# Singers/Groups that are popular, but their music sucks. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020 "2010-10-04T18:13:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/41 "2010-10-06T12:31:04Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > At least Bruce can write songs that other people can make listenable, but JJ has no redeeming value at all. Who listens to that crap? Eh, I wouldn’t turn off JJ on the radio, but wouldn’t purchase him either (there aren’t a lot of bands I can say that about either.) He’s sort of a slightly less talented Dashboard. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/42 "2010-10-06T12:54:44Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > Neil Young. The only use for this guy would be to torture captured terrorists. Because I am in a gentlemanly mood, I shall say just this in response: I believe you may be mistaken there, Peanuthead. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/43 "2010-10-06T13:28:10Z")
This is almost exactly right. > [@MTCicero](#): > > **Nickelback > Rascal Flatts > Kenny Chesney > Aerosmith > Bon Jovi** > All mook rock, ever I can’t speak to Chesney or RF - heard some of their stuff, seems pretty MOR stuff. But certainly not good ol’ fashioned twangy country. Aerosmith were good once, but after their “reintroduction” quickly devolved into schlockmeisters. BJ, I can tolerate, but I can see why someone thinks they suck. If they weren’t from NJ and didn’t have a pretty frontman in JBJ who has aged very well they wouldn’t be half as popular. > [@](#): > > **Kid Rock > Usher > Maroon 5 > Daughtry > Train > Rob Thomas** (and any group he’s ever been a part of) > **Hootie and the Blowfish** / **Darius Rucker** KR is often discussed as being a musical genius - which might be true - but it’s clear his MO in the music industry is to get paid, which is why he assaults our ears with his country/rock/rap nonsense. Usher is quite talented, though again, a lot of his stuff is MOR and bland. Guy can sing and dance his ass off, though. Aren’t Maroon 5, Train, and Matchbox 20 the same band? For law school grads with absolutely no musical tastes that like pretty singers and “deep” lyrics? I think Train is a huge joke played on the public - the amount of people that think they absolutely suck is probably double those who love them. But they put out a record, and all of the haters rail on it… so people download and listen, and next thing you know they’re top 20. I actually have a few Hootie records. I don’t hate them, but I hate their fans. When I was in college every poser was trying to strum H&TBF songs (and DMB) in an attempt to get laid. > [@](#): > > **Live > The Alan Parsons Project > Michael Bolton > Lee Greenwood > Insane Clown Posse** Live’s Throwing Copper is a brilliant album. I respect them for being a band that wanted to get the hell out of York, PA, and worked together from high school on their craft. I admit to not following them since. They do suffer from taking-themselves-too-seriously disease, though. The latter 3 are dreadful indeed. MB was a victim of his own success. We got tired of hearing his mulleted ass every 10 minutes in the 80s. He’s the male version of Celene Dion (who should be on this list - technically a brilliant singer but with the worst production, choice of songs, and image. She should be beaten for her “cover” of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.” ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/44 "2010-10-06T13:35:02Z")
And to the OP, are you serious in saying you don’t get DMB’s appeal? I hate their music, but they’re good musicians, and are perfect for the hacky-sack/stoner/inoffensive mellow rock crowd. Tory Amos is a bargain-bin Kate Bush, which kind of shows you the kind of commercial success she (KB) could have had in America if she allowed herself to be marketed as a Lilith Fair agony aunt type. Anyone who says “I hate all of [insert genre here]” can’t play this game. You have to have an appreciation of the medium to critique it. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/45 "2010-10-06T14:11:16Z")
**ABBA**. Mama mia…everything about them used to (and still does) make me wanna hurl. ---
**Author:** ![wolf-alice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9e8a1a/32.png) [@wolf-alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf-alice)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/46 "2010-10-06T14:12:02Z")
Well. I don’t think they ever got to the US and I think they shrivelled and died in their own anoraks post-1998 anyway\*, but Embrace are the ones that come instantly to mind. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDjOdcvXr5Q&ob=av2n). Tell me that’s not the most dreadful load of atonal sexless artless pub-bilge you’ve ever heard. These five doughy cough-syrup addicts were on _Top of the Pops_, you understand. They played Glastonbury. It was on the telly. They’ve released five studio albums. They’re critically acclaimed. I’ve heard people do it. I will never understand. I know sometimes people want their music gummed into a nonthreatening pap, right, but come _on_. This drooling to music. - No! They’re still going. Jesus _wept_. Who is making this commercially viable, and where can they be found? ---
**Author:** ![Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amber_in_Treasury)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/47 "2010-10-06T15:31:47Z")
Ah, a good ould bitchfest about overrated artists. 🙂 Nirvana. I tried to like them when I was a teen (late 1990s), I really tried. All the “cool” kids, even those not really into rock, seemed to worship Kurt Cobain. Poor\* guy died young, but so very troubled - looking back, I understand how frustrated kids could idolise him. I don’t hate Cobain, and I even respect the influence and impact his work has had. But with all due respect, Nirvana -and grunge rock in general- never did much for me. Guess I’m just a weird dork who likes her Mozart, Blind Guardian and Dubliners (major Luke Kelly addict here). \*Kurt may have made lots of money, but he was still miserable and screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![Khaki\_Campbell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Khaki\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khaki_Campbell)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/48 "2010-10-06T17:43:55Z")
> [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](#): > > Nirvana. I tried to like them when I was a teen (late 1990s), I really tried. You were born too late. ---
**Author:** ![Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amber_in_Treasury)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/49 "2010-10-06T18:28:13Z")
> [@Khaki\_Campbell](#): > > > [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](#): > > > > Nirvana. I tried to like them when I was a teen (late 1990s), I really tried. > > You were born too late. I know. I was born in '83, most of my friends and classmates at the time were also born in '83-'84, so most of “us” were only about 10 years old when Kurt died. Strangely though, many “cool” teens and pre-teens around here had an almost cultish adoration for the guy and his band in the 5 years following his death. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/50 "2010-10-06T19:06:53Z")
> [@Khaki\_Campbell](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > But I’m the weirdo who doesn’t think Halle Berry and Jessica Alba are anything to write home about either. If the face doesn’t move me, the body rarely does either. > > Heh. Brown paper bags and/or doggy style exist for that very reason 😃 Rhymers insist on seeing the face. There is a sacred story that explains why. ---
**Author:** ![Maude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Maude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maude)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/51 "2010-10-06T20:13:59Z")
I can’t believe I read all the way to the bottom and no one mentioned the worst band of all time, Coldplay! They’re even more lame (can you say MetrosexualPop?) than Nickleback. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/52 "2010-10-06T20:30:42Z")
People who hate Nirvana seem to have been too young when the band hit it big and don’t understand the musical desert they delivered us from. [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjyZKfdwlng&ob=av3e) is the sort of crap that Nirvana helped to kill. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/53 "2010-10-06T21:28:43Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjyZKfdwlng&ob=av3e) is the sort of crap that Nirvana helped to kill. Great, thanks. I think I’d managed to erase that song from my memory and now I’ve got a new earworm. (Before clicking, I was guessing Whitesnake). Van Halen’s been mentioned a few times… I used to not like them, but they’ve grown on me. I think part of it may being exposed to the Sammy Hagar version of VH too much, and then going back and listening to the early stuff… big difference! In terms of rock, the two bands that I still don’t get the appeal of are Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers. Glorified country, if you ask me (and yet Little Feat is one of my favorite bands). At the other end of the spectrum, while I love musicals and the American Songbook, I can’t stand Barbara Streisand. I’m pretty fast at hitting the channel change when I hear her screechy voice come on XM. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/54 "2010-10-06T21:53:55Z")
[quote=“Wilson, post:53, topic:556020”] > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Van Halen’s been mentioned a few times… I used to not like them, but they’ve grown on me. I think part of it may being exposed to the Sammy Hagar version of VH too much, and then going back and listening to the early stuff… big difference! Honestly, it’s not VH per se I think sucks rocks, it’s David Lee Roth. I hate the way he smirks through songs, and that stupid sound he has to keep making (you know, the one where it sounds like he’s squealing while inhaling?) Every time he makes that sound I want to strangle him with his spandex pants. Once they got rid of him, VH didn’t bother me anymore. In fact, [“Right Now”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMV-fenGP1g) is one of my all time favorite music videos. ---
**Author:** ![FrigidLizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3bc359/32.png) [@FrigidLizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrigidLizard)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/55 "2010-10-07T00:08:18Z")
I am honestly baffled by Ke$ha. She doesn’t seem to have anything going for her: She’s plain-faced and trashy, her lyrics are like middleschool creative writing assignments, the music is completely blah. She sings as badly as I do! (At least I assume so; her songs are mostly spoken with such heavy layering and autotuning on the choruses that it is apparent it is done to mask her vocal shortcomings) Granted, I have only listened to whatever of hers is playing on the radio, but I just can’t see any talent or skill. My best guess is that she delivers a lot of “attitude” (for lack of a better word) in her song-speaking and that her choruses are catchy. I am not just hating, I am seriously interested to have someone explain her appeal. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/56 "2010-10-07T01:54:56Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > \*\* > All mook rock, ever > \*\* Almost all the music I hear on the radio these days is popular in some circle or other and almost all of it sucks. Mostly I’m in this thread at the moment to ask what mook rock is supposed to mean. ---
**Author:** ![Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amber_in_Treasury)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/57 "2010-10-09T06:44:17Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > People who hate Nirvana seem to have been too young when the band hit it big and don’t understand the musical desert they delivered us from. > > [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjyZKfdwlng&ob=av3e) is the sort of crap that Nirvana helped to kill. As stated before, I don’t “hate” Cobain and Nirvana, I’ve just never been a big fan. And I’ve heard waaaaaaaay worse music. THAT though - the rancid cherry pie - is indeed bad! And if that cheesy crap was even halfway as popular 20 years ago as Nickelback\* is today, then I’ve gotta say fair point! > [@Wilson](#): > > (Before clicking, I was guessing Whitesnake). Hahaha, I was guessing POISON! \*Overrated by some non-snobs, and underrated by a lot of snobs. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/58 "2010-10-09T12:41:50Z")
> [@Gil-Martin](#): > > > [@MTCicero](#): > > > > \*\* > > All mook rock, ever > > \*\* > > Almost all the music I hear on the radio these days is popular in some circle or other and almost all of it sucks. Mostly I’m in this thread at the moment to ask what mook rock is supposed to mean. [This is what I’m talking about](http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2001/aug/23/the_meaning_of_mook/). It’s about a decade old, but some of the bands in the genre kept making music or have reunited (and it _don’t_ feel so good), plus younguns that are making music today grew up on this shite and actually think it’s good. But no, it’s not good. It’s not even _close_ to being good. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/59 "2010-10-09T17:40:45Z")
> [@FrigidLizard](#): > > I am honestly baffled by Ke$ha. She doesn’t seem to have anything going for her: She’s plain-faced and trashy, her lyrics are like middleschool creative writing assignments, the music is completely blah. She sings as badly as I do! (At least I assume so; her songs are mostly spoken with such heavy layering and autotuning on the choruses that it is apparent it is done to mask her vocal shortcomings) > Granted, I have only listened to whatever of hers is playing on the radio, but I just can’t see any talent or skill. My best guess is that she delivers a lot of “attitude” (for lack of a better word) in her song-speaking and that her choruses are catchy. > I am not just hating, I am seriously interested to have someone explain her appeal. Anyone? I’m going to be the one to stand up for Ke$ha. I like some of her songs. (Not all of them.) There’s no accounting for taste, of course, but I do want to point out the following: Just because someone is not a “good singer” does not mean that he or she can not be a popular or critical success in pop music. Does anyone think that Bob Dylan or Robert Smith (of The Cure) sings well? I don’t think Ke$ha sings well. Yet there is something about some of her songs that are, to me, very catchy. Very propulsive is the best way I can describe it. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020/60 "2010-10-09T18:02:44Z")
Britney Spears. Please. Let the trained monkey retire. Please. Katy Perry. I hate that thud-thud song about bikinis and I hear it ALL. THE. TIME. Train - had to look this one up, Hey Soul Sister, another one I hear ALL. THE. TIME. I live in terror of turning on the TV because it’s everywhere, all the time. Enough! Hootie & the BF - ??? - what is the attraction??? Totally blah. Dave Matthews Band - they played at a stadium here and OMG you’d think they were giving away $100 bills to all comers. Completely sold out. Traffic jams for miles. All TV/radio stations there to report on the greatness, live. Again, ??? - I don’t get it. (all I can surmise is that people were desperate for some kind of entertainment, and this was as close to A Big Name as this city was gonna get.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-groups-that-are-popular-but-their-music-sucks/556020.md?page=4)