most overrated band in the history of forever?

Sisyphus's Struggle said:
... if someones define what he/she understand by overrated, it will be useful... i think that talented, original and influential bands wouldn't be labeled as overrated...
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Overrated means receiving too much praise or credit without really deserving it, but it's a matter of personal opinion. If someone thinks that the 'x' band is bad/not that good, and the general consensus is that they are great, than this 'x' band will most likely be considered overrated by the ones who think not so highly of the band.
 
hibernal_dream said:
The fact that so many books still name the Beatles "the greatest or most significant or most influential" rock band ever only tells you how far rock music still is from becoming a serious art. Jazz critics have long recognized that the greatest jazz musicians of all times are Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Classical critics rank the highly controversial Beethoven over classical musicians who were highly popular in courts around Europe. Rock critics are still blinded by commercial success: the Beatles sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. Jazz critics grow up listening to a lot of jazz music of the past, classical critics grow up listening to a lot of classical music of the past. Rock critics are often totally ignorant of the rock music of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that the Beatles did anything worth of being saved. In a sense the Beatles are emblematic of the status of rock criticism as a whole: too much attention to commercial phenomena (be it grunge or U2) and too little attention to the merits of real musicians. If somebody composes the most divine music but no major label picks him up and sells him around the world, a lot of rock critics will ignore him. If a major label picks up a musician who is as stereotyped as one can be but launches her or him worldwide, your average critic will waste rivers of ink on her or him. This is the sad status of rock criticism: rock critics are basically publicists working for free for major labels, distributors and record stores. They simply publicize what the music business wants to make money with.
Hopefully, one not-too-distant day, there will be a clear demarcation between a great musician like Tim Buckley, who never sold much, and commercial products like the Beatles. And rock critics will study more of rock history and realize who invented what and who simply exploited it commercially.
Beatles' "aryan" music removed any trace of black music from rock and roll: it replaced syncopated african rhythm with linear western melody, and lusty negro attitudes with cute white-kid smiles.
Contemporary musicians never spoke highly of the Beatles, and for a good reason. They could not figure out why the Beatles' songs should be regarded more highly than their own. They knew that the Beatles were simply lucky to become a folk phenomenon (thanks to "Beatlemania", which had nothing to do with their musical merits). THat phenomenon kept alive interest in their (mediocre) musical endeavours to this day. Nothing else grants the Beatles more attention than, say, the Kinks or the Rolling Stones. There was nothing intrinsically better in the Beatles' music. Ray Davies of the Kinks was certainly a far better songwriter than Lennon & McCartney. The Stones were certainly much more skilled musicians than the 'Fab Fours'. And Pete Townshend was a far more accomplished composer, capable of "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia". Not to mention later and far greater British musicians. Not to mention the American musicians who created what the Beatles later sold to the masses.
The Beatles sold a lot of records not because they were the greatest musicians but simply because their music was easy to sell to the masses: it had no difficult content, it had no technical innovations, it had no creative depth. They wrote a bunch of catchy 3-minute ditties and they were photogenic. If somebody had not invented "beatlemania" in 1963, you would not have wasted five minutes of your time to read a page about such a trivial band.
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Thanks for the book report, but again you can blame the media. I disagree, however, on your statement regarding The Beatles having no creative depth. What other bands from the 60's and 70's did they steal from? I think they were very creative in their time. There are thousands of bands who will list them as influences. Of course they were easy to sell to the masses. They were huge in their time and still, the music lives on. Our parents listen to them and they're still on classic rock radio stations, aimed at the younger populations (young adults, not Disney Channel shit). The same stations that play harder music (still within what the mainstream considers classic, or even some modern rock). You cannot say they did not influence other bands to this day. Beatlemania was definitely a commercial product, I agree, but you seem biased by your dislike for them, thereby calling them uncreative and talentless teeny-bopper music. They had a rather short run compared to other bands of those times, but in that time frame, they moved pretty quickly away from the teeny-bopper shit. But I can see how thier popularity has maybe blinded you of their actual creativity.

I was questioning people on what they believe is an over rated band, but if it's a general dislike, regardless of popularity, then the band isn't necessarily over rated. By the way, I think you'd be better off using the word "pop" instead of "rock". "Pop" is a more general term, and would better fit your arguement. "Rock" is pretty general as well, but is more style or genre oriented than "pop". There are plenty of "rock" bands out there that I'm sure everyone here would agree are/were not over rated.

Good arguement, however!:)
 
i aint play this said:
Overrated means receiving too much praise or credit without really deserving it, but it's a matter of personal opinion. If someone thinks that the 'x' band is bad/not that good, and the general consensus is that they are great, than this 'x' band will most likely be considered overrated by the ones who think not so highly of the band.
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That's a good definition, but also asks the question: "What, then, is the purpose of this thread?" It definitely brings people together to discuss, but also has potential of bringing along numerous strings of endless arguements.

Just my 2 cents...:saint:
 
What band isn't over rated? There are always hordes of fanboys praising the name of a particular band, oblivious to the fact that they are humans just like everyone else.
 
warsofwinter said:
obviously for me it's the beatles or bob dylan
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Dylan is an excellent writer/lyicist. His songs are some of the most covered in the past and today. A professor at a university I went to devoted an entire semester course to him. Music-wise I can agree. I'm a fan of his, but he's definitley not the best musician. The covers usually end up sounding better...:loco:
 
hibernal_dream said:
Contemporary musicians never spoke highly of the Beatles, and for a good reason.
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You do know that the Beatles are one of Mike's all time favourite, do you?
I don't have anything against them, back in their time they weren't pretentious and didn't write anything pretentious. It was afterwards that they became the "greatest rock band ever", which, honestly, is bullshit.
The Rolling Stones on the other hand, majestically blows, and so, they are overrated.
 
SerenityNow! said:
...and Nirvana's another one. They killed metal
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+infinity! There is not a more overrated band in the history of forever than Nirvana. Any band that can make a song using only four chords and get famous for it, more power to them. But, the fact that people love them, that just blows my mind. Not to mention they were the nail in the coffin to bands using guitar solos and 80's rock. Oh I don't think anyone will ever know how much I detest Nirvana.
 
Nirvana is clearly the most overrated band ever. They weren't bad, but their dirty yet commercial hard pop was simply no big deal. Mediocre band.

Edit: Guns 'n Roses is so overrated it's unacceptable. It hurts me in the balls because they are such a stinking shitty band. Completely generic ballsy-wannabe chick metal and Axl Rose was a total twat with that laughable raped cat voice that god knows why made such a huge success.
 
GT2000 said:
Oh my God, I can't believe this didn't come to me earlier...

And of course the answer is, Coldplay
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I take back my earlier post in order to agree with this one. These guys have sold a ton of albums and they've only ever written ONE SONG. They just wrote it over and over again and gave it different titles each time. Pink Floyd at least were great/influential/innovative at one time.

Oh, and I am forced to add Staind because I saw an article today regarding the almost equally overrated Disturbed having their 3rd consecutive album debut at #1 on the charts, and it mentioned that Staind is one of the few "artists" to have achieved this dubious feat previously. I nearly died on the spot of shame that the people of my home country have THREE TIMES purchased enough Staind albums in the first week of release to have their albums debut at #1. :erk:
 
The rise of grunge music was the best thing that ever happened to metal music. It killed all the shitty bands, and only the worthy survived.
 
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