# Formerly popular music that is the most critically reviled and publicly ridiculed **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297 "2002-07-22T23:38:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/1 "2002-07-22T23:38:35Z")
This may not belong here since it’s a poll but what type of formerly popular music do you think gets treated with the least respect by critics and is now greeted with derivisive snickers by the public (including many people who were into the music when it came out but now consider it a youthful lapse of taste caused by being under the influence of something). I submit the following candidates: 1. Teen-oriented pop (a.k.a. “bubblegum”) c. 1950’s to present (e.g., Fabian, Bobby Sherman, Andy Gibb, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, NKOTB, BSB, N’Sync, Britney Spears, etc.); 2. Hair metal (a.k.a. “Butt Rock”) c. 1980’s (e.g., Cinderella, Poison, Ratt, Warrant, etc.); 3. Disco c. mid to late 1970’s (e.g., Village People, Bee Gees, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, etc.); 4. Art Rock (a.k.a. Progressive Rock) c. early to mid 1970’s (e.g. Yes, ELP, Jethro Tull, etc.); or 5. Other - name something else. Just remember, it has to be a type of music that USED to be popular and NEVER got any respect by most music critics at any time. Choose your type of music and tell why you despise it so much (or even defend it if you want). ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/2 "2002-07-23T00:11:09Z")
1. Teen pop has never stopped being popular and it never will, simply because there is always going to be another bunch of teenagers running up the hill every year. 2. Disco like teen pop has never stopped being popular, it’s just that the “title” has changed. Now it’s dance/house/trip-hop etc. They all feed in a straight line back to disco. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/3 "2002-07-23T00:26:17Z")
1. Other - Easy Listening I think a phenomenal number of people who consider themselves open-minded find it impossible to believe that anybody ever actually _wanted_ to hear music by the Ray Conniff Singers, the Mantovani Orchestra, etc. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/4 "2002-07-23T00:39:46Z")
1. Duos that sang light R&B/pop songs that received public condemnation after it is revealed they were lip-synching. 2. Rapper who bank on their unusual (for the music genre) race, have one big hit but I-N-S-I-S-T insist that they did not steal the underlying beat from a song performed by an Indian and a man whose eyes are two different colors. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/5 "2002-07-23T00:58:39Z")
Freddie Mercury was Lebanese. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/6 "2002-07-23T01:00:48Z")
Oh, screw, I just looked it up. Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar, of Persian descent (he was Zoroastrian). ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/7 "2002-07-23T01:07:25Z")
Jethro Tull is still pretty well-liked. You can hear it on classic rock stations (at least the one in my area) a lot, and I’ve never heard it ridiculed. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/8 "2002-07-23T01:38:14Z")
Muzac. And Wierd Al. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/9 "2002-07-23T01:52:29Z")
Weird Al??? \* Weird Al??!\* _ **Weird AL?!?!** _ Ohhhhh, not W_ei_rd Al, the hilarious and still pretty damn popular spoof musician, you were talking about W_ie_rd Al, whoever he is! Okay, carry on then! ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/10 "2002-07-23T03:00:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by panamajack \* > \*\*…performed by an Indian and a man whose eyes are two different colors. \*\* David Bowie’s eyes aren’t different colors. He was in a fight way back when and now the pupil of one of his eyes is permanently dilated. Look it up over [here](http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Bowie,+David). ---
**Author:** ![WV\_Woman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@WV\_Woman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WV_Woman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/11 "2002-07-23T04:09:51Z")
Milli Vanilli & Vanilla Ice. ---
**Author:** ![Ace\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Ace\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace_Face)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/12 "2002-07-23T05:43:26Z")
Skiffle? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/13 "2002-07-23T06:03:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Teen pop has never stopped being popular and it never will, simply because there is always going to be another bunch of teenagers running up the hill every year. True. While still including “bubblegum”, I should’ve made a distinction with the other types of music I mentioned. Except for a period in the early 1990’s, pre-manufactured teen pop has been around continuously since at least the 1950’s. It’s just been updated for each new set of girls aged 11-15 that come along. However, no matter who the artist is, the music is never taken seriously by the critics and written off by even its core audience by the time they turn 18. As for disco, I realize other forms of music sprang from it but, for the sake of this thread, I’m just limiting it to the period from 1974 to 1979. ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c67d28/32.png) [@Weird\_AL\_Einstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_AL_Einstein)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/14 "2002-07-23T07:31:16Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by zweisamkeit \* > \*Weird Al??? \* Weird Al??! **Weird AL?!?!** > Ohhhhh, not W_ei_rd Al, the hilarious and still pretty damn popular spoof musician, you were talking about W_ie\*rd Al, whoever he is! Okay, carry on then! \*\* Yeah, that Wierd Al guy is just a pale knockoff of the real thing. W_ei_rd Al Yankovic kicks ass. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/15 "2002-07-23T11:06:50Z")
**Yes** has withstood the test of time and will forever be on a level above all other “Progressive” bands. Because it does not matter what label you place on it, the only thing that matters is the good quality, the excellent artistry, of the music. The music is all that matters, forget the labels. **Yes** was the top band of what was called “Progressive Rock” in the 1970s and so took the most vicious attacks by all the critics in _Creem_ and so on. Most of all they reviled _Tales from Topographic Oceans_ as the whipping boy for everything that had gone “wrong” in rock-‘n’-roll, and the reason why rock has to go “Punk” the complete negation of everything **Yes** music stood for. From the mid-70s through the mid-90s that was the constant refrain, **Yes** almost destroyed rock-‘n’-roll, the Ramones saved it. Feh. Who needs the critics anyway? Enough years have gone by to make it plain to everyone that **Yes** created better, more enduring music than anyone else from the first half of the 70s, and it sounds even better today than when we first heard it. **Yes** is still going strong in their fourth decade. Now even the sourpuss critics will have to acknowledge that **Yes** created superior music that will be forever loved and appreciated. No one has ever or will ever create an album that comes near _Close to the Edge_, universally acclaimed as the greatest **Yes** opus ever. Even fans of _Tales from Topographic Oceans_ are re-emerging from the closet to make the case for this album being really good music in its own write. —Jomo, **Yes** fan forever ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/16 "2002-07-23T11:56:55Z")
English folk rock eg Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band etc. Was phenomenally popular and is now considered a laughing stock (I like it though) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/17 "2002-07-23T12:47:11Z")
Nah, **Jomo**. King Crimson kicked ass! Yes, well, I dunno. They’ve just never done it for me. KC and Genesis were pretty much the only prog-rock bands that I could stand for any extended period of time. I admire your defense, but to say YES has “created more enduring music than anyone else from the first half of the 70s” is a bit of hyperbole. Led Zeppelin? Rolling Stones? ABBA even. (Don’t get me wrong, I studied those Wakeman keyboard parts diligently as a young piano/keyboard student. There’s no lack of talent in that band.) All I could submit is: Yanni, Yanni, Yanni…and perhaps Richard Clayderman, whom I cannot stand either. Oh, and while we’re at it, how 'bout Kenny friggin G! What a tosser! Oasis MC Hammer aka Hammer Air Supply Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch Did I mention Oasis? Celine Dion Phil Collins Sting (post-Police, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/18 "2002-07-23T12:49:47Z")
Although I’m no Oasis fan, to say they are critically reviled and publically ridiculed is a pretty huge stretch of the imagination. They never lived up to the critical and public appreciation of their first album, but in the UK at least remain hugely popular. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/19 "2002-07-23T14:08:25Z")
Hmmm…that’s not my experience from the UKers I currently know. Then there’s [Madama Tussaud’s](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1101166.stm) survey which ranked Liam Gallagher as the most hated personality behind Hitler and Milosevic. True, it’s not Oasis as a whole being publicly ridulculed, but I’d say it’s pretty damn close. All I have to say is every single British person I hang around with hates and ridicules Oasis. You live in London, so obviously you have a better perspective on this, but I’ve noticed that in 1996 they were praised in the UK, but several years later, they seem to be reviled. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297/20 "2002-07-23T15:34:42Z")
Well, John Denver was just about the most popular artist of the mid 70s, and sold gazillions of records… but you’d be hard-pressed to find a critic who ever liked him, and harder pressed to find people who will admit buying those albums. I still love him, though! The there are flashes in the pan like Peter Frampton! In 1976, he was the biggest star in music. EVERYBODY I knew in high school in 1976 had “Frampton Comes Alive,” usually on 8 track. But by the time “I’m In You” came out, practically no male acknowledged ever liking him. And after his “Sgt. Pepper” movie, the girls stopped liking him, too. (BTW, I KNOW “flash in the pan” is an unfair description, because Frampton had been a respected musician with bands like Humble Pie LONG before his live album became an unexpected smash.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/formerly-popular-music-that-is-the-most-critically-reviled-and-publicly-ridiculed/120297.md?page=2)