I laughed my head off O-VER-RATE-ED!! (clap-clap-clapclapclap) "Ever felt you're missing the point with some of our biggest cultural heroes? Admit it - everyone can name at least one hip, wildly praised band, album, film, TV show or author that they've never really rated." Critics have their own lists of overrated stars, too: could James Brown's legendary performances be nothing more than "brass-driven aerobics workouts, over which he barks claims of his own magnificence"? Is Neil Young's famously distinctive voice really "the exact timbre of a continental dial tone"? Is U2 an overrated trio of self-important rockers whose greatest talent is in the thieving of other bands' ideas? (Okay, that last one isn't exactly a secret.) The Guardian (UK) 12/04/04 http://www.artsjournal.com/yesterdays/20041205-16142.shtml
My fave's Bob Marley No other figure in music is so reflexively fawned over as the man whose most tiresome fans insist on hailing him Robert Nesta Marley, as if having a middle name is a signifier of gravitas. Marley did fulfil two criteria for posthumous adoration - he looked cool and died early - but when contemplating his music and his lyrics, the only discussion to be had is about which was more boring, more witless. Despite the predictable three-chord plod to which every one of his songs was set, the wooden spliff goes to his words: rhyming-dictionary tosh unrivalled until the advent of Dolores O'Riordan. When Marley sang of being "Iron, like a lion, in Zion," one braced for the shout out to his mate Brian, who had a tie on. As one Marley fan said to another when the dope wore off: "Christ, this music's terrible." AM Tom Waits Writing about Bruce Springsteen, former MC5 manager John Sinclair found an excellent way of describing why The Boss's music wasn't rock'n'roll. Essentially, he said, it was about characters, not real people. Most damningly, that it was "like West Side Story". And really, that's Tom Waits all over. This isn't news to anyone, of course - Waits is a cool actor, who makes "dramatic" music - but if you value anything remotely like authenticity, or involvement with the music you listen to, then this is just clanking nonsense about dwarves. Of course, the fans maintain, "he's so far in character, it enables him to reveal more about himself". But so what? For all its supposed otherness, this is incredibly simple music, so boldly signposted ("what strange music", "what colourful characters") as to leave no grey areas in which your input, feelings, or responses are even necessary. If you like pantomime, it's fine. Just don't try to say it's rock'n'roll, that's all. JR The Beatles Thanks to these four, Britain's high watermark of musical creativity is still considered to be pub rock made by white idiots. As if polluting the 1960s with their safe, insipid music wasn't bad enough, they've exerted a stranglehold on culture since, inspiring generations of terrible bands and being feted by Chris Evans and Alan Partridge. Between their toe-curling rhyming couplets, tax-dodging, horseshit "spirituality" and Octopus's Garden, the Beatles embody everything wrong with the 60s in general and hippies in particular. Justin Quirk
OK here goes................. Elvis Presley........... what'd he write? what instruments could he play? what was his vocal range? what other notable contributions to the world did he make besides singing to the ladies, and acting in B movies? Now, I bet I'll hear it......
Elvis is over-rated i agree, his albums wernt constantly good, and appart from select early hits, he did pretty much nothing, he didnt revolutionise rock and roll....people forget about chuck berry, and bill haily and the comments and people like that far too easily....
I'd agree with both the Elvis and James Brown mentions. I do think Elvis was very important for Rock N Roll though, in as much as he made it widely available. It's safe to say many people in America just hadn't heard Rock until Elvis was pumped into their home, Chuck Berry and the like not exactly being welcomed by mainstream radio stations at first. Personally I find a lot of 70's 'hard rock' bands over rated...Deep Purple, Rush and shit. Led Zeppelin probably being the 'biggest' band I think are merely okay. Most Glam stuff I'm just never in the mood for either. That whole genre is over rated.
Its all just each others opinions. Some people seem overated to people but to others they deserve more appreciation. I have always thought Kurt Cobain really overated but thats just my opinion. I appreciate who I think deserves appreciation and just do it. I just think we should let people like who they want and let them be.
