Is Rockpile the most underated band of all time?

Dave Edmunds is a fantastic guitar player & singer. Nick Lowe was a fantastic producer and songwriter, as well as performer. Billy & Terry were no slouches either. "Seconds of Pleasure" is a fine pice of R&R. These guys smoked! So why are they not held in higher esteem? What did they do wrong?
What say you?

 

They are held in high esteem. Why are there so many underrated threads around here now? Who doesn't appreciate Edmunds and Lowe?

 

Well, I never hear them on the radio. I bet if I asked everyone that I encounter on a daily basis very few if any would know who they are.
There has never been a box set (which would be awesome compiling all known tracks and rarities). Not exactly a household word.

 

OK, but if someone doesn't know who they are, that's really not underrated, that is unknown. Underrated means you're familiar with the artist but don't think highly of them. I'd guess most of us that are familiar with the music of Rockpile rate them highly, but I may be wrong.

Anyway, sorry, probably out of line, just seemed like a lot of underrated threads lately. Carry on

 

Couple of points for the OP:

First off that Nimoy tribute avatar is freaking brilliant. Nice one.
Secondly, the idea for a comprehensive box set to pull all the odds and sods together - sign me up, I'll buy it!

Not too sure about the notion of underrated around these parts, but big Rockpile fan here!

 

never heard of 'em

 

I haven't seen the ratings lately, but I love Rockpile. Saw them five or six times in the day and they never were less than wonderful.

But it's important to remember, their finest moments on vinyl weren't even released under their collective name.

 

Not that underrated.

 

They are vastly under played on the radio. I hear them on Chicago's WXRT no more than once every couple of months.

But any music appreciator worth their weight should at least know of this band. I've always thought they brought a nice tight rock and roll groove to the table. And they did it at a time when not too many others were doing the same thing.

 

Their sole album (along with the Edmunds and Lowe albums on which they provided backing) rightly received universal acclaim from critics. I'd call them underappreciated, not underrated.

 

Underrated, such a sucky rubric to organize your love and respect around.

The whole Rockpile / Lowe / Edmunds complex rocked brilliantly, that's for sure. They got what they deserved, undying coolness.

 

Great band, love em love em love em. Also the individual albums released by Lowe and Edmunds, Labout of Lust and Repeat When Necessary were, IIRC, with Rockpile backing(?) Under rated? By the public? Heck yea. By the critics? Not a chance.

 

you really can't say they are....why? because they only put out one album under their name...

how can you underrate a band with one album?


having said this i love rockpile and all the albums they have played on....

 

Great guys in that band. Underrated, I would say.

 

They actually made at least three full albums. Only one has the the Rockpile name on it, but that is another story.

 

I agree with everything you say here, basically, but I think anyone who knows about them and has heard them holds them in high esteem.

The fact they aren't better known is probably more complicated.

The era they came out is one problem: they weren't punks, they weren't new wave, they weren't prog rockers, no synths, etc., etc. So they sort of got filed into the lost category file IMO. The one official Rockpile LP with Teacher Teacher was pretty popular as I recall. You could even get it at the local mall record store in my little town. But that was while Teacher Teacher was on the radio and Nick Lowe was enjoying a brief high profile couple of years.

 

I was living near Chicago around 1980 and I can testify that WXRT played the bejesus out of Dave Edmunds as well as Nick Lowe and that Costello guy. It's a shame Terry Williams didn't get much attention for his playing in Man '71 through '76. He's a world class drummer.

 

They have very respectable ratings for all their output value on rateyourmusic, answer=no. Underappreciated/unknown=different story.

 

Depends on the household -- they're held in high esteem in mine. I saw them at the Park West in Chicago, with The Rockats opening. One great show.

I've followed Dave Edmunds since "I Hear You Knocking," and I'll confirm that WXRT kept Edmunds/Lowe/Rockpile records in heavy rotation for quite some time.

 

No.

 

With the same effort today , you could have typed Rockpile , then you would have heard of them.

 

underrated, come on... I thought they were more like critics' darlings? Their reputation ca. '78-79 couldn't have been much higher.

radio ... what's that?

 

They were a juggernaut live. Talk about playing rings around most punk or new wave bands at the time! They weren't punk, but the edge and intensity they brought to their live shows was something else!

Stellar musicians, great songwriting. The Rockpile/Edmunds/Lowe axis was great while it lasted.

 

Saw them twice and thought they were the best live band I had ever seen. Edmunds' "Get It" is on my top 5 album of all-time list and, as posted in another thread, is one of my two most played albums.

 

I'm not sure they were underrated, but part of the problem is that they only released one album as Rockpile, and it paled next to the Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe records they made. An especially good record is Edmunds' Tracks on Wax 4, and the hidden gem is Carlene Carter's Musical Shapes, made when she was married to Nick Lowe. Rockpile plays on all but two songs, and the record just smokes.

On stage, they were as good as any rock 'n' roll band who ever played. That's where they really shined.