Underrated/overrated singers or bands?

Underrated:

Bill Withers

Overrated:

Radiohead
The White Stripes

White Stripes do the best job of channeling the monster arena sound of the 70s & early 80s (particularly Zeppelin, Boston) of anybody I've heard. Does that make them overrated? Dunno; maybe it makes them the American Oasis. Anyway, it sounds good.

I haven't heard enough Eminem to call him overrated, but what the hell, I'll say it anyway. If saying "bitch" a lot makes you a poet, I'm glad not to be a poet.

Kathy Mattea

I love her.

xx

nice that they collaborated on her most recent album too.

Madonna, Eminem

Creed. Even baby Jebus hates Creed.

Underrated - Cake. Those geekoids kick major ass.

Oh. And I should mention Kenny G..... I can honestly fart more musically than that Screech look-alike can play. I dare anyone to find a sax player that likes his special brand of crap.

/don't get me started....

Kenny G's next original musical thought will be his first!

He made a career out of circular breathing. Big deal! The great circular breathers used the technique to play long flowing lines of linear or modal runs without having to stop and take a breath.

He uses it to hold one silly note for long enough to make the people who don't understand applaud for his lack of musical thought. A fifteen second note is not original, and in his case, barely musical.

He's a hack! (Albeit a now wealthy hack.)
The Professor

The greatest band singer of them all,not just my humble openion,most of the true music lovers not noise lovers.The band William"Count"Basie,the singer Joe Williams.

until Buch is booted out of the WhiteHouse "Everyday I have the blues" By Joe wILLIAMS

Sting (solo)

U2

underrated: Velvet Underground
overrated: Velvet Underground

.... a smartass in every bunch :) Make that two :evilgrin:

Overrated: Nirvana

Just because Kurt spared us from seeing Nirvana limp into the new millenium like every other band of the grunge era has done doesn't mean he was brilliant.

I give Nirvana props for finally pushing Hair Metal off the front page, but even that was more of a mercy kill to a genre in death throes.


Just to clarify to avoid some of the flames, I'm not saying Nirvana wasn't any good, but I don't think they were THAT good....

I'm not alone??? Whew! I always thought Nirvana was way overrated.. there were so many other, better bands around Seattle at the time.. Soundgarden, My Sister's Machine, Alice in Chains, War Babies.... anyway, I think the current most overrated band has gotta be The Strokes... These guys have sold less than 500k units, but have appeared, one way or another, in every single issue of Rolling Stone and Spin for over a year.... as for underrated, I'd say, probably Queens of the Stone Age.

Kurt Cobain was much more than a singer he was a poet,songwriter and front man not only for a band but, A generation of disinfracnchised youth who were pissed off. Kurt gave them something to tell them they weren't alone and they are better than people give'em credit for. You sir do not know music:grr:

Not liking the music you like does not equal not knowing music.

Kurt a front man for a generation of disenfranchsed youth? As someone who was a part of that group (I'm 25 now) I think I'm qualified to speak on the subject.

I never said that he wasn't talented, I said he's nowhere near the legend that people claim he is today.

Personally I blame MTV for giving Kurt this Jesus-like personna after his death, having every top 100 video countdown end with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and having people who obviously aren't fans of the genre commenting how watching that video changed their life.

Ironically, it was that kind of thing that Kurt was most uncomfortable with, and probably led to his death.

Again, Nirvana = talented but overrated.

The whole grunge thing always sucked, in my opinion. There were a couple of exceptions: Soundgarden and Alice in Chains.

But that was it....I don't know how the hell I left Pearl Jam off my overrated list. Please forgive me!!!

They were talented, but they were NOT the second coming everyone wants to make them. There were bands that came before them who actually started that sound--Mudhoney, Green River, Malfunkshun, The Melvins, Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone (why do so many start with M? I don't know!)

They were fairly talented musicians led by a frontman with an awful lot of charisma and an unfortunate problem with heroin and clinical depression. And now they're gone and Dave Grohl is making more innovative and groundbreaking music with Foo Fighters than Nirvana ever did.

Cat

... while I agree that Nirvana is somewhat overrated, you'll never convince me that the Foo Fighters rise above the average. :)

But I also think they ruined the rock scene by pushing hair metal off the front page and making way for all these whiny singers lucky enough to be in bands with records out bitching about how life sucks.
Hair metal ruled!

Hair metal deserved to die. How many times can you write the same sappy assed cheese ballad.

Every Home Sweet Thorny Heavenly Faithful Angel Rose Has Its Thorny Flying Lifetime. Same song over and over again.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

But there was a lot of really good music in there: good rockin' songs, great guitar work and vocals--quality stuff. Not to mention some very hot guys! :D

But I also think they ruined the rock scene by pushing hair metal off the front page and making way for all these whiny singers lucky enough to be in bands with records out bitching about how life sucks.
Hair metal ruled!

It was like a primal scream, not the prettiest thing to hear, but hair metal was rotting in its own third-generation lack of integrity.
Hair metal never offered anything other than an escape from the seriousness of punk. Perhaps the first wave was a welcome relief, but did Quiet Riot or Motley Crue REALLY have anything of import to say to their generation?
Grunge had to happen to put a bullet in the diseased skull of a genre that had come to be defined by Pretty Boy Floyd, Warrant, Winger and Slaughter.

Look at AC/DC: they've been around for years. They never say anything important, nor do they have any desire to. Their music is basically about drinking/sex/partying. The music sounds good, it's fun, you can have a good time while listening to it. Plenty of folks, myself included, still love their music.

Music doesn't have to be serious; I often prefer it when it isn't. When I want to do some serious thinking, music is not where I'd go to do so.

in my opinion

I would have to agree that Lemmy & Motorhead don't get enough credit, but Diamond Dave, overrated??

An entire generation of rock singers tried to copy this guy, and most of them failed miserably. Eddie Van Halen proved to be useless without him, despite his talent.

Check out Dave's new album. It's not the Van Halen sound by any means, but it's still damn good.

BTW, you were right on about Nirvana.... except for the fact that Kurt in particular hated the whole "spokesman of his generation" thing.

Fountains of Wayne - best classic style pop band in years but commerically ignored due to going against prevailing musical trends.

Overrated -

Greatful Dead - totally dependent on an audience that's so tied into the myth of the band and the concert scene that they lost any ability to acknowledge that a good portion of the music should never have been recorded to begin with.

Radiohead overrated?
No way.
White Stripes rock too, there a f**ing two-piece.

Radiohead isn't overrated. They're great, they just aren't for everyone.

So were Timbuck3... not mourning them either. The day when I can listen to modern rock radio without hearing White Stripes is something I have begun to look forward to.

Along with Holly Cole. Both shouls be huge. Actually, it's better they aren't. It would probably affect their music negatively.

Strangely enough I actually like Lucinda Williams' music sometimes, and I don't always like Robbie Fulks'. Go figure...

Overrated: The Grateful Dead.

Sorry, deadheads. I just never heard anything in their music to get excited about. If you love 'em, power to you.

I understand that Jerry and the boys are not for everyone but I don't think they are over rated. Heck they are barely rated. Their fans are denigrated by the mainstream media..

Here is my list of seriously over rated bands and singers"

Rolling Stones
Sting
Almost anything on MTV (this they call talent? I call it effective marketing)
Boy bands
Brittany Spears and her clones

Overrated Hotrise

Underrated Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers

No one else even comes close to what they're doing combining songwriting, angst, texturalism and electronica.

Neither Nirvana, Radiohead nor Eminem are over-rated. Are they overplayed (Nirvana and Emimen) to a degree yes. But I think its stupid to let the fact many people like a certain band influence your personal taste.

P.J. Harvey

Over-rated:
The Tallis Singers. they're really good but not <U>that</U> good.

Anonymous Four. Nobody's ever heard of them, but they're truly incredible, especially in a venue with long rebound.

.....THE KINKS.

Overrated... everyone named here thus far(agreed)...Pearl Jam too

The White Stripes are the best rock band since Nirvana and for a two person band (with a female drummer) rock about as hard as Led Zeppelin ever did.

You take that back right now or I'm coming over there...

:evilgrin:

... White Sripes are powerful. They have that intangible that you cannot buy, learn or grow. It would be hard to overrate them. :)

is WAYYYYY underrated ;)

The tragically hip are underated, so Gordon lightfoot and tilt.
Overrated....anyting released since 1996

I met them backstage at one of their shows years ago, and the lead singer and I ended up discussing hockey.