Most overrated musician?

[tuvor]

Hey, gang, jobycom's got his knickers in a twist ;) over my suggestion in his is-God-overrated thread that Sarah McLachlan's overrated.

So for his benefit, I'm wondering which musician/s you think is overrated. Let's not go by album sales. That'd be about 90% of the list, and way too easy. So no Ashlee Simpsons or Backstreet Boys or whatever. Let's stick to critical acclaim, if that's even possible.

Here's the first five that come to mind:

1.Sarah McLachlan: She stole Sinead O'Connor's yodel and sings way too much about "yearning" and "comfort")

2. The Beatles: If it weren't for the sheer numbers of baby boomers, they wouldn't have been nearly as popular. Besides a band that great couldn't crank out an "Oh Bla Di" if they tried!

3. Bob Dylan: Enunciate, damn it! It doesn't matter how good your words are if we can't understand them!

4. Alanis Morissette: I seem to have a problem with some of my fellow Canadians this evening.

5. Barenaked Ladies: See?

Your suggestions?

[kid a]

1. wayne newton

[GOPNotForMe]

2. While I still like him, Bob Dylan's mine as well

[libbygurl]

3. Oh, boy, I'm almost in diametric opposition, since I love a lot of your

compatriot musicians-MacLachlan, Morissette, among others.

Overrated = just not your type?

[peekaloo]

4. Eric Clapton.

both as a guitarist and as a god.

}(

[Rev_Karl]

14. Agreed, Clapton is boring

No soul, no edge, nearly mechanical. Hey did you hear there's a Cream reunion in the works? Who cares?

[donheld]

30. Eric is probably a slacker as god

But as a guitarist he's marvelous.

[edbermac]

5. The Beatles and Bob Dylan are overrated?!? Man, get serious here...

[tuvor]

12. Baby boomer favorites are automatically overrated

simply because there's a disproportionate number of fans compared to, say, musicians that were popular in the early 80s.

Just a theory. An evil, evil theory.

[nytemare]

25. I do have to say

as interesting as Dylan's writing was, his voice was just too irritating to overcome the writing. I just kept wishing he would use some afrin or remove the clothespin from his nose.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. John Tesh, Michael Bolton.

And that idiot with the long hair that plays the soprano sax.

[Bridget Burke]

57. Kenny G?

Is this the Holy Trinity of Musical Suckiness?

[Lautremont]

7. Yngwe J. Malmsteen

I actually don't know if he's overrated or not. I just wanted to type his name.

But as for your question, and in particular w/r/t the Barenaked Lardies, I think there's a difference between being overrated and simply popular out of all proportion to one's talent. Which they are as opposed to being overrated, because I don't think anyone really rates them too highly. But in spirit you and I certainly agree.

Though at least their politics are sound.

[coloradodem2005]

8. Don't diss the beatles.

They wrote some of the best music ever recorded.

[tuvor]

17. If you're not supposed to dis 'em

then they HAVE to be overrated. No one's that good!

[ProfessorGAC]

55. Boy, That's A Convenient Definition

Nobody is great enough that they shouldn't be dissed! Interestingly convenient. Circular logic for which there can be no debate.
The Professor

[Sufi Marmot]

9. Jim Morrison/The Doors n/t

[GingerSnaps]

10. Bono

:shrug:

[Ctrl_Alt_Del]

53. My dream cage-match

Bono vs. Henry Rollins.

Give Rollins a chainsaw, just for fun. :evilgrin:

[WindRavenX]

60. DIE

Bono is GOD!!!

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

11. Anyone who died in the early 70's........

.....all held up to be bigger and greater geniuses than they really were.......

[laheina]

18. There's a huge hole in my music timeline

where the 70s used to be. :)

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

23. See, I actually like the 70's stuff.......

Steely Dan, Rush, Cheap Trick, Todd Rundgren, Supertramp, etc.....but those guys didn't die and therefore had to go through the playing at state fairgrounds in Iowa phase in the 80's......

Morrisson, Hendrix, Joplin never had to worry about that.....

[laheina]

40. Maybe I can't appreciate it properly

Cause I want born until the latter half of that decade :(

I didn't really become musically aware until Mtv went on the air. That prolly says too much about my musical taste (or lack thereof.) ;)

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

45. I actually wasn't born until '75

But for some ungodly reason I have this classic rock fetish, even when I grew up watching Duran Duran!

[laheina]

50. In my teenage years

I "discovered" Joplin and Carly Simon, but I was also living in Key West. It's a little throwback there. However, I was never big on the 70s, especially the disco -- yuck!

[Wickerman]

13. Sting

The Police were fine. Bits and pieces of his solo career have been tasty, but he is approaching Zsa Zsa Gaborness - he's famous for being famous.

LB nows goes to bed, but dons flamesuit for the inevitable long distancescorching...

[tuvor]

21. Good answer.

IIRC, I thought I'd read somewhere that he wasn't particularly passionate about the style of music he made with the Police, that it was really just a means of getting to where he's at now.

At least I think that's what I read.

Too bad, I really liked the Police's first few albums.

[amber dog democrat]

15. Emerson Lake and Palmer

and if you dont know who they are... so much the better.

[Mojambo]

16. Led Zeppelin

I feel flames coming, but I have to say that I never found them especially good.

[PittPoliSci]

35. i'll support you on that one!

:-)

[BlueCaliDem]

19. Rod Stewart. Can't Stand that Voice of his. Never have. N/T

[donheld]

28. I totally agree

Rod is waaaaaaaaaay overrated

[laheina]

20. Barenaked Ladies?

Are you bitter because Canadian radio forced them down your throat?

[tuvor]

26. Not quite. Much, much worse.

I worked at HMV when their independent 6-song cassette was being distributed across Canada. (An ugly little homemade yellow Xeroxed thing it was, too.)

I had to listen to If I had a Million Dollars and Be My Yoko Ono literally hundreds of times in a short period. Unless you know the horrors of being beaten about the eardrums with so much self-aware "cleverness", you cannot judge. They were novelty songs, for crying out loud!

Plus, the main singer's really nasaly.

Oh, and welcome to DU!

:hi:

[laheina]

39. Thank you! I'm very happy to be here. :)

[xpunkisneatx]

47. Ack! I love BNL! n/t

[progmom]

22. Me.

Just who the hell do I think I am?

:shrug:

[RubyCat]

24. Ted Nugent and Toby Keith

[Berserker]

32. Led Zepplin and the Beatles???????????

How old are you? How can anyone that loves music possible say they are overated? But here's mine......Hooty can blow me.

[donheld]

27. Bob Dylan has never claimed or been given accolades as a great musician

he's a great poet but far from a good singer and only so so as a guitarist.

[x-g.o.p.er]

29. Rolling Stones.

Solid music, but they've hung on far too long and become almost a caricature.

[Groggy]

61. I have to agree

The Rolling Stones! There I've said it! LOL

Don't get em..maybe they were a bit before my time!

[mitchum]

31. Brian Wilson

flame away

[PittPoliSci]

33. quite a list:

1. Jimi Hendrix. When I hear people call him the best guitar player of all time, I automatically know that they've never played guitar.

2. Eric Clapton. For the exact same reason

3. Dave Matthews. Yes, we know he's incredibly talented, but that doesn't give him the right to make music that sucks.

4. Bono. U2 is lame, get over it.

5. Led Zeppelin. The only music more repetitious and boring than them is...

6. the Grateful Dead. Jerry's dead, move on, he was never that influential or great.

[PSUDem]

46. Led Zeppelin Repititous

and Boring?!!! The last the thing there music is was repititious. Each song was definitely different and unique. Who the hell do you listen to? And many GREAT guitarists think that Hendrix and Clapton are two of the greatest.

Wow. Thats all I can say

[PittPoliSci]

58. since you asked...

I don't know, Zeppelin just don't do it for me, I stand by the boring and repitious because every song followed a general formula.

I listen to Dream Theater and progressive metal. John Petrucci is probably my favorite guitarist, and probably the best living guitar player in the world.

i should've expected this from a PSU fan, just kidding! :-)

[DelawareValleyDem]

56. Hendrix and Zep definitely

you're reading my mind.

[BlueJazz]

34. Carlos Santana

I've had the Good Luck to be able to play with some Monster Guitar Players and although I don't play Guitar (Play Sax and Piano) I can truly state that I've never talk to a Good Guitar Player that thought Santana was worth a damn. When asked, they usually say something like "Well, He does what he does" or "His Solos leave a lot to be desired"

[warrens]

36. well, of the millions, lately...

Radiohead and Interpol. They both suck. I just saw the Secret Machines blow Interpol off the stage. Who likes these guys?

But overall, because so many of my friends adore him, I have to say Robert Fripp. I have never heard ANYTHING by him I liked except the first King Crimson album. And that wasn't all that great.

I won't even comment on the easy ones, like U2 and Sting and that shit.

[mitchum]

54. Fripp is always much better when he's picking up a check from...

someone else- Eno, Bowie, Blondie, etc...
I also don't care for much of his "Fripp as mastermind" work

[jobycom]

37. I don't agree with your list. Steelye Dan and James Taylor

would be my two picks.

I can go a little bit with Alanis Morissette.

The Beatles, though, while being before my time and not really a group I like to listen to, are not overrated. Musically, they were not the best, but their innovative style and fearless creativity shaped the early rock era, even if some of their imitators turned out to be more talented than them. They, like many innovators, don't sound very good now because everyone who came after them imitated and perfected their style, so now they sound average. But they invented what they did.

[tuvor]

49. Let me put it another way.

My opinion really has nothing to do with how good they may have been or how influential, or anything like that. People overrate artists, and the artists have little control over that. The huge number of baby boomers versus, say "generation X" guarantees the Beatles a bigger contingent of fans than if they'd arrived 20 years later.

All other things being equal, if the Beatles came out in the 80s, they might be duking it out with, say, Split Enz or Squeeze instead of the Rolling Stones.

They owe their place in history and their influence to timing as much as to talent.

Not really sure if I'm making good sense, but it's not a slag against the Beatles.

[donheld]

38. Sarah McLachlan, The Beatles, Alanis Morissette, Barenaked Ladies

None of these are overrated at all. Sarah has one of the best voices alive. The Beatles over a period of just 8 years produced some of the worlds best music ever. Alanis if she never put out one of the best masterpieces of all in "Jagged Little Pill." Barenaked Ladies just put out a boat load of fun music.

[Ctrl_Alt_Del]

41. Alanis

"Muchly" isn't a word (is it????).

An over-abundance of spoons isn't even remotely ironic.

And if you respect the relationship Matthew's in right now, why the fuck are you inviting him to come visit you in California?

Pretentious wench.

[MaineYooper]

44. relentless navel-gazing

ROFL the first time I read that description of her music. So appropriate.

Not bad in small doses, but definitely over-rated.

[Ctrl_Alt_Del]

52. What an apt description

Oddly enough, I do own all of her stuff. She has an uncanny knack for simultaneously entertaining and irritating the hell out of me.

I just wish she'd put away the thesarus while she's writing her lyrics.

[BlueJazz]

42. I'd like to point out something here. (As I have before)

Liking somebody or enjoying their playing isn't always synonymous with Great Talent. I mean, I like a lot of Musicians and their songs but quite frankly, they are not Masters of their instrument or voice...on the other hand I know of Great Musicians that I just don't care for.

Examples: Fats Domino is a very so-so singer and player but I enjoy his stuff.

Sonny Rollins is one of the all time Great Sax-Men but I can't STAND to hear him play....Give me Coltrane or Paul Desmond any day....

[crimson333]

43. pink floyd

pretty much suck and are boring

and the Doors

[BlueJazz]

48. Interesting that you say that about the doors.

On several of their albums the sound quality (Engineering) could best be discribed as "Sucks the big one". Their albums usually sounded like they were recorded on a $79.97 K-Mart recorder.

In short..some of the worst engineering and mixing I've ever heard. I mean, I've got a very expensive sound system and they STILL sound like shit!

[xpunkisneatx]

51. Hmm...lets see, i have a couple here...

Since I am only 21, i find most musicians from the 60's and 70's highly overrated simply because they are always shoved down my throat in my biweekly Rolling Stone. So here is a list of musicians from the 80's, 90's and today who are highly overrated in my opinion:

1) The Strokes - um. yuck. Trying to sound like you suck really doesnt do much for me...
2) Prince - never liked him, never will
3) U2 - Bono can kiss my ass
4) Interpol - can you say weird?


Now...bands who are not highly overrated that should be listened to by more people...
1) Jonah Matranga - only the best musician in the whole world
2) Jimmy Eat World - their newest cd is incredible
3) Green Day - they introduced me to the world of punk rock when i was 11 - and opened doors for me to listen to the old stuff - and I have never looked back
4) Nirvana - they were so influential in my life and their music spoke to millions.

[porkrind]

59. Billy Joel

'nuff said. :puke: