Overrated Bands

[KeepACoolin]

To clarify: when I say things, assume that I'm limiting my statements to the genres of reggae, blues, and the various forms of rock.  I have nothing to say about post-rock, jazz, classical, country, bluegrass, rap (well, not much, except that Black Star freaking rule), R&B, or any other genre I may have over looked- oh, and pop.

[Dazed]

Ok, see if you say that John Petrucci is the best modern prog rock guitar wanker, you might even be able to convince me of that. Because he is a very skilled technician, he just *does not make good music*.

So, off the top of my head, John McLaughlin, Steve Howe, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Vernon Reid, Andre Olbrich, Brian Patrick Carroll, and probably Eddie Van Halen.

[KeepACoolin]

Ok, see if you say that John Petrucci is the best modern prog rock guitar wanker, you might even be able to convince me of that. Because he is a very skilled technician, he just *does not make good music*.

So, off the top of my head, John McLaughlin, Steve Howe, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Vernon Reid, Andre Olbrich, Brian Patrick Carroll, and probably Eddie Van Halen.

I disagree.  In terms of agreeable music, I think Stevie Ray Vaughan is among the best in the world.  But he does not have the same technical skill.  Eddie Van Halen, in my opinion, fails on both counts- worse music, less talent.  Obviously, you disagree.

[kyleg]

You could get away with saying DT are less guilty of writing technical music for technicalities sake than Rush, if you had a real silver tongue but Liquid Tension Experiment are one of the biggest wank bands on the planet.

To be fair, that's the entire point of LTE to begin with.

Much of newer DT I agree is boring. Awake, Images and Words, and A Change of Seasons are phenominal albums chock full insanely technical musicianship and disciplined songwriting. Their last three or so have been off the mark on the songwriting aspect, but it happens with almost evry band that's been around for like 20 years.

Metallica I think has put together a sucessful comeback album with Death Magnetic. Objectively, it's on par with And Justice for All. I still haven't forgiven them for Load, Reload, or St. Anger, though.

[DynamiteKid]

You can't say 'objectively' about music. It doesn't work. Such a thing does not exist.

Also, stop wanking on about Jones, Matlock wrote most of the Sex Pistols music. Fun music fact for the day: Glen Matlock came up with the riff for Pretty Vacant by accident whilst trying to nail 'Fernando' by Abba.

'Wanking on'? Having mentioned him by name in one post and referring to him indirectly in a second?

Besides, we were talking about musical skill, and I think Jones has done a couple of little fills and such which suggest he was slightly better a guitarist than he got credit for. I wasn't talking about the songwriting.

[ImRonBurgundy?]

Actually, it's pretty well-documented that Steve Jones was a very disciplined and adept guitar player.  Of course, this was because, according to him, he was high on speed much of the time and the only thing he did was play guitar.

[DynamiteKid]

Then my ruminations were justified. Huzzah.

[kyleg]

You can't say 'objectively' about music. It doesn't work. Such a thing does not exist.

I mean pretend those three albums don't exist by look at it objectively.

[DynamiteKid]

Ah, fair enough.

What I've heard from that album annoys me anyway, but I don't want to start a multi-page debate with Alex again!

[KeepACoolin]

am I the only one that gets the sense that this dude's trolling? I mean, there's just too many good bands that an opinion like that would ignore for it to be real. Even if he is serious, does it matter that much?

By the way, I meant to say this earlier: when you say "good" and I say "good," obviously we mean different things.  Therefore, in my opinion, I like all the good bands and dislike all the bad bands, because music is subjective.  What is "good" to me is different than what is "good" to you.  I happen to dislike most of the bands that everyone thinks are so great, especially from the 1980s onward.  The only real popular bands I like are: Zeppelin (and they become less popular as time goes on), U2 (who I admit are overrated, but still like), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Queen, and Pearl Jam.  Besides that, I like mostly less-popular groups.  If that makes me a hater of "good" bands, so be it.  It's what I like.

[SrMeowMeow]

Oh! god do I hate RHCP. They have some very good songs, but their general sound is so obnoxious. They're one of the few bands that I actively snap out of whatever else I was doing to change the song when I'm just listening to my playlist on shuffle. The attack is just so abrupt, it really bothers me.

[october1983]

Man maybe I'm crazy but if I hate a band that much I tend to just take them off my goddamn playlist.

[KeepACoolin]

Nice 30 Rock picture.

Also, I agree: if you can't stand to listen to a band, just remove them.  And obviously I disagree with you about the Chili Peppers.

[DynamiteKid]

I can listen to a few Chilis songs, mostly from the Navarro era, because they sounded nothing like themselves. I love 'Warped.'

[KeepACoolin]

I very much dislike Dave Navarro.  I think Frusciante is the best Peppers guitarist, although Hillel Slovak wins points for the name, and also for dying in the same way as Mitch Heberg and Chris Farley.

[Jeans]

I don't think anyone should get points for overdosing on heroin, but whatever.

[Koremora]

Holy shit, this thread started off bad and very quickly became one of the worst things my eyes have ever had the misfortune to read. 

[KeepACoolin]

I don't think anyone should get points for overdosing on heroin, but whatever.

Technically, it was a speedball.  Also, my tongue was firmly in cheek on that statement.

[DynamiteKid]

I very much dislike Dave Navarro.  I think Frusciante is the best Peppers guitarist, although Hillel Slovak wins points for the name, and also for dying in the same way as Mitch Heberg and Chris Farley.

Navarro is one of my earliest gay crushes, so maybe I'm biased. It's not that I like his guitar work better, if there's anything I like about the Chilis, it's Frusciante's guitar. It's just I like their overall sound a lot more with Navarro.

[Dazed]

Unfortunately, Dave Navarro is amongst the world's largest obnoxious twatbags.

[SrMeowMeow]

Yeah, I should take them off my playlist, but I'm not entirely sure how. Winamp keeps re-compiling my music library. I did delete a bunch of stuff awhile back, but whatever.

Anyway, I thought the point of this thread was to argue and discuss what bands we think are overrated? Can't we all get behind some good old-fashioned mudslinging?

[Be My Head]

The Who
Led Zeppelin
Queen
The Doors
The Beatles
Bruce Springsteen
The Eagles
Rush
Dream Theater
Rage Against The Machine
Radiohead
The White Stripes
The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Cream
Guns n' Roses
Pink Floyd
Arcade Fire
Beck
Tool
The Mars Volta

etc...etc...

And then we have nu-metal/metalcore shit, which is mostly rated accordingly by any listener who is competent, and then overrated by it's fans.

[eddie]

Frank Sinatra, I really fucking hate Frank Sinatra. Its all yuppie pap about going on vacation and drinking cocktails, it makes me a little bit sick.

[KeepACoolin]

I absolutely agree with:
The Beatles
Springsteen
The Eagles
Rush
Rage
Radiohead
The White Stripes
Guns n'Roses
Floyd
The Arcade Fire
Beck
Sinatra
and sort of The Doors.

I disagree (sort of) with The Who, very strongly with Zeppelin, half-heartedly disagree with Queen (Freddie, great as he was, is overrated, but Brian May is underrated), and Dream Theater- at least Metropolis Pt. 2 which is one of my favorite all time albums.

[eddie]

I forgot Elvis. Yes he made some great rock n roll but he made a lot more sloppy love ballads

[Be My Head]

Elvis and other similar artists of the same general time period, made a living ripping off poor black artists. Artists who were already doing what they did, except better.

[KeepACoolin]

Totally agree.  Elvis got famous ripping off work alreadly in progress.  Besides, I just don't think he was that good.

[Near Lurker]

B...S...S.

There, I said it.

[Jeans]

Technically, it was a speedball.

Which is heroin, shot up with morphine. So, you know.

[tender]

B...S...S.

There, I said it.

You sound so relieved, ha

[DynamiteKid]

Technically, it was a speedball.

Which is heroin, shot up with morphine. So, you know.

I thought it was heroin and cocaine?

[KeepACoolin]

Technically, it was a speedball.

Which is heroin, shot up with morphine. So, you know.

And the morphine is the killer.  Heroin speeds the heart up to dangerous levels, morphine kicks in later and stops it almost completely.

[Jeans]

Almost completely?

[David_Dovey]

Why are you arguing about this shit.

[Jeans]

He started it

[Jeans]

(seriously though Dovey is right we should probably give it a rest)

[Inlander]

I thought it was heroin and cocaine?

That's what I thought.

Bottom line, though: it is shit that will kill you combined with other shit that will kill you.

[RedLion]

I absolutely agree with:
The Beatles
Springsteen
The Eagles
Rush
Rage
Radiohead
The White Stripes
Guns n'Roses
Floyd
The Arcade Fire
Beck
Sinatra
and sort of The Doors.

I disagree with the notion of every band on that list being "overrated," except for Rush and Beck.

[Jinjo]

I wanted to make a comment about the whole Lil Wayne being overrated. I do have to agree he is pretty overrated considering I could name a few rappers who are a little more lyrically impressive. Though when you consider the fact that he freestyles everything and never writes a thing down you got to admit that is impressive. I will admit, I am a huge wayne fan because of that. Oh and touching on the whole best rapper alive thing, listen to his mixtapes. They are way better than any of the Carter albums and he explains why he calls himself the best rapper alive. He pretty much calls himself the best rapper alive because he feels like he is a a competitor and feels that everyone should feel the same way about their craft.

[spoon_of_grimbo]

the kind of overratedness (is that a word?!) that annoys me the most is when someone says about a band/artist "you HAVE to like them, because they're so influential!"

i've heard that line (or variations on it) in relation to several bands, most often the beatles - yes i appreciate that they're been hugely influential and most of the bands/artists i enjoy wouldn't be here without them, but i still don't really enjoy more than a handful of songs from their entire discography.

[Zombiedude]

Spoon and The Flaming Lips are overrated

[Reed]

Bitch, I will cut you.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

I agree with him. You can't cut all of us, Reed...

...no matter how much science you have.

[scarred]

He can if I help him.

(I agree with the Flaming Lips statement, but only as it pertains to their recorded work. Their live shows are among the most spectacular I've ever seen.)

(For Spoon, though, you die.)

[Scandanavian War Machine]

oh fuck you're actually within cutting distance of me too.

ah..fuck it SPOON SUCKS. come get some.

[scarred]

PISTOLS AT DAWN

[Reed]

I will cut you all.....with science.

[Scarychips]

Spoon and The Flaming Lips are overrated

And I thought you were cool.

[David_Dovey]

Y'know by getting so touchy you're not really helping to dispel the notion that they're overrated.

[Zombiedude]

What Dovey said