i dont think CAST got the recognition they deserved a very good live band overshadowed by other Brit pop bands like Blur and Oasis.

Were Cast not an off shoot of another underrated band The La's (I'm not sure on this).

Formed from the ashes of the La's and Shack I believe.

They were good, John Power can write a tune.

Caught them supporting Weezer many moons ago and John has been involved in the Justice Campaign post Cast.

Cast are only second to Blur of the 90s Brit Pop bands for me. Oasis wrote the anthems but Blur and Cast wrote truly great Brit Pop songs.

Underrated bands in my collection would be
Royworld
Prefab Sprout
Talk Talk
Kings of Convenience

i would also add Shed Seven to the Brit Pop mix

Never thought The Coral got the acclaim they deserved although some may disagree given their brief mainstream popularity. A few different members of the band are off doing their own things now and all are impressing my ears, hopefully they will get together again in future.

Severed Heads. Only just getting into them, but proper electro pioneers.

Not to everyone's tastes but I love all that J.G. Ballard inspired industrial post-punk electro. Cabaret Voltaire, The Normal, Fad Gadget, Throbbing Gristle, John Foxx and early Human League is all well worth a listen.

For a modern take on it there's a Polish synth guru who goes by the name WC Olo Garb. His Youtube page is under the name of Jexus. Dirty electro synth with arresting imagery and visuals. Lovely stuff.

I assume you mean Sepultura? I don't recall them being underrated - I was into that scene at the time and they were easily one of the biggest thrash metal bands in the world; always a relatively niche market I guess, in that they were never going to be on ToTP, but certainly massive in their own market.

I saw them at Nottingham Rock City on the Arise tour in, I think, 1991 - it was one of the scariest experiences of my then young life.

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