10 Underrated Hard Rock Bands Of The 70's

The 70's were known as one of the golden ages of hard rock music. Once bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple came to the forefront, the world was suddenly hungry for more rock music centered around pounding riffs and chaotic performances from its members. The time period was so concentrated that even some fantastic groups ended up falling by the wayside.

While the decades of old have been made even more legendary with the nostalgic bug creeping up from fans, most of the hard rock featured nowadays tends to only cover the heavy-hitters of the genre. However outside the hallowed halls of bands like Zeppelin and Aerosmith, other secondary acts have given the hard rock scene more than their fair share of great music. Whether it be through the genres of glam, punk, or blues, these groups provided the rough edge to rock's glory days.

Some of these acts have even gone on to influence later giants of the scene like the grunge and garage rock movements of the 90's and 2000's. Despite having legendary status elude them on an international level, these artists deserve to have their names etched in the monolith of hard rock history.

When the punk movement came roaring out of New York in the late 70's, many rock fans were taken aback by the rapid pace of each song. Just on the other side of the States, a group of misfits decided to take their music to places that were faster, meaner, and more raucous than the original punk rockers.

The Germs's music was a beautiful display of chaos, as the crunchy guitars perfectly complimented frontman Darby Crash's infuriated vocal style. When the band came together to cut their only album (GI), it would become one of the trailblazing albums for the hardcore punk scene.

However, the band's fury was not meant to last forever, with Darby Crash overdosing on heroin a year after their debut's release. After fiddling around the LA scene, guitarist Pat Smear found future success being the touring guitarist of Nirvana and eventual guitarist for the Foo Fighters. Thanks to his affiliation with the alt-rock titans, The Germs are now starting to generate a healthy shelf life as one of the most balls-to-the-wall punk acts to come out of Los Angeles. Though the band's time together produced musical magic, The Germs started a fire that burned out way too quickly.