Most Overrated Bands of All Time

@FLPACKER posted:

Strongly disagree. Springsteen / E Street will go down as one of the greatest live and studio bands of all times. On their 2012 world tour the band played something like 230 different songs ... no other band comes close. They learn songs that are pertain to the specific city they are playing , they play requests, they play for 3 and a half hours, regularly pulls fans on to the stage to perform with him and the band, the only performer to have top 5 albums in 6 consecutive decades, performers from every genre (Prince, Billy Ray Cyrus, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam,....) have talked about his influence on their music..."over rated"???

Not a big fan of his music, but I like some songs.  The band does have talent, Bruce is an excellent songwriter.  I think they’re probably rated right where they should be, but this thread is all about opinions, is it not?

@mrtundra posted:

Journey

Oh man.  I can see why they’d be mentioned, they’re a lot of people’s guilty pleasure including one of mine.  But the talent is undeniable.  They were a prog rock band before Perry joined the band, and didn’t have any commercial success.  When Perry joined, he was a backup co-lead singer, and that’s my favorite version of them.  But Perry was a world class vocal talent, and the lead guitarist is one of the best all time.

@DH13 posted:

Mumford and Sons.  Or as I refer to them "the mulford brothers".  End of discussion.  Though the Dave Matthews Band is in the discussion too.

Yeah Mumford and Sons became a hipster theme band, and I can’t fucking stand those pretentious little assholes.  For that reason alone, I can’t stand that band.  Take your bowler hats, your beards with handlebar mustaches, your tight Capri pants, your shitty beers drank out out of a short glass, and your general pansy asses, and go fuck yourselves.

@Music City posted:

Coming from the musician’s set, this topic usually gets me in trouble. But I have always felt Dream Theatre was way overrated.

Now this is not on their musicianship- that’s off the charts. Individually some of the greatest on their instruments.

But their music? Uhhhhg… no fucking soul. Singer is out there howling, 65 time signatures and changes and things only a very small subset of nerd rock musicians would appreciate. Tool is half the band on their instruments, and their music is 100 times more interesting and impactful- and they’re as nerd rock as it gets.

Very interesting take, MC.  I like Dream Theater, but not sure if I see them as overrated since they’ve never been mainstream.  I agree about Tool.  Tool is one of my favorite bands ever, if not my favorite.  Danny Carey is a beast of a drummer, some of the stuff he does is just unbelievably complex and he makes it look easy.  There’s a rare YouTube video of him playing Pneuma live.  If you’re a music fan, you have to check it out, it’s fucking amazing.  Adam Jones, while not the best guitar player in the world, creates such interesting sounds, it’s just downright tasty and I can’t get enough.  Maynard, at the height of his vocal talent, so unique - so powerful yet so haunting.  The whole band plays off each other so well, it creates a sonic dessert.  

Tool

@Henry posted:

Not everybody likes the shit you like.  A stupid, one hit wonder may hold meaning for someone else.  They all had their place in time.

That's why shit like the Rock N' Roll HOF is fucking stupid.

It's music.

Now all show off your tour t-shirt collection you losers.

You're welcome.

This is true, it’s very subjective, but I thought it would be a fun topic and affect some interesting debate and comments.  I’ll admit this in front of everyone - I like Abba!  There you have it, flame away.

@"We"-Ka-Bong posted:

I forgot about Oasis

Still waiting for them to become bigger than the Beatles.

@Pikes Peak posted:

Maybe a most underrated band/artist would be more useful.  Plenty of talent out there now and in years past that for whatever reason fell between the cracks. I would guess that most of us have an ‘unknown’ that we would like the world to become aware of.  

Here is a song written by a young lady, Kate Wolf who died of cancer 30 years ago at age 44, sung by Dave Alvin who has bummed around the music business for 50 years with marginal success. The duet voice is Christy McWilson who also has been 20 feet from stardom for years. Kate and Dave have many a good songs and have given me and my wife much enjoyment.

Give it a listen and bring yours on.

That’s good stuff, thanks for sharing.  There’s a lot of stuff I haven’t heard that I’m missing.  Love stuff like this.

@Henry posted:

I’m a sucker for good harmonizing and I’ve seen some of your posts by 16 HP before.  I dig it.  Love outlaw country and southern rock.

@Henry posted:

Tool

Overrated?  

@Harry Manback posted:

This is true, it’s very subjective, but I thought it would be a fun topic and affect some interesting debate and comments.  I’ll admit this in front of everyone - I like Abba!  There you have it, flame away.

I do too.  That would be very hypocritical of me to say you or me loving Abba is bullshit.

I posted partially poking fun but music and art is so completely personal and universal all at the same time.  I think people talking about technical chops and such is legit and fun.  I just can't bag on someone's flavor of music as the simplest melody can run deep.

70's punk, a lot of those guys couldn't play for shit and it didn't matter.

@Harry Manback posted:

Overrated?  

Poke poke.

They are an excellent band.

I'll let you guys hammer away.  It's just odd to me.  When you can bang out a jaunty tune on a 5 gallon bucket I don't think anything is overrated.  I think it's cool as shit.

It's the marketing that fucks it up.

Carry on.  I'll go piss in Private Rageface's corn flakes instead.

@Harry Manback posted:

Very interesting take, MC.  I like Dream Theater, but not sure if I see them as overrated since they’ve never been mainstream.  I agree about Tool.  Tool is one of my favorite bands ever, if not my favorite.  Danny Carey is a beast of a drummer, some of the stuff he does is just unbelievably complex and he makes it look easy.  There’s a rare YouTube video of him playing Pneuma live.  If you’re a music fan, you have to check it out, it’s fucking amazing.  Adam Jones, while not the best guitar player in the world, creates such interesting sounds, it’s just downright tasty and I can’t get enough.  Maynard, at the height of his vocal talent, so unique - so powerful yet so haunting.  The whole band plays off each other so well, it creates a sonic dessert.  

Carey is right up there with Portnoy on the kit, no question. I always leaned towards the prog rock bands that still connected. Carey’s awesome, but he knows where to blow up and where to groove. I thought some of Portnoy’s best work was what he did on the A7F Nightmare album, filling for Rev- it doesn’t have to be the most technical, it just has to hit. Not selling Carey short- he’s super technical too.

And you’re right about MJK- he really is what makes Tool work. If you put him in front of the DT instrumentation, you might have a phenomenal band. DT went with the 80s howler front man, and it fucked everything up.

@Harry Manback posted:

Not a big fan of his music, but I like some songs.  The band does have talent, Bruce is an excellent songwriter.  I think they’re probably rated right where they should be, but this thread is all about opinions, is it not?

A lot of people only know him from the Born in the USA era, where he lost his mind, married an actress, moved to LA, and put out a bunch of "pop" songs. He quickly regained his footing and returned to what he was. Can't understand how anyone can listen to the Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Wrecking Ball (these are just my favorites; Nebraska is an excellent acoustic album) albums and not be impressed by the lyrics and arrangements.

@Harry Manback posted:

Oh man.  I can see why they’d be mentioned, they’re a lot of people’s guilty pleasure including one of mine.  But the talent is undeniable.  They were a prog rock band before Perry joined the band, and didn’t have any commercial success.  When Perry joined, he was a backup co-lead singer, and that’s my favorite version of them.  But Perry was a world class vocal talent, and the lead guitarist is one of the best all time.

OMG...They were Santana cast offs. FM radio schlock. Neil Schon couldn't hold a candle to Carlos Santana. They and the Eagles, Jefferson Starship were everything that was wrong with FM radio in the 1970's, 80's and beyond. They destroyed their radio listening audience and the DJ's creativity by not allowing them to play what they wanted, when they wanted to. A dark time for forward thinking radio personalities and good music that would never see the light of day, under the "new format."

@FLPACKER posted:

A lot of people only know him from the Born in the USA era, where he lost his mind, married an actress, moved to LA, and put out a bunch of "pop" songs. He quickly regained his footing and returned to what he was. Can't understand how anyone can listen to the Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Wrecking Ball (these are just my favorites; Nebraska is an excellent acoustic album) albums and not be impressed by the lyrics and arrangements.

Agreed on the Born in the USA era (poppy but not as much depth as the earlier or later work).

The River is a particular favorite of mine. The lyrics captured the hopelessness a lot of people feel and spend their whole lives trying to come to grips with - "Is a dream a lie if I don't come true or is it something worse?"

I find him similar to Mellencamp who had had some great success as a studio creation when he was billed as John Cougar. The followup to the Jack and Diane stuff, Scarecrow, is one of my favorite albums. It had some commercial success, but it had a lot more depth, especially lyrically. Small Town, Rain on the Scarecrow, etc. I grew up on a family farm and it came out about the same time I was slowly realizing that our family farm wasn't going to exist in the same way it had for 100+ years. That way of life was not sustainable.

https://americansongwriter.com...camp-rain-scarecrow/

In the final verse, the music drops away and Mellencamp brings this tragedy home with scorching intensity. First he reveals the scoreboard where everybody loses: “Well there’s 97 crosses planted in the courthouse yard/And 97 families who lost 97 farms.” He then describes the emotional impact: “I think about my grandpa, my neighbors, and my name/And some nightsI feel like dyin’ like a scarecrow in the rain.” He shouts that last line out as if aiming for some kind catharsis, but the monotone refrain offers no such mercy.

When I saw Springsteen on the revival River Tour in 2016 he said that the River was about time ....he wrote it when he entered his adult life, when you realize that time is limited and you only have a certain amount to live your life and do something good with it. I too like that album .... I remember a bunch of us in college staying up to listen to it when it was released on the radio at midnight.

@mrtundra posted:

OMG...They were Santana cast offs. FM radio schlock. Neil Schon couldn't hold a candle to Carlos Santana. They and the Eagles, Jefferson Starship and Foreigner were everything that was wrong with FM radio in the 1970's, 80's and beyond. They destroyed their radio listening audience and the DJ's creativity by not allowing them to play what they wanted, when they wanted to. A dark time for forward thinking radio personalities and good music that would never see the light of day, under the "new format."

… among others. Good post

I woke up this morning asking myself why I was being so agreeable and realized it's because I binge watched Ted Lasso.

You guys are acting like a bunch of 20 something bitches that think they know shit about the world.

It's just an added bonus to constantly expose Private Rageface as the hate mongering fleshbag he is.

@Henry posted:

Poke poke.

They are an excellent band.

I'll let you guys hammer away.  It's just odd to me.  When you can bang out a jaunty tune on a 5 gallon bucket I don't think anything is overrated.  I think it's cool as shit.

It's the marketing that fucks it up.

Carry on.  I'll go piss in Private Rageface's corn flakes instead.

You're absolutely right, Henry.  Perhaps it wasn't the best thread idea, as it is more interesting to talk about favorite bands and musicians and reasons for that - maybe share some music we've never been exposed to, but it looks like that's been done before.  (I still love that by the way, if people want to share some of their music in this thread).

Music is very personal, and what you like may not be what I like, but that's no reason to trash someone's tastes.  I thought it would be a fun thread at first, but I see some people taking things personally, and that wasn't my intent.  And I concur, I'll sit for for good lengths of time listening to someone bang on a 5 gal. bucket if they're grooving.

Finally, although I think Kiss is more marketing brilliance than musical talent, I don't trash anyone for liking them, it's just my personal opinion.

@Music City posted:

Carey is right up there with Portnoy on the kit, no question. I always leaned towards the prog rock bands that still connected. Carey’s awesome, but he knows where to blow up and where to groove. I thought some of Portnoy’s best work was what he did on the A7F Nightmare album, filling for Rev- it doesn’t have to be the most technical, it just has to hit. Not selling Carey short- he’s super technical too.

And you’re right about MJK- he really is what makes Tool work. If you put him in front of the DT instrumentation, you might have a phenomenal band. DT went with the 80s howler front man, and it fucked everything up.

Portnoy is awesome.  Different type of drummer than Carey, but ultra talented nonetheless.  I was really disappointed when Rev passed away, I thought he was pretty brilliant and on his way to being among the best ever mentioned.  I agree, Portnoy did a great job in his place.

Fuck that.

If I see someone who looks like they like Kiss, I punch them in the throat.

I hope I never cross paths with Y.A. ….he likes every band.

@Harry Manback posted:

Music is very personal, and what you like may not be what I like, but that's no reason to trash someone's tastes.

@Henry posted:

It's just an added bonus to constantly expose Private Rageface as the hate mongering fleshbag he is.

Lol… I’m Rageface, but you wish death upon people who you disagree with and you’re not kidding? You prance around the Forum with your false sense of superiority picking fights and claiming how fucking tough you are, and I’m the Rageface? You’re a fuckin stitch, asshat.

But that’s the calling card of your ilk- accuse everyone of what you’re guilty of and then parade around about the greatness of your faux virtue. Your time’s a-comin, son. Hope you’re ready when it arrives.

@Music City posted:

Lol… I’m Rageface, but you wish death upon people who you disagree with and you’re not kidding?

Jesse Wattersish

Happy Holidays to all!

@mrtundra posted:

OMG...They were Santana cast offs. FM radio schlock. Neil Schon couldn't hold a candle to Carlos Santana. They and the Eagles, Jefferson Starship were everything that was wrong with FM radio in the 1970's, 80's and beyond. They destroyed their radio listening audience and the DJ's creativity by not allowing them to play what they wanted, when they wanted to. A dark time for forward thinking radio personalities and good music that would never see the light of day, under the "new format."

Ouch on Journey :-).  Love Santana.

True that on the direction radio has gone.  I can't stand the canned format they've pretty much all gone to.  We have a station out here that I used to love.  It was new rock/hard rock/heavy metal.  They played a lot of different songs, songs from local bands, they supported local bands, and the DJ's were crazy - I was amazed at what they did, and what they were allowed to do, I loved it.

In comes big corporate radio and they've been castrated.  The songs are programmed, they claim to be new rock, but it's the same old shit rotation 10 times every two hours.  Most of the DJ's were fired, the new DJ's aren't allowed any creativity and they don't support local bands anymore.  It's sad, and this format has taken over most radio now.

@"We"-Ka-Bong posted:

I forgot about Oasis

I try to as often as possible.

@Henry posted:

I woke up this morning asking myself why I was being so agreeable and realized it's because I binge watched Ted Lasso.

Jason Sudeikis is a great comedy actor.  I thought he was brilliant in We're the Millers - a very funny movie.

The most overrated band of all time is your (yes, you. And you. And especially you!) favorite band.

A taste of my Spotify list…I guess my taste is….varied?

Springsteen has written some decent lyrics, but much of his music is monotonous and unimaginative.

Blinded By The Light is by far the best song he's penned. I only believe this because Manfred Mann.

Never was a Springsteen guy, but gotta admit I never turn off “Born to Run”.

Manfred Mann butchered the song. Springsteen's greatest gift as a lyricist is his ability to express the human condition through numerous characters in a variety of settings, Blinded by the Light may not make my top 30 of songs he's written ...I think Thunder Road is his best writing.

Since we’re on Springsteen…always waited for a band reference while watching Stevie van Zant in The Sopranos….finally got it in a later episode…the guys asked Christopher why he was late and he blandly replied, “The highway’s jammed  with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.” I jumped up and celebrated and had to explain the reference to Mrs.Kiel.

I know Bob Dylan has been considered a top 5 musical act of all time.  To me, he’s alright but far from my personal top 5.  Frankly, I like Jakob Dylan and The Wallflowers better than his daddy, though obviously they have far far less historical significance.

Dave Matthews, The Grateful Dead, just okay to me.  They’re fine, but I never “got” them just like I never “got” Dylan the elder. Maybe I need to smoke more ganja or something.  😀

My taste in Bruce Springsteen is different than most. My personal favorite from the “Born In The USA” album is the lesser known “I’m On Fire”. Also love “Brilliant Disguise” from his Tunnel Of Love album.

I saw someone list “The Doors” as overrated.  For whatever reason, I absolutely love that band.  My personal favorite is the lesser known “Peace Frog”.  If Morrison would have stuck around, I would have followed them around on tour like some used to do with the Grateful Dead.

@Blair Kiel posted:

A taste of my Spotify list…I guess my taste is….varied?

My personal favorite on your list: “Love Is Blue” by Paul Mauriat.  Came out the same year I was conceived, 1968.

Least favorite:  “Take On Me” by A-ha.  Not a bad song, but for some odd reason, the fitness club I belonged to from 2014-2020 would play that song almost every time I was there and it got tiresome. Weird song to hear when you’re trying to pump some iron.  😀

Do you remember a TV show called "The Smith Family" (Henry Fonda, if you need a hint), BK?

I guess for me the reason I always gravitated to guys like Springsteen, Dylan, Neil Young, Harry Chapin, etc. was the story telling. They give you an insight into their characters that allows you to believe that either :1 ) You have been that guy  2) You could have been that guy 3 ) You know that guy. You connect with the characters and get an insight into what it is like to live that life, or what your life could have been like if you had experienced the same circumstances. I was working with a family a number of years ago where the father had served in Desert Storm. He was telling me what it was like but then said "it is really hard to explain unless you were there". I later sent him this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm-DcnhrMkY . The next time I saw him he told me "that song helped me more than any counseling".

@H5 posted:

Springsteen has written some decent lyrics, but much of his music is monotonous and unimaginative.

Blinded By The Light is by far the best song he's penned. I only believe this because Manfred Mann.

I think one of Bruce's best is "Tougher Than The Rest." Listen to it with the volume cranked to 11. That's one more!

@ilcuqui posted:

… among others. Good post

Whomever added Foreigner to my post, Thanks! They fit right in with everything that was wrong with FM radio, back then and now.