What Band Is The Most Overrated?

[mirrorman]

This was question asked by someone at work the other day and the answers received were very varied and sometimes quite shocking, so I'll ask the question the same question here:

Which band do you think is the most overrated ?

It can be a band from the past or current. Oh, and I DON"T want this to turn in to somesort of flame war....please respect eachothers opinions

My first answer to this question would be U2. Whilst bono does do some excellent humanitarian work I just believe they are over hyped and Bono seems to be an expert on EVERTHING....no offence to fans of U2 by the way.;)

[chompy]

The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. And from a purely British perspective; Kasabian.

Oh..and in before Tool.

[PKO17]

Definitely the Red Hot Chili Peppers. They're not bad but alot of my friends believe they are the greatest band ever. I personally have a hard time even calling them a rock band. From what I can hear, most of their songs are just beats with a singer that sounds like he's stoned. I don't understand how their guitarist can be considered one of the best ever if its barely evident in their songs that there even is a guitarist in that band.

[keebs]

Oh, you guys are killing me! The Beatles and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are two of my favorite bands! What do you guys think of System of a Down?

Overrated bands would be Led Zeppelin. I can't stand them. As much as it pains me to say it, Guns n' Roses as well.

[fri2219]

Here's an assortment of over-hyped (overrated) bands since the 1960's:

The Who
The Rolling Stones
The Replacements
Coldplay
Creed
U2 (I loved them, but they've been on fumes since The Joshua Tree)
ELP
Yes
CSN & Y (great, but still overrated)
Duran Duran
Chic
Dixie Chicks
Guns and Roses (have to agree on that)
Metallica
Quiet Riot
Def Leppard
The Dave Clark Five
A Flock of Seagulls
The Allman Brothers
The Pixies
The Pogues
The Sex Pistols
Ben Folds Five
The Knack
Modest Mouse
Franz Ferdinand (egad, take some voice lessons)
New Radicals
Fine Young Cannibals
The Band
Traffic


Today's music is almost all over-hyped, but usually features talentless single artists.

I also have most of these bands' CDs sitting in my closet and digitized in my iTunes library. :-)

[Dyka]

What do you guys think of System of a Down?

They have a nice sound, and the vocals keep improving, but they suck. I own all their official albums, and used to be very much into them, but as my musical tastes changed I noticed that in most of their songs they follow the same basic formula: Verse, hook, verse, breakdown.

As for other bands, I think that the majority of rock, metal, and alternative bands that emerged in the 90s and 00s have sucked. They follow too many formulas and rarely add anything new to their genres. This includes non-mainstream bands.

[KieronZ]

The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, U2 and Duran Duran. Many of the bands from 60's-80's.

[mirrorman]

Interesting, alot of the same answers we got at work have come up here as well....maybe it's true. :p

The Rolling Stones (for godsake guys...please retire soon :sweatlaugh: )
Coldplay (this band came up a few times)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Beatles (this band came up a few times too..sniff :( )

and some new ones as well. :nod:

Yes(yup, never thought of this one but I HAVE TO agree)
CSN & Y = Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (hmmm, love'em but kinda' know what you mean)
Dixie Chicks(God yes...and the worst dress sense I've seen :rolleyes: )
The Dave Clark Five(this is an interesting choice)
The Sex Pistols(God yes...and no musical talent AT ALL)
The Allman Brothers(Ramblin' Man's a great song but yer I've got to agree)
The Band(Didn't think of these guys but BIG TIME have to agree :nod:)
Traffic(Another one I didn't think of...like the The Band a very early super group that got a lot of hype but never really delivered.)

Another band that fits this for me....The Greatfull Dead.

[Mysterio133]

Green Day. and those dumb "garage" punk-bands

[akch23]

The Beatles????? Surely not the Beatles.
You must remember that in the 60s, their style of music would have been very different to the prevailing culture, and maybe they were ahead of their times. Their influence on music in the form of various little things would have been pathbreaking at that time.
I would say, that even now, their music would still stand out.


The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. And from a purely British perspective; Kasabian.

Oh..and in before Tool.

[schroeder]

But in our time, they no longer have the same draw, that same rebellious spirit as they did before. And compared to some well written music of the last 15 years (that would be of any country: China, HK, Japan, Korea, as well as N. Amer.) the music is quite lacking. I've been stuck listening to Beatles CDs during work and it's come close to driving me insane due to the repetitiveness =\

I still respect other people's opinions =D

[KQ_Jai]

X-japan and Beyond... If u no wt i am talking about

[eviltoon]

You know, putting down bands you weren't around to see, or experience in their time is a bit silly. Saying Led Zeppelin were over-rated just doesn't work when you think of their influence...and I have to say, seeing them live was a sight to behold! I saw them is 1977 and they were amazing.

No back up musicians, not sourced in sounds...just 3 musicians and a singer. Sorry, I don't mean to flame or start an argument really. But to dis a band that you haven't seen or been around to feel their impact...nope, don't think it holds water.

Personally, I never experienced the Beach Boys and I cannot understand their popularity, and can honestly say I dont like their music. But I cannot dismiss their pervasive influence during the 60's as they were before my time. I really didn't experience them as they were.

The most over-rated band of all time might well be The Spice Girls. Look what they did with one album...and then what happened, well besides Victoria discovering Beckem! The most over-rated bands are most always the ones that had nothing to offer in the first place. LOts to choose from.:rolleyes:

In the words of mike and fiber...peace

[Lustor!]

You guys are a bunch of nobs. Overrated bands... Get a friggin' life...

However, eviltoon is on the right track with Spice Girls. An "overrated" band would be one that is pushed into the spotlight not by virtue of their ability to create music but by the pocket book of their label. Something like Vanilla Ice would rate this label.

What I see here, as is what has come to define the web, are a bunch of people who confuse their own preferences and opinions with that of knowledge based analysis. I mean, let's talk about what classical composer is overrated, ok? "That Bach. He can't fool me. He was such a hack. I never did like his stuff."

Can I vomit now?

[ExtremelyHappy]

I love this quote about Richard Wagner, composer of Ride of the Valkyres and everyone's favourite Nazi artisan:

"Wagner's Music isn't as bad as it sounds"

[smartpatrol]

The Doors, hands down, are most overrated rock band in history. They made one good album (the debut), two OK-but-not-great ones (Morrison Hotel and L.A. Woman), and the rest of their catalog is a disaster. Jim Morrison was a one-note singer whose poetry was sloppy and wildly pretentious, and while Robbie Krieger was a pretty good guitarist, the band overall sounded goofy and they could not rock to save their lives. Why anyone regards them as one of the important bands of their era is a complete mystery to me.

Oh, and with all due respect, the Replacements and the Band aren't overrated in my book -- they both made some amazing, life-changing records and I listen to both of those groups for pleasure on a regular basis.

[ExtremelyHappy]

The Doors, hands down, are most overrated rock band in history.

Yeah. Any band who has Val Kilmer as a lead singer is hard to take seriously.

[akch23]

I agree with what Eviltoon said up there. You can't call a band over-rated coz today it may be difficult to imagine the problems these bands faced, and the path-breaking trends they set.
As for The Doors, yes, they may not have had that many hits but then the driving force behind the band died early. And as for the comment about Val Kilmer being the lead singer of The Doors? That is one comment that I could not understand, try as I might.

[Lustor!]

This is because he played Jim Morrison in The Doors movie.

And I agree with Eviltoon. It's so easy to say something like, "Oh, Cream sucked. I like Eric Clapton today." The thing is, he'd never be who he is if Cream hadn't existed. And God only knows what music would be like without The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. The Doors too. Bands today uniformly suck more than ever because, more than ever, they simply stand on the shoulders of the work done by others.

[smartpatrol]

As for The Doors, yes, they may not have had that many hits but then the driving force behind the band died early.

Yeah, but the Doors put out seven albums before Morrison kicked off ... that's a lot of music. Are you suggesting if he'd lived another ten years, their music would have gotten a lot better? Their body of work suggests otherwise. (Oh, and try listening to the two albums the Doors made after Morrison croaked -- they weren't much of a band with him, but they were thoroughly lost without him.) And it isn't about their hits or lack of them (actually, the Doors sold a hell of a lot of records, so public recognition wasn't one of their problems); there are plenty of great bands who've never sold many records (the Sonics, the MC5, the Stooges, the Silver Apples), and awful musicians who at least for a while moved all kinds of merchandice (Vanilla Ice, anyone?). This is about music, and as artists the Doors never moved me.

[KaiZX]

But in our time, they no longer have the same draw, that same rebellious spirit as they did before. And compared to some well written music of the last 15 years (that would be of any country: China, HK, Japan, Korea, as well as N. Amer.) the music is quite lacking. I've been stuck listening to Beatles CDs during work and it's come close to driving me insane due to the repetitiveness =\

Here's the issue I have with this thread: people are judging bands based on perceptions today, rather than any real historical perspective. The Beetles are a perfect example of this. People do not like The Beetles because their music no longer "sound good," but you cannot judge them based on today's standards. The Beetles are great because they DEFINED a whole generation of people, and helped to redefine the music scene. Eviltoon and Lustor both said the same thing: bands today wouldn't exist if bands of yesterday didn't, because the music wouldn't evolve.

Here's one band that I didn't notice get mentioned: U2. Bono and company's music isn't bad, but I cringe whenever people compare them with the Beetles. THEY ARE NOT, plain and simple. They are one of the most successful band today with a worldwide audience, and they (Bono in particular) deserve honors for promoting humanitarian agendas. But the Beetles, they are not. They have longevity, but they don't have the same on pop culture that the Beetles had.

And do you know they sold less albums in their career than Whitney Houston?

[eviltoon]

The Beetles are a perfect example of this.

Hey there KaiZx;238356...that's probably the Beatles eh?;)

[ExtremelyHappy]

There's a lot of good music out there. Far too much to listen too.

Funny thing is we seem to more or less randomly choose the music we listen too and like. either because it was cool at a the time you heard it, or you had a friend or family member that liked it, or was in a movie you liked. or the radio played it over and over until you thought you liked it and went out and bought it. With the more impressionable in society, the fact everyone seems to like it can be enough to convince you it's greeeeeeeeeat!

I like U2, think Bono is one cool dude, but only own one of their albums from years back. Just don't have the time or mental adventurizm to listen to anything new.

Same with classical. Must be thousands of good classical albums out there. But only a few which I listen to over rather than trying new.

Grew up in the 80s so love pop music of that period, but mostly for the memory. But got tired of mainstream around the time of Nirvana/Oasis, went off air and listened to my own private collection.

Moral: Your musical tastes are random

[akch23]

If you hear their earlier songs, you can experience what the group was really capable of. In the later albums, you can see that it is not music, but merely their drug-addiction that comes through. But, if Morrison had continued to live, and created music, without being under the influence of drugs, then yes, their music would have become better.

Yeah, but the Doors put out seven albums before Morrison kicked off ... that's a lot of music. Are you suggesting if he'd lived another ten years, their music would have gotten a lot better? Their body of work suggests otherwise. (Oh, and try listening to the two albums the Doors made after Morrison croaked -- they weren't much of a band with him, but they were thoroughly lost without him.) And it isn't about their hits or lack of them (actually, the Doors sold a hell of a lot of records, so public recognition wasn't one of their problems); there are plenty of great bands who've never sold many records (the Sonics, the MC5, the Stooges, the Silver Apples), and awful musicians who at least for a while moved all kinds of merchandice (Vanilla Ice, anyone?). This is about music, and as artists the Doors never moved me.

[drilla19]

The most overrated band in my opinion has to be the grateful dead...unless your stoned out of your mind, but even then I find them to be repetitive..

I know some people said Led Zepelin, but ummm they are amazing... Jimmy Paige? not overrated.

[KaiZX]

Hey there KaiZx;238356...that's probably the Beatles eh?;)

Oops, my bad. Sorry, Paul McCartney :P

[locohaiiyu05]

I have to agree with drilla19... I have never understood the fascination/cult thing going on for the Grateful Dead. I find their music to be a little dull and lacking in punch for my taste... It just always seems like they're on a similar emotional plane, not really going up or down. I think the old Dave Matthews Band (crash and before) stuff is a much better example of a Jam band, how they put stuff together with Jazz influences and how they improvised... I don't like DMB's newer stuff, though...

I think Green Day is another overrated band... I can listen to them once in a while but it sounds a little droll and juvenile after a while. Especially that song "wake me up when september ends" or whatever... can be kinda irritating, hehe....

Different strokes for different folks, I guess! ;)

[spike095]

Blink 182 -- catchy, yes, but overrated pop drivel appreciated by middle schoolers.

[avadavat]

what's wrong with a song being catchy? isn't that kind of the point? if it's not catchy, then what is it? something can be profound even if it's very simple.

i neglected to listen to blink-182 with an open mind up until this year because of comments like Spike's, but it was a mistake. sure, they have some juvenile themes for their intended audience, but the melodies are irresistible and the lyrics are funny. :)

i recommend applying the naturalist Aggasiz's advice about nature (http://www.netwalk.com/~vireo/agassiz.html (http://www.netwalk.com/%7Evireo/agassiz.html)) to your musical listening explorations: "Go to nature, take the facts into your own hands, look, and see for yourself" ;)