Most Over Rated Band of All Time?

[Buftex]

Some of the bands/artists mentioned (in fact, probably all) have had their moments, but the fact that they continue to put out records, long after their creative peak has passed, is what puts them in the overrated column, for me. For instance, I really loved the first three U2 albums growing up, and then, "Joshua Tree" (which I liked at the time) happened, and they were launched, really through no fault of their own, into the ledgers of overrated. I have never liked anything since. I really like some Springsteen stuff, and other, not so much. I listen to Neal Young, and sometimes, I think he is one of the all-time greats, but then, I will hear something else from him, and think, "how could he do this?" A lot of these artists, for lack of better term, grow up in public. Of course they are going to have highs and lows.

 

 

I am about as big a Rolling Stones fan as there is, and I can admit, they haven't done anything really great since about 1981...does the last 30 years of their career negate the amazing first 20 years? Not for me, but, I am sure it would for many. As many have already said, it is subjective. I hate the Beach Boys, others, list them as one of their favorites. We can both be right! Except when it comes to the Beatles. Writing them off as nothing but "bubblegum" is, well...just stupid! And Rush just sucks!

[Rico]

Some of the bands/artists mentioned (in fact, probably all) have had their moments, but the fact that they continue to put out records, long after their creative peak has passed, is what puts them in the overrated column, for me. For instance, I really loved the first three U2 albums growing up, and then, "Joshua Tree" (which I liked at the time) happened, and they were launched, really through no fault of their own, into the ledgers of overrated. I have never liked anything since. I really like some Springsteen stuff, and other, not so much. I listen to Neal Young, and sometimes, I think he is one of the all-time greats, but then, I will hear something else from him, and think, "how could he do this?" A lot of these artists, for lack of better term, grow up in public. Of course they are going to have highs and lows.

 

 

I am about as big a Rolling Stones fan as there is, and I can admit, they haven't done anything really great since about 1981...does the last 30 years of their career negate the amazing first 20 years? Not for me, but, I am sure it would for many. As many have already said, it is subjective. I hate the Beach Boys, others, list them as one of their favorites. We can both be right! Except when it comes to the Beatles. Writing them off as nothing but "bubblegum" is, well...just stupid! And Rush just sucks!

Rolling Stones = not overrated

Vegas Stones = extremely overrated

 

and don't forget the incredibly lame Blondie Chaplin was a Beach Boy.

[bbb]

My favorite U2 album is actually their second last - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. The one before that was almost as good. (I'm not quite as high on their last one).

 

They are the only band in the world that can still out a stadium by themselves (I just watched a video from Athens the other night with 100,000 people at Olympic Stadium - stunning). They've been the biggest band in the world for about 25 years and one of the biggest for thirty years.

 

I love the Stones, too, but as was pointed out, really they haven't been relevant since Tattoo You in '81.

 

Although I may be a bigger Springsteen, Stones, and Who fan, I think there are only two bands in the argument for who is the biggest/most important band of all time - U2 and The Beatles.

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

Possible riot-inducer here, but I've also never cared for Neil Young or *gulp* Bob Dylan.

[The Dean]

Although I may be a bigger Springsteen, Stones, and Who fan, I think there are only two bands in the argument for who is the biggest/most important band of all time - U2 and The Beatles.

 

 

U2 is popular, I'll give ya that. But, important? How, pray tell, are they musically important?

 

I think you are doing a great job supporting the OP's point.

[bbb]

From msnbc:

 

Ireland’s U2 is the most important and influential band of the post-punk era, joining ringing guitar rock, punkish independence, Celtic spirituality, innovative production techniques and electronic experimentalism — all held together by singer/lyricist Bono’s transcendent vision and charisma.

 

U2 — Bono (Paul Hewson), guitarist the Edge (Dave Evans), bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen — formed in Dublin in 1976 as a Beatles and Stones cover band while the players were all still in high school. In 1980 they were signed to Island Records and released their spectacular first album, “Boy,” produced by Steve Lillywhite.

 

Image: The Edge, Bono

Mike Hutchings / Reuters file

U2, with guitarist the Edge and lead singer Bono, is now a mature, confident, still amazing band that knows it doesn’t have all the answers, but isn’t afraid to keep asking the right questions.

 

The band’s sparkling, radiant sound jumped from the grooves from the first note of “I Will Follow” and rode Mullen’s massive drums and the Edge’s angular, careening guitar into history. Neither “Boy” nor its follow-up “October” (with the glorious “Gloria”) tore up the charts at the time (though both are now platinum), but “War” — passionate, martial “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” melodic wailing “New Year’s Day,” and the fierce, new wavy love song “Two Hearts Beat As One”—turned U2 into a worldwide phenomenon in 1983.

 

In preparation for 1984’s “The Unforgettable Fire,” producer Brian Eno had a long conversation with Bono, as he later told Q Magazine. “I said, ‘Look, if I work with you, I will want to change lots of things you do, because I’m not interested in records as a document of a rock band playing on stage, I’m more interested in painting pictures. I want to create a landscape within which this music happens.’ And Bono said, ‘Exactly, that’s what we want too.’”

 

The results of this fateful change of direction were Eno productions of U2 standards “The Unforgettable Fire” (including “Bad,” “Pride In the Name of Love”); Grammy’s 1987 Album of the Year, the personal yet universal “The Joshua Tree,” which made the band superstars (with “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “With Or Without You” and “One Tree Hill”); 1991's “Achtung Baby,” a brilliant and emotionally dark move toward electronica (“Even Better Than the Real Thing,” “One,” “Until the End of the World,” “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” and “Mysterious Ways”); and “Zooropa,” deeper still into Euro-dance music and electronics (‘93, with the title track, “Numb,” “Lemon,” “Stay”). Wow, what a journey.

 

U2 was the leading rock band of the '80s because its members, like perhaps only Bruce Springsteen in the U.S., still believed that rock ‘n’ roll could save the world, and they had the talent to make that notion not seem hopelessly naive.

 

This earnestness and willingness to shoulder the heaviest of responsibilities led to soaring heights of achievement and escalating psychic and artistic demands that eventually led the band to adopt irony as its basic means of expression for a time in the '90s.

 

All bands want to be cool, and in the '80s U2 almost single-handedly made earnestness cool, but it was hard, relentless work. After the gritty, chunky guitars-and-idealism of the '80s, the '90s saw the diaphanous chill of electronics-and-irony, which was literally and metaphorically cool, but ultimately not what the band is about.

 

“All That You Can’t Leave Behind” (‘00) returned to what the band is about, and is the sonic and spiritual follow up to the “The Joshua Tree,” the band’s most idealistic, spiritual and melodically consistent album.

 

Remnants of the band’s forays into electronics seasoned the album (especially the impressionistic “New York”), but the Edge’s guitar returned to center stage where his unique, chiming style belongs, though it never upstages the songs, every one of which is blessed with a memorable tune.

 

Following the ecstatic release of the opening track “Beautiful Day,” the second song “Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” states a seemingly modest but deeply profound, earnest and idealistic notion:

 

“I’m just trying to find a decent melody

A song I can sing in my own company”

Advertisement | ad info

 

They have found it and then some. U2 is now a mature, confident, still amazing band that knows it doesn’t have all the answers, but isn’t afraid to keep asking the right questions

[The Dean]

From msnbc:

 

 

 

 

Wow, you have just provided evidence of how wildly overrated they really are. (And probably broke a copyright or two in the process.)

 

Well done!

[bbb]

Funny, as I read it, I realized that they are actually under-rated. Forgot some of their great songs.

 

Of course, they are no Jimmy Buffett, but not bad.

[BLZFAN4LIFE]

From msnbc:

 

Ireland's U2 is the most important and influential band of the post-punk era, joining ringing guitar rock, punkish independence, Celtic spirituality, innovative production techniques and electronic experimentalism — all held together by singer/lyricist Bono's transcendent vision and charisma.

 

U2 — Bono (Paul Hewson), guitarist the Edge (Dave Evans), bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen — formed in Dublin in 1976 as a Beatles and Stones cover band while the players were all still in high school. In 1980 they were signed to Island Records and released their spectacular first album, "Boy," produced by Steve Lillywhite.

 

Image: The Edge, Bono

Mike Hutchings / Reuters file

U2, with guitarist the Edge and lead singer Bono, is now a mature, confident, still amazing band that knows it doesn't have all the answers, but isn't afraid to keep asking the right questions.

 

The band's sparkling, radiant sound jumped from the grooves from the first note of "I Will Follow" and rode Mullen's massive drums and the Edge's angular, careening guitar into history. Neither "Boy" nor its follow-up "October" (with the glorious "Gloria") tore up the charts at the time (though both are now platinum), but "War" — passionate, martial "Sunday Bloody Sunday," melodic wailing "New Year's Day," and the fierce, new wavy love song "Two Hearts Beat As One"—turned U2 into a worldwide phenomenon in 1983.

 

In preparation for 1984's "The Unforgettable Fire," producer Brian Eno had a long conversation with Bono, as he later told Q Magazine. "I said, 'Look, if I work with you, I will want to change lots of things you do, because I'm not interested in records as a document of a rock band playing on stage, I'm more interested in painting pictures. I want to create a landscape within which this music happens.' And Bono said, 'Exactly, that's what we want too.'"

 

The results of this fateful change of direction were Eno productions of U2 standards "The Unforgettable Fire" (including "Bad," "Pride In the Name of Love"); Grammy's 1987 Album of the Year, the personal yet universal "The Joshua Tree," which made the band superstars (with "Where the Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "With Or Without You" and "One Tree Hill"); 1991's "Achtung Baby," a brilliant and emotionally dark move toward electronica ("Even Better Than the Real Thing," "One," "Until the End of the World," "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" and "Mysterious Ways"); and "Zooropa," deeper still into Euro-dance music and electronics ('93, with the title track, "Numb," "Lemon," "Stay"). Wow, what a journey.

 

U2 was the leading rock band of the '80s because its members, like perhaps only Bruce Springsteen in the U.S., still believed that rock 'n' roll could save the world, and they had the talent to make that notion not seem hopelessly naive.

 

This earnestness and willingness to shoulder the heaviest of responsibilities led to soaring heights of achievement and escalating psychic and artistic demands that eventually led the band to adopt irony as its basic means of expression for a time in the '90s.

 

All bands want to be cool, and in the '80s U2 almost single-handedly made earnestness cool, but it was hard, relentless work. After the gritty, chunky guitars-and-idealism of the '80s, the '90s saw the diaphanous chill of electronics-and-irony, which was literally and metaphorically cool, but ultimately not what the band is about.

 

"All That You Can't Leave Behind" ('00) returned to what the band is about, and is the sonic and spiritual follow up to the "The Joshua Tree," the band's most idealistic, spiritual and melodically consistent album.

 

Remnants of the band's forays into electronics seasoned the album (especially the impressionistic "New York"), but the Edge's guitar returned to center stage where his unique, chiming style belongs, though it never upstages the songs, every one of which is blessed with a memorable tune.

 

Following the ecstatic release of the opening track "Beautiful Day," the second song "Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," states a seemingly modest but deeply profound, earnest and idealistic notion:

 

"I'm just trying to find a decent melody

A song I can sing in my own company"

Advertisement | ad info

 

They have found it and then some. U2 is now a mature, confident, still amazing band that knows it doesn't have all the answers, but isn't afraid to keep asking the right questions

 

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[The Dean]

Funny, as I read it, I realized that they are actually under-rated. Forgot some of their great songs.

 

Of course, they are no Jimmy Buffett, but not bad.

 

 

 

Well played!

[birdog1960]

i've always felt sinatra was/is overated especially late in his career

[KD in CA]

Used to...not any more.

 

Maybe it's you that's not holding up rather than the music.

[Lt. Dan's Revenge]

I concur with: U2, Springsteen, Kiss, and The Who, all of whom were previously mentioned as being overrated. However, although Bruce Springsteen shouldn't really be considered a "band" (Which leads me to my next point), he is probably my least favorite artist of all time.

 

 

Whatever your opinion of their music, to deny the technical brilliance of the members of Rush can only be a result of bias or ignorance. All 3 are regarded as the very top of their craft.

 

I completely agree with this, which is why I believe that it's crazy to include Rush on this list. I also think it's equally as crazy to include Dave Matthews Band. Some people might not like Dave himself, but to say that Dave Matthews Band as a band in general is overrated is damn near inconceivable, IMO. Carter Beauford on drums, Boyd Tinsley on violin, and LeRoi Moore on sax (RIP) were all considered among the most talented at their respective instruments for many, many years. Beauford and Tinsley still are. If you don't like Dave Matthews himself, that's fine, but you can't discredit the entire band because of that. Dave is a damn good guitar player, lyricist, and performer himself, IMO.

[bbb]

I concur with: U2, Springsteen, Kiss, and The Who, all of whom were previously mentioned as being overrated. However, although Bruce Springsteen shouldn't really be considered a "band" (Which leads me to my next point), he is probably my least favorite artist of all time.

 

 

 

 

I completely agree with this, which is why I believe that it's crazy to include Rush on this list. I also think it's equally as crazy to include Dave Matthews Band. Some people might not like Dave himself, but to say that Dave Matthews Band as a band in general is overrated is damn near inconceivable, IMO. Carter Beauford on drums, Boyd Tinsley on violin, and LeRoi Moore on sax (RIP) were all considered among the most talented at their respective instruments for many, many years. Beauford and Tinsley still are. If you don't like Dave Matthews himself, that's fine, but you can't discredit the entire band because of that. Dave is a damn good guitar player, lyricist, and performer himself, IMO.

 

Funny, but that's exactly what I think about Springsteen, U2 and The Who.

[Buftex]

I concur with: U2, Springsteen, Kiss, and The Who, all of whom were previously mentioned as being overrated. However, although Bruce Springsteen shouldn't really be considered a "band" (Which leads me to my next point), he is probably my least favorite artist of all time.

 

 

 

 

I completely agree with this, which is why I believe that it's crazy to include Rush on this list. I also think it's equally as crazy to include Dave Matthews Band. Some people might not like Dave himself, but to say that Dave Matthews Band as a band in general is overrated is damn near inconceivable, IMO. Carter Beauford on drums, Boyd Tinsley on violin, and LeRoi Moore on sax (RIP) were all considered among the most talented at their respective instruments for many, many years. Beauford and Tinsley still are. If you don't like Dave Matthews himself, that's fine, but you can't discredit the entire band because of that. Dave is a damn good guitar player, lyricist, and performer himself, IMO.

 

 

Techical proficiency has nothing to do with good music...

[bbb]

And, since I already threw his name out there, I would have to say the most overrated is Jimmy Buffett. How he has a whole following of people traveling to see him, I have no idea.......He seems to have hit on one theme - drinking in the tropics, and made a career out of it.

[Lt. Dan's Revenge]

Funny, but that's exactly what I think about Springsteen, U2 and The Who.

 

That's the beauty of this thread.

[bbb]

Techical proficiency has nothing to do with good music...

 

I couldn't agree more. Rush and DMB may have great musicians, but you have to have to great songs!

 

That's the beauty of this thread.

 

True

[The Dean]

Techical proficiency has nothing to do with good music...

 

 

I disagree. It's not the only criterion but it is in the mix.

[Lt. Dan's Revenge]

Techical proficiency has nothing to do with good music...

 

Not always, but it definitely translates IMO. You can't gain a true appreciation of this off a studio album, listen to a good live album or go see a Dave Matthews Band concert personally, and I have a feeling you wouldn't be disappointed at all with the quality of the band as a whole.