# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/101 "2007-11-06T16:56:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Monty Python’s The Holy Grail. I don’t think everything they’ve done is overrated but that movie seems to be the one everyone quotes and is most familiar with. That movie puts me to sleep. Hell Monty Python in general is overrated. There I said it. BURN HIM!!! BOT: **Disney** ( Park and most movies.) Soulless. **William Shakespeare**. I think he is only popular because his work is public domain and it keeps literary snobs off the streets teaching it to kids who really don’t care. **Moby Dick**. OCD with a whale. **Silas Mariner**. It’s been 20+ years since that was shoved down my throat and I just remember wanting to set myself on fire rather than read it. ---
**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, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/102 "2007-11-06T17:02:17Z")
> [@TripleTee](#): > > Sorry, I stand by my statement. The lyrics are garbage. Words have meaning. How do you feel about doo-wop music? And do you think that the Beatles just threw random words together, or that they were carefully picked to sound good together? How is that worse than “making up your own language”? If anything, imposing the rule that each word had to come from English only made it more difficult, because instead of just throwing syllables together any damn way they pleased, they had to find existing words that fit the scheme they were trying to create. > [@TripleTee](#): > > And nothing about their music was revolutionary. Beethoven was revolutionary. But to call the Beatles that is to pervert the meaning of the word. OK, regardless of your personal opinion of their work, do you honestly believe that it didn’t change rock music forever, and that the influence of the Beatles isn’t present in much/most of the rock that came after it? > [@TripleTee](#): > > And how can we communicate if the words do not have strict meanings? Does art, and music itself, lack the ability to communicate with you if it is not accompanied by a literary work following strict rules of syntax and semantics? If so, how can you stand Beethoven and Mozart? > [@ArizonaTeach](#): > > There is no doubt in my mind that Firefly is one of the most overrated pieces of art in existence. I’m not saying it’s bad, but I am constantly floored how it is brought up like some holy grail of perfection on this board all the time. Joss Whedon’s work in general, really. I am _so_ glad Buffy was finally cancelled. When it was on, all that Buffy fans would ever talk about was Buffy Buffy Buffy Buffy Buffy Buffy Buffy, as if it were the love child of Martin Scorsese and Charlie Chaplin. It wasn’t just overrated, BTW–it was one of the most outrageously shitty shows to ever have a respectable national audience. > [@Rocketeer](#): > > Oh, and I thought of another overrated classic car: The '57 Chevy. Overweight, sloppy handling, glitzy overdone styling. My friend’s Triumph-driving wife thought at one time she’d like a '57; they went out and looked at one. What do you think of the '55? > [@Smid](#): > > That language “they invented” is Icelandic. Given they are in fact, Icelandic. The album name: Hoppípolla, is in fact (and I will stress this again) Icelandic for Jumping in Puddles… No, they made up their own language based on Icelandic. > [@GorillaMan](#): > > How so? (Re Seinfeld.) Well, apparently I’ve been proven wrong. But I just always felt like an appreciation for it hinged on understanding the American culture of the time. For example, unless you know something about baseball history–the tiny bit that you pick up just by spending a lot of time in America will do–the sheer magnitude of the fact that George does important work for the New York Yankees, interacts with the players there and has lunch with George Steinbrenner escapes you. For that matter, I feel like I get a lot more out of it specifically by being American Jewish–Jerry and his parents are replicas of the people every American Jew has met a thousand times at our congregations. That said, George Costanza _is_ a classic sitcom character, and Kramer embodies a lifestyle that we alternate between looking down on and wishing we could pull off, and most of us have had neighbors like him (if not quite to the same extent). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/103 "2007-11-06T17:58:06Z")
I saw a touring company performance of _Stomp_, the Broadway show that everyone raved about and which won a passel of Tonys, and it was… meh. Not nearly the knock-your-socks-off experience that I’d heard about. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/104 "2007-11-06T18:10:51Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Have you read Breakfast of Champions or Slaughterhouse Five? If so, what are you smoking? _Slaughterhouse Five_ is the perfect example of everything that’s wrong with Kurt Vonnegut. By about the fifth time he wrote, “So it goes,” I wanted to track him down and slap him to death. And I still had about nine thousand more repititions of it to go before I got to the end of the book. But it could have been worse. It could have been _Cat’s Cradle_. Eurgh. Pretentious bullcrap, the lot of it. And, a prodigious amount of marijuana. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/105 "2007-11-06T18:12:42Z")
Canterbury Tales, Shakespear, and now Beowulf? Never before did I grasp the full meaning behind the idea that one man’s trash is another’s treasure. The first person who says Homer’s Iliad is overrated is going to have me getting all Greek on their asses. If they say the Epic of Gilgamesh is overrated I’ll have to get all Sumerian on their asses but I don’t really know what that means. Marc ---
**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:** [November 6, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/106 "2007-11-06T18:14:47Z")
[QUOTE=Smid] Forgive me if I’m wrong on this count, a quick scan of a wikipedia doesn’t mention this idea that Sigur Ros invented their own language… [/QUOTE] Are we reading the same Wikipedia article? > [@](#): > > All of the lyrics on ( ) are sung in Vonlenska, also known as Hopelandic, a constructed language of nonsense syllables which resembles the phonology of the Icelandic language. It has also been said that the listener is supposed to interpret their own meanings of the lyrics which can then be written in the blank pages in the album booklet. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/107 "2007-11-06T18:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] What do you think of the '55? [/QUOTE] I have no personal experience, but I admire its clean styling. My mother owned one back in the day and from the things she said, it seems to have been her favorite car ever. I think it was the first V-8 she’d ever owned. …and then they bought a '59 and all those good feelings were flushed away. My dad never bought another Chevy after that awful '59. ---
**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:** [November 6, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/108 "2007-11-06T18:24:44Z")
As for the Beatles, I think they are the best pop rock band ever, and I say that as someone who plays music himself (classical and jazz/blues background) and has as deep an appreciation for Chopin and Liszt as, say, Sonic Youth and the Pixies. But, anyhow, I can’t convince anyone of their greatness. However, for the more analytic types, there is a great series of articles on the music and theory behind most (if not all) the Beatles catalog called [Andrew W. Pollack’s ‘Notes On’ Series](http://www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/files/awp/awp.html). People who tend to be a bit more left-brained and literal in their interpretation of music usually find something of interest in there. Personally, I don’t see any reason why lyrics _need_ to have meaning. They can be just another instrument. Then again, I love abstraction. One of my favorite lyrics is the Pixie’s Caribou: “I live cement/I hate this street/Give dirt to me/I bite lament/This human form/Where I was born/I now repent/Caribou.” Gives me chills every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/109 "2007-11-06T18:39:19Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] Canterbury Tales, Shakespear, and now Beowulf? Never before did I grasp the full meaning behind the idea that one man’s trash is another’s treasure. The first person who says Homer’s Iliad is overrated is going to have me getting all Greek on their asses. If they say the Epic of Gilgamesh is overrated I’ll have to get all Sumerian on their asses but I don’t really know what that means. Marc [/QUOTE] But the Iliad _is_ way overrated. 😃 First, the background of the Iliad is the story of foreigners going to the Middle East to right imagined wrongs only to be stuck in a quagmire for ten years. Writing an epic about that is akin to writing an epic about Dubya. 😃 Second the plot of the Illiad is basically about a childish temper-tantrum. Achillies could give lessons in spite and bad sportsmanship to our modern pro athletes, but he’s not much of a hero. Not only that, but the meat of the text goes something like this: "Noble Patrocles spied Telemecus son of Zathor in the middle of the fray. In a mighty voice lord Patrocles bellowed the names of his illustrious ancestors; as he did so, he cast his awe-inspiring spear at Telemecus, who turned, his gore to save. In vain, for the imperishable bronze did cleave him from his butthole onwards, so that his guts did spew upon the dusty plain, and the shades of dark night fell upon his eyes. Then Noble Patrocles stripped him of his armour and, whipping out his mighty willy, pissed in his face for the heck of it". Rinse, repeat. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/110 "2007-11-06T18:42:52Z")
_Citizen Kane_. It’s been mentioned before but here’s my reason: I’ve never seen. I have no desire to see. I have no desire to see it because every time I say I’ve never seen it, people gasp and cry, “you must see it! It’s the best film ever made! I can’t believe I’ve met someone who’s never seen CK!” :rolleyes: I’ve heard so much hype and fawning about it, no way will it ever life up to its PR. So, I still haven’t seen it. Joh Travolta’s dancing is way overrated, as was _Saturday Night Fever_. Sarah Silverman–she’s not just overrated, she’s not even funny or attractive. Gourmet food. When all’s said and done–it’s a piece of chicken. It’s a bit of pie. Get a grip. (badly prepared food is godawful, but I dont’ need dew-drenched, fresh-picked by blind monks on the east side of the mountain berries to add to my dessert. How about just some berries, kay?) ---
**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:** [November 6, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/111 "2007-11-06T18:44:21Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Sarah Silverman–she’s not just overrated, she’s not even funny or attractive. [/QUOTE] Agreed on all counts. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/112 "2007-11-06T18:44:53Z")
[QUOTE=ArizonaTeach] There is no doubt in my mind that _Firefly_ is one of the most overrated pieces of art in existence. I’m not saying it’s bad, but I am constantly floored how it is brought up like some holy grail of perfection on this board **all the time**. What show should never have been cancelled? _Firefly_ What proves television executives are idiots? _Cancelling Firefly_ If you were President what would you do first? _Bring back Firefly_ What cures cancer? _Watching Firefly_ Proof of God’s existence? _The pilot for Firefly._ [/QUOTE] I love Joss and think the cancellation of Firefly was really dumb but, seriously, the persecution complex amongst his fans is staggeringly ridiculous. I’m a friggin’ \*\*\*Trekkie \*\*\*and am not as embarassed by the proverbial virginal basement dwellers that major in Klingon at college than I am by [the martyrs of the Browncoat community](http://community.livejournal.com/fireflyfans/1054777.html#cutid1). ---
**Author:** ![the\_big\_balooka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@the\_big\_balooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_big_balooka)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/113 "2007-11-06T18:47:37Z")
the simpsons. mildy amusing, in no way groundbreaking or hilarious anything with will ferrel. we get it, he’s out of shape but still runs around half naked. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/114 "2007-11-06T19:02:10Z")
_Cats_. Way overrated, as far as I’m concerned. Why doesn’t somebody write a musical about dogs instead? I’d watch that. ---
**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, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/115 "2007-11-06T19:11:17Z")
Vonnegut haters: he’s hit or miss. Hocus Pocus blew. Slaughterhouse is hyped for some reason, but it’s one of his worst books IMO. Cat’s Cradle works on the strength of the Bokonon subplot. Now, Sirens of Titan and Mother Night are things of beauty. Some of his short stories are excellent. Breakfast of Champions is a question of taste. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/116 "2007-11-06T20:03:50Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] No, it would be like saying in 500 years that the Red Sox were the best team ever because we still had a record of their existence. [/QUOTE] I don’t know. I’d think one of the primary things that determine if something is a “classic” would be the ability to stand the test of time. The Canterbury Tales aren’t just a mere record, it’s a story that’s been loved and studied for centuries. I don’t particularly like the book, but it’s hard to deny it’s a classic. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/117 "2007-11-06T20:14:59Z")
[QUOTE=Yookeroo] I don’t know. I’d think one of the primary things that determine if something is a “classic” would be the ability to stand the test of time. The Canterbury Tales aren’t just a mere record, it’s a story that’s been loved and studied for centuries. I don’t particularly like the book, but it’s hard to deny it’s a classic. [/QUOTE] And it’s not like it’s the only book that’s survived from that era. You can go to any library and pick up a copy of _Piers Plowman_, but why would anyone _want_ to? Chaucer clued into something in _Canterbury Tales_ that people have responded to, even after all these centuries. Personally, I think it’s all the fart jokes. Some ideas truly do transcend time. ---
**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, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/118 "2007-11-06T20:36:07Z")
I have to agree with **the big balooka** about the Simpsons. It has a tight comedic rhythm, which is nice, and it does talk about current issues, which is also nice, but such talk is generally in platitudes. And the humor itself is mostly obvious. The running gags were played out 10 years ago. American linguists–particularly Chomskyists–have a continuous collective orgasm over the Simpsons, and I can’t help but think that it’s just because descriptivism was starving for attention when “Embiggen is a perfectly cromulent word!” happened. Outside of that one sentence, the whole show is like a freshman philosophy course for sixth-graders with barely enough innuendo to convince 33rd-graders that they still like it. > [@eleanorigby](#): > > Sarah Silverman [snip…] she’s not even [snip] attractive. :eek: This will not soon be forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/119 "2007-11-06T20:44:31Z")
[QUOTE=Paladud] Vonnegut haters: he’s hit or miss. Hocus Pocus blew. [/QUOTE] I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t have been so pissed, and determined not to read more of his works, if I hadn’t been taken in by all the reviews I’d read talking about how _fun_ and _funny_ the book was. Sorry, Ionesco’s _Rhinoceros_ dealt with many of the same issues, and was clever, and whimsical, with occaisional forays into funny. That was just bleak. Absolutely, and inutterably bleak. There is a difference. ---
**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, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276/120 "2007-11-06T20:52:14Z")
I don’t really find Sarah Silverman funny, but I do think she’s hot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-considered-classics-but-which-you-think-are-highly-overrated/425276.md?page=7)