Who are the most overrated bands of all time?

[Corn2 10]

Not a band I'm afraid but I always thought Elvis Presley was vastly overrated.

 

Bandwise, Coldplay and Radiohead spring straight to mind.

[MoPs 10]

Muse....total garbage....that Matt Bellamy can't play guitar for toffee

 

Only kidding......they are a band that deserve all the recognition and praise heaped upon them methinks

[practiceshef 10]

definately radiohead. who buys their records? they seem to sell so many but the are s**t. Also Morrisey is very dull.

 

I also think people like talking heads and joy divison are very overrated. 'were on the road to knowhere'? sounds like some sort of conversation you would have in a doctors waiting room, Morrisey was bad for this; 'i was looking for a job, and then i found a job' etc.zzzzzzzzz

[Guest sibon]

 

I'll start with a topical one; The Stone Roses debut LP has recently been rereleased as a 20th anniversary edition and has been hailed in some quarters as the greatest debut album of all time.

 

 

 

 

Not fair Basil. The Stone Roses is a fine album. One of my favourites. At the time, it was new and vibrant, and a massive improvement on the big hair 80s pop bands and skinny navel gazing guitar bands. A rock album that you could dance to. That alone makes it worthwhile.

 

As for over rated bands, let's start with the Beatles. Tedious, monotonous tripe on the whole. Yeah, yeah yeah. Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, just about any 70's metal band, all overrated. My current deep dislikes include Muse and bloody Snow Patrol... what are they all about then?

 

But I do llke The Stone Roses.

[perplexed 10]

Just for starters:

 

The Beatles

 

Bob Dylan

 

Coldplay

 

Most of the drivel from Manchester. (Oasis et al...)

[BasilRathbon 10]

Time to slaughter another sacred cow, I believe. I give you my next most overrated band - Nirvana.

 

One half-decent song, consisting of quiet verse, shouty chorus, quiet verse, shouty chorus etc. Guitar riff ripped off Boston's "More Than A Feeling", arrangement ripped off Killing Joke. Band suddenly becomes flavour of the month.

 

The next single repeats the same formula, as does the one after that. Soon it becomes clear they only have one song, which they didn't really write themselves, but by now the music press are falling over themselves to kiss Kurt Cobain's backside and hanging on to his every word.

 

But there's more - Kurt decides to become the most hypocritical rock star in the world by moaning and whinging about the pressures of fame while at the same time signing a major label record deal with Geffen and getting his face all over every music show on TV. It seemingly never occurs to him that if he hates fame so much he could simply terminate his record deal and go back to playing his music for pleasure in the bars and clubs of Seattle.

 

It all culminates with Kurt blowing his brains out to achieve musical "immortality", in doing so sending depressed indie teenagers the message that suicide is "cool" and ensuring the kid he's just fathered grows up without a dad. Instead of being lambasted for his selfishness he is hailed as a hero, a status that continues to this day.

 

One half-decent single? Maybe. Overrated? Definitely.

[Glennis 15]

Just for starters:

 

The Beatles

 

Bob Dylan

 

Coldplay

 

Most of the drivel from Manchester. (Oasis et al...)

 

I bought a Bob Dylan album a few months ago, played one track and decided I couldn't stand to listen to it anymore. I then realised I didn't like him in the 60s, so what makes me think I would like him in 2009 is beyond me.

[flamingjimmy 10]

The Smiths without a doubt for me. So incredibly boring.

 

And also anyone who has ever been nominated for the mercury prize.

Pretentious nonsense.

 

Oh, and Kings of Leon most of all! The worst part is they used to be all right!

Now they just write what I call 'cheap music' with the same safe chord sequences over and over again and no imagination.

 

And Nirvana, you're spot on Basil!

 

One thing I will say is that the riff is quite different from that Boston song but otherwise the criticism is spot on.

Edited August 28, 2009 by flamingjimmy

[MoPs 10]

Metallica.

 

Was never a fan back in the day when they were (apparently) good and certainly not a fan of them now. Closing down Napster because of the Mission Impossible II song was inexcusable.

Even when I go back now and listen to the Black Album it just sounds really poor. I don't like bands that I think I could be a better drummer for either.

 

Just don't get why they are popular.

 

 

I worship this band......Lets not mention St Anger though

Feel the love.....

 

[flamingjimmy 10]

I don't like bands that I think I could be a better drummer for either.

 

Lars Ulrich is the most boring Drummer there ever was!

 

He somehow manages to pick the lamest beat to do every time and repeats the same fills over and over!

 

Wait, apart from the Strokes guy!

[Ousetunes 10]

I cannot understand how anyone can class the Beatles as overrated. Fair enough, if you don't like them then you don't like them. No problems.

 

But they are the most copied, most imitated and mimicked pop group of all time, from folk copying their hairstyles, their clothes, their album covers and to writing their own songs, playing the same instruments that the guys played through the same amplification, to spending unlimited hours in recording studios (unheard of prior to the Beatles), recording on eight-track and to making promotional films (be it full length feature films or short films to promote single songs).

 

The Beatles influenced generation after generation to pick up an instrument, to try and write catchy sub-three minute songs and to push the barriers of recorded music. Paul pushed for his bass guitar to be so far in the mix on Paperback Writer that the needle would jump on the vinyl. Thus, he DI'd his Rickenbacker (direct inject into the studio console). Vox designed their bass cabinets around Paul's demands. They advanced ADT (artificial double tracking) where one voice sounded like two or more. They introduced new sounds into Western music by way of Eastern influences like the sitar and sure enough the likes of the Rolling Stones followed suit.

 

The Stones, the Beach Boys and the Byrds were all watching what the Beatles were doing before deciding which move to make next for themselves. Elvis felt threatened by them and tried to get them banned from America.

 

Look at any music shop book shelf and you'll find plenty of books about the story and legacy of the Beatles. Listen to practically anything recorded since they split up in 1970 and you can hear their influences and most serious musicians of today are honest enough to admit to being influenced by at least something the Beatles recorded (or even just the way they looked).

 

Songs like When I'm 64, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, The Long And Winding Road, For No-One, Twist and Shout, I Should Have Known Better, Back In The USSR, Nowhere Man, and many more - these were album tracks, not released as singles at the time yet known by millions of people across the world.

 

Underrated? No chance. You don't like them? Fair dos.

[Zomoniac 10]

Guns N Roses by a million trillion squillion zillion miles. The worst band in the history of anything ever. Behind, somewhere in the distance, are Metallica, and Joy Division tagging along in third.