Most over rated band of all time

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
    This notice can be dismissed using the upper right corner X button.

HFCS

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2010
67,145
54,198
113
LA LA Land
People might not like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but they are very talented. Flea is one of the best bass players there is. And... at least they don't sound like every other band out there. Nobody else really sounds like RHCP.

IMO, Jay Z has to be the most overrated. I can't stand listening to anything he's done really. But I can't stand rap either, so there's that.

I also think Radiohead is overrated. I do like some of their songs, but not very many. I've tried really hard to like this group because everyone tells me that they are musical geniuses, etc, but I just can't get into it. So much of it sounds like just noise to me.

Obviously though, most of this thread is going to just be about what people like and don't like. Music is a form of art, and therefore it will appeal differently to different people. Some people may love a certain painting, while others hate it. It's all about taste.

Agree RHCP

Agree Jay Z (it's like people give him points as a businessman when evaluating his music)

Half agree with Radiohead. Their first 3 albums and Iron Lung EP are epic and legendary…but I think the stuff since is really overrated and doesn't stand up to those 4. Pablo Honey was solid, I wouldn't blink if someone said The Bends was the best rock album of the past 30 years, Iron Lung/OK Computer were ground breaking and amazing…then everything since is a crappier version of what they nailed on OK Computer.
 

CyCloned

Well-Known Member
Oct 18, 2006
13,534
6,883
113
Robins, Iowa
I feel that you have to rate bands by what they did to shape the music industry, and what they did in their songs. I laugh at you guys claiming the Beetles, and Rolling Stones as overrated. Sure they get more exposure and credit than others, but they were the driving force in music for over a decade. Nirvana was not that great, not very influential and honestly, not very good. I would agree with the Doors being overrated, for much of the same reason Nirvana is; the death of the lead singer.

I have a friend that hate the Eagles, and thinks they were the most overrated band ever. While I agree they had some pretty marginal stuff on some albums, they were decent and easy to listen to. To each his own.
 

jbindm

Well-Known Member
Dec 2, 2010
13,073
7,604
113
Des Moines
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soungarden had the immense benefit of being original and different after fifteen years of hair band cookie cutter crap. And I say that as a fan of a lot of those hair bands from early on, but the imitators were just terrible. Fact is, it doesn't take too much to top Firehouse or Steelheart or whatever crap signified the last gasps of the hair band era.

Exactly. Like I posted earlier about Nirvana - right place, right time.
 

Rabbuk

Well-Known Member
Mar 1, 2011
55,030
42,337
113
Agree RHCP

Agree Jay Z (it's like people give him points as a businessman when evaluating his music)

Half agree with Radiohead. Their first 3 albums and Iron Lung EP are epic and legendary…but I think the stuff since is really overrated and doesn't stand up to those 4. Pablo Honey was solid, I wouldn't blink if someone said The Bends was the best rock album of the past 30 years, Iron Lung/OK Computer were ground breaking and amazing…then everything since is a crappier version of what they nailed on OK Computer.
The bends is really solid top to bottom. No bad songs.
 

HFCS

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2010
67,145
54,198
113
LA LA Land
I feel that you have to rate bands by what they did to shape the music industry, and what they did in their songs. I laugh at you guys claiming the Beetles, and Rolling Stones as overrated. Sure they get more exposure and credit than others, but they were the driving force in music for over a decade. Nirvana was not that great, not very influential and honestly, not very good. I would agree with the Doors being overrated, for much of the same reason Nirvana is; the death of the lead singer.

I have a friend that hate the Eagles, and thinks they were the most overrated band ever. While I agree they had some pretty marginal stuff on some albums, they were decent and easy to listen to. To each his own.

The Doors is a great Nirvana comparison. Their front man was incredibly charismatic and controversial, then died early. Their music was good but enough to separate from the best of the time. Cobain was not as charismatic or controversial as Jim Morrison but still somehow connected with fans more as a front man more than the other bands with their sound.

It's hard for me to think Nirvana broke any ground that wasn't well tilled over a decade ago by sounds like the three links I just posted, and it's hard for me to think their music was any better than Alice in Chains with a similar sound from the same town.
 

Prone2Clone

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2006
9,876
9,168
113
I can't stand listening to Bruce Springsteen. Dude sounds like he's straining out a giant crap.
 

clonedude

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2006
30,548
25,679
113
Agree RHCP

Agree Jay Z (it's like people give him points as a businessman when evaluating his music)

Half agree with Radiohead. Their first 3 albums and Iron Lung EP are epic and legendary…but I think the stuff since is really overrated and doesn't stand up to those 4. Pablo Honey was solid, I wouldn't blink if someone said The Bends was the best rock album of the past 30 years, Iron Lung/OK Computer were ground breaking and amazing…then everything since is a crappier version of what they nailed on OK Computer.

I did like The Bends album a lot. I will give them that.
 

Bigbuck31pt

Member
Sep 10, 2010
49
0
6
58
Pearl jam, acdc, rush

Apparently you know nothing about musical talent to list Rush as over rated. They have the most Platinum albums behind the Stones and the Beatles. Easily, the most under rated band of all time.
 

Rabbuk

Well-Known Member
Mar 1, 2011
55,030
42,337
113
Apparently you know nothing about musical talent to list Rush as over rated. They have the most Platinum albums behind the Stones and the Beatles. Easily, the most under rated band of all time.
Their lead singer sounds like a dying animal and 5 minute synthesizer or drum solos are overrated.
 

Bigbuck31pt

Member
Sep 10, 2010
49
0
6
58
Their lead singer sounds like a dying animal and 5 minute synthesizer or drum solos are overrated.

Never heard a 5 minute synthesizer solo on any Rush album and the drum solos are a lot longer than 5 minutes and far from over rated. You should actually watch one, which obviously you haven't.
 

je4cy23

Active Member
Jul 11, 2009
123
31
28
Des Moines
For me it's hard to bag on someone and tell them that they know nothing about music just because you disagree with their tastes. Music is such a personal thing. What speaks to one person may not speak to another. I am about as big of a Bruce Springsteen fan as anyone you'll ever meet but I can understand when someone says they can't stand him because of the quality of his voice. He doesn't have the greatest voice in the world but the song writing, music, and live performances makes him one of the greatest of all time. That said, here are a few that, for me at least, are popular but for some reason, it just don't get it and it doesn't "speak" to me at all.

Nirvana. I agree with the OP. All the other grunge bands from the same time period (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden) ,to me, run circles around Nirvana. Can't stand Cobain's singing. Foo Fighters are such a better band too.

Pink Floyd. Don't get it at all.

Bob Dylan. I understand that he was a good song writer but his sub par voice quality and non-existent ability as a performer makes him way overrated. I have never heard anyone say, "Wow! That was a kick-*** Dylan concert."

Grateful Dead. No. Just no.

Led Zep. I know I am probably the only one in this thread that will list them. I try to like them. I know they are influential. I know that Page is a great guitarist, Plant is a great singer, Bonham was a great drummer. I know they have iconic songs and that classic radio plays them every hour. But, for me and no matter how much I try, I just don't get it. I can name 50 bands I like better and I am a person that loves 70s classic rock.

Kanye West. I really can't tell the difference between a good and a bad rapper. If Kanye is good, I would hate to see who sucks.
 

Doc

This is it Morty
Aug 6, 2006
37,437
21,962
113
Denver
Foo Fighters. A few of the songs they've put out recently make Nickelback cringe.
 

cycloner29

Well-Known Member
Dec 17, 2008
11,419
10,436
113
Ames
Aw no you di'int!! I've actually always thought AC/DC to be underrated. They have loads of songs that I feel are even better than the dozens that you hear on the radio. Heck my favorite album, Powerage, gets zero radio play at all.

Oh well its all subjective anyway. Some bands that I've felt were overrated I looked into and then gained an appreciation for. I used to think The Rolling Stones were overrated and now I love every song on almost all their albums. My general rule of thumb is that if there is a big fuss about a band, and they are in my genre interest, I'll listen until I get it and usually end up loving it more than the music I like on first listen.

What happened to Nirvana when Cobain died? I think that Bon Scott was one of the best front men in his era and when he died AC/DC could have also, but they go out and get a new front man in Brian Johnson and they come back with one of the highest selling albums of all time in Back in Black. How many other bands could have done what AC/DC has done? Sure a lot of the rhythms sound the same but no, they are not overrated. Just a lot of great catchy beats/lyrics that are used a lot in movies. If Thunderstruck, Highway to Hell, Hells Bells, For Those about to Rock, Shook Me All Night Long, Whole Lott Rosie, etc; do not get you fired up, playing air guitar or pretending your playing the drums, you really need to go back under a rock or get out from under it.
 

SoapyCy

Well-Known Member
Oct 10, 2012
20,023
9,760
113
grundy center
Queen
Rush
U2

Disagree with U2. They have had the same lineup for 30 years and have changed and evolved their sound based on the world around them- to go from Boy in the early 80s to Pop on the 90s and retain their own sound through it all is incredible. I will say some of their stuff is garbage but Joshua Tree and Auchtung Baby may be two of the top 25 albums of all time. They still hold up after all this time.
 

cloneswereall

Well-Known Member
Aug 12, 2010
3,544
755
113
Agree RHCP

Agree Jay Z (it's like people give him points as a businessman when evaluating his music)

Half agree with Radiohead. Their first 3 albums and Iron Lung EP are epic and legendary…but I think the stuff since is really overrated and doesn't stand up to those 4. Pablo Honey was solid, I wouldn't blink if someone said The Bends was the best rock album of the past 30 years, Iron Lung/OK Computer were ground breaking and amazing…then everything since is a crappier version of what they nailed on OK Computer.
In Rainbows and Kid A are pretty good. Hail to the Thief and Amnesiac seem like crappier versions of their former selves to me. However, depending on how a band evolves their sound, especially bands that start out with a unique sound (Radiohead, NIN, Modest Mouse, etc.), tend to have a really low spot after their breakthrough albums.

NIN had a couple terrible albums after The Downward Spiral, Radiohead after OK Computer, Modest Mouse after The Moon and Antarctica. However, is that because the sound gets old and tired and they don't evolve quickly enough, or because they're overrated?
 

Latest posts

Help Support Us

Become a patron