The Most Over Rated Band/Acts Ever? and Why?

Driver 8

Ah, to be fair to Cobain, he's hardly the first to be canonised upon his death is he? What about Saint John Lennon? The English Dalai Lama, who only ever worked for peace, and never made a bad record.

This despite the fact that his politics were paper-thin and large swathes of his solo career are rather dodgy in terms of quality, and that his last album is full of the type of songs he used to castigate Paul McCartney for writing.

And yet, at the bottom of it all, Lennon was a great, if patchy songwriter. Death just does strange things to a musicians legend, especially if it's when they're young.

Crazy Christ

In terms of the after-death effect I think Nick Drake and Eliott Smith deserved it not so much Cobain or indeed John Lennon. Paul McCartney all the way

SligoBrewer

the only reason u2 get so much coverage is because of that gimp bono..their songs are terrible and generic.

bob dylan is no bruce springsteen imo..

bob marley:rolleyes:

as for people who voted for the beatles:eek::eek:

feckless

Every single band the NME has featured on their cover for the past 15 years.

kawaii

Radiohead...

wtf??

Peyton Manning

Metallica, Radiohead, U2, and yes, Led Zeppelin.

ZWEI_VIER_ZWEI

Pink Floyd
Metallica
The Smiths
The Cure
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones

Tar.Aldarion

Oasis, U2, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pantera, Elvis.

I can't understand people saying Bob Dylan though.

DarkJager

U2 : Worst band in the ****ing world. Can't see anything to like about them.

Radiohead: Depressing student shoegazing ****. Just go and top yourself already Thom Yorke.

ciaran76

Radiohead, U2, Bob Marley and Pink Floyd are the ones I can think of straight away.

Jim_Are_Great

DarkJager wrote:

Radiohead: Depressing student shoegazing...

Do you even listen to Radiohead? That summary would suggest not.

I vote Snow Patrol. I can't see what people see in them.

Amazotheamazing

Radiohead, whats the point anymore?

Dudess

Definitely Nirvana. Of all the exciting, groundbreaking stuff coming from Seattle and on the Sub Pop label at the time, they were definitely the least exciting and groundbreaking. And that, folks, is probably why they became so successful!
And of course Oasis - that goes without saying. They're definitely not overrated any more, but 1994-97 they very much were.

I like everyone else on the list.

Kold

Amazotheamazing wrote:

Radiohead, whats the point anymore?

Being the final popular band to actually consider music an artform?

Orizio

Bloc Party, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight, My Chemical Romance etc.

Almost every indie rock act that are still ripping off either The Pixies, The Clash or The Smiths.Move on.

Royale with Cheese

The Beatles aren't overrated imo. They deserve all the praise they get. Sure if you only listen to that #1 album, or especially their early stuff then you're not going to be amazed by them.

They made some incredible albums, especially their later stuff... actually only their later stuff. First 5 albums or so had some good songs but on the whole were largely forgettable. Don't believe the hype surrounding Sgt. Peppers, they made far better albums than this. Abbey Road for me would be the best album ever made.

On that list? Uhhh... Oasis, but I'll echo a popular sentiment and vote for U2. Actually Oasis aren't that overrated. They had a couple of decent albums and that was it. People seem to realise that these days. I suppose I'll vote for Bowie then, never really got most of his stuff.

grumpytrousers

Royale with Cheese wrote:

They made some incredible albums, especially their later stuff... actually only their later stuff. First 5 albums or so had some good songs but on the whole were largely forgettable. Don't believe the hype surrounding Sgt. Peppers, they made far better albums than this.

Rubbish. Hard Days Night is in the first five and you'll do well to find an album that carries the whole scally joie de vivre like AHDN does. Listen to Lennons voice sorta cracking on the bridge of 'should have known better', etc

Royale with Cheese wrote:

Abbey Road for me would be the best album ever made.

Yeah - i'd agree. AHDN and AR are my favourites and completely poles apart. not having a pop at your general taste of the music of the fabs, or owt...just getting up on my 'don't knock decent pop music' high horse.

as for other overrated bands...this is amusing...the grown ups over at word magazine are having the 'yes but were The Clash any good' debate...

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/community/index.cfm?n=3&parentid=7605

nedward

The Police..a lot of their songs sound the same...and I just despise Sting's vocals and Arctic Monkehs because they're so HARD and NASTY and from the NORTH

Dregon

Orizio wrote:

Bloc Party, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight, My Chemical Romance etc.

Agree with everyone on that list with the exception of Bloc Party. I find snow patrol to be one of the most boring bands around atm, all their songs sound the same and just bore me.

Out of all the artists on the poll, Oasis get my vote.

Dudess

nedward wrote:

The Police..a lot of their songs sound the same...and I just despise Sting's vocals and Arctic Monkehs because they're so HARD and NASTY and from the NORTH

The Police aren't over-rated at all - they're popular, there's a difference.

Arctic Monkeys give off a really "hard" vibe but they actually despise laddish culture.

Howard the Duck

The Doors....."whats that Ray you wanna do a 4 minute solo in this song too?.....sure go for it"

pedro ferio-vti

Pink Floyd

Mr.Nice Guy

The Beatles aren't overrated, they're the greatest band of all time. So many classics.

I've never understood the hype for Pink Floyd. Don't like their songs.

Out of today's lot I'd say Mr Kate Moss himself Pete Doherty is ridiculously overrated.

A Primal Nut

Out of that list David Bowie - I like Heroes though.

Overall Pink Floyd. DSOTM keeps getting voted high in best guitar albums and stuff even though there's loads of synthesisers - there's maybe one good guitar riff and 3 solos which are admittedly awesome but I don't know why its considered a classic guitar album. Its just boring - Us And Them is the same boring melody over and over for seven minutes - im all for long songs as long as they change a bit. I don't consider them a rock band coz, well there songs don't rock.

I like Money, Comfortably Numb and Wish You Were Here and maybe one or two others from The Wall album but the rest are boring. Dave Gilmour is amazing guitar player when he solos though, Ill give him that.

Don't understand the hate for Oasis. Ok, they only have two classic albums, but they are amazing. Admittedly, they've done very little since then however that is generally accepted so I don't think its fair to call them overrated. Don't Believe The Truth was one of the best albums of that year (not that that means anything anymore) but didn't get nominated at the brits. If anything the last four albums they've made since What's The Story.... are underrated. Be Here Now isn't that bad - has some good songs.

Setun

Wtf? Bob Marley is on that list and U2 aren't?! Are you Krazy! :eek:

mike65

Can I add John Cage?

Oasis are sh1te.

Mike.

jb91

Over rated? Anything that's been in the Irish Top 40 any time in the last 5 years.

Amazotheamazing

Kold wrote:

Being the final popular band to actually consider music an artform?

Being obtuse and writing bad poetry doesn't make the music an artform.

Kold

Amazotheamazing wrote:

Being obtuse and writing bad poetry doesn't make the music an artform.

Ofcourse it does. Just because you consider it bad, doesn't take away from art.

Another band to add would be Guns'n'Roses.

LuckyLloyd

lol at this thread.

Just because you don't like a band does not mean that they are overrated. Secondly, it takes a long time before you can properly assess a band's legacy and relative place in music history; and therefore form a proper opinion as to whether they are overrated or not.

The nature of modern music journalism is to wax lyrical over both that which is very old and considered as foundational; and that which is considered to be brand new and indicitive of the "now" or the "next". Added to that, UK music writers generally carry a very distinct nationalistic flavouring which causes them to push certain acts onto certain pedastels where it is wildly inappropriate to do so.

Now, I think that arguing that Dylan or the Beatles are overrated is a little silly. In the same way that I find suggestions that the likes of Coldplay or the Franz Ferdinand will be looked back on as seminal acts to be slightly delusional.

Radiohead are my personal favourite band of all time. But I must concede that OK Computer may not be popping up at the top of "best album ever" polls in 30 years time. However, I suspect that the likes of Blonde on Blonde, Dark Side of the Moon and Revolver will never be that far off any thoughtful list.

Make of such things what you will - but remember that you don't have to like anything for any reason; while at the same time everything you like may not be actually any good in the grander sense. It doesn't have to be.



EDIT: After thinking for a couple of minutes I voted "other". Specifically for Jeff Buckley - eventhough I really love his small body of work. After all, Grace is a very good record - but hardly groundbeaking in any way, shape or form. And he was really struggling to get the follow up together before he died suddenly.