Most overrated band/musician ever?

[Leftist78]

My vote goes to Elvis. He was the Justin Timberlake of his day. He had good looks, a decent voice, and beyond that nothing to speak of. Most of his songs (none of which he wrote) lifted directly from the black blues artists of the day. I still find it sad that such a poor imitation of true art is worshiped by so many people to this day.

The true artists of the fifties like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, and a host of others would have to wait for some less racially biased British kids to pick up their records before they ever received the mainstream notoriety they deserved.

so what's your most overrated band/musician?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

1. Sting.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Oooh, Elvis - excellent choice. Also Billy "I Suck" Joel

But he was never held in the esteem of Elvis.

And you are so right in your second paragraph.

[MrSlayer]

3. Elvis.

Never wrote a song in his life and the ones he performed sucked. King of Rock n Roll my ass.

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. I've always been interested that the guy is called "King of Rock and Roll"

And yet I've never, except perhaps once or twice, heard him on a rock station in my entire life.

But he is played on country stations.

Elvis was best when doing gospel.

He would probably have done better had he not had that asshole manager. The Colonel? Was that his name? Whoever it was, screwed him over entirely. So it's hard to tell what Elvis' real potential was, but he certainly, IMO, didn't do anything of any real actual value in the world of music, except spawn a whole genre of tacky, velvet-encrusted, Las Vegas-style crap art.

[bubblesby2002]

14. Colonel Parker....

Controlled Elvis's life like the KGB controlled Russians. Too bad.

[yorgatron]

4. the beatles

mostly cuz of how much it ticks people off :evilgrin:

[jpgray]

5. Bob Dylan and the Beatles

Two immeasurably great artists, but they are not the be-all end-all of popular music. Just listen to the individual Beatles' lousy albums (Two Virgins? Flaming Pie?) or Saved!

:D

edit: I'm not anti-hype, though. Anyone who says they hate the Beatles or Dylan hasn't listened to the catalogue.

[Charlls]

10. omg leave out the beatles...

the beatles where actually massively underrated


they should have ruled all earth for the end of the centuries to come



:bounce: :crazy: :yourock:

[Intelsucks]

28. Dylan? Holy Shit! The most ripped-off lyricist of all time?

I don't know what to say.:shrug:

[sendero]

6. Prince....

naughty lyrics coupled with recycled tunes. Yawn.

[reprehensor]

7. Neil Diamond.

Nonetheless, I still enjoy 'Forever in Blue Jeans' as it was a childhood mainstay on the local crap AM pop radio.

[sasquatch]

9. Oasis

A bunch of Beetle wanna be, drunks in my opinion.

[tridim]

25. I second that

Overrated, cocky wankers. Yet they still think they're gods.

[Nlighten1]

41. I third that...

rather than live up to the hype these guys practice the worst part of rock-n-roll stars behaving badly.

[LanternWaste]

11. Som many crappy bands, so little time...

My gut instinct is to say, "Any band that became popular after 1982". It's hard to find the king of crap in a twenty year kingdom of crap, but here goes....

Van Halen and Tool come to mind first, so I guess that gets my vote; but there's just so many. It's almost like asking which of Bush's policies are the worst?

[sasquatch]

15. TOOL?!?!?I hope your joking

Tool doesn't get the time of day for their contributions to music.

[LanternWaste]

22. I wanted to beat her over the head with a Stan Kenton album

Came to mind simply because one of my best friends got married recently to a (very) young lady. Had dinner over their house and she and a buncha her girlfriends were there. They pretty much forced me to watch a Tool video.


All I could think was, "Damn, this is what pop music has turned into after twenty years?"

She and her friends were pretty much gushing about it, saying how "deep" and "advanced" Tool is. ..

I wanted to beat her over the head with a Stan Kenton album...

[SmileyBoy]

93. POP music??? Are you frikkin' KIDDING ME???

I really don't think Tool is anywhere NEAR pop music.

[LanternWaste]

97. Pop Music is anything played on Top 40 radio channels....

I use Pop Music as a very generalized term ("pop"ular music). To me, it means anything played on the Top 40 stations. So to me, it also includes Rap, Industrial, Synthetic, Garage, or any of the other niche lables used to make the stuff seem more counterculture by the studio exec's.

May not be Pop music in the seventies or eighties sense of the word, but it ain't rock-n-roll, either.... lol

[lucidmadman]

12. Brian Wilson and/or The Beach Boys...

The Four Freshman meet Phil Spector as interpreted by a loon...

I have occasionally caught myself toe tapping/humming along to 'Darlin''. But the 'masterpieces' everyone talks about are hideous.

[Dees]

43. Those masterpieces sure sound good to me!!

[mitchum]

85. Brian Wilson' stature is vastly inflated...

I have certainly enjoyed some of his work, but to consistently rate his pop genius over that of Smokey Robinson is just stupid (and possibly something else)

[NightTrain]

13. Elvis' 1950s work was unprecedented in quality, style and influence.

The simple fact is, without Elvis Presley, rock 'n' roll would have been a lot smaller and influential than it was in the '50s. Who knows, without Elvis, the music might even have been nothing more than the short-lived fad its most vehement critics predicted it would be. As John Lennon put it, "Before Elvis, there was nothing."

And who cares if Elvis never wrote a song? Neither did Maria Callas or Luciano Pavarotti--or Frank Sinatra or Bing Crosby, for that matter--but I don't hear anyone criticizing them for a lack of composing ability!

Furthermore, many of his songs may have originally been recorded by blues and R&B performers, but Elvis transformed them all into something uniquely his own. Listen to Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right" or Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog" if you don't believe me. Presley didn't even use most of the original lyrics in those songs! Rather, he came up with new ones, often on the spot during his recording sessions. So much for the "What did he ever write?" argument.

Anyway, my most overrated band/musician is the Doors, and specifically Jim Morrison. Let's just say, dying young was the smartest career move he ever made! I find it hard to believe that Morrison's I'm-such-a-rebel posturing wouldn't have died some time in the '70s or '80s if he hadn't bitten the big one first.

[Leftist78]

21. Elvis was only influential

because he put a friendly white face on black music so that a very racist society would consume it.

Not that I have a problem with white people playing the blues, but honestly there are two ways to go about it. Either you can approach it with reverence and respect for those that came before you like SRV or Clapton did, or you can ignore the work of those that you are nearly guilty of stealing from like Elvis did.

I have listened to Big Boy Crudup, and Big Mama Thornton, and I must say I prefer their versions to the phony stylized versions that Elvis put out.

[VOX]

30. A big second on Morrison/Doors...

That Lizard-King pseudo-hipster persona, backed by an incredibly mediocre band, got more than its fair share of mileage from hype.

Music lost nothing when he made his early exit.

[blondeatlast]

60. The Doors--Amen. Morrison started a very ugly trend.

Off yourself in order to be remembered.

And yes, I know Jim M. DIDN'T commit suicide.

I honestly think that was partially on the minds of Kurt Cobain and Michael Hutchence when they killed themselves.

[Lostmessage]

16. U2

They were good when they first started out but the music is the same now.

[mr blur]

61. Have to disagree

They were tedious when they first started, too

[bubblesby2002]

17. My choice for most overrated in Aerosmith

I hate them and wish they would go away.

[Cush]

50. 2nd that

is it me, or does it seem like their songs get longer and longer with each album?

[Liberal Veteran]

18. Nirvana....

Liked your music well enough, but screeching into a microphone will only carry you so far.

[unblock]

19. sinatra

but then i live in new jersey, so i'm a bit sensitive to this. I CAN'T GET AWAY FROM SINATRA! AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!

[tishaLA]

24. Sorry. I have to disagree

I grew up in Philadelphia and we had Fridays with Frank and Sundays with Sinatra with Sid Mark since I can remember. Frank--at least until he "unretired" in the late 60s/early 70s--was a phenomenol talent. I think it's just that we remember him as his "Chairman of the Board" persona instead of who he had been.

[Dagaz]

20. Springsteen

Always sounds like he's in pain and his tunes even suck.

[Seldona]

53. I second that.

Never did understand what was so awesome about the boss.

Him and Melloncamp make me physicaly ill.

Oh, and Meatloaf to.

I refuse to even sit in a bar when Paradise by the Dashboard Light comes on.

:puke:

[RandomKoolzip]

88. Ay-fucken-men.

The boss blows. His music is all cliches, from the laughably melodramatic lyrics to the ham handed bar band sound. "But his music gives so much hope to so many!" I hear you whine. Well, so does *. So what?


Sure, I agree with his politics. His music bites, though.

[ogminlo]

23. Dave Matthews

[thelocalkgb]

90. Definitely

Dave Matthews is the most overrated, annoying musician of our times.

[Blue Gardener]

26. Journey

That high pitched squeal they call singing makes my ears bleed.

[fujiyama]

27. Any of those irritating...

punk like bands like Blink 182 or whaever the hell they are...

Or Kidd Rock (God I really do that hate that POS)..

[LSdemocrat]

29. Nirvana, U2

I really can't see how anyone finds either of these bands inspiring.

[mr_hat]

31. Clapton. He's wasn't God then and sure ain't now.

[devilgrrl]

34. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

If beige had a sound - it is definitely that of Eric Clapton. :puke:

[CanuckAmok]

42. There's only one song in the universe worse then the original "Layla"...

...and it's the faux-laid-back 'unplugged' version. If it comes on while I'm driving, I want to find a pole to drive into.

[Enraged_Ape]

56. A big 10-4 Charlie 40 Roger Amen to that!!

I have never for the life of me figured out why so many people think Clapton is some sort of guitar god. Maybe he was pretty good when he was with the Yardbirds, but it's been a steady slide downhill ever since.

And his acoustic version of Layla is, in my opinion, an audio weapon of mass destruction. Countries have been invaded for less than that.

[fudge stripe cookays]

32. Creed....

Christ, I hate this whole post-Pearl Jam "I really want to sing like Eddie Vedder" vocal style.

These guys were the first ones to make it widespread, annoying, and inescapable.

I fucking HATE Creed.

[NNadir]

33. The Greatful Dead.

You needed to be as high as they were to even think they were in tune.

[EstimatedProphet]

63. Those are feuding words

Jerry had more feeling in his voice than any 10 other lead singers.

[Burma Jones]

92. I don't think they were ever overrated

Most of what I ever heard from "critics" were putdowns. Well, some were nice when Garcia died. But, they weren't big chart toppers, had only one video played by MTV and weren't fawned over by the press. So, no, they were never highly rated - except by us Deadheads -

[mouse7]

35. Rod Stewart

He made it big because of Jeff Beck's guitar work. After he made it, he just did covers and songs from hired gun songwriters.

[LauraT28]

36. UNCLE CRACKER

[opiate69]

37. Led Zeppelin

Over exposed, over-hyped, terrible live (Esp. Page's guitar work)..

[carols]

48. Zepplin gets my vote too

One New Year's Eve, a DJ played Stairway to Heaven for 24 hours straight. I hadn't even been drinking and I thought I would vomit.
Carol

[smirkymonkey]

38. Van Morrison....

among many others, but his strained, irritating voice affects me like nails across a chalkboard.

So many people seem to rave about him. I just don't get it.

[CanuckAmok]

39. U2.

Oh, yeah. Always found them as boring as church. Bono's messianic complex doesn't really do it for me either.

The Doors come a close second for me, but I notice that not many people who are over 14 actually enjoy the Doors, so I don't really know how 'over-rated' they are. I think they're more of a coming-of-age ritual, like watching late-night foreign-language TV in hopes of seeing brief nudity.

[Nlighten1]

40. Eric Clapton

[Skittles]

44. COMPARING ELVIS TO JUSTIN F***ING TIMBERLAKE?????

UN-F***ING-BELIEVABLE.

I notimate GARTH BROOKS. What utter CRAP he is.

[NightTrain]

46. Hey, the Freepers don't corner the market on ignorance.

A lot of liberals seem to think that any artist who sold millions of records automatically sucks. :shrug:

[Leftist78]

51. Real classy

You disagree with me on something as trivial as music so you put me in the same category as a freeper. :eyes:

It has nothing to do with selling or not selling millions of records. Most of my biggest musical influences/idols sold millions. Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers Band, and Neil Young all sold plenty of albums, and I count them and other lesser known bands/musicians as my personal favs.

IMO difference between them and Elvis is that they were original and innovative, and Elvis was simply not.

Elvis was a pop star. The truth is, he has much more in common with someone like Timberlake than he has with someone like Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, Taj Mahal, or even a more mainstream example like John Mayer.

Debating whether or not his music was good is too subjective, but I believe that his originality and influence are highly suspect, and that's enough for me to call him the most overrated musician ever.

[Dees]

45. Nirvana

[OneBlueSky]

47. I'll second that . . . their greatest achievement was . . .

subjecting us to hundreds of Nirvana wannabes over the past decade . . . they all should have wanted to be someone else, imo . . .

[stromboli]

49. clay aiken

[jmags]

52. The only thing overrated in music is lists

about bands who were overrated.

[vi5]

54. Nirvana....Tool....definitely Tool...

Boring, repetetive crap that attempts to pass itself off as heavy and deep.

[FlyByNight]

55. Damn near every band you hear...

on "modern rock" radio. How boring.

[solinvictus]

57. Many.........

Older Bands/Musicians :
1) Foreigner. Listen to the rich lyrical complexity of such hits as "Urgent" and "Cold as Ice". They were awful.
2) Loverboy. "Working for the Weekend" is played on every classic rock station of Friday afternoons. They're terrible.
3) Aerosmith
4) Velvet Underground (Yes, yes, YES! I know they're the godfathers of alternative and punk, but they still suck!)
5) Yes, Rod Stewart. Nothing else needs to be said.
6) All of that 1970's whiny pseudo-folk, like America, Bread, and their ilk.

Newer Bands
1) POD, Puddle of Mud, Good Charlotte, Chevelle, Staind, Linkin Park, Evanescence, and all the crappy pierced, shaved, tatooed, and talentless pre-packaged alterna-rockers. This is the trend that replaced the pre-fab boy bands of the late 1990's and guess what? The music sucks just as bad.
2) Avril Levigne (spelling?). I about rolled over laughing when an MTV interviewer referred to her as "punk". Her music is a staple for easy listening light rock stations. How, by any stretch of the imagination, is she punk? Has anyone at MTV ever listened to the Sex Pistols, Clash, Black Flag, Fear, Ramones, Circle Jerks or Suicidal Tendencies and noticed that Avril resembles Debbie Boone far more than any of these bands?

[spinbaby]

58. Frank Sinatra

Honestly, I've never been able to get what the attraction is. He always sounded tone deaf and slightly drunk to me.

[Charlls]

59. Elvis is definitely the most overrated

along with Madonna pre-90


for the most underrated there is definitely a winner:

:bounce: PIXIES!!!! :bounce:

trompe le monde!! vive le alec eiphel!! whooo!!


:bounce:

[mvd]

62. Guns N' Roses

Bad vocals and cheesy sound IMO.

I could respond to many I disagree with here, but I'll address a couple:

The Beatles are my #1 artist so I can't find them overrated.

Elvis had much more than a decent voice. He had one of the most soulful voices ever. And he did add some electric sounds to the mix.

[EstimatedProphet]

64. Loverboy

"Everybody's Working for the Weekend"?
"Hot Girls in Love"?
Is this the best you can do? As Zappa said, you can make more money as a butcher.

[EstimatedProphet]

70. Also i would have to add Lynard Skynard on principle

Not that it sounds bad, but listen to the lyrics sometime. Straight out of Freeperville.

[mitchum]

95. Which ones? The anti-handgun "Saturday Night Special" or...

the backing away from mindless violence "Gimme Three Steps" or the racial brotherhood of "Ballad of Curtis Lowe" or the class consciousness of "Simple Man"? If you're basing your assessment on "Sweet Home Alabama", you really should listen to it's lyrics again (apparently they are too subtle for some people) The original Lynyrd Skynyrd was anything but "straight out of Freeperville"

[DS1]

65. R.E.M.

[ProudGerman]

66. The Stones

I have never got the attraction of the band, or their longevity. I'll also never fathom how they usually get picked as the second greatest rock band of all time. Some of their early stuff ain't half bad, but damn, how'd they stick around all this time.

[LWolf]

96. I never did either.

I liked a lot of their stuff, but still thought they were overdone. Wondered how they managed to keep it together. Until I saw them live in 1996. I quit wondering. They are not overrated.

[ForrestGump]

67. I finally get online, pop my head in DU's door, and what do I see?

Ignorance or blasphemy, take your pick.

I echo the above defense of the Beatles as being more UNDERrated than overrated. Your post proves that Elvis' musical genius -- and I do not use that term loosely -- is still not widely understood or appreciated. He was far more than "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Hound Dog" (but listen to "Hotel"...really listen to the thing and try to tell me where it came from).

Justin Timberlake is Just Another Manufactured Pop 'Star.' An inoffensive (except when in bodice-ripper mode) '90s version of Fabian and all of the Bobbies from Philly who followed in the wake of Elvis' being drafted, Jerry Lee being shafted, Chuck Berry being dafted, and Little Richie Penniman being saved. All style, no substance. Actually, not even style. It's laughable that you'd seriously compare Justin Timberlake with Elvis Presely. About the only real comparison I see is that of Mr Timberlake's Memphis background.

I've already railed one too many times against the ludicrous perception that a singer who doesn't write his or her own songs is somehow fatally flawed, so I won't even bother with that crock. If I cared more about the lyrics than the singing I'd just read poetry (or perhaps listen to Bob Dylan), not seek out recorded songs.

Then there's the myth of Elvis' supposed racism that you invoke, just to round out the tired cliches that seem to comprise your knowledge of the man and the times and place that he came up in. Again, there's a whole book devoted to this tired part of the Spurious Elvis Legend but suffice it to say that Elvis was NOT a racist and did NOT 'steal' traditionally-black music (certainly no more than Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, or Charlie Pride 'stole' country music). Ask BB King, who fondly remembers a pre-fame, teen Elvis who hung out at the Beale Street clubs. Ask James Brown. Ask a lot of people. Ask the spirit of Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup, the original performer of the blues song that Elvis transformed into the beginning of something rather big...Elvis paid Crudup's medical bills in the '70s when he found out that the bluesman was ailing. He paid for Jackie Wilson's, too.

Elvis appreciated black music in a way that I suspect you wouldn't even begin to understand -- growing up poor and white in rural Mississippi during the Depression and WWII years gave him a heck of a lot more in common with his blues heroes than you or I are likely to ever truly have. Can you even wrap your mind around the cajones it took to dress like a '50s version of Superfly, with long hair, back in Memphis 1954? The dude snuck into black churches and black clubs during a time and in a place when that sort of thing could get you in very big trouble.

And you're so ignorant about the man you'd so easily dismiss as a musical non-event that you list his disciples as examples of people who were more purely inspired by the musical forms that were Elvis' roots (actually, just the blues -- you seem to fail to appreciate that country, gospel, and pure pop also contributed to rock 'n' roll). Let's go down your list:

Jimi Hendrix - HUGE Elvis fan, directly inspired to get into music by Elvis (he attended a 1957 concert in Seattle and was, rightly, blown away by the man in the gold suit).

Bob Dylan - yet another HUGE Elvis fan. Cites Elvis' 1966 version of "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" (recorded during a gospel LP session in a period otherwise largely devoted to substandard movie soundtracks) as the song that he most treasures. He said that hearing Elvis for the first time was like busting out of jail. To some degree, he tried to project the image (poor, rural, blue collar) that Elvis and most of the old bluesmen actually lived.

The Beatles - Elvis fans all. We've all heard John Lennon's quotes, including the one that testifies that there'd be no Beatles without Elvis, but listen to their early stuff (and their later rehearsal stuff) and you'll hear Elvis everywhere. John Lennon traded his gold record of "Abbey Road" for some of Elvis Sun singles.


The Allman Brothers Band - you know, somehow I rather suspect that these boys had Elvis among their influences. For that matter, pretty much anyone in rock or rock-based pop has their roots in Elvis's music, even if once removed.

Neil Young - Elvis was his hero when he was a teenager. So many people, from Elton John to Jim Morrison and Barry White, got into music because of Elvis.

Elvis was the most commercially successful performer out there, who broke more barriers and records than anyone else. He is also -- remains so -- tremendously influential in music and in so many other ways. He essentially underpins pop culture. As Mojo Nixon said, he's everwhere. Did it ever occur to you that there might be a reason for this, a reason beyond that of pure commercial hype? His story ended tragically, but if you actually put aside your prejudices and your elitist idea that a commercial success can not produce anything meaningful, you might just find that he wrote the musical book that only a man who combined so many disparate musical traditions could write.





And, as a P.S. to everyone who's written to me...hi. Stuff's going on, but I'll try to catch up. I'd say it's good to be back but the first thing I see here is a slam on the World's Greatest Performer? Shoot...can't we discuss something more pleasant, like Janet Jackson's right boobie?

[SOteric]

68. Note to self:

Blaspheme Elvis and the Gump-boy will return.

:hi:

[ForrestGump]

75. Thusly is it written

:hug:

[HEyHEY]

77. Afternoon Forrest - good to see you!

[ForrestGump]

84. Hey!

Good to see you, too! I hope that you're staying warm up there. Don't let the polar bears bite, dude!

[Edge]

69. Elvis, all boy bands, The Rolling Stones...

Led Zeppelin, all the "Crooners," Aerosmith, most anything from the 80s...etc...

[HEyHEY]

71. The Stones and crooner are some of the best music off all time

Crooners have natural talent whenit coes to singing and their voices are amazing to hear. The Stones have a catalogue full of kick-ass dirty blues tunes that have some heart and soul thrown into the mix.

My vote goes to nickelback, creed and all this other shit you hear these days.

[HEyHEY]

72. Also pink floyd can go to hell !

[OhioStateProgressive]

76. what?, you can't be serious

may I ask what you base your assertions on Pink Floyd from?

I find Roger Waters lyrics to easily be amongst the best ever

[Edge]

78. I also don't like Pink Floyd...

just as much as I hate Bob Dylan. Their music makes me want to burst my ear drums.

[OhioStateProgressive]

80. I'm sorry

I just find it unfathomable

[HEyHEY]

79. Because it's just a bunch

Of pretentious stoners with a synthizyser (sp?) trying to be all deep and pensive...it's a joke.

[Edge]

81. Heh...that's the very same reason why I don't like them...

lol.

[OhioStateProgressive]

82. i disagree

it isn't pretentious at all...although some lyrics aren't as good as others...understand none of his lyrics were posturing...they were mostly about his father who died in world war 2

I find most Waters lyrics to be quite deep actually...although the music itself could get boring

[Edge]

73. Heh...Nickelback and Creed is..

shit. Who listens to that?

[HEyHEY]

74. I can't figure it out either

But nickelback just sold 20,000 in Calgary...I can't see the draw of that racket

[ForrestGump]

83. And that'll be QUITE enough out of you, too

:P

[A-Schwarzenegger]

86. Perry Como.

[mitchum]

87. Gram Parsons...good songwriter, terrible singer

And how can someone "invent" country-rock, when rock and roll already had a heavy country influence?

Most overrated today: Parson's heir Ryan Adams AKA F Chord Fitzgerald

[Mrs. Venation]

89. Bruce Springsteen

Whoever told him he can sing should be drawn and quartered!

[brainshrub]

91. Michael Jackson

[ronnykmarshall]

98. I'll second that

[Burma Jones]

94. The Eagles

Love the Football team

Hate the band