Underrated Icons: 10 Underground Creative Pioneers

Many pioneers go unnoticed. It's time to change that.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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It might be much harder these days to exist in the fringe or the underground – the Internet has a way of getting your message out to the masses at a rapid pace – but the small pockets of music, art, food, literature and beyond will always exist in one form or another. Icons are not always the Madonnas or the Kerouacs, they’re pioneers of the stuff that makes our world great, no matter how big or how small. From guitar makers to sign painters in Texas, here are some of our favorites.

Sylvester Graham, Food Reformer

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Nathan Daniel, Guitar Maker

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Steve Albini, Audio Engineer

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Saul Leiter, Photographer

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Dan Gibson, Sound Recorder

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Bill Hicks, Comedian

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Norma Jeanne Maloney, Sign Painter

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Henry Darger, Artist

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Alan Watts, Writer/Philosopher

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Norman Collins, Tattoo Artist

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