# Things that are considered "classics" but which you think are highly overrated **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2007, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276 "2007-11-05T10:51:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/61 "2007-11-06T02:10:10Z")
Please stop saying bad things about football. You are making me cry. I’m currently suffering my way through _Don Quixote_ and I have to tell you, I just don’t know how this became popular, let alone a classic. It’s like a Saturday Night Live skit dragged out to 500 pages. Granted I’m only about 60% through it, so I could be wrong, but it had better be one hell of an ending. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/62 "2007-11-06T02:22:38Z")
[QUOTE=SpazCat] Harold Bloom is full of shit. You could spread him on the Sahara and grow crops. [/QUOTE] Haha! I agree, and well said. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/63 "2007-11-06T03:10:15Z")
[QUOTE=Illuminatiprimus] _OK Computer_ - supposed to be some seminal moment in music making, in truth it only has two decent songs in it, the rest is just whiney pap. _Blade Runner_ - So bored… must… stay… awake… Again, no idea of what is going on most of the time and its so dark you can’t see anything. [/QUOTE] What are you smoking? [QUOTE=An Arky] Woohoo! I get to be the first in to say “anything by **Pink Floyd** ”! [/QUOTE] What are you smoking? [QUOTE=Miller] The collected works of Kurt Vonnegut. He’s a didactic ass who isn’t half as clever as he seems to think. [/QUOTE] Have you read Breakfast of Champions or Slaughterhouse Five? If so, what are you smoking? [QUOTE=TripleTee] I think Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Fitzgerald all wrote crap. Can’t stand any of their writing. None of the characters generate even the slightest interest or sympathy. Many of them die, and frankly I don’t care that they died. The ones that don’t die are impotent, or whiners, or lazy, or just plain self-absorbed. There’s nothing to see here. You can go about your business. Move along. I agree that Blade Runner is an overrated movie. You could say the director creates a futuristic world, but it is a world where nothing interesting really happens, and where uninteresting people interact with other uninteresting people, or uninteresting robots. As a result, I have very little interest in watching it. I would also add 2001. It breaks one of the cardinal rules of movie making, and that is that your film ought to be ENTERTAINING. No one wants to watch spaceships dock for an hour. And they don’t really care for “descent into the monolith”/psychodelic acid trips either, unless they happen to be doing LSD while watching the movie, in which case I am sure they are very entertained. [/QUOTE] Wow. Where do you live 'cause I’m coming over with my nuclear-powered hooka pipe. [QUOTE=Lochdale] Most of what the Beatles put out. Jazz, pretty much all of it. [/QUOTE] Beatles: What are you smoking? Jazz: Agreed [QUOTE=dalej42] _Office Space_. It really isnt’ that funny and the fractions of a penny heist thing was done in _Superman 3_. [/QUOTE] I’m just going to go ahead and get you to tell me what are you smoking. Just kidding, people, all opinions are valid. 🙂 My thoughts: Jazz: sucks Anime: sucks Bill Cosby: sucks Any network TV show that deals with police work or crime: sucks Reality TV: sucks Musicals: suck Divas: suck ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/64 "2007-11-06T03:20:10Z")
My all time candidate for this thread is the Mona Lisa–muddy, blah looking portrait of an ugly woman with weird features. Where are the colors? It looks like it was painted with the contents of diapers. Bleah. Even her clothes are too boring to bother to use as inspiration for garb. Plus, it’s in the Louvre which is a highly overrated museum. Most of it is crammed full of tasteless furniture, gaudy tchotchkes and ugly jewelry stolen from shortened aristos, along with those gigantic French paintings of battlescenes that ought to be sold by late night TV hucksters (Sofa Sized Paintings at INCREDIBLE SAVINGS!) The only thing I really liked in the Louvre was a lovely Durer bronze of a leopard eating a snake, a gorgeous Renaissance portrait (which was NEXT to the Mona Lisa) of a beautiful blonde chick in a fabulous red velvet gown and some incredibly weird china that had snakes and frogs and fish on them–not painted or glazed on, but actual sculpted critters almost life size and stuck on the plates and bowls so as the soup was served out the critters would appear at the bottom–I loved those! The rest? Overrated. ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/65 "2007-11-06T03:42:02Z")
I agree also that the Beatles are HIGHLY overrated. They were average musicians at best. The only thing they had going for them was that they could write catchy melodies, but so can bunches of jingle writers (Byyyyyy Men-nen). Just because you write a good melody, does not make you a good musician. Their lyrics were absolute garbage. For instance: Here come old flattop he come grooving up slowly He got joo-joo eyeball he one holy roller He got hair down to his knee Got to be a joker he just do what he please He wear no shoeshine he got toe-jam football He got monkey finger he shoot coca-cola He say “I know you, you know me” One thing I can tell you is you got to be free Come together right now over me Uhhh…yeah. Gibberish. They even admitted it was gibberish. That’s like the tailors admitting that the emporer doesn’t really have any clothes on, and yet everyone keeps insisting they can see them. They are a good study in how people will eat crap, and thank you for the privilege of eating crap, even after they are told it is crap by the ones who made it, all because the people serving the crap showed up right when the eaters were really, really hungry. And then the people who come after them eat it, too, because, after all, their moms and dads ate the crap, so that crap must be good. I say stop eating the crap. The cycle must be broken. Crap is bad for you. It can cause lots of nasty illnesses. And if you eat enough crap, eventually you forget the taste of real food. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/66 "2007-11-06T05:58:45Z")
The Boswell Sisters ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/67 "2007-11-06T06:33:21Z")
Star Wars. The whole thing. The first two movies are fun, at least, but the whole thing is _nowhere near_ as good as everyone and their mother thinks it is. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if the American moviegoing public had any sense in them, Logan’s Run would’ve outshadowed Star Wars from Day 1. Or, what **WhyNot** said. Also, I really wanted to get into both Hemingway and Steinbeck, but I just couldn’t. No plot whatsoever. If James Baldwin were half as famous as either of those cats, the world would be a better place. He’s a victim of his era (being black and gay). > [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > In fact, anything and everything by Disney. Disney characters are sugary cutesy sweet and soulless. I just don’t get any of it. This goes beyond mere “Stuff I personally don’t like” to “stuff which is so obviously appallingly bad I wonder how its creator ever made a nickel let alone was taken so seriously.” Exactly! The Disney world is so black-and-white. You have your really ridiculously good good guys, your ridiculously evil bad guys, and nobody has much believable motivation to fall on either side. I can see why kids like it–it’s nice to have the world boiled down to a simple good-and-evil battle when you’re a kid–but I can’t figure out what adults see in the Disney movies. Then again, a lot of adults can’t figure out what I see in dark and depressing movies about the reality of the human condition, so MMV. > [@WhyNot](#): > > And I’ve seen Armageddon Day. I suspect you’re mixing at least two movies, there. > [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > But the sheer fanaticism that goes along with that is, IMO, completely unnecessary. And it all seems faked to me. I’ve seen very few people who actually feel as excited about sports as sports fans try to convince you that they do–and most of them are in the business. > [@Lochdale](#): > > Most of what the Beatles put out. Jazz, pretty much all of it. I love the Beatles and I love jazz, but then, I also love the blues, in whose context the Beatles and jazz make a lot more sense. > [@GorillaMan](#): > > That reminds me. Seinfeld. Boring. You know, I simply cannot imagine anyone liking Seinfeld without living in the US for a long time first. > [@SpazCat](#): > > Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. There have been many books written by Nigerians that are miles better than this depressing hatefest. Like “Graceland” by Christopher Abani. Also depressing, but chock full of awesome. > [@HoboStew](#): > > It warms my heart to see OK Computer in this thread. I have never understood the (near) universal love for this album. It is a decent album, and I do give them credit trying to make interesting music, but best album of the last 20 years?! It wouldn’t crack my top 50. The reason I love OK Computer is because I was high as a kite the first few times I listened to it. That’s absolutely the key to understanding it, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/68 "2007-11-06T06:41:00Z")
[QUOTE=TripleTee] I agree also that the Beatles are HIGHLY overrated. They were average musicians at best. The only thing they had going for them was that they could write catchy melodies, but so can bunches of jingle writers (Byyyyyy Men-nen). Just because you write a good melody, does not make you a good musician. Their lyrics were absolute garbage. For instance: Here come old flattop he come grooving up slowly He got joo-joo eyeball he one holy roller He got hair down to his knee Got to be a joker he just do what he please He wear no shoeshine he got toe-jam football He got monkey finger he shoot coca-cola He say “I know you, you know me” One thing I can tell you is you got to be free Come together right now over me [/QUOTE] Look, you’re entitled to your opinion, but I’ve got to stand up for the Beatles here. They were not “average” musicians, Paul McCartney’s melodic bass playing was absolutely revolutionary, George Harrison’s guitar work was phenomenal without being flashy, and George Martin’s talent for arrangement led to some truly amazing stuff, the Abbey Road medley for one. It’s almost like modern-day classical music. In fact, the Abbey Road medley is basically a symphony, with different movements, and a motif (You Never Give Me Your Money) that gets quoted later on in the song, all woven together in a way that is totally unmatched to this very day. That the lyrics of Come Together should strike you as “garbage” is understandable if you have a strict definition of lyrics that excludes anything that’s avant-garde or nonsensical. The Beatles were highly influenced by avant-garde culture and beat poetry, and the words of Come Together were chosen not for their literal meaning but for the way they _sound._ If that’s not your thing, fine, it’s not your thing, but it doesn’t mean the lyrics are garbage, just that they’re unconventional. Seriously, listen to Abbey Road all the way through, then tell me you’d put it on the level of a shaving cream commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/69 "2007-11-06T06:48:57Z")
I’m with **Fetus** about Disney. Fuckin’ DON BLUTH - that’s where it’s at. _All Dogs Go To Heaven_ - freaky, trippy, psychedelic thrill ride through a debauched world of animal organized crime and murder - and it’s for _kids!_ I could watch that movie a million times. I hate Radiohead. That they are looked on as some wonder-group of the current day baffles me. I think their music is morose, over-dramatic and _boring._ The Red Hot Chili Peppers, for instance, beat the hell out of them any day, even if Stadium Arcadium was kind of mediocre. Or Beck. Or The Flaming Lips. There are so many contemporary rock groups that are so much more talented and _fun_ to listen to than fucking Radiohead. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/70 "2007-11-06T07:13:45Z")
Nearly all contemporary music that can be labeled as classics, Beatles and onward. So much crap, and the occasional glimmer of wasted talent; Jimi Hendrix should have been a classical musician (preferably a cellist). Many recent poets that are commonly covered in school: Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, e.e. cummings, and a bunch of others. Gravity’s Rainbow is best used to demonstrate gravity to a high school physics class. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/71 "2007-11-06T07:14:45Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] You know, I simply cannot imagine anyone liking Seinfeld without living in the US for a long time first. [/QUOTE] How so? ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/72 "2007-11-06T07:46:32Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] If that’s not your thing, fine, it’s not your thing, but it doesn’t mean the lyrics are garbage, just that they’re unconventional. [/QUOTE] Sorry, I stand by my statement. The lyrics are garbage. Words have meaning. When you start combining words just because you like the way they sound together, you might as well just stop using english words and make up your own language. I respect artists who are masters of language, in poetry or music or writing. The Beatles were not masters of anything. And nothing about their music was revolutionary. Beethoven was revolutionary. But to call the Beatles that is to pervert the meaning of the word. It’s like giving a child finger paints and the child throws the paint on a canvas. We can call it art, and certainly their mother or father is going to think it’s beautiful, but that does not make it art. It has the same nonsensical quality as the Beatles’ lyrics. Just throwing a bunch of words on a page does not make it art. I do not particularly care for Charles Dickens, but I DO realize that he was a master of language, and can respect him on that level even if I do not enjoy reading his novels. The Beatles had no such mastery of language. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/73 "2007-11-06T07:47:51Z")
[QUOTE=TripleTee] The only thing they had going for them was that they could write catchy melodies, but so can bunches of jingle writers (Byyyyyy Men-nen). [/QUOTE] When it comes to the end of year Straight Dope awards for reasoning and critical anaylsis, I don’t think this will trouble the awards committee. A jingle only lasts a few bars, whereas a Beatles song (like the majority of songs in the popular medium) has to work for three minutes or so. A jingle’s ‘lyrics’ are the name of the product and whatever the copy writer / ad agency has come up with, whereas the Beatles wrote lyrics that proved popular at the time and are still considered by many to be admirable and enjoyable forty years later. The ‘music’ for a jingle is by definition disposable, lasting only for the duration of an ad campaign, whereas the Beatles wrote songs that have proved enduringly popular for at least two generations. Thousands of largely anonymous producers can turn out jingles, but only three people in history have ever written a Beatles song. And I’m not even a massive Beatles fan. Back to the OP. My nomination: anything and everything by **Jane Austen**. I have a degree in Eng. Lit., and I can see the worth of most ‘classics’, but not Austen. They are boring, unimaginative books written by a boring, unimaginative writer who has nothing to say and takes forever to get around to not saying it. It’s also hard to grasp why she is credited with six novels, when in fact it’s just the same novel recycled. Every time the same: nothing happens and takes ages not to happen. If you visit the Austen Museum in Bath, it only serves to both illuminate and confirm the fact that this was a woman who led a completely sealed, boring life of severaly cramped horizons, with no awareness of anything much at all beyond her little writing desk. To adapt the old computing mantra: Tedium in, tedium out. Now Emily Bronte… **there** is a writer! Powerful imagination, strong passions, superb grasp of a huge array of characters, emotive descriptions, exciting plot development ful of twists and turns… bravura stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/74 "2007-11-06T07:59:52Z")
[QUOTE=TripleTee] Sorry, I stand by my statement. The lyrics are garbage. Words have meaning. When you start combining words just because you like the way they sound together, you might as well just stop using english words and make up your own language. [/QUOTE] Sigur Ros did this, to widespread acclaim. I’m not a huge fan of their music but why _not_ create your own language, if that’s what you want to do? You have this extremely strict, pedantic idea that words can only be interpreted by their literal meaning and that anything otherwise is not worthy of being called art. What’s your opinion on beat poetry? I assume you also think it’s garbage, and a lot of it is, but some of it is amazing. I’m no defender of pretentious people who think you can just throw _anything_ together and have it sound good, but I think Come Together throws together some random words and makes them sound good because the sounds of the words _flow_ together. It’s either something you get or you don’t. [QUOTE=TripleTee] It’s like giving a child finger paints and the child throws the paint on a canvas. We can call it art, and certainly their mother or father is going to think it’s beautiful, but that does not make it art. It has the same nonsensical quality as the Beatles’ lyrics. Just throwing a bunch of words on a page does not make it art. [/QUOTE] You’re using ONE song as an example of “the Beatles’ lyrics.” Come Together is only one song out of a whole discography of songs that are not nonsensical and that follow conventional lyrical structure. Do you hate those songs too? Like I said, _listen_ to the Abbey Road medley - how can you not dig that? It’s melodically interesting. It uses creative segues from one song to another. It’s like a rock opera - each song sets up its own unique story. The Beatles and George Martin poured their heart and soul, not to mention their diligent labor, in the studio perfecting that album - to compare it to a child’s finger painting is so utterly ridiculous. But hey, your opinion is your opinion. Who do YOU like to listen to? ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/75 "2007-11-06T08:07:35Z")
_Beowulf_. First-English-language-literary-masterpiece my ass. More like first English literary work that completely SUCKS BALLS! And don’t get me started on _The Canterbury Tales_. . . ``` "Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour. . ." ``` Excuse me while I fart. (And whatever happens to come out of my butt will be a lot more interesting that that old garbage.) ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/76 "2007-11-06T08:10:28Z")
Seriously, though, I think most of the things that people are mentioning in this thread are awesome. Whatever it is that causes every critic in the world to universally praise a given movie, book, or whatever, I’ve got it. My favorite movie is _The Godfather II_. My favorite band is the Beatles. My favorite book is . . . I don’t know, but I love _The Great Gatsby_. ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/77 "2007-11-06T08:11:57Z")
[QUOTE=ianzin] When it comes to the end of year Straight Dope awards for reasoning and critical anaylsis, I don’t think this will trouble the awards committee. A jingle only lasts a few bars, whereas a Beatles song (like the majority of songs in the popular medium) has to work for three minutes or so. A jingle’s ‘lyrics’ are the name of the product and whatever the copy writer / ad agency has come up with, whereas the Beatles wrote lyrics that proved popular at the time and are still considered by many to be admirable and enjoyable forty years later. The ‘music’ for a jingle is by definition disposable, lasting only for the duration of an ad campaign, whereas the Beatles wrote songs that have proved enduringly popular for at least two generations. Thousands of largely anonymous producers can turn out jingles, but only three people in history have ever written a Beatles song. [/QUOTE] I am not interested in popular opinion. That’s not even a consideration. There are many things that people overwhelmingly would call excellent. But that does not make it so. And there are many jingles that last more than a few bars. I was just using an example. And there are many jingles that have lived as long as any song by the Beatles. Again, that does not make them excellent. Only three people in history have ever written a Beatles song. So what? I am not sure how that matters. Only Mozart wrote a piano concerto by Mozart. Just a couple anonymous musicians wrote “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke”. What’s the point? ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/78 "2007-11-06T08:28:41Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Sigur Ros did this, to widespread acclaim. I’m not a huge fan of their music but why _not_ create your own language, if that’s what you want to do? You have this extremely strict, pedantic idea that words can only be interpreted by their literal meaning and that anything otherwise is not worthy of being called art. What’s your opinion on beat poetry? I assume you also think it’s garbage, and a lot of it is, but some of it is amazing. I’m no defender of pretentious people who think you can just throw _anything_ together and have it sound good, but I think Come Together throws together some random words and makes them sound good because the sounds of the words _flow_ together. It’s either something you get or you don’t. You’re using ONE song as an example of “the Beatles’ lyrics.” Come Together is only one song out of a whole discography of songs that are not nonsensical and that follow conventional lyrical structure. Do you hate those songs too? Like I said, _listen_ to the Abbey Road medley - how can you not dig that? It’s melodically interesting. It uses creative segues from one song to another. It’s like a rock opera - each song sets up its own unique story. The Beatles and George Martin poured their heart and soul, not to mention their diligent labor, in the studio perfecting that album - to compare it to a child’s finger painting is so utterly ridiculous. But hey, your opinion is your opinion. Who do YOU like to listen to? [/QUOTE] Suggesting that I “just don’t get it” is a bit much. And how can we communicate if the words do not have strict meanings? You could not read this sentence unless words had strict meanings. Certainly you can use metaphor or hyperbole to paint a literary picture that is open to many different interpretations, but unless the words that construct that metaphor have strict meanings, your metaphor is lost. I have much more respect for someone creating their own words or own language than bastardizing an existing language. In fact, there are poems where writers have invented new words because they liked the sound of them, and yet the new words they created ALSO had strict meanings that can be determined by the context. In terms of other Beatles’ songs, how about this one? So let it out and let it in, hey, Jude, begin You’re waiting for someone to perform with And don’t you know that it’s just you, hey, Jude, You’ll do, the movement you need is on your shoulder Hey, Jude, don’t make it bad Take a sad song and make it better Remember to let her into your heart Then you can start to make it better Na, na na na na na na, na na na na, hey Jude. (repeat over and over again) These are mind-numbingly bad lyrics. However, I WOULD say that the melody for this song is a truly beautiful melody. I already admitted that in my first post. They wrote some good melodies. But in popular music, I would say that the mark of a truly gifted musician is their ability to mesh good melodies with inspired lyrics. If they falter on one or the other, then they are not a great artist. Hence, the Beatles were not truly great artists. They were also not the worst artists ever, either. I hope I did not give that impression. The original poster was asking about things that were highly overrated. The Beatles are called by many the best group ever. I disagree. Maybe top 100 groups ever. But that still makes them highly overrated. ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/79 "2007-11-06T08:38:06Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Like I said, _listen_ to the Abbey Road medley - how can you not dig that? It’s melodically interesting. It uses creative segues from one song to another. It’s like a rock opera - each song sets up its own unique story. [/QUOTE] In the interests of being completely fair, I will listen to Abbey Road in its entirety. If I change my mind about the Beatles, I will let you know. I am not above retracting statements if I find I am in error. I haven’t bothered before because I have heard many of their songs in my life, and didn’t like any of them except for a couple catchy melodies, so there was no need. But on your recommendation, I will. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/80 "2007-11-06T08:38:24Z")
Alright fair enough. But like I asked before - who do YOU like to listen to? Yeah, we both posted at the same time. So in response to that - good, you should give it a listen, you might like it. There are a lot of Beatles songs that I DON’T like - I don’t think they’re infallible. A lot of their songs are just okay. But the Abbey Road medley - specifically - is what makes them geniuses in my eyes. It’s head and shoulders above any of their other stuff. So yeah, you might find yourself liking it. But if not, hey, to each his own. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276.md?page=5)