Already mentioned were several bands that I certainly feel deserves more recognition.My 6 would be,in no paticular order:

Steve Miller

NRBQ (Good call DD)

Robin Trower (Agree with Zilla here)

Johnny Winter

Santana

Alice Cooper

In response to cavaliersfan's comment:

 

From the 60's-70's soul era, I have to go with the Intruders.  You know: Cowboys to Girls,  we got A Love Thats Real and other hits. 

 

Nice to see some love for a 60's-70's soul group. I absolutely love the soul music of that time. It was the sweet spot in time for great soul music that we will never see the like of again.

 

Soundgarden

The Cars

Marilyn Manson

Iron Maiden

Lynyrd Skynyrd

Cheap Trick

Foreigner

Three Dog Night
Grand Funk Railroad
Chicago
Dire Straits
R.E.M.

In response to digger0862's comment:

Good call on Dire Straits.

Their Money for Nothing song seems to overshadow all the other stuff, which was greater, that they did.

Minutemen (by a mile)

X

Husker Du

Fleshtones

Sonics

I can't understand how multi-million selling bands can be considered to be under-recognised!  I think many of the bands listed got far too much recognition at the expense of better, less-supported, or unluckier bands.

In response to SonicsMonksLyresVicars' comment:

Well, since you said so, I am emboldened to agree. I'm not sure how successful my choices were as far as sales figures, but I tried to pick some that don't seem to have the notoriety of other bands.

In response to polar123's comment:

Agreed wholeheartedly, though the last time I pointed out, it was demonstrated that they sold piles of records (and of course, shows). So I suppose it's more than I think they should have been even more well received seeing as they're one of, if not the, top "heavy rock" band - and I refer to the incarnation with Layne. Don't like the new guy much at all.

I use the term 'heavy rock' because I can't stand "grunge", and while Cantrell said he considers them a metal band....they don't neatly compare to straight metal bands.Nothing like, say, Slayer or Iron Maiden.

Their heaviest songs blend metal with a thudding crunch just short of Pantera (which is more "hardcore" than it is metal) - We Die Young, Grind, Man in the Box, God Am, etc - while their lighter ones more like straighter rock or lighter ("Don't Follow", "No Excuses", etc)).

I'd put Tool in the same category.

 

 

Agreed also, Matty, as to J.Geils.

In response to SonicsMonksLyresVicars' comment:

 

 

Because when the thread is "who is underrated", we're bound to be giving more subjective and less criteria-bound impressions.

 

How can I really separate the degree I like I band from my feeling that other people should like them more?

Not a bad thing...just....one of those threads

It's different than asking, say, who is most influential. Well there you can tease out the sound along a chain of bands, and more often, musicians up and tell you who influenced them.

In response to WhatDoYouWantNow's comment:

I sort of see your view, but then you'd have to accept it if someone said the Beatles don't get enough recognition because they thought the band should have sold 500m records rather than 250m records (or whatever the numbers are).  And that would seem silly to me. I'm not picking on anyone or any band, but REM?  They were one of the most famous, biggest selling bands for many years.

X probably sold about 100,000 records.

In response to SonicsMonksLyresVicars' comment:

Just to let you know I'm not just a contrarian, I agree with your take here. I think some of the bands chosen are really "ringers" that had plenty of notoriety, sales or no no sales. Jethro Tull even won a Grammy one year. 

 

In response to devildavid's comment:

Don't worry, no offense taken and I hope none given.  We seem to agree on some things, and not on others.  That's perfect!

I'm not criticising any of these bands or the posters for their choices or their interpretation of the OP.  But my head, heart and ears is with indie bands - again, proper indie bands not major label "Indie" bands.  If a band gets a major label deal, lots of promotion, exposure, and sells millions of records....I reckon they had a pretty damn good chance, expoited it pretty well, and cannot see them as not having had recognition.