'The Modern Lovers'

Someone who knows more about 20th and 21st century music should make a list of the truly influential bands and music artists.

Let's omit The Beatles, Stones, Bob Dylan, Beethoven, Mozart, Run DMC, the Ramones, et al. All the groups and faces that we all know changed the landscape of music and thus influenced the future of the medium.

In terms of independent rock music, where would The Modern Lovers rank? Top 5 for sure, right? Top 2?

It's a little eerie listening to "The Modern Lovers" because it's so close to what a number of indie rock bands do today and have done for the last 20 years.

Most extraordinary is that the band had this idea about music more than 30 years ago -- the original band existed from 1970-74 and this album was released in 1976. Ironically, The Modern Lovers hailed from the same city as the band that released their debut album the same year, which was probably the polar opposite of "The Modern Lovers" -- Boston.