Your Most Overrated Bands

[Ugly Nora]

Concerning the Beatles - how can a band who had such a large impact musically, culturally, and socially around the world be considered overrated? You may not like their music, but their is no denying how important they were (for better or worse) to how we arrived here today.

[codetocontra]

We are far enough removed through time that we don't really fully understand the relevance the Beatles had at their time. It isn't something you understand by just listening to the music. You would have to have been alive or look to another source for the history lesson. Most bands from the 60s and 70s are the same for me, as in the music doesn't tickle my ears necessarily and the impact those groups had at the time are lost.

[codetocontra]

Mastodon
Foo Fighters
Phish
Grateful Dead
Eric Clapton
Joe Bonermassa
Jimi Hendrix
Oasis
Weezer
Pearl Jam
Led Zeppelin
KISS
Elvis
Black Sabbath
Simon and Garfunkel
Sex Pistols
Beach Boyz
Nirvana

I loved Nirvana in the day. But their music is immortalized now since they went out on a high note. They didn't get to put out more records that were shit or have people stop caring, I mean besides the posthumously released archive bullshit. The legacy is overrated.

[dubkitty]

i grew up with the Beatles (i was 6 years old when they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show), and it's true that there's no way to comprehend now just how revolutionary the Beatles were in their time. when they first appeared, their early songs cut through the bullshit of 1963 "rock," which had devolved into bland easy-listening, like a scythe. we used to wait with bated breath for each new single, and they never ceased to blow our minds. i still remember how blown away my brother and i were by the "Hello Goodbye"/"I Am The Walrus" and "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever" 45s. NOBODY had done anything like that before, and the Lennon tunes in particular basically introduced avant-garde collagerie techniques to the mass market. it was amazing to watch them evolve in front of our eyes...there'll never be an experience like that again.

[actual]

Almost forgot

[retinal orbita]

Concerning the Beatles - how can a band who had such a large impact musically, culturally, and socially around the world be considered overrated? You may not like their music, but their is no denying how important they were (for better or worse) to how we arrived here today.

Wouldn't that be the criteria for why people find them overrated - that they are revered as cultural ambassadors of the 1960's and any slight of their merits is met with scorn due to their "achievements" - I use quotes because I don't deny they were an important band culturally or musically, nor do I actually dislike them (well, I don't love them but I'm no hater to what they accomplished), but the fact is that they occupy so much status within the cultural "canon" of artists that defined "the 60's" while simultaneously remaining a very safe staple in the lexicon of popular music to this day? How many Beatles fans tread into anything more adventurous? Look at the scorn heaped upon John when he started collaborating with Yoko Ono - and the way Beatles fans deride her, even though the Beatles were by definition progressing well beyond the safe confines of their early material. The Beatles are "overrated" in my opinion because 97% of the time if someone is talking about them you know it's gong to be the safest discussion about music you'll ever get. This isn't even about people name-checking Stockhausen on Sgt. Peppers, it's about the idea that while yes, the Beatles were an important band there are thousands of bands from the same era who pushed boundaries and get a distinct lack of recognition because the world was obsessed by the Beatles.

tl,dr it's the fans not the band

Also I will say that Paul had some friggin' amazing solo records. Band on the Run and Ram in particular.

I mean, Black Sabbath invented heavy metal (please, it was not Blue Cheer) and you don't hear people talking about them as "overrated" or debating their relevance in the evolution of music. Well I'm sure people do this but wise sage Wagner Antichrist once said "if you are a false don't entry" so that's pretty much all you need to know about metal.

[dubkitty]

Almost forgot

ah, yes, Radiohead-lite.

[dubkitty]

it's about the idea that while yes, the Beatles were an important band there are thousands of bands from the same era who pushed boundaries and get a distinct lack of recognition because the world was obsessed by the Beatles.

but the thing is that the Beatles, along with the Rolling Stones, were the inspiration for most of those bands.

[codetocontra]

Oh yeah, forgot Rolling Stones on my list. Also, Coldplay.

[retinal orbita]

it's about the idea that while yes, the Beatles were an important band there are thousands of bands from the same era who pushed boundaries and get a distinct lack of recognition because the world was obsessed by the Beatles.

but the thing is that the Beatles, along with the Rolling Stones, were the inspiration for most of those bands.

Let's not forget that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones are hardly original when it comes to making music, so yeah, if "white people borrowing from black music" is "inspiration" then sure.

We can go back and forth on the impact at the time but if we're speaking of the Beatles in a contemporary context they are college bro/brah music.

I was talking to my wife about this a second ago and she mentioned their "inspirational impact" includes Oasis and the brit pop expolsion which should shut this hum dinger of a debate down in my favour immediately #wonderwall

[Lurker13]

I mean, Black Sabbath invented heavy metal (please, it was not Blue Cheer) and you don't hear people talking about them as "overrated" or debating their relevance in the evolution of music.

Look up three posts...

Black Sabbath

As for

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was revolutionary and made mind-searing music. His technique, creativity, and showmanship were all unparalleled. I've listened to a lot of music from the '60s, and I have never heard anything that came out prior to 1967 that sounded like the songs on Are You Experienced. He took rock music into outer space and beyond, and the world of rock music has never been the same. A lot of people learned to play guitar because they were inspired by him. I still feel blown away almost every time I listen to his music; not by every song, and not by most of the vault scrapings, but he was certainly one of the greatest rock musicians ever.

Admittedly, this whole thread is based on biases by members with a wide diversity in age, and therefore in cultural points of reference. I think it was the ancient Romans who said it was useless to argue over matters of taste. They were right, but it's fun anyway.

[Blackened Soul]

As for

Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was revolutionary and made mind-searing music. His technique, creativity, and showmanship were all unparalleled. I've listened to a lot of music from the '60s, and I have never heard anything that came out prior to 1967 that sounded like the songs on Are You Experienced. He took rock music into outer space and beyond, and the world of rock music has never been the same. A lot of people learned to play guitar because they were inspired by him. I still feel blown away almost every time I listen to his music; not by every song, and not by most of the vault scrapings, but he was certainly one of the greatest rock musicians ever.

To me what he really did was take blues, soul and rock and slam them all together into something interesting.. still, most of the voicings he used in solos/licks are Albert King [most blues rock plays up to SRV rely super heavy on Albert King's stuff] and John Lee Hooker lexicon

[the raytownian]

I think a lot modern bands aping older ones are hideously, offensively over-hyped, and there's too many to list. If I really force myself to think about it enough, I feel literally ill with disgust over how much empty hype fuels things these days. I find that a lot worse than listening to someone's dad wax nostalgic about how great The Rolling Stones are, even though I can't personally hear anything worth a fuck in any of their post-psychedelic output.

I'm feeling burned out on my own negativity right now, frankly. I'd rather talk about who I think is underrated, relative to The Beatles and Doors and Led Zeppelins and Pink Floyds of the world.
I'm a big Blue Oyster Cult fan, for instance. I know they're hugely famous, but they're still a "second-tier" band at best. I really feel that there was a lot more to them than just 2-3 hit singles, even considering how patchy their later output became. I think they have at least one exceptional track on every album.

I also love T. Rex. To somewhat respond to the thread, only focusing on a single artist, I think The Slider is mostly overrated, with only a few great songs. I also think "Ride A White Swan" is overrated as hell. It's such a dull song compared to other Tyrannosaurus/T. Rex material. I think its popularity is one of those things you had to be in a very specific time and place to "get".

[$harkToootth]

I also think "Ride A White Swan" is overrated as hell. It's such a dull song compared to other Tyrannosaurus/T. Rex material. I think its popularity is one of those things you had to be in a very specific time and place to "get".

Jah, I agree 100%, of all the (imo) amazing things he put out in those early records, it puzzles me that people locked in on that one (Ride A White Swan). It's such a tripe track. It's the 'Lean Woman Blues' of his earlier output (the analogy being 'Electric Warrior' is an otherwise perfect album without 'Lean Woman Blues').

Not that I believe in reincarnation or something but, I must have lived a past life where I was in London at the time he was Tyrannosaurus Rex because I absolutely adore those first three albums (I'm an even bigger fan after the name and style change, I'm just trying to illustrate a point of having no real reason to like those spacey folk pop albums he put out, and yet being incredibly drawn to them). I enjoy having music that is kind of a fluke 'that you listen to'. Growing up where I did, there was no real reason to find and enjoy Pre-Khmer Rouge Cambodian Psych Rock as much as I did...yet here we are (again, maybe I was there?)

Just glad to have a fellow Marc Bolan enthusiast

[dugwolf]

Obviously in the minority, but I’ve never liked anything I’ve heard from U2. Can’t understand why they’re SO BIG.