The Strokes
The Vines
The White Stripes
Wilco
REM
The Beatles (Amazing of course but I think we need to spend some time apart)
anything with Jack Black
Avirl Lavigne (can anyone else not notice how horrible this music is?)
Vanessa Carlton
Alicia Keys
Sum 41 (the worst band to emerge in years; absolute rubbish)
“Overrated” by whom? Obviously, we all have different opinions as to who’s good and who’s bad.
If you mean simply “Who gets way too much media attention,” well, I could point to obvious candidates like Ms. Spears and J Lo… but they don’t get taken very seriously, so you couldn’t really say they’re overrated.
I’d be inclined to go with bands and artists who’ve had virtually no commercial success, who have hardly any fans, but continue to get front-page treatment and fawning press. Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground come to mind. To paraphrase Brian Eno, “The Velvets only sold a hundred records- but every one of those hundred people became a music critic, and has spent the rest of his life writing about how great they were.”
Oh, and then there’s the Boss. Look, Springsteen has made some brilliant music in his time… but his time ended 15+ years ago. Since then, he’s made one lousy album after another. Yet, each time he comes out of seclusion, the media treat it like the return of Christ. Worse yet, reporters sit wide-eyed at his feet and listen to him spout off cliches, then write as if he were a prophet!
Springsteen today is a nostalgia act, nothing more. People sit politely through his boring speeches and the crud from “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” just to hear “Rosalita” again.
I agree with the Creed comments. First, you heard them once a day, then once every few hours, now, can’t even turn on the frigging radio without hearing their wanna-be rock music. “My Own Prison”, my ass. And, my god, if I hear “With Arms Wide Open” one more time… Well, I won’t be responsible.
How about U2? I’ve never understood what everyone seems to think is so great about them. I’m not saying they suck, but I’ve never gone out of my way to hear a U2 song, either.
5-HT, if you think Rush is overrated, then obviously you don’t understand their lyrics, and that they’re “technically” incredible. In fact, I’ll bet you must never have heard them!
LOL
Constantly, my students tell me how amazing and talented This band is. I reply with a “m’eh.” They then tell me that if I were to just listen to them, I’d love them too. The problem is, I have listened to them and find them to be utter crap.
The Grateful Dead. They’re boring even when you’re on LSD. Can’t forget Rush, either. If one more person tells me what great musicians they are, they’re gonna get smacked. I don’t care how musically competent they may be, they need to start writing some songs that don’t suck. The Doors are another one, too. Jim Morrison was not some sort of shamanistic poet. He was just a moron who took way too many drugs and forgot how to shut the hell up. As for Pink Floyd, I believe the world woud be a much better place had they never existed. Boy, my hatred of classic rock is really coming out here, isn’t it? To balance things out a little here, I nominate Godsmack too. Simply put, boring repetitive music with positively dreadful lyrics. They’re mutiplatinum selling rockstars. How bad can that guy’s life really be? Their only statement seems to be go away, leave me alone. I didn’t think they could possibly wring another album out of that theme, but I’ll be damned if they didn’t