The Stranglers near 40 yrs old and still going strong. All hail to the meninblack.

Saw them at Glastonbury two years since and they were surprisingly good.

I saw them first time around, they were dire then but so were many of the second wave of punk acts, UK Subs, Penetration and The Ruts were the only ones of note live.

Underrated for me?

The Aquabats
Balaam and the Angel
Hanoi Rocks

Was going to say Dr Feelgood but I think they've had a lot more recognition of late, a lot sadly because of Wilko's diagnosis.

So I'm going to go for ( and a few of these have already been mentioned) Nine Below Zero, Squeeze, Beta Band, British Sea Power, XTC, Pete Wylie (and all his Wah incarnations), Go Betweens, Josef K, The Bees and The Coral.

For me it has to be Tyketto, Valentine, Damn Yankees, little Angels, Baby Tuckoo and Excalibur

for me Uriah Heep deserved more acclaim decent musicians and a great lead vocalist in David Byron & others

Damn Yankees - quite a supergroup there.

Savatage and Manowar for me.

Pavement

Hail Manowar ! - and death to all false metal !

Underrated? mm that's a good one, all down to opinion I suppose, I rate tons of artists no one has ever heard of just because it's part of my collection but of those that people would possibly know I'd say :


Rush
Barclay James Harvest
Stackridge / Korgis
Garbage
The Cult
Dire Straits

And of the overrated variety I'd say :

Queen
Pink Floyd
Bon Jovi
The Jam
Radiohead

Very true, all subjective innit. I'd like to put forward Van Halen & Def Leppard but it's harder to make a case for being under rated / under appreciated with their level of album sales. Like many on here I listed acts that haven't had the commercial success I think they deserved.

Talking heads. I miss them.

Agree with Rush & BJH who were superb live, one of the most 'clinical' sounding live bands ever imo
I would add Ted Nugent to the underrated list - top heedbanger

Agree with your overratings and would add U2 to the list - probably won't get much support for that but I really can't see what all the fuss is about !

Korgis? Definitely underrated
Queen? Ouch! One of the finest groups of all time in my opinion.

Opinions eh?

Yeah sorry Wildthing, Queen just never done it for me. Don't mind a bit of the early Rockier stuff but I just feel they've been overrated and over hyped over time. I was brought up on The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Hollies and influenced a lot by my dad's collection so having a big interest from being a little kid I heard loads of stuff. I religiously watched TOTP, listened to the charts on a Sunday and the new one on Tuesday lunchtime at school and from then on just bought and bought anything and everything. Aside from my beloved Wakefield Trinity, music has been and always will be my biggest love in life and to have it as a career is an absolute joy every day.

Sorry Wildy but I don't even consider Queen a Rock Band, more a Music Hall act - sorry

No love for queen from me either. I see them more of a theatrical act than a rock band. Musically they do absolutely nothing for me. Sorry!

I don't feel so bad about saying it now, looks like Vasty and King Street are with me all the way on Queen.
Talk about stirring up a hornet's nest, this debate goes on everywhere about Queen, even our kid loves 'em goodness knows why, I've been trying to get him into some quality for years!

The Alarm.

The Jam ? They were a class band , Knocked out some great tunes both in singles and Album tracks .

Don't think Radiohead are overrated. They were one of the first big British bands that deviated substantially from the Beatles/Stones cliché of what a rock band should be - especially for their post-Bends output.

Talking Heads aren't for rating, are they?

Gene another britpop band criminally overlooked.