Most underappreciated song by ...

NO. 2!

 

No. 2 was the first dance at our wedding reception. I've fought and lost this battle before, don't think I've recovered to fight it again, but I'll always go with No. 4.

 

Sticking with Led Zeppelin, I'll nominate "The Rover":

I realize Physical Graffiti is one of their popular albums. But really, their first six albums are all huge.

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The Who is another tough one to pick, but I'll go with "Our Love Was" from "The Who Sell Out":

One of Pete's best vocals, and a very biting, twisted take on love in the lyrics ("Our love was famine, frustration/We only acted out an immitation/Of what real love should have been")

The song also has some of Keith Moon's best drumming, and a tight little guitar solo just before the final chorus.

And like Zeppelin III, "Sell Out" is a vastly underrated album known mostly for one big hit, "I Can See for Miles." One of the Who's best, but there's a ton of other great songs on the album. And the fake radio jingles pull it all together.

 

I would say only IV qualifies as against the rules.

I'd never heard either (as I'm not a big Tom Petty fan), but after listening to both, I'm going to have side with your wife and Big Circus. It's much in the toned-down version. I liked both, though.

 

--Billy Joel, Close to the Borderline
--Styx, Eddie
--John Cougar Mellencamp, Play Guitar
--Elton John, I Feel Like a Bullet
--Alice Cooper, How You Gonna See Me Now
--Fleetwood Mac, Think About Me

 

Mellencamp -- Minutes to Memories
Fleetwood Mac -- Silver Springs
Who (so many I could choose from here -- I'm One
Pearl Jam -- Elderly Woman....
Beatles -- I Need You

 

Eagles - Sad Cafe
Billy Joel - Zanzibar
U2 - In God's Country

 

A few rap picks, since YGBFKM isn't around anymore to yell at me:

Nas: Nastradamus is rightly regarded as Nas' worst album, but

might be his best track post-Illmatic. It's a safe track, with a swirling piano on the beat and Ron Isley crooning the chorus. But the lyrics are potent.

Ghostface Killah: Ghostface was meant to rap over Just Blaze beats, and

off Fishscale might be the best track he's ever recorded, complete with a faux-Rocky lead-in.

Jay-Z: Most of Jay-Z's storytelling takes place over parts of songs, but he went with the full-scale story track for

, perhaps his most affecting song.

The Roots: Frequent collaborator Dice Raw should have blown up, and he never sounds better than on

off Illadelph Halflife, which featured his more signature song, "Clones." Black Thought also is amazing on "Episodes," as he is over the entire album.

 

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Ballad of Curtis Lowe
John Mellencamp - We Are the People

 

Paul Simon: "Hearts and Bones"
Genesis: (only one? Then again, same for Elton John and Billy Joel) "Evidence of Autumn"
Rush: "La Villa Strangiato" (Obviously, only the "Moving Pictures" album is out given general criteria)

 

This doesn't quite fit the category, but here's a little-heard song by a little-known band, and yet it might be one of the best three-minute rock songs you'll ever hear. I saw this band, Lyres, play a bar gig one night, and they were scorching it on every song.

"Sick and Tired," by Lyres: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9VK0Y8dcLFs

Twenty years later, it remains one of my favorite tracks ever. Play it loud.

 

That sort of reminds me of The Sonics meets Elvis Presley meets the 1980s.