Overrated Bands

[dancarter]

Nirvana.

I find that Nirvana are unique band in that they are simultaneously underrated and overrated. I shall elaborate later when I'm not abusing company time.

People said the same thing about Andy Warhol.  All's I know from readings and such is that Andy was an insecure dick who would ruin people like he was ordering out for lunch.  Not that says anything about Nirvana.

Overrated?
Nine Inch Nails: Anything post-Downward Spiral has had a metric ton of filler on it (I'm looking atchoo with glaring eyes, The Fragile).  And Trent's lyrics are the worst part of his own recordings.
Ministry: Seriously.  The government sucks rawr-rawr-unintelligible-rawr-rawr.  I get it, okay. Can youy play Everyday is Hallowe'en again?
Dresden Dolls: I  just don't get the appeal.
Joy Division: Let the bombs go off!  I really do like them a lot, I do.  But that isn't what this thread is about.  Mystique vs. output often elevates things past their necessary worth(to be completely arbitrary).

[Jackie Blue]

Joy Division is one of my favourite bands but I agree that in general they're overrated, in that their albums were sometimes brilliant but also could have used a lot of work.  Is "Transmission" the best song of all time?  Quite possibly.  But a lot of their songs are nowhere near as good, and some of their best material (like "No Love Lost") was ever fleshed out and actually finished.

[Catacombs]

the Who

Live At Leeds absolves any wrongdoings or creative missteps that The Who have ever indulged in.

I've heard a ton of good things about this album, but I've never been able to check it out.

Also, Led Zeppelin = not overrated.  If you take everything else out of the equation, the four of them were still awesome musicians.

Yes, but they were very aware of this fact, which is why I'm not a fan. 'Dazed And Confused' shouldn't last 20 goddamn minutes, please!

I agree with you on that.  The excessive guitar masturbation often goes too far.

[imapiratearg]

Dresden Dolls: I  just don't get the appeal.

Watched a video on YouTube wherein they covered a Neutral Milk Hotel song.  I nearly cried, it was so bad.

[gospel]

The list could go on and on, but as of late Vampire Weekend strikes me as terribly average/uninteresting. White Stripes haven't really been worth their spit either (for awhile). I suppose Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah fall in the, ultimately, "eh" category too. Arctic Monkey's.

Snow Patrol, Death Cabie for Cutie

Uh, I never got LCD Soundsystem. I can appreciate what they do, but eh.

Really, really don't get the appeal behind Bloc Party. Maybe a mp3 or two is worth having, but an entire album of that?

Pavement did a lot for the scene, but I dunno... the hype is pretty disproportionate.

And yeah, Nirvana is definitely overrated.

British Sea Power. I liked the CD and all, but the more I listen to it... it's missing a lot from the fervor of other bands. Simply, it's been done better.

Sonic Youth (excluding "Sonic Nurse" & "Daydream Nation").  Oh, I'm screwed.

And, this pains me, but Arcade Fire--but, only in the instance of Neon Bible. Meh, it was... eh.


</goes back to pretending to like music>

[Jackie Blue]

You are perhaps aware that British Sea Power have more than one album.

Pavement as a band isn't really overrated, but Slanted and Enchanted is.  It is scientifically impossible to overrate Crooked Rain Crooked Rain or Wowee Zowee.

[Christophe]

About two weeks ago, I hadn't listened to Pavement in a metric while. I guess I just thought that they were merely ok after being a big fan of them.

Then, I bought Wowee Zowee on tape because my computer was dead and so was my mp3 player. After listening to it a million times and getting my computer back from Gateway (and its working hard drive), I took another listen to CRCR and Brighten the Corners, and reminded me of why I got into the band in the first place- they wrote amazing songs.

Slanted and Enchanted, I still can't really get into, though. Try as I might, "Summer Babe" is still one of the laziest, sloppiest excuses for a song ever.

[imapiratearg]

"Summer Babe" is one of my favorite Pavement songs.   

Sonic Youth (excluding "Sonic Nurse" & "Daydream Nation").  Oh, I'm screwed.

I guess I could see how Sonic Youth could easily by overrated, but they are truly fantastic musicians.

[Wayfaring Stranger]

White Stripes haven't really been worth their spit either (for awhile).

I thought "Icky Thump" was exactly what the doctor had ordered.  Great record. 

[Jackie Blue]

That's odd, "Summer Babe" is one of the only songs on S&E that I think is truly brilliant (along with "Here" and "Conduit For Sale").

I think it's funny that a lot of the people who think S&E is amazing because of its sound aren't aware that the band recorded it right after a metal band had been in and just left the amp settings the way the metal band had them.

[Christophe]

"Summer Babe" is one of my favorite Pavement songs.   

So saith all my other friends who are into Pavement. I guess I just can't get into that song.

[Catacombs]

Slanted & Enchanted is one of my favorite all time albums.  I had only heard of Pavement a few times before i listened to it.  After a while, I checked out CRCR and Wowee Zowee but i just couldn't get into them.  I remember CRCR having a few good songs, but i just couldn't get into it.  Maybe i just didn't give it enough listens...

[hipster jesus]

Guns N' Roses. Appetite for Destruction wasn't that great and Use Your Illusion is one of the most hit-or-miss albums in existence. Also, the whole Chinese Democracy farce got old about five years ago. Basically, they're just another metal band, not the greatest thing to ever happen to the genre and I'm fucking sick of hearing about it. If you want to hear what Guns N' Roses would sound like if they were as good as advertised then I'd recommend listening to Hanoi Rocks (one of the more underrated bands in my opinion) if you're into that sort of thing.

[RedLion]

Oh! Here's one:

Bob Dylan.

Blonde on Blonde is one of my favorite albums, and of course Blood on the Tracks, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Highway 61... are calssics, but I just can't see how people call him the greatest songwriter/lyricists/etc ever. It's a laughable sentiment to me.

[imagist42]

One of my friends was completely obsessed with Bob Dylan for about a year (having never been interested in much music before this time). Then he saw OK Go live (OK Go, of all things) and realized there actually were other musicians out there.

[DynamiteKid]

Now THAT is an odd story.

[nufan]

I've tried listening to Pavement, really I have. I've tried S+E, CRCR, Terror Twilight and Wowee Zowee and... nothing. I cannot bring myself to finding them anything other than a bit shit. It just makes me feel a bit dead inside, as if I should be an elitist asshole all my life and never actually express any emotion whatsoever. I'm not saying "all pavement fans are elitist assholes", that's just what it makes me feel whenever I listen to them.

Anyway, I also have no real love for David Bowie, or led Zep, or Bright Eyes, or Autechre, or a few other indie idols. Quite a few others I think of as merely 'alright', such as Joy Division.

[imagist42]

Now THAT is an odd story.

I still sometimes ask me if he wasn't pulling my leg about the whole thing. Trying to be ironic, you know. He kind of just laughs and starts singing "Oh Lately It's So Quiet."

[Durin]

But Led Zeppelin, well, that's what we talk about when we make threads like this. Institutions. Our generation grew up in the shadow of all these monumental bands, and hell, I know people my age who envy our parents for being alive and young when those big names were at their zenith. Some of us look back on them and scoff, but that's not bad, necessarily. Baby Boomers have a tendency to be rather narcissistic about the Greatest Acts of All Time that they were blessed enough to have lived through. Myself, I find the Beatles to be rather underwhelming for being the Greatest Band to Ever Walk the Face of the Earth. But there's a difference between quality and importance/influence, and the Beatles' influence is pretty much impossible to dispute.

We've got our own institutions, of course. Radiohead's already been mentioned. I like them because they try to be willfully difficult and I like bands that do that (old industrial bands, Liars, Autechre and Scott Walker all fall into this category) Plus it's sort of "romantic" that they started becoming obtuse just after they were being called the most important band of their generation. I'd say that was a pretty smart move. Better they veer far off into left field than stay in the path of a million tons of expectation by trying to follow up OK Computer with something in the same vein. They chose a sizable cult over being crushed into so much dust. Thom Yorke's too much of a ponce to just die somehow and cement his legacy anyway. I'm not mad for Radiohead, but respect them and they write pretty songs that are just off-kilter enough to hit that sweet spot of oddity for me.

I guess there may exist a cultural bias for the bands. I love Radiohead. I saw them in concert and it made me love their music even more. They might be overrated to some, but I don't care. I guess that's the kind of attitude you're trying to point out in your post.
I do agree that Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and a slew of other classic music from the generations before are very influential. I like Led Zeppelin quite a bit. I just see some people around school with their undying praise for the band and simply don't agree with it. Much in the way people would probably disagree with my liking for Radiohead.

I quite like the Foo Fighters, and you pretty much hit it right on the head.  Up until their last album, they were a good band, with a bunch of good songs over their career but nothing that really hit.  With "Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace" (their last album) they really made something that was full and rounded, and a pleasure to listen to the whole way through.  Plus, the group has a good vibe, with Dave Grohls reputation for being one of the nicest guys in music and all.  Besides, they put on an amazing live show.  2.5 hours  of non stop playing, sometimes with an eight piece band.  And they sound good live, and that goes far in my book.

I have a couple of their albums(including the new one) and a few singles. I used to be quite heavily into them, my AIM screen name and old email address show that. That eventually died. I still occasionally had the urge to listen to a song here and there. I think when they make a good song, it's a great song.

They didn't have as much of a buzz about them amongst people I know until their last album. I asked people before I got it and everyone told me it was REALLY good. I love a few of the Foo Fighter's song so I was honestly expecting to be blown away by the album. Instead I got something that was just OKAY. I guess I got too hyped up for the album. It's a solid album but it just bores at times.

As for Dave Grohl I respect the guy immensely. I also haven't got to see them live.

[Jackie Blue]

Guns N' Roses. Appetite for Destruction wasn't that great

YES IT WAS.

According to your profile you weren't born yet when it was released so I don't think you can appreciate how totally fucking awesome it was to hear as a teenager, after being constantly bombarded with shit like Poison, a band that really knew how to play their instruments and write amazing hooks and had a kind of "fuck it" punk aesthetic, as if any token hair-metal moves they pulled were on sufferance and at the label's insistence.

[hipster jesus]

Oh, I was born when it was released. I may have been all of ten months old, but I was born. I'm also not saying that album sucks, I'm saying I prefer Hanoi Rocks and, to a lesser extent, L.A. Guns, who are both largely overlooked while GNR gets hailed as rock gods.

Also, I wholeheartedly agree with your assertion that Poison is shit.

[Jackie Blue]

Well, sometimes a band's rating is more to do with what they did than the songs they wrote, is what I'm getting at.  LA Guns and Hanoi Rocks weren't on MTV, hardly anyone listened to them (in comparison to GnR) and both of them were substantially more "glam" than "punk".  Not that either band was bad, but they never felt to me like a band that was saying "we are just a fucking rock band composed of some white trash motherfuckers who started playing in a garage", which is the vibe GnR gave off.

The first time I saw the video for "Welcome to the Jungle" was in a room full of friends, none of us had heard them before, and when it was over there was a collective stunned silence until someone said "I think I want to worship Satan now".

You just cannot fuck with that.

[suitupletsgo]

I have a huge thing for Appetite for Destruction. I was all but 2, but I remember distinctly my mother brushing my hair (it was long, it was the 80's, shut it. now I just hate short hair) while blasting it.

my mom is pretty much an all-around awesome person. I once played her Pig Destroyer, because I thought she'd like it. her reply 'I don't like the screaming, but it reminds me a lot of suicidal tendencies. I like it!'

sorry, I just miss my mom.

[Jackie Blue]

I wish my mom liked good music.

Alas, her palatte is pretty much limited to Jimmy Buffet and Rascall Flatts.

Ugh.

[allison]

Feist.
I just...I just don't get it.

[imagist42]

Feist makes a lot of good pop songs, but her recent surge in popularity is a little disapproportionate. I was almost sad when my roommate and I, while at school in Utah, almost made plans to drive over to San Fran and catch Spoon (I had recently turned them on to how awesome the band was) only to find out they were only opening for Feist (which wasn't quite worth it to the roomies, although I still would have done it if I were in charge of the car). Shows you what one catchy single getting overexposure in the media can do for the singer/songwriter guy/gal.

[Johnny C]

Question for everyone who says "The Beatles":

When was the last time you sat down and listened to a later-period Beatles record from start to finish?

[Ax]

I've tried listening to Pavement, really I have. I've tried S+E, CRCR, Terror Twilight and Wowee Zowee and... nothing.

Well, go try Brighten The Corners.   

but for real, the two bands that anger me most often are Nirvana and AC/DC.  I think i'm "missing it" with both of them.

Well, Nirvana at least.

And Bob Dylan is overrated as well;  as someone said earlier, the "classic" albums are, well, classics.  The others are "the others".

[Spluff]

Question for everyone who says "The Beatles":

When was the last time you sat down and listened to a later-period Beatles record from start to finish?

Quite some time (at least a year, if not more), because I wouldn't find that to be an enjoyable experience.

[pwhodges]

Which illustrates nicely that this thread is nothing to do with bands at all, but only people's tastes, and the wish of some people to label things.

[Streltsy]

Neutral Milk Hotel 

[Johnny C]

Quite some time (at least a year, if not more), because I wouldn't find that to be an enjoyable experience.

How would you know? Perhaps your attitude has changed in the intervening period? Perhaps you were listening to the wrong record? Perhaps you were simply younger and couldn't appreciate the music?

This thread doesn't work for the same reason that a "best band ever" thread wouldn't work. Unless, of course, we put it to a vote.

[De_El]

I am in the camp that is kind of annoyed at the backlash against the Beatles cus I don't trust people and think perhaps some of it is just instinctive rebelliousness rather than actual decision making. I was even tempted to make a non-post like "GUYZ THE BEATLES BLOO BLOOO" when I saw this thread. At the same time, given the choice to listen to a Beatles record and...well, suffice to say it is a rare thing that I actually choose to listen to the Beatles. They're just not my thing!

I think it's kind of curious that anyone thought Ministry were overrated; I wasn't aware anyone considered them more than a joke since 2005. Al Jourgensen's latest output has been pretty shit, but that shouldn't necessarily tarnish the great records he made between 1985 and 1992.

I probably think that some bands are overrated but I can't think of anything off the top of my head. This is because the top of my head is pretty clean.

[billiumbean]

Pink Floyd.

I mean, I like them, but best rock band ever, no.

WHAT THE FUCK
WHO THE
HOW
WHY THE
HOOOOOLY SHIT.

Dude, I feel really bad for you.  That like growing up allergic to chocolate.

Even if you "Like them".

It's so interesting how music tastes work.

[KharBevNor]

Animal Collective, Aphex Twin, Arctic Monkeys, Deerhoof, Devendra Banhart, The Doors, Elvis Presley, Gnarls Barkley, Guns and Roses, Isis, Kanye West, Led Zeppelin, Mastodon, Metallica, Neil Diamond, Nirvana, Oasis, Radiohead, Sonic Youth

[imagist42]

It's so interesting how music tastes work.

You mean, how they are completely subjective and largely unique from person to person, because there are no absolutes in a medium completely subject (hurrrr, maybe that's why they call it subjective?) to each person's range of endorphin responses (which cause some people to like, say, big fat juicy hamburgers, and others to like hiking Mount Everest) and aesthetic values? Yeah, it's so interesting.

I'm sorry dude but saying "I feel really bad for you" because the guy doesn't worship Pink Floyd is really condescending and just uncool. And lots of people don't like chocolate, allergies or no.

[Jackie Blue]

Feist makes a lot of good pop songs

Interesting, I think that the appeal of The Reminder lies with the less pop-oriented songs ("One Two Three Four" is one of the album's lesser tracks).

[imagist42]

Right, I would agree with you on that last point, but that doesn't make the rest of the album not pop. No matter which way you swing it, every song she's written as Feist has been a pop song. Some are just more radio-friendly than others.

[Mister Arkadin]

the who. radiohead. the ramones.

[DynamiteKid]

FUCK YOU. I will retype all the bullshit I was just typing later on because this fucking place timed out on me when I tried to make a post, again.

[imapiratearg]

Neutral Milk Hotel 

No.

[KharBevNor]

Everyone realises that saying a band is overated /= saying they are bad, right?

[Jackie Blue]

I love Neutral Milk Hotel and On Avery Island is in my Top 10 of all time but even I am aware they are overrated.

[Johnny C]

Neil Diamond is a bizarre choice, Khar. I can definitely see the rest of your list being overrated but seriously who gives a shit about Neil Diamond?

P.S.

saying a band is overated /= saying they are bad

you are RIGHT

[Jackie Blue]

Big Black is horrifically overrated imo.

[Jeans]

I've never actually heard anyone rate Big Black, but I guess that's more to do with me (and the people I hang out with) than with the hype they get.

I think Mogwai and GY!BE are ridiculously overrated.

[Jackie Blue]

Also, people do realise that the massive reaction to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea was an huge factor in Mangum going nuts and becoming a recluse, right?

If people hadn't been verbally spurting all over the internet and music press about how it was the most genius thing ever created in the history of music he might not have felt so much pressure and might have made more music.

Jerks.   

[Jeans]

Yes, the next time someone makes a great album let's not talk about it.

[yellowledbetter]

I think that Led Zeppelin is more underrated than overrated.
Their skills as musicians, artists (and in Jimmy Page's case producer), can together surpass any other rock group to ever exist.



Also, ignore my "fourth album" avatar.

[Jeans]

Ahahaha.

I'm sorry but Led Zep is underrated? You must be smoking crack.