1960s: The Velvet Underground

Now this is a famous band, to some extent–but even allowing for all that it is the most underrated 60s band. Do you really know how good they were? To hear it all put out there in terms that those of you who fear the esoteric New York art band’s noisy early days (when the sound was heavily influenced by the legendary early members John Cale and Nico) can deal with skip forward to the late days of the group and the song “Stephanie Says.” No song has ever made a more convincing argument about how cold Alaska is, and few songwriters have captured the pop genius of the Lou Reed.

1970s: Television

Tom Verlaine invented the angular guitar hook sound of U2 all while forging a fascinating and complex punk sound that was still every bit as street as The Sex Pistols or the Ramones. Listen to “Prove It” from 1977 for a great example of the sound, or “Guiding Light” if you need a pop edge to it. (Attention Irish megastar fans: Television actually sounds nothing like U2, though what I said above about the guitar stylings is true.)

1980s: Pet Shop Boys

Nothing really comes to mind. Perhaps the early work of the Pet Shop Boys, while popular then, doesn’t get the attention alongside other dance classics the way it should. 1987’s “Actually” is a phenomenal album, and songs like “Shopping” would mix well into trance sets. (Well, I guess they probably roll like that in London, but here in San Francisco you’re just lucky if you don’t hear songs with lectures about “WHAT REAL HOUSE MUSIC IS” and “THESE DAYS EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A DJ!” when you’re out. Actually, continuing on this tangent, I’ve been think of trying to compile a collection of such songs and release it as the “House Lecture Series” LP.)

1990s: Underworld

Underworld came out with a few long, melodic electronic tracks like “Born Slippy,” “Push Upstairs” and “Dirty Epic” that even got occasional airplay. But the 1996 album “Second Toughest in the Infants” is easily the greatest electronic album I’ve ever heard. Though it features none of the above-mentioned songs, it has an amazing opening triad (“Juanita/Kiteless/To Dream of Love”) and continues through a series of tracks that are both wide-ranging and highly consistent. “Pearl’s Girl” was the album single, where occasional shattered beats almost recall the drum-n-bass madness at the time, but then roll into the huge techno track with a star vocal turn by Karl Hyde.