Well, now, here's one that truly earns the above title I bestow upon it. This Athens, Ga. guitar rock band's first widely released album, 1988's solidly brilliant Rough Night in Jericho, is so damn forgotten, underrated, and possibly never heard in the first place that it's next to impossible to find on CD. And, believe me, it's not a hell of a lot easier to locate this particular music online. Over the years, in fact, more than a few far more colorful profanities have accompanied my desperate efforts to get this record without resorting to climbing into the attic to retrieve my dusty old cassette copy. However, I won't (or can't) share those with you now.

Anyway, to my slight but welcome surprise, this entire album sounds just as wonderful to me as it did during my late high school and early college days, when I spent just about as much time fondling or playing this tape as I did in my girlfriend's dorm room (don't worry; she's my wife now, so there's no danger in my comparison). And, by the way, I know where you think I was going when I selected "fondling" and "playing" as my verbs above. Nasty, gutter-minded readers you are. Anyway (again), this track represents '80s guitar rock, jangle pop and college rock at its most dense, sophisticated and listenable. And although there are some who tag Dreams So Real as a "minor" Athens band, clearly I am not one of them. I don't think you should be either.

• Dreams So Real's Official MySpace Music Page
• College Rock Profile
• Top 10 '80s U.S. Music Scenes

I don't remember very many of these (although I really dug actress Christa Miller for a while), but I recall an episode of The Drew Carey Show in which Drew's nemesis, Mimi, tried to drive him from his house using the Noriega torture method of blasting Van Halen's "Panama" for days on end. I don't know exactly what this says about me, but that's exactly what I thought about when I found this story out of Greenville, S.C. about a mother fox and her cubs that became a nuisance living under a couple's home. And while I'm a bit saddened that the animals earned this abrupt dismissal, I'm even more offended that someone identified the loud playing of '80s music to be the magical catalyst capable of such an efficient eviction. Of course, maybe it was just the noise in general, but wouldn't you deem many other styles and eras of music to have far greater potential for scattering wildlife? How about Toby Keith or beach music or Jimmy Buffett? The list could be endless.

I shouldn't take it so personally, I guess, but I wonder if I'm alone in my pronounced irritation with a world that stubbornly continues to see '80s music as something less than extraordinary. Yes, the decade had its share of musical disasters and abominations, but the often typical consensus that '80s music had a tendency to emphasize glitz and fluff over substance really doesn't hold up all that well to a serious perusal of the era's offerings. Take a look around my site for dozens of strong supporting arguments for this position, and by all means try to resist any sudden urge to vacate the premises as you explore.