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When I thought about doing a Top 5 list of underrated rock musicians, I quickly realized that this could easily become a Top 100 list. I’m sure we’ll see a reoccurrence of this category, but for today’s post, I’m listing the Top 5 my mind keeps coming back to.

1. Roger Taylor
Queen is a band of giants – gigantic talent, gigantic stage presence. So it can be hard to stand out against the larger-than-life Freddie Mercury or guitar-god Brian May. But listen to any one of Queen’s numerous live recordings, and Taylor’s presence is essential where his raspy harmonies are as constant as his high hat/snare combos. When Taylor and May toured as part of Queen + Paul Rodgers, Taylor got to step out from behind the kit to sing lead on such immortal numbers as his own “Radio Ga-Ga.” Speaking of which …

2. Paul Rodgers
Rodgers‘ ubiquitous presence on classic rock radio as part of Bad Company means that he’s synonymous with ’70s standards such as “Can’t Get Enough” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love.” Look beyond the El Camino-rock, though, and you’ll find an artist who has had an enormous influence on early blues-rock (think Free’s “All Right Now”) and a singer with a power voice with an impressive range.

3. Extreme
The Boston quartet’s 1989 debut seemed heavily influenced by Van Halen and and hair spray. But underneath all that Aquanet was a band with killer chops (lead by Nuno Bettencourt’s blazing guitar) and harmonies as formidable in the studio as on stage. Extreme’s sound would later encompasse elements of folk, funk, blues, and even the symphonic, but all with a hard-rocking edge, and would run the lyrical gauntlet that took them away from sexploitation tunes like “Teacher’s Pet” and “Li’l Jack Horny” towards introspection and religious and social commentary.

4. Screaming Trees
Screaming Trees deserve more than to just be a foot note in the decapitated history of the Seattle grunge scene. The band never became as legendary, but their sound evokes the best of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam – earnest and sorrowful without any pretension.

5. Alex Lifeson
Nothing sent me into a white-hot rage faster than when I saw Rolling Stone excluded Lifeson from its list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. I immediately set about collecting as much dog waste and lighter fluid I could find. My goal was to have at least 400 pounds of canine feces in paper bags that I would set alight in the lobby of the magazine’s New York offices. It would be up to Jann S. Wenner to stamp out said flaming bags, as required by his role as editor and publisher, and whoa, would he get a surprise!

Ultimately, the logistics involved with getting that much dog crap into Manhattan proved too much. Chances are the editorial department would be too preoccupied with fact-checking stories on Diablo Cody and with its Megan Fox photo shoot to notice several hundred pounds of burning dog feces in its foyer.

So, to summarize, Alex Lifeson rocks.

underrated