Music's Most Overrated

This is taken from today's MSN Homepage, any thought's?

Have you ever had the sneaking suspicion most people only rate a particular artist because they think they should?
For whatever reason, certain musicians become sacred cows, immune to criticism in a massive case of Emperor's new clothes.
Obviously this sort of thing is only ever a matter of opinion, and there are none more opinionated than our man Tom Townshend.
Here, expressing purely his own opinion and not necessarily that of MSN, Tom picks apart 12 artists he thinks don't deserve the critical acclaim they enjoy.

It was with a small yawn of indifference that the world greeted last week's news that The Verve had, again, split up. Wigan's The Verve must surely go down in history as the greatest group ever to have only had about two decent songs in their entire, miserable, on again/off again career. Well done for Bittersweet Symphony (although it's not much of a song without the whopping great orchestral-Stones sample, for which they had to pay 100% royalties). And well done for The Drugs Don't Work, proof that everyone (even a self-important knuckle-dragger with a succession of the world's worst haircuts) is capable of writing one good song if they keep at it long enough. Everything else was just instantly dated, nasal, whining, bluster of no importance. Expect another reunion imminently.

For a band to be considered as great and legendary as The Stone Roses, you'd expect them to have released more than one good album (don't even start to defend Second Coming – you all heard the cheers in the cinema when Nick Frost chucked it at a zombie in Shaun of the Dead). But what future generations will wonder is how the band gained such a reputation when their so-called classic album contains just one solitary idea spread across its 11 tracks: that idea being to carry on playing the same mumbly, indie jangle that every other band in Manchester was peddling at the time, but stick James Brown's Funky Drummer beat behind it. Even The Vengaboys came up with more ideas than that in their career, and we don't see their debut album being given a deluxe, multi-disc reissue anytime soon.

Let's not wait until the second album to admit that the gun may have been well and truly jumped in declaring Duffy's greatness. It's time to admit that the 25-year-old former Wawffactor contestant has failed to live up to, admittedly high, expectations (fuelled by an over-excited and somewhat economical with the truth PR campaign), and the handful of good songs on her mediocre and MOR debut album are being rapidly overshadowed by her charisma-free live performances, one-dimensional shrieking vocal and that Diet Coke advert (AKA one of the single worst and unintentionally hilarious things ever made with a camera). Despite the best efforts of her management to convince the world we were witnessing the next Dusty Springfield, Duffy is in fact the new Lulu (and we still haven't figured out how to dispose of the old one).

Jack White seems to have established a career making disappointingly average records that he gets away with because he's a ‘genius' and everyone is prepared to acquiesce to the disappointingly average records in the sure and safe knowledge that there must be another Elephant just around the corner, even though The White Stripes made that album six years ago and it's been a case of diminishing returns ever since. Maybe it's time to accept that Jack White is not a genius, just a bit of an oddball who is quite good at the guitar and yelping but who is unlikely to make another really great record now he seems determined to spread his talent thinly across as many bands as possible and we should all just move on and find someone else's music to hysterically hype out of all proportion

For everyone, there's a band or musician who sums up a pivotal time in their life. Perhaps they made the records that got you through a difficult time at school, or played at the first gig you attended, or were the favourite artist of a much-missed boyfriend or girlfriend. But there comes a time to accept that, no matter what fond feelings of nostalgia it awakes in you, the music itself is utter rot. What you're experiencing is emotional memory and it should never be confused with actual, honest musical taste. Absurd fake punks Green Day have sustained an entire multi-million dollar career on being many an impressionable youth's first ‘alternative' band, with said youths maintaining their allegiance long into adulthood, when they should've consigned the CDs (with all their hopelessly contrived attempts to sound anti-society and ‘angry') to their parent's attic, alongside the Furby and the rollerblades. The next busker we hear playing Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) will end up wearing their guitar as a necktie.

Donovan was lauded as Britain's answer to Bob Dylan (the question clearly being: “Can we have someone who dresses exactly like and tries his best to sound exactly like, without actually having any of the talent of, Bob Dylan please?”) Then, when he'd got bored of being the Woolworth's Mr Tambourine Man, he jumped on the gaily painted bandwagon marked ‘summer of love' and wrote some of that era's most nauseating, nonsensical hippy tripe, with the likes of Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman and (try not to vomit) Epistle to Dippy(!). And ever since then he's managed to sustain an iconic status simply by keeping his head down and giving the occasional interview about the 60s, during which he always speaks like he can't decide whether to sound posh or stoned. Rubbish then, rubbish now; get over it.

It's important not to confuse influential with good. A band can be influential simply because they're the first to consolidate a set of musical ideas, which go on to become a long lasting genre. But just as Yuri Gagarin was not the best at being in space, merely the first, Black Sabbath were not one of the best heavy rock bands to have existed (as legend would have it), just one of the first. Yes, they pushed music into new, darker, territory, challenging the prevailing melodic sounds of the late 60s and paving the way for heavy metal. But did they make records that are anything less than a torturous and faintly embarrassing endurance test to listen to today? No they did not. Without their influence on a young Kurt Cobain we may never have had Nirvana, for which we're grateful. But they're still bloody awful. And Ozzy Osbourne's vocals were hopelessly weak and wavering even then (sits back and waits for Sharon to send us a turd in the post).

There are many bands vying for the title of ‘worst group of all time ever' but Belle & Sebastian are so far ahead in the race the likes of Placebo and Nickelback can merely choke on their dust. The Scottish collective, led by Stuart ‘god of twee' Murdoch, have been flapping about ineffectually in a world of phony, fluffy nostalgia, black and white photos of girls in charity shop dresses and records with absolutely no bottom end to them for an incredible 13 years, without ever being grabbed by the collars and told to grow the hell up. Why has this been allowed to happen? Need we remind you these are adults writing songs like The Fox in the Snow and Asleep on a Sunbeam. Heaven help us if there's a war. And if you love the 1960s so much, why don't you audition for Heartbeat?

The joke's not funny anymore. Seriously, enough now. Sure, back in the late 90s it raised a chuckle to see his permanently startled, leathery brown face (like Ronald McDonald after a small explosion) gurning its way through Mouse T's Sex Bomb. “Ha, ha, look,” we all laughed, “It's the 60s entertainer Tom Jones singing a modern pop song on an edgy youth-oriented TV show. How ironically amusing.” So why is he still here? We've nothing against older singers continuing their careers for as long as their arthritic fingers can grip the microphone. But Tom Jones makes a horrible sound. And he looks horrible. In fact, since he stopped dying his hair (who knew?) he's actually quite frightening (like Father Christmas with a suntan). Mummy, make the scary man in the leather trousers go away now please.

Before you start shouting, we're not talking about the John Lennon who was in The Beatles. That John Lennon can have all the accolades he likes; he earned them. No, the John Lennon we're talking about is the one who recorded three albums of experimental (trans: unlistenable) self-indulgence with his wife, then dedicated his life to a series of attention seeking and vacuous publicity stunts, soundtracked by two of the worst songs ever written: Give Peace a Chance (we think you'll find global diplomacy is slightly more complex than that, John) and Imagine, the most execrable, pseudo-philosophical, insincere, plodding gibberish ever pressed to vinyl. And why does no one ever talk about the albums he made between '74 and '75, whilst drunk? Because they're mostly crap, that's why. Just say it. His legacy will remain intact, and his legend would probably be far better served if people were honest enough to admit there were times when the genius that was John Lennon made music that stank like the bottoms in Yoko's ‘arty' film of the same name.

If Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the blues, Eric Clapton must've been forced to use his house as collateral since there's no trace of a soul in his clinical, soporific and vastly over-praised guitar expertise. Other than a few nice tunes in the 60s, with the band Cream, and Derek & the Dominos' evergreen Layla, there's been a very long career of unmemorable, technically proficient, noodling tedium. Even giving him plaudits for introducing Bob Marley to a wider audience (with his cover of I Shot the Sheriff) doesn't make up for 45 years of music that primarily appeals to accountants who dream of owning a motorbike when they retire.

As with John Lennon, we're not casting aspersions on Moz's work with the Smiths; there've been few more immaculately realised bands. Even his first solo album, Viva Hate is a work of true greatness. Morrissey has actually never made a terrible record, but since 1991 he hasn't made a great one either. It's been a long career of ‘alright'. And that too would be perfectly acceptable if it weren't for the fact that Morrissey himself seems to expect, nay demand he be treated as a living legend – thinking it acceptable to ban the eating of meat at any festival he's playing at and pulling a complete hissy fit if anything (or anyone) backstage isn't to his exact specifications. We'll put down the saveloy when you stop employing session musicians to massacre your greatest hits at gigs. Deal?

Bloody Hell !!! Except for the Sabbath bit, that could have been Me having a rant !!!! I agree with 99% of it.

Hang on a minute, " Without their influence on a young Kurt Cobain we may never have had Nirvana, for which we're grateful. " Not me Pal !! So it's Sabbath's fault we had to put up with the whiney little git !!!

We can use this thread like this........your top 5 overrated bands.

1. Nirvana ( the '90s Sex Pistols, all hype and no substance )
2. Coldplay ( How to have a career by rehashing he same boring song over and over and over and over and over and over........)
3. The Beatles ( and yes I know without them there might be no KISS, still hate them though !!)
4. Guns and Roses. (1 album wonders)
5. U2. ( Proof that you can fool all the people............. Oh and Bongo, I'll contribute to the charities that I want to, not what your overblown ego tell's me to !! )

There, that should get some people's teeth gnashing !!

Nirvana
Slipknot
Nickelback
U2
Kiss...

1. Tesla
2. Guns and Roses
3. Great White
4. Poison
5. Ehh, The band Sebastian Bach was originally with . . . definitely them!
5. Nirvana
5. U2
5. Kix
5. Saxon
5. LA Guns
5. LAAZ Rocket
5. The Cure

Frethead wrote:

1. Tesla
2. Guns and Roses
3. Great White
4. Poison
5. Skid Row
5. Nirvana
5. U2
5. Kix
5. Saxon
5. LA Guns
5. LAAZ Rocket
5. The Cure

Fixed that for you Fret...

Pete wrote:

Frethead wrote:

1. Tesla
2. Guns and Roses
3. Great White
4. Poison
5. Skid Row
5. Nirvana
5. U2
5. Kix

Fixed that for you Fret...

Thanks, buddy. I would like to add
5. The Stone Temple Pilots
5. Metallica
5. Mary J. Blige
I also edited a couple of my previous votes out of the list ( "Two steps forward, three steps back" fits very well ,here!)

Interesting list, and while I agree with some of it, I still think (Even for this outspoken writer) he's purposely missed out a few bands... Probably from the fear of massive armies of prepubescent teenagers coming and slinging mud at the front of their house and leaving flaming bags of fudge for him/her. Otherwise he would have surely included a few more... right? Plus rather than hitting The Stone Roses (regarded as innovative) they could have hit some of the lesser innovative bands... Like I'm about to!

British music has currently hit a massive black spot (in my opinion). Every year, thousands of unoriginal and uncreative bands come out blasting their generic indie (See also: copying everyone else for the win) pop rock and somehow believe they're 'better' than everyone else. Sadly, some of them fall through the net and get signed and then we have our fresh new indie album of the year (See also: "Dave, it sounds similar to the indie album of the year 2008, and 2007 and 2006 and........"). My biggest example of this are The Arctic Monkeys. Basically, a generic indie band... They look, act and sound the same as every other indie band, minus the talent (Assuming the other bands have talent to... See also: No entry requirements to get on this bandwagon). They're actually regarded by many as an 'NME band'. A play on the magazine name basically suggesting mainstream poppy indie crap marketed to teens and for idiots willing to limit themselves to a bland genre lacking in versatility. At least The Stone Roses WERE innovative, wrote some good songs and were inspirational to many bands who followed. With a bit of luck, this trend could conceivably change but I doubt it at the moment.

Now that i've let a bit of steam off their, i'll hit a few other bands this writer could have hit:

U2 (See also: hypocrite):
When I think of U2, I kind of imagine four blokes walking out of the pub absolutely wasted thinking it would be a good idea to start a band. I then imagine another bloke walking out of the same pub a year later, also wasted, hearing them and thinking it would be a good idea to sign them to his record label. When you think about it, U2 are all incredible inventors. They found the perfect formula after a bad run of albums... Lyrics about saving the world + Really pisshead easy guitar riffs (for all the muppets and jocks who fancy covering it) + Nice simple bass line + Nice simple drum riff = MONEY!!!!!!!!! FAME!!!!!!!!!!!!! U2 HAVE REINVENTED THEMSELVES, AGAIN, FOR THE FOURTH TIME!!!!!!!!111ONEONEONE YAAAAAY!.

Oh wait, this time their reinvention is different, because, well, they're erm, they're saying they want to save Burma and last time, it was about saving Africa... Hooray for Bono!

Dragonfarce/Studioforce (See also: learn guitar in 10 easy steps):
Another flavor from my side of the world. I've never been a big fan of Power metal, but these guys are just unbelievably bad. Guitar solos recorded with punch-in recording techniques and clever studio effects make them almost impossible to reproduce live (See also: how to sneak your mp3 player into a concert). Of course, thanks to Guitar Hero kids all around the world think 'Herman Ree' is 'cool'.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4ale1_dragonforce-through-the-fire-and-fl_music
If anyone can actually watch that video all the way through without either laughing or closing it next time you're down in Stoke, i'll buy you a pint and ask you how you were able to take two really average guitarists performing badly and how you can stand that tone deaf muppet on vocals.

Muse (See also: impressing kids using effects and not actually playing guitar):
I'm big on slagging off British bands aren't I? This is another 'NME band'. Once again, boring, generic, indie pop rock written for teenagers. Of course, this band though have something else... They have a guitarist who basically copies other guitarists and claims it as his own! BINGO! You know what, I might start an indie rock band start tapping and in my first interview say "I DIDN'T steal this off Eddie Van Halen. Honest". See, this guy heard a few other guitarists use pitch shifters and echos etc and fancied a bit of that for himself so he threw it in his rig and claimed it as his own. Of course, the idiots who listen to it are like dogs to a bone, so they'll believe anything he says. Not only that, many of them are deluded enough to believe he is the greatest guitarist ever (See also: Total Guitar magazine = failure, Kerrang magazine = epic indie/emo failure). Another British fuck up there!

At this point having slagged off a lot of newer bands, I should maybe hit out at a few older ones, although its hard because there are few bands from the 80s that disgust me as much as some of the more recent bands. But i'll hit out at a 90s band who i've been meaning to get off my chest for a while..................

..........

Oasis (See also: 5 Minute Tutorial how to copy the Beatles):
Its funny that The Stone Roses were attacked for copying the apparent musical revolution that was taking place in Manchester, especially after they are cited as one of the innovators of it. Oasis... are exactly what Stone Roses were touted by this writer. They basically hopped on the bandwagon at just the right time and were lucky in having a decent set of songwriters in the Gallagher brothers. Other than that, they're just generic of 90s pop rock. There were plenty of pop rock bands out there in the 90s with cracking musicians and great songs (Check out The Seahorses - Love is The Law for example of one of the best guitar riffs i've ever heard, the Jules Holland performance on youtube is pretty impressive), but Oasis were able to just pinch it at the right time. Sadly, they've earned themselves a status as being one of the greatest bands of all time. Noel Gallagher is often regarded as a fantastic guitarist, when really, his stuff is simple to play and is pretty uninspiring (See also: Strumming like The Beatles) to most who've heard something better.

What i'll say is this, the lead guitarist out of the Stone Roses who is a technically proficient player blows away Noel Gallagher... a mickey mouse musician, who himself and his average rock band, be on that list.

Done!

Fab jab job, Skezza!!! Keep it coming, buddy!!!

Skezza----Nice to see you buddy welcome back!!!!We've missed you!

Thanks Chrissy & Frethead. Sorry that the first post on my return was so skeptical and aggressive, but I felt it was necessary to return and when I saw this topic i had to post!!

Chrissy wrote:

Skezza----Nice to see you buddy welcome back!!!!We've missed you!

Nice to see you Skeeze and I wish you weren't done with that post I loved reading the whole thing. LMAO!! Ooh surely you could find some more bands to report to us. I was wondering where you've been and if you were done with School. Please come back more often. Marty

Muse are FUCKING SHIT. So nice one Skezza for reminding us of this fact!


Dragonforce just make me laugh out loud.

Hey Marty,
Uni is finished for the moment, but i'm back in a month or so. Its definitely been a welcome and relaxing break with plenty of nights out

Pete you're on the money mate. Thats why i posted that link with the offer of a free pint, its almost an impossible bet for whoever is watching it.

Skezza wrote:

Hey Marty,
Uni is finished for the moment, but i'm back in a month or so. Its definitely been a welcome and relaxing break with plenty of nights out

Pete you're on the money mate. Thats why i posted that link with the offer of a free pint, its almost an impossible bet for whoever is watching it.

Thing about Dragonforce is people say 80's metal was shite and ruined metal which is why Grunge came along but to me Dragonforce are a million times worse than hair metal and make metal fans look like idiots.

If people think Muse are the saviours of British rock then...GOD HELP US ALL!

Haha, precisely Muse are just generic bollocks, but they're one of those bands that gets over hyped by NME and all the idiots who cant think for themselves jump on the bandwagon. Their songs are average, but people like it because their mate likes it.

Dragonforce are 10x worse than the worst hair metal bands. They make Nitro sound good. But to be fair, at least michael angelo can play the solos. Dragonforce are two guitarists who cant play what they record, a tone deaf fucker on vocals and two other blokes who nobodies ever heard of.

Skezza wrote:

Haha, precisely Muse are just generic bollocks, but they're one of those bands that gets over hyped by NME and all the idiots who cant think for themselves jump on the bandwagon. Their songs are average, but people like it because their mate likes it.

Dragonforce are 10x worse than the worst hair metal bands. They make Nitro sound good. But to be fair, at least michael angelo can play the solos. Dragonforce are two guitarists who cant play what they record, a tone deaf fucker on vocals and two other blokes who nobodies ever heard of.

That's the best description of Dragonforce ever!

Dragonforce?!! I am laughing out loud!

It is funny actually, I somewhat respect Jim vocally. He clearly knew what he was doing and presently knows what he's doing. Maybe Nitro were a bad example of a shit glam metal band, but tbh, i could go through a list of them. I know Motley Crue have been hit in a few lists above, but I'd take Dr Feelgood over a lot of other bands from that period and on that note i feel its okay to let them get away with it