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Overrated Bands/Singers

Tengri

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Lately, Ed Sheeran and Kesha (who?). My chronic cynicism must be catching up with me, I can't figure out their appeal to this generation.

Older acts: Morrissey, REM, Hall and Oates (I like them), just Jim Morrison by himself, Talking Heads, Kanye West, Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana, The White Stripes, Bob Dylan, Imagine Dragons and Nickleback right at the bottom.
 

Stigmata

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Lately, Ed Sheeran and Kesha (who?). My chronic cynicism must be catching up with me, I can't figure out their appeal to this generation.

I kind of want to piggyback off this.

I wouldn't necessarily call him overrated, merely the product of recognizing one's core demographic and then using excellent marketing to target said demographic. The dude can sing, but let's face it: He appeals to a specific non-teenybopper female demographic, pretty much serenading them with all the tales of love and relationship dynamics that years of romantic comedies convinced them existed, yet never quite panned out in actuality. Doesn't help they also play the absolute shit out of all of his songs.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Lately, Ed Sheeran and Kesha (who?). My chronic cynicism must be catching up with me, I can't figure out their appeal to this generation.

Older acts: Morrissey, REM, Hall and Oates (I like them), just Jim Morrison by himself, Talking Heads, Kanye West, Rage Against the Machine, Nirvana, The White Stripes, Bob Dylan, Imagine Dragons and Nickleback right at the bottom.

Found the hipster! :)

I'm surprised you didn't put the Beatles in there. Hipsters love to trash the Beatles; it's their idea of a "hot take".

Morrisey and Imagine Dragons can die in a fire, others I'm indifferent to, but it boggles my mind how anyone, conceiving the context in which they existed, can call Nirvana, the White Stripes, or Dylan overrated. Nirvana and especially Dylan literally changed music; it requires denying the massive influence they had. And the White Stripes was so much better than everything else that was popular in that time period marking Bush's first term. Let's look at what music was like then and the late 90's after grunge had run its course. You had stuff like Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys (way worse than Ed Sheeran) , and then if you wanted something "harder" there was crap like Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, ICP,and Korn. Here comes these two from Detroit who just sound different. It just sounded raw and more "real" compared to everything else at the time. Nobody was doing anything like it at the time. "But they only know three chords!". First off, if you've listened to Jack White's solo work, it's obvious that's not true. Second off, If you actually knew anything about music theory, you'd know that a lot of music is only based around "three chords". I IV V. The "three chords" argument is something people say when they want to act like they know what they are talking, but don't.

If we want to talk about an overrated "classic" band, can I bring up the Sex Pistols? "So what if their music sucked? They had attitude!"
 
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Here’s where I’ll get blasted and that’s fine. Nirvana killed alternative music. With a battle axe. Unintentionally.

The corporations ran with Nirvana’s popularity and almost overnight we had legions of bands that were all carbon copies of one another. Yep I know- here’s the guy complaining about something going mainstream. Going mainstream does lead to over saturation and homogenization of something mainly because the suits have to milk the shit out of it and ultimately warp it into a caricature of itself. Just look at the damage done to all things nerdy at this point.

Let it be said that I don’t dislike Nirvana, but I’d say their impact on music ultimately wasn’t a positive thing. Fortunately rock n’ roll is dead so their impact is completely irrelevant at this point.

I’m a sarcastic bastard by nature so I leave it up to you to figure out what’s what here.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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The entire hip-hop genre.


Bullshit.


In all seriousness, I do like Kanye ( I give him a pass for his politics because of his mental health problems), Kendrick Lamar, Andre 3000, and Childish Gambino.
 

Tengri

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I kind of want to piggyback off this.

I wouldn't necessarily call him overrated, merely the product of recognizing one's core demographic and then using excellent marketing to target said demographic. The dude can sing, but let's face it: He appeals to a specific non-teenybopper female demographic, pretty much serenading them with all the tales of love and relationship dynamics that years of romantic comedies convinced them existed, yet never quite panned out in actuality. Doesn't help they also play the absolute shit out of all of his songs.
That's accurate. "Sheeranfreude?" I found myself grimacing yet tapping my foot to "Shape of You" the other day: annoyed with the dysphoria of admiring his voice, but rolling my eyes at the message and goofy music video. I suppose it's comparable to living through the Pet Shop Boys or later N*sync and Backstreet Boys formulas, whereas now it's from the outside in.

I'm surprised you didn't put the Beatles in there. Hipsters love to trash the Beatles; it's their idea of a "hot take".
Blasphemy.

Morrisey and Imagine Dragons can die in a fire, others I'm indifferent to, but it boggles my mind how anyone, conceiving the context in which they existed, can call Nirvana, the White Stripes, or Dylan overrated. Nirvana and especially Dylan literally changed music; it requires denying the massive influence they had. And the White Stripes was so much better than everything else that was popular in that time period marking Bush's first term. Let's look at what music was like then and the late 90's after grunge had run its course. You had stuff like Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys (way worse than Ed Sheeran) , and then if you wanted something "harder" there was crap like Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, ICP,and Korn. Here comes these two from Detroit who just sound different. It just sounded raw and more "real" compared to everything else at the time. Nobody was doing anything like it at the time. "But they only know three chords!". First off, if you've listened to Jack White's solo work, it's obvious that's not true. Second off, If you actually knew anything about music theory, you'd know that a lot of music is only based around "three chords". I IV V. The "three chords" argument is something people say when they want to act like they know what they are talking, but don't.

I suspected that might ruffle some feathers. I'm not denying Nirvana's influence, quite the opposite: I'm stating they are overhyped because of their popularity, not talent. That and Kurt Cobaine was a counterculture icon, a figurehead so to speak of a target demographic whose stagelife abruptly ended and thus cemented his influence in a generation's collective minds. But compared to similarly-fated Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon, or Randy Rhoads, Cobaine and Nirvana as a whole weren't known for their musicianship, just their raw, emotional energy - like an outlet for the political undertones of that era. Like Zach de la Rocha or RHCP, Cobaine delivered what the producers and audience wanted, not what the artist wanted. My only beef with the White Stripes is that White just reminds me too much of Jimmy Page and that his rock was reworked music from earlier generations with mismatched or annoying vocals. Essentially, White was just the most successful indie act of the 2000s, but only because the genre was working itself out, not because his sound was revolutionary or an exciting new direction. Again, Dylan is a folklorist, a talented lyricist...and a mediocre singer - hardly deserving of a Nobel Prize in Literature. (Reminds me of how tail-end Boomers venerate Neil Young) That's like awarding a wartime president a peace prize - image over substance.
 

Stigmata

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That's accurate. "Sheeranfreude?" I found myself grimacing yet tapping my foot to "Shape of You" the other day: annoyed with the dysphoria of admiring his voice, but rolling my eyes at the message and goofy music video. I suppose it's comparable to living through the Pet Shop Boys or later N*sync and Backstreet Boys formulas, whereas now it's from the outside in.

Precisely. It's basically that same sense of mania, except instead of pre-teen girls he targets their 30-something mothers that actually have control of the household disposable income, enough to buy concert tickets and albums. He sells housewives who have become disenchanted with the monotonous daily life that followed beyond their fairytale wedding, and gives them hope of being whisked away in romance by Samwise Gamgee's younger brother, who just happens to have a pretty good singing voice.

Again, brilliant marketing and recognizing his audience.
 

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Imagine Dragons can die in a fire

For some time, longer than I should be admitting in public, I thought Imagine Dragons was a band that solely made commercial music for ESPN. Like elevator music. But for ESPN NCAA National Championship commercials or Sunday Night Baseball commercials or whatever applicable sporting event required "lighting and the thunder". Either way, I'm not a fan.

I agree with many posts in this thread. But one band rises above the rest for me as far as overplayed, overrated, and speed at which I change that Sirius channel and that's The Eagles.

 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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For some time, longer than I should be admitting in public, I thought Imagine Dragons was a band that solely made commercial music for ESPN. Like elevator music. But for ESPN NCAA National Championship commercials or Sunday Night Baseball commercials or whatever applicable sporting event required "lighting and the thunder". Either way, I'm not a fan.

It's music that's tailor-made for commercials for light beer, or pretty much anything that advertises during sporting events. I guess it's the go-to option when you want some kind of faux-blue collar sound but don't want to sound like modern country music.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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That's accurate. "Sheeranfreude?" I found myself grimacing yet tapping my foot to "Shape of You" the other day: annoyed with the dysphoria of admiring his voice, but rolling my eyes at the message and goofy music video. I suppose it's comparable to living through the Pet Shop Boys or later N*sync and Backstreet Boys formulas, whereas now it's from the outside in.


Blasphemy.



I suspected that might ruffle some feathers. I'm not denying Nirvana's influence, quite the opposite: I'm stating they are overhyped because of their popularity, not talent. That and Kurt Cobaine was a counterculture icon, a figurehead so to speak of a target demographic whose stagelife abruptly ended and thus cemented his influence in a generation's collective minds. But compared to similarly-fated Jimi Hendrix, Keith Moon, or Randy Rhoads, Cobaine and Nirvana as a whole weren't known for their musicianship, just their raw, emotional energy - like an outlet for the political undertones of that era. Like Zach de la Rocha or RHCP, Cobaine delivered what the producers and audience wanted, not what the artist wanted. My only beef with the White Stripes is that White just reminds me too much of Jimmy Page and that his rock was reworked music from earlier generations with mismatched or annoying vocals. Essentially, White was just the most successful indie act of the 2000s, but only because the genre was working itself out, not because his sound was revolutionary or an exciting new direction. Again, Dylan is a folklorist, a talented lyricist...and a mediocre singer - hardly deserving of a Nobel Prize in Literature. (Reminds me of how tail-end Boomers venerate Neil Young) That's like awarding a wartime president a peace prize - image over substance.


I guess my thing is that you don't have to necessarily like Nirvana or Dylan (I mean you either like the fact that his voice is unpolished or you don't) , but calling them overrated seems to imply, to me, that you're denying the influence they had, which is just denying music history.

Well, at least when Jack White covered old blues songs, he gave them credit. And I'd argue that Dylan's Nobel prize makes more sense than Obama's... certainly he's had more of a legacy. If any musician deserves a Nobel prize for literature, it's probably him. He influenced so many people that came after him, and I think for the better. Have you heard what music was like in the early 60's, pre-Dylan, pre-Beatles?
 

Tengri

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I guess my thing is that you don't have to necessarily like Nirvana or Dylan (I mean you either like the fact that his voice is unpolished or you don't) , but calling them overrated seems to imply, to me, that you're denying the influence they had, which is just denying music history.

Well, at least when Jack White covered old blues songs, he gave them credit. And I'd argue that Dylan's Nobel prize makes more sense than Obama's... certainly he's had more of a legacy. If any musician deserves a Nobel prize for literature, it's probably him. He influenced so many people that came after him, and I think for the better. Have you heard what music was like in the early 60's, pre-Dylan, pre-Beatles?
That's a fair point. I acknowledge Nirvana and Dylan's cultural significance, the distinction I'm trying to make is whether their popularity is equal to their musical talent. Or put another way, just because something is popular, overhyped, or at worst over-consumed, doesn't make its worth greater than less resounding or make insignificant bands or artists that are expressing themselves creatively. In a certain sense, Dylan's political lyrics or Cobaine's charisma or Cash's cultural commentary are American folkways, something inherent displaced by modern society and redirected into an industry, nonetheless important, but still made entertainment. My point is that mass emotional appeal is important, but musicality, creativity, and talent should instead be celebrated. Compare the cultural import of Ray Charles or Prince or Jackson to black culture versus Morrissey to Mexican Americans versus Crosby or Elvis or The Beatles to past mainstream radio culture and you will find a spectrum of not only musical eras, but varying styles of expression, musicality, influence, personality that speak to people of different backgrounds. Dylan is not Yeats or a Shaw or Hesse or Falkner, though he sang through turbulent political times and voiced what millions of people could not. The controversy over Dylan accepting the prize is more indicative of our current culture than his talent, while his lyrics resound like Grapes of Wrath to many generations for their emotional undertones and persistence. In retrospect, Dylan was more of a modern bard or folk poet and certainly overrated as a musician.
 

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Imagine Dragons
Justin Bieber
Whitney Houston
Billie Eilish (I actually like her music but the hype she gets is a little nuts - she's not really doing something exactly spectacular.)

I refuse to put Taylor Swift's name here I have too many tee shirts to do so, but sometimes she releases singles so bad I know she sells them off the hype. Coming from someone with every dang CD and thought 1989 was actually pretty subpar lyrically XD

Panic! At the Disco

just grabbing some mod ones. But IMAGINE FUCKING DRAGONS. If I hear Thunder one more god forsaken time... I'm breaking my car radio.

then I'll be singing that Twenty One Pilots song :newwink:
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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A guy named Elvis.


Wasn't he in the army by the turn of the decade? I almost visited Graceland in November, but they wanted too much money. Beale Street was cool, though; loved all the blues.
 

Jaguar

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Wasn't he in the army by the turn of the decade? I almost visited Graceland in November, but they wanted too much money. Beale Street was cool, though; loved all the blues.

Yes, and that song was released in the early 60's. I was never a big Elvis fan but I do like a couple of his songs. As far as influence, Elvis was huge and that would lead far into the future.
 

Julius_Van_Der_Beak

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Yes, and that song was released in the early 60's. I was never a big Elvis fan but I do like a couple of his songs. As far as influence, Elvis was huge and that would lead far into the future.

I've never been too into him, but he did some songs I liked, and certainly his influence also has to be acknowledged.
 
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