Matt definatly has his drawbacks like not playing in the US after the failed marketing campaign by Universal for Beautiful Midnight. But, if we need to place blame for him being underrated we have to blame the music industry. The music industry basically follows a format where only artists who conform to them succeed. I know there are some artists that still sneek through the cracks and make some noise but for the most part only artists that conform in one way or another make it. They allow music execs to make decisions for them and make their songs only three to three and a half minutes so that they will make it on radio.
In Matts case he did have to make some concession to the music industry to get his feet wet and learn the business when he was younger. As a result of this we got Underdogs and Beautiful Midnight which had good success in Canada and moderate success in the US. But Matt is too smart to stick to the cookie cutter mold of the indusrty and always sneeks great songs onto his records.
When he realised these great songs had to start comprising most his records is where he went wrong with the music industry's mold and therefor they dropped him off the media's map. Even a stunning record like Avalance couldn't overcome the industry despite all the critical acclaim it recieved. It also didn't help that Matt became an outspoken political activist. The music industry never really supports politcal activists who question the world and why it is the way it is, even if their oppinions are right.
It is only real fans of music that can apprecieate Matt's work and deserve to listen to it. These are the people that notice every subtle nuance of the music and apprecieate its complexity. It takes time to wrap your head around Matt's music and most people just don't want to take the time or just can't comprehend it at all.
So to answer the question in the topic, yes matthew good is underrated. Is it his fault? Partially yes. Is it his record company's fauly? Partially yes. Is it the music indusrty's fault? Absolutly. So let people think Matthew Good is underrated because we wouldn't have it any other way.
