it possible to read about their influence and music.
There's loads of books around these days too dealing with the histories of underground music. A good one is Mavericks of Sound: Conversations with Artists who Shaped Indie and Roots Music by David A. Ensminger, a good read looking at some interesting areas of the world underground music
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You can log in using your user name & password/PIN, have a look through and see what you can find about the bands that you love, the ones that have influenced you, and the ones that have changed your life - it all makes for interesting & nostalgic reading!
Stay Punk!
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