While many of the hair bands were pathetic, that genre wasn't as void of talent as any other trend that came along. There were some really good ones, a bunch of mediocre, and several that never did seem to have any real talent. For comparison, look at some of the crap we're already beginning to see because of the success of the "young singer-songwriter" trend - I won't name names, you guys can figure it out.

Of the hair bands, I still like and listen to Iron Maiden, Queensryche, Ozzy, Krokus, Def Leppard, The Cult, Dio and Night Ranger. Sure some of the stuff is dated, but it was released nearly a quarter century ago. And I will always take the guitar over the synthesizer.

A few of the underrated bands from the 80's would be Zebra, Rob Jungklas, The Beat Farmers, The BoDeans, EIEIO, The Motels, Red Rider and The Sidewinders.

In the overrated category would have to be The Fixx, Missing Persons, Berlin, Genesis, Adam Ant, Uh Huh, and Men at Work.

As for Timbuk 3, I much prefer Pat MacDonald's solo work. The guy may be a bastard, but he sure can write.