Most over-rated band? Under-rated?

Havermeyer

Earthhorse wrote: »

Unplugged is an incredible live performance, one of the best ever caught on camera if you ask me.

Here here.

nycman

Most Overrated: Coldplay,John Lennon(don't kill me but most of his music is god-awful) & any diva (Whitney,Mariah,Leona etc bleucch)


Most Underrated: Paul Simon,Randy Newman & Kris Kristofferson
(All excellent singer-songwriters yet forgotten in a haze of ****ty techno pop)

Perfectly Hyped:Bruce Springsteen(Go to his concerts and you'll believe the hype)

grumpytrousers

somebody said back there about Queen being overrated which i find quite interesting actually. Pardon taking this offtopic a tad, but it's something i've often thought about Queen in particular.

Since the year dot they've been critically panned. They *might* have gotten a bit of good press for Queen 2, Sheer Heart Attack and 'Opera', but by the time Day at the Races had rolled around, the critics had tired of their schtick and were out to give 'em a hammering. Punk rolled around the same year, '76, and the critical lambasting never let up from there on in. The NME delighted in having a picture of Fred holding a champagne flute aloft and proclaiming 'Is This Man a Prat?'. Certainly Mercury saying to Sid Vicous that he was simply 'trying to bring Opera to the masses, Darling' didn't endear him to the hip gunslingers like Burchill et al

Post Freddie Mercurys demise in 1991, there's been a certain re-appraisal, and actually, if memory serves, Innuendo didn't get the mauling I thought it would, but even now if you read any articles about them the writer will tend to damn them with the rather faint praise of being a 'fine singles band', or occasionally a 'legendary live act' which is, to these eyes/ears, Hack-Speak for 'we can't understand how the proles like them, frankly'. Remember, there's NOTHING wrong with being a good singles band! I happen to think they had some good albums too!

And there's the thing with Queen. Lots of ordinary honest to God people love Queen. There's nothing big or clever about the content of the songs - although there's LOADS big AND clever in the arrangements, be it the multi-tracked ukelele orchestra (yes really) on Good Company, or the gospel choir on Somebody to love or the sheer bloody daftness of Prince of the Universe.

But that's me point; the fact that 'the critics' who do the rating and 'the public' who do the buying are so much at odds with each other that they effectively cancel each other out. I don't think, actually, there's any other band that you could just say that cumulatively, they're either over or underrated purely cos the opinions among the 'informed' and, er, the rest of us are so at odds.

Now, if you'll excuse me, i'm off to try and dig out my copy of Live Killers. 2 stars in a re-review in Q Magazine. Yeah, like those pasta munchin' f*cktards would know a decent live album if it bit 'em...

Shan75

Under---Portishead.

Dudess

grumpytrousers wrote: »

Certainly Mercury saying to Sid Vicous that he was simply 'trying to bring Opera to the masses, Darling' didn't endear him to the hip gunslingers

Didn't he address Sid as "Mr Ferocious" or something? Class

Post Freddie Mercurys demise in 1991, there's been a certain re-appraisal

Aw yeah, that was the year I started getting into indie and buying those mags and I remember seeing a very noticeable shift from "pompous ****" to "legendary performer" etc.

grumpytrousers

Dudess wrote: »

Didn't he address Sid as "Mr Ferocious" or something? Class

yup - actually - it seems i got me original quote kinda wrong...same sentiment

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2007/12/queen.html

mike65

Live Killers...2 stars? :eek: Shocking. The Brians Mays delay pedal deserves two on its own.

Mike.

stovelid

grumpytrousers wrote: »

yup - actually - it seems i got me original quote kinda wrong...same sentiment

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2007/12/queen.html

that story.

What I always loved about it is that he probably wasn't even trying to be smart, just trying to be 'down with' SV.

lainey84

basquille wrote: »

Remember to keep this civil.. people are entitled to their own opinion so less of the petty name calling and hang-bags at dawn.

Oh.. and most over-rated band? Muse... a great band but christ-on-a-bike, they're not the be and fecking end all!

i totally agree my friends went to their concert last week an dloved it but i couldnt waste money on seeing them again

insinkerator

Muse are a very good band, studio wise i think they might be a tad overrated, but playing live they really are fantastic!

I think the Arctic Monkeys are totally overrated... Anyone else?

Orizio

Earthhorse wrote: »

Could be. Or...or...it could be that people often criticise the music as if they haven't listened to it; telling us it's depressing when it's laced with humour or negative when it's often full of hope, albeit a jaded, cynical hope.

I don't contend that any criticism of them is misguided, or even that claims they are over-rated are "wrong" (though I disagree with them), just that a lot of the time people don't seem to have the fundamentals right.

Also, Unplugged is an incredible live performance, one of the best ever caught on camera if you ask me.

Yes it could be a ****load of things that people dislike or feel Nirvana are overrated for musical reaosn, not one perosnal thing, which was my point.

Earthhorse

Hence my use of the word sometimes in my original post.

Dudess

insinkerator wrote: »

I think the Arctic Monkeys are totally overrated... Anyone else?

Anything off their second album, yes. I think their first album is pretty fan-bloody-tastic though. And Alex Turner's project The Last Shadow Puppets - some stunning stuff.

Creature

Overrated - Muse, Oasis, Metallica, Foo Fighters.

Underrated - Whipping boy, My Morning Jacket, Brendan Benson, Stone Temple Pilots - Ok so they were huge in America but practically ignored everywhere else and definitely weren't the second rate Pearl Jam knock offs they were made out to be.

Glassheart

Creature wrote: »

Stone Temple Pilots - Ok so they were huge in America but practically ignored everywhere else and definitely weren't the second rate Pearl Jam knock offs they were made out to be.

Right on!

Earthhorse

Yeah, STP were great alright. Kinda glad they were never big hear though. Means they don't get played to death on the radio.

Morgans

I will class underrated not bands that are hard to come accross on the radio - Of Montreal or Neutral Milk Hotel - but bands who most have heard bits and pieces of through possibly one or two catchy singles that got into the mainstream but for some reason, you think they are better than most people give them credit.

I think The Frank and Walters write pop songs as good as any band that I have heard of in the last 15 years. I am constantly amazed that they are able to play to so few people.

Also, its more an underrated album rather than a band as their later stuff has slipped a deal. But Promenade by The Divine Comedy is possibly the greatest Irish album ever recorded. I think it is just phenomenal.

I think it was Dudess that gave The Wedding Present a shout earlier. Just plain simply guitar pop that every teenager that picks up a guitar should try to emulate. Top class call. IMO.

suckslikeafox

Creature wrote: »

Overrated - Muse, Oasis, Metallica, Foo Fighters.

Underrated - Whipping boy, My Morning Jacket, Brendan Benson, Stone Temple Pilots - Ok so they were huge in America but practically ignored everywhere else and definitely weren't the second rate Pearl Jam knock offs they were made out to be.

+1 for STP, never get the credit they deserve over here

Think Republic of Loose are underrated as well, half the country seems to hate them

grumpytrousers

Morgans wrote: »

I think The Frank and Walters write pop songs as good as any band that I have heard of in the last 15 years. I am constantly amazed that they are able to play to so few people.

Also, its more an underrated album rather than a band as their later stuff has slipped a deal. But Promenade by The Divine Comedy is possibly the greatest Irish album ever recorded. I think it is just phenomenal.

oooh - forgot about the Franks actually - and i think the Divine Comedy are pretty highly rated, but they just don't sell a lot. I suspect it's that the great unwashed would consider Neil Hannon to be a little TOO smart alecky, which is, of course, a good thing in a pop singer, but there you go. The Great unwashed (he said rather sniffily) put the Breakfast Roll song to number 1...

Did anybody mention Teenage Fanclub by the way? They're good. I think that if Oasis hadn't come along, doing what *they* did, the Fannies might have been a lot bigger and not languishing in the 'Other Artists on Creation' pile.

anybody with a tenner burning a hole in their pocket should pick up Grand Prix. They took jimgly upbeat major key guitar pop and made it look easy

Phlann

I like Teenage Fanclub, especially Songs From Northern Britain. Their brand of music has been sullied a bit by acts like Snow Patrol who came along after them.

tech77

Gideon Sparse Fork wrote: »

Nirvana were not overrated! The only thing people seem to remember for them now is Kurt's suicide, Smells like Teen Spirit, or Courtney Love.
Listened to Nevermind recently and i admittedly had forgotten what a stomper it is. It really is an immense album. Same goes for In Utero and Unplugged. Great albums and a blast of fresh air to listen to again.

Overrated - Queen, Guns n' Roses, Amy Winehouse,Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Libertines,Killers and pretty much everything between the covers of a copy of NME.

Underrated - Efterklang, Einsturzende Neubauten, XTC, Kerbdog, God is an Astronaut, Whipping Boy

Agree with you about Nirvana.
I think they had an amazing (unique even?) sound- something so visceral yet accessible about it.
Bassline, drums, Kurt's voice just all work so well together.
Nevermind is amazing- the way the tracks flow from one to the next.
In utero is decent but there's something magical about Nevermind.

In terms of Irish bands, i agree about Kerbdog and Whipping Boy being overlooked.

You could add Republic of Loose and Therapy? to that as well.
Edit: and now that i see them above The Frank and Walters.

Mr. Presentable

Most over-rated of all time is the Doors.

Under-rated could be someone you've never heard, so less easy to pick out.

slipss

Have to agree with nipplenuts (genius name btw) about the Doors, they've a couple of ok songs at best, I'll never understand the appeal and I'm convinced if Morrison hadn't have died young all these Doors nuts would admit they are a load of my sweaty bollix.

Also on the over-rated front The Smiths, any song of theres I heard were ok songs but instantly forgetable. So then a couple of my friends who worship the ground they walked on convinced me to listen to thier entire back catalogue, and I did. The dullest couple of hours of my life. Morrisey can not sing, he never could, his lyrics range from bland to sounding like something a depressed playschool kid would scrawl in crayon. Marr was a decent guitarist but one musician a band does not make, and I far prefer the stuff he's done since the Smiths split.

One more for the over-rated gang are (and I can't imagine too many people will agree) The Beatles. Now I'm not saying the Beatles were not a good band, they were, they produced some truely great songs. But people seem to gloss over the unadulterated vomit inducing pile of sh1t that is 80% of thier back catalogue, stuff Westlife would be embarrased to admit to recording. "She loves me yeah yeah yeah, I know three chords yeah yeah yeah, we are the for runners for every formulaic boy band producing bland cheesy pop, yeah yeah fukking yeah, I mistakingly believe I can write a guitar solo bla bla bla". Now before everyone jumps down my throat, like I say they had a few great great songs, songs which I love, then they had a couple of mediocre songs and then the rest. They are very very over-rated, not because they are a bad band but because they are rated so highly for some odd reason far more highly than they deserve. i.e they are over rated.

slipss

Gideon Sparse Fork wrote: »

Overrated - Queen, Guns n' Roses, Amy Winehouse,Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Libertines,Killers and pretty much everything between the covers of a copy of NME.

Get the fukk outta that garden (remember when people used to say that?) pal. GNR over-rated? Slash is an unbelievable lead guitarist, try to say he isn't, I dare ye. Izzy's as good a rthm guitarist as you can get, Axls voice, I suppose, is a matter of personal taste but hes far from being a bad singer, lyrically fair enough they didn't as a matter or habit produce epic poetry that will be studied by school children in the future but its rock and roll,

"Welcome to the jungle
It gets worse here everyday
Ya learn ta live like an animal
In the jungle where we play
If you got a hunger for what you see
You'll take it eventually
You can have anything you want
But you better not take it from me"

I mean there is nothing rockier or rollier than that verse.

But they had thier deep Dylanesque moments when they wanted

"My hands are tied
The billions shift from side to side
And the wars go on with brainwashed pride
For the love of God and our human rights
And all these things are swept aside
By bloody hands time can't deny
And are washed away by your genocide
And history hides the lies"

Glassheart

slipss wrote: »

Get the fukk outta that garden (remember when people used to say that?) pal. GNR over-rated? Slash is an unbelievable lead guitarist, try to say he isn't, I dare ye. Izzy's as good a rthm guitarist as you can get, Axls voice, I suppose, is a matter of personal taste but hes far from being a bad singer, lyrically fair enough they didn't as a matter or habit produce epic poetry that will be studied by school children in the future but its rock and roll,

Slash is rubbish.There ya go,I said it.
Boring,uninspired guitar playing.He brought nothing to the table other than a stupid tophat and an obligatory cigarette hanging out of the the mouth mid guitar solo.

slipss

Glassheart wrote: »

Slash is rubbish.There ya go,I said it.
Boring,uninspired guitar playing.He brought nothing to the table other than a stupid tophat and an obligatory cigarette hanging out of the the mouth mid guitar solo.

*slow three burst fog horn* to you my freind. Waaah waaah waaaaah

Nephilim Wolf

insinkerator wrote: »

Muse are a very good band, studio wise i think they might be a tad overrated, but playing live they really are fantastic!

I think the Arctic Monkeys are totally overrated... Anyone else?

I agree, and I they are absolutely awful as well.:mad:

grumpytrousers

nipplenuts wrote: »

Under-rated could be someone you've never heard, so less easy to pick out.

+1. I preferred their earlier stuff. Before they did those John Peel sessions

Dudess

Ooh yes, Teenage Fanclub - how I adore them!

My favourite country for music is Scotland

Placid_Casual

Ryan Adams is hugely underrated in my opinion. The amount of quality stuff he churns out inspires awe in me. But his sales are fairly modest and the critics are usually fairly lukewarm towards him. Ok, he isn't particularly innovative but he makes up for that in sheer quality and quantity of songs.
If he released one album every 3 years he'd probably be raved about :rolleyes:.

For overrated, i'd say Sigur Ros, in critical terms anyway. When they really nail it they're amazing (e.g. Sorglopur) but most of their stuff just leaves me cold.