Jimmy Iovine and a dude that you never heard of founded Interscope Records in 1990 under the guise that said label will be VERY artist-friendly in terms of parks and recreation, and that’s all we have to say about that. Currently the mega-successful label’s roster includes Eminem, Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons, and they are definitely going to get around to listening to that Bandcamp link you keep sending to any Interscope email you can find. We attempted to list the top ten most underrated Interscope Records albums in alphabetical order by band below, and you’d be surprised to know that you agree with every single choice and word written here. Bands that have sold infinity million records or more aren’t considered, and neither is your crust punk act that Interscope Records would have to have collectively showered with lots of soap post streaming!
Dredg “Catch Without Arms” (2005)
Try saying THIS band name five times fast; we will not attempt to play stenographer to your mumbling. Anyway, Los Gatos, California’s Dredg formed in 1993, and signed with Interscope Records approximately eight years later. Dredg would never truly break through the mainstream or most peoples’ vocabularies. The band will forever lie criminally underrated for their innovative music and tight live show, and fans of bugs, eyes, bug eyes, and progressive rock would kvell over Dredg. Specifically EVERY track on the flawless “Catch Without Arms”! If you had a chance to catch Circa Survive on the run for their best LP “Blue Sky Noise,” just a few years after “Catch Without Arms” was released, you may have caught Dredg along playing tracks from this LP with Animals As Leaders and Codeseven, making you better than even you; WE wasted all this time, we wasted all this time… ZEBRASKIN!
Drive Like Jehu “Yank Crime” (1994)
First of all, sorry/not sorry for not mentioning Rocket from the Crypt in this piece as “On A Rope” is NOT an underrated song, and the band is way too cult favorite-y for such moniker… but, yeah, they rip. John “Speedo/the Swami/Slasher” Reis did double duty in RFTC and DLJ, and because of this, he’s the MVP of this piece. Drive Like Jehu came, went, released this, one of the most influential albums for late-90s noisy emo-adjacent post hardcore, “Yank Crime,” and influenced all of your most favorite and least favorite bands from 1990-1995. Happily, they had a small reunion in 2014, but sadly, such is no longer and will likely never be as lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Rick Froberg passed away last year. It’s a hard one to take, truly. Signing off with all of our donut friends and enemies.
Helmet “Betty” (1994)
Likely the most successful band mentioned here, at the very least in terms of musical influence, Helmet formed in “The City of Angels,” New York City, in 1989, and had a hell of a near decade run till their first (of one thus far) demise in 1998, only to return in the year of G.W. Bush’s second win. Republicans were so much less problematic then, eh? Don’t answer that and try to make a better back to back sequential album transition than “Meantime” into “Betty.” Yeah, size matters. Still our unsung album “Betty” that protected your domes/catalyzed Helmet in ALMOST morphed Helmet to a huge headliner, but definitely, like the aforementioned Drive Like Jehu, influenced your most prized politicians/proletarians. Interscope had the fortune of releasing THREE, not FOUR, full-length studio efforts from the band, and we are jealous of whichever Saudi Prince owns the masters.
The Hippos “Heads Are Gonna Roll” (1999)
Ska will always be BOTH underrated/overrated, but Los Angeles’ twenty piece quartet of two known as The Hippos will sadly forever be the latter. Honestly, they were just far behind the party in terms of financial success s-k-a overlords The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, and The White Stripes, and we wish that they never lost it. Still, their lone Interscope Records LP “Heads Are Gonna Roll” ditched many of the horns in favor of bleeps and bloops, but The Hippos were a tad too early to THAT party. There’s always something there to remind us of this band if you google lead vocalist/underrated guitarist Ariel Rechtshaid, and we’ll wait till you finish scrolling through his resume post-TH; hey there, Delilah, the father of the bride listens exclusively to HAIM. Better watch your back if you’re all alone, he said.
Marianas Trench “Astoria” (2015)
“Astoria” is Marianas Trench’s fourth studio album and was released via Canada’s 604 Records and Cherrytree Records and Interscope Records internationally, so it counts here; suck it.
Also, HUGE, and we mean HUGE in the Great White North and in the hearts of all Carly Rae Jepsen superfans that know that a member of The Academy Is…/Say Anything was in her rock and roll band, Vancouver, Canada’s Marianas Trench ditched an apostrophe in favor of catchy catchiness, and has released five full-length studio albums since their formation last century. Each record is different sonically but similar in that the vocalist/rhythm guitarist Josh Ramsay has few peers on the mic and slightly more on the guitar, piano, and, wait for it, flugelhorn. If ambition is a poopy word for you, and we sadly know that it is, then skip the epic “Astoria, and move onto another section below!
Orianthi “Believe” (2009)
Another loophole: Geffen Records was founded in 1980 by David “I AM RICH” Geffen. Originally a part of the now-defunct Geffen Pictures, it is owned by the INTERSCOPE Geffen A&M faction of Universal Music Group, making Orianthi’s “Believe” a winning candidate for inclusion; Geffen has been a part of Interscope since 1999. Sound the alarm if you’re suffocating/suffocated! Also, shred with Brian Chiusano fan club president Orianthi Panagaris, but don’t be a dick about i! Sadly Interscope failed before it started with “Believe,” and we don’t know which team member was to blame, as Ori was marketed as a Britney can outplay Slash, but had they leaned more into her rock roots/less into her beautiful aesthetic roots, she would have “won,” at least according to us. Orianthi’s solo career may not have raised her to Carrie Underwood heights, but she played WITH her! What does “untogether” mean?
The Reverend Horton Heat “It’s Martini Time” (1996)
Your creepy uncle’s second favorite band next to The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, for obvious reasons, The Reverend Horton Heat is not only the stage name of cult leader James C. Heath, but is also the nomer, not misnomer, for his trio, making it the coolest/narcissistic band name of all time! Starting their full-length studio album career on cred labels of all cred labels, Sub Pop, Interscope snatched the band after its follow-up, and forever will also be referred as MARTINI TIME, of which the album listed here, which was their first initial release via Interscope Records, “It’s Martini TIme”! If you listen to this LP, you can literally smell olives, and if you don’t believe us, you’re lying. Spend a night in the box, plan a scatman revival, and laugh/cry with each and every miscreant who purchased this CD in a bargain bin.
t.A.T.u. “200 km/h in the Wrong Lane” (2002)
Skeptical of this inclusion that officially got everyone of all time canceled? Listen to track one of “200 km/h in the Wrong Lane,” a haunting and beautiful song called, “A Simple Motion,” and try to act like a hardass that is too good for good music. We’re not going to touch this one with any real specifics/data/further proper musical analysis, even though we kind of are, but aren’t; do your jobs, fans and friends on the ‘net because it will help you learn things. Anyway, t.A.T.u. formed in the cold cold cold country known as Russia in 1999, and NEVER COULD HAVE DONE SUCH IN 2024; NEVER. Stop yelling? Ok. All the things they said were marred with controversy AND, you guessed it, catchiness, but “problematic” in the English dictionary is literally synonymous with “taxing,” “tricky,” and the final “T” is utilized for “troublesome.”
TRUSTCompany “The Lonely Position of Neutral” (2002)
Another one from David “WE MENTIONED THAT HE IS RICH EARLIER, BUT THAT IS QUITE AN UNDERSTATEMENT” Geffen! Math: “Downfall” > most nu metal/alternative songs in the early-to-mid-aughts. TRUSTCompany survived the advent of caps lock and being from Mont-freaking-gomery, Alabama to sell units in excess of GOLD, just not platinum, so they lose at life. We don’t make the rules. You may not think that such stat is enough to keep them here, go deeper into you, drop to zero, and/or disqualify them from being verbally shouted out, but try finding one person, including the band’s relatives and closest confidants, that would recognize a TC band member on the street.
Wax “13 Unlucky Numbers” (1995)
Let’s close this out with something that you either put in your hair or on your surfboard: Wax. Gotta find a reason to settle down whilst ignoring you in spite of us, and KNOT look passed, uh, pest indiscretions. Wax’s lone Interscope Records release “13 Unlucky Numbers” is a solid and enjoyable mid-90s alternative/punk/rock/whatever buzzword you want to utilize and it is SHORT as hell, clocking at under twenty-four, yes, 24 minutes. Who is next? Well, alphabetically on our collective Apple Music accounts it is Waxwing, and we don’t think that you’ve ever heard of said band unless you have but you haven’t; look at us now. Spike Jonas, director of Weezer’s Windows 95 “Buddy Holly” video and so much more, endorsed Wax with a literal and figurative fiery set of two music videos from their Interscope LP. Thank you kindly, Joe Sib.