Overrated Bands of All Genres
Submitted by grizham1 on Mon, 05/10/2004 - 09:13
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- 1.)Bob Dylan- Yeah the guy can write some of the best lyrical stanzas out there, but can anyone understand a word coming out of his mouth. First of all in order for me to 'appreciate' the man's songs I have to be able to understand the fool, which ain't happening. I mean it doesn't help that the guy is from middle of nowhere minn.. Dylan is a love or hate kind of artist, I've never understood the love for the man and probably never will, but that's just me.
- 2.)The Rolling Stones- Dear Lord these guys have been making albums and touring longer than I've been alive. Its like Jack Black says in High Fidelity, 'Do the later day sins of artists tarnish their eariler works?' I would unquestionable yes, I mean Mick Jagger looks awful and a knighthood, now wtf is next (probably their 1,000 album)? These guys should have called it a day three decades ago instead they've stuck around and put crap out for the past two decades. The one bright spot is that Keith Richards (sorry I think that's his name) at least has the whole rock star motiff down by staying constantly drunk and looking like he just crawled out of a garbage can. I haven't decided if I"m going to catch more flak for my distaste of Dylan or The Stones, well we shall see. :)
- 3.) Nirvana- Yeah they're good don't get me wrong, but for God's sake playing hard and yelling into the microphone doesn't make you great. I love some of their music, but Cobain sounds bad on even his best days(unplugged excluded). The whole idea that Nevermind is the end all be all of the 90's and maybe Rock in general blows my mind. The guy wrote about how shitty his life was and how no one cared...uhh excuse me your making millions so yeah Nevermind there buddy keep on screaming and being angry.
- 4.) Tupac- Good lord another case of a latter day martyr, this guy contradicted himself at every turn. One song he's talking about keeping your head up if your a downtrodden black woman and the next he's talking about how he gets around?!?! Um, sorry there captain talking about f*cking ho's, getting paid, and then turning that around on its head doesn't make you a great mc it makes you a lying sack of sh*t. If this fool hadn't died he would have eventually become more mellow more than likely, but I will never understand this whole idea that he's the greatest MC ever, but like Cobain since he died he's become the end all be all.
- 5.)The Darkness- Now for our newest entry into this category. NEWSFLASH: Its 2004 I'm not the leasted interested in reliving the 80's with its awful music, loud clothes, and bad hair. My favorite quote from the Darkness had to be when they described Radiohead as, 'boring'. Oh how nice, the blatantly copycat Darkness with zero original material is badmouthing Radiohead. Here's an idea for the darkness, get a haircut and write an original song.
Author Comments:
Of course this an opinion based list, so please come on and spill it if you think I'm full of sh*t. Chances are your right, but I love to argue so come out with it.
Don't get me wrong, grizham1, I like to argue too, but what I disagree with seems to be the very fundamental bases of your arguments. For example, you ask if anyone can understand a word coming out of Bob Dylan's mouth. My answer is, yes, for the most part. In general, I don't have much trouble understanding what he's saying. Maybe you would like Dylan better if you heard the new SACD hybrids. The remasters create a crisper, cleaner sound, and it's easier to hear the lyrics this way (though I did not have much trouble with the original masters either). You could check them out if you're at all interested.
Once again, with the Rolling Stones, I would simply answer no to Jack Black's question. If you said that 98% of what they've recorded for the past 25 years is crap, I don't think too many people would disagree. But I have a question for you. Have you heard their classic albums - Beggars Banquet, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, etc.? If so, do you think those are overrated too? If so, can you discuss your thoughts on them coherently? If so, I think you should post your reasons for thinking their classic stuff is overrated. I think it would strengthen your argument against the Stones, and give me more to disagree with. :)
As for Nirvana, I actually agree with you that some critics are far too obsessed with Nevermind as the pinnacle of 90's rock. It's a great album, to be sure, but I wouldn't call it the defining album of the 90's or the best album of the 90's. However, I think you're oversimplifying things to say that it's just "playing hard and yelling" and writing "about how shitty his life is." Cobain definitely had his nakedly emotional moments, and even his quiet moments. You also seem to be implying that he's being hypocritical to write about how depressed he was when he was making big bucks off his music. Well, the man f*cking killed himself - what more do you want?
I'm not too familiar with Tupac or the Darkness.
I have an additional question for you for your Rolling Stones argument. Do you think that Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, David Fincher, Stanley Kubrick, and Martin Scorsese are all overrated on the basis of this list of yours? If not, why not? The Rolling Stones have put out some bad work, and those directors have put out some bad work. What's the difference?
Yes.
Maybe I should rephrase the idea that though I know Dylan has words coming out his mouth I have no idea what those words mean about half the time. How much does a SACD run by the way?
On the Stones to me its all too clear that the guy could have made a fortune off their great works alone and really had no need to hang around touring all the years stamping their once untarnished name into the muck that it has been coated with now. As for listening to their albums...yes to Exile on Main Street and Sticky Finger and a few songs off Beggars Banquet, all of that work is quiet good, but I'm amazed that they still have such a diehard fan following after all these years of subpar records being put out one after another.
Onto Nirvana. Dealing chiefly with Cobain the man did have his quiet moments and to me that's when he really shined, but when he began to scream into the microphone and talk about how dreadful his life is....I mean come on! The guy had it all and he was depressed ?!?! Cry me a river. To top it all off he shots himself, what a great guy! To me his lyrics often reflected his out of touch state with reality....but that's just me.
Damn. I wrote a long post but I accidentally cancelled it. So this is the summary of it.
Sorry I misinterpreted your words on Dylan (and therefore, ignore what I said about the CD / SACD hybrids), but still, I think that "too esoteric" is just a label that people put on Dylan. Look at the lyrics, it's actually not that hard to understand at least the general mood of the song. You seem to like Radiohead, the Flaming Lips, Wilco - I'd be lying if I said I understood every word in those guys' songs. However, you may want to check out the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The songs on that one are far more straightforward than his late 60's work and later work.
As for the Stones, see my other post about directors. On that other list, you call George Lucas a great director but say that he made three horrible films. How about some consistency here?
Again, I think that "too depressing" is just another label that people put on Cobain. Sure, the band can be pretty negative at times, but I could say the same for every rock band since the Monkees. Some of the songs on Nevermind are actually kinda funny at times, and certainly not all of them are about how much life sucks.
Finally, while I certainly don't personally agree with suicide as a means of escape, I think it is being a bit cruel to call Cobain a hypocrite for singing about how much life sucks while he has a ton of money. He was obviously depressed enough to kill himself. If you can't accept the fact that he was depressed, that's a different issue, but I think it would be hard to argue that his lyrics were dishonest.
P.S. If this is the summary, you can only imagine how long my original post was.
Wow, I woulda like to have seen that big-arsed post. Damn.
tallyho
:?)
I actually didn't abridge it that much. In the original post, I expanded what I said about Dylan and also answered his question about how much the SACD / CD hybrids cost, and I analyzed a few songs on Nevermind which have fun, not depressing, lyrics.
Based on the sheer patchiness of your argument alone, I can assume that you haven't heard but (probably) 5% at the most of Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, and even Nirvana.
It's obvious that you are stirring up an argument over broad subjects that you don't really understand.
And you couldn't be more right about Tupac.
I can't understand anything Dylan says so yeah your probably right that I haven't heard any of his stuff.
As for the Stones, I've heard enough. Bridges to Babylon-Instant Classic!
Nirvana-I've heard everything they've ever done.
I don't agree. What a shocker. However, I was wondering what albums you have heard of these artists and how many times you have listened to them? The wonderful thing about great music is that it takes some time for your brain to un-wrap its pleasures.
If you think that Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Nirvana and Tupac are over-rated your opinion is totally true for you. However I think saying these artists are over-rated is like saying Van Gogh is over-rated. Every blow-hard has done it but it still doesn't make it true.
As for The Darkness I don't think they're that over-rated. Most critics, music listeners and members of the general public can't stand them (singer and all). Anyway you should let them do a few more albums before you start slinging that one around. Too darn easy.
Tallyho
:?)
P.S.: I think Abba, Elton John, Billy Joel and Elvis Presley are severely over-rated.
P.S.S.: I think Richard Thompson, Gillian Welch, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits are severely under-rated.
Blonde on Blonde-Got halfway through it and couldn't take Bob anymore
Blood on the Tracks-same as above
Beggars Banquet-Whole Thing Liked it
Exile on Main Street-Same as above
Let It Bleed-An excellent album
Nirvana-All of their stuff is mediocre to great, the sole great one being their unplugged album
As for Van Gogh, the genuis cut off his ear nuff said.
Listen to about 20 more albums by each artist about five times each and we'll talk. Dude. Oh my sad little dude.
Tallyho
:?)
I prefer to maintain what little sanity I have left than to subject myself to 100 hours of Bob Dylan, but that's just me.
look ---------> Elvis!
(Stooky makes a run for it)
tallyho
:?)
If anyone ever disparages Abba again, heads will roll.
That's right, I typed Abba. Which spells Abba backwards. Hehe.
Tallyho
:?)
You're a-cruisin' for a bruisin'!
;)