Most over-rated/disappointing bands or under-rated bands/artists.

[beely]

10 hours ago, cetera said:

Overrated: Coldplay, U2, Snow Patrol, Elbow, Billie Eilish, Stormzy and droning whinge rock or grime/rap 'artists'....

Underrated: Lake, Kayak, Lucifer's Friend, Corduroy, Kip Winger, Charlie, City Boy and many more you've never heard of.....

I saw City Boy open for the Sutherland Brothers in Dundee Caird Hall in the 70's. Utterly fantastic band.

[lemonstar]

12 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Not sure if you could say Kraftwerk are over-rated; after all they're responsible (directly and indirectly) for a number of musical genres - not something you can say about many  individual bands! And they could have churned out tons of Kraftwerk-by-numbers songs but I think I respect them more for not doing that! And live (if you can say that!) they're about the best band I ever saw... Still, each to their own!

Still, if it's going to be a list of bands you don't like - possibly just because you don't like 'em or possibly because everybody goes on about them to such an extent that you're sick of them - I'd say over-rated:

Beatles. Fleetwood Mac. 😁

And to continue the list with bands you do like, but they haven't managed world domination - Under-rated:

Monochrome Set

Stump - though I can understand their lack of mass appeal!

 

 

12 hours ago, bassace said:

Here we go again. Is anyone bothered?

By way of clarifying my thinking on this - firstly I didn't class Kraftwerk as over-rated - I put them in the "disappointed" category precisely because I AM a fan - seen them 3 times live, read the biogs, bought all the spin off band/solo albums etc. When I like a band I look forward to new albums/releases and really don't mind them going off piste or taking risks as a means to try and grow even if it is not to my taste - I just think their body of work is a bit thin - basically I'm disappointed because I feel they didn't fulfil their potential - I don't think they made enough good albums - it is tragic reading what was going on behind the scenes - so many disagreements and problems with producers leading up to the issue of Electric Cafe and The Mix albums.

I think it's OK to neg a band so long as you try and give some reasons.

On the under-rated part of this - I'm eternally grateful to other people who suggested bands they were passionate about that I'd never heard of - e.g. Nada Surf, Jellyfish, Popol Vuh, Steven Wilson, Courtney Barnet, Palehound, The Wondermints - and a ton of others that I might not have come across for a long time, if ever.

[TheGreek]

Here's one that I'd forgotten to mention...

Under-rated: Everything but the girl

Tracey Thorn has one of the most recognisable voices in the musical industry. George Michael was a huge fan. She has guested with loads of bands including being the voice on Massive Attacks two biggest hits "Protection" and "Better things". Her version of "Over the rainbow" is held in esteem by many.

 

11 studio albums over 20 some years each with it's own personality yet that distinctive EBTG flavour.

IMO the most Underestimated band ever.

[Andy_L]

2 hours ago, adamg67 said:

Primal Scream have had highs and lows, but I would rate Screamadelica and Vanishing Point very highly. I didn't know they were all that highly rated though? Thinking back, maybe I missed the hype when Screamdelica came out though, I only really got into them in the mid-late 90s. 

Yes, I was thinking particularly about the hype that Screamadelica attracted. Great album but not remotely the work of genius it's often portrayed as imho. 

[spectoremg]

Overrated doesn't even get near for this one:

Kate Bush. 

[Steve Browning]

9 hours ago, spectoremg said:

Overrated doesn't even get near for this one:

Kate Bush. 

How dare you. I may have to offer violence over that. 🙂

[Steve Browning]

Mind you. I am in almost bound to be in a minority of one when I say that the Rolling Stones are my choice for that accolade. 

 

[spectoremg]

1 minute ago, Steve Browning said:

How dare you. I may have to offer violence over that. 🙂

Choose your weapon sir!

[Barking Spiders]

13 hours ago, TheGreek said:

I would agree that his pre abstinence era contributions were very influential, however following Scary Monsters he ceased to be a musical inspiration. Sad that his best work might be attributed to his substance misuse.

See my earlier post...

For sure. By a zillion miles his best album (IMO) is Station to Station, made while he was seriously caning Charlie

As well as Transglobal Underground there are/were also several other  'world fusion' acts that were way to inventive and different for the mainstream; Loop Guru, Banco da Gaia, Afro Celt Sound System, Astralasia, Suns of Arqa...

Edited May 1, 2020 by Barking Spiders

[Leonard Smalls]

4 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

Station to Station, made while he was seriously caning Charlie

I suspect that:

a) it wasn't the Charlie that made the album

b) if all music made while under the influence of, erm, a Groove (*) was destroyed there wouldn't be much left!

 

 

* gratuitous PFunk reference! 😎

[Lozz196]

I’d say Hanoi Rocks were very under-rated.

[BigRedX]

15 hours ago, FinnDave said:

I have a very clear recollection of Hammy (Furniture's drummer) calling me at work one time for a chat and he asked what I thought of their latest single, which I hadn't heard. As luck would have it, it came on the radio while we were talking, so I was able to praise the appropriate bits. Lovely chap, Hammy, and an incredible drummer.

I saw them live on the Food Sex & Paranoia tour. Unless I am mistaken he played everything using brushes which gave them a very different drum sound. The guitar sound is also rather unique (I have a guitarist friend who says he would really like the band except he can't get past the guitar sound).

[Bilbo]

Over-rated: almost everybody but special mention goes for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Snarky Puppy, Van Morrison, Jacob Collier, Modern Jazz Quartet, Rappers (all of them).

Underrated: Me. Massively

[martthebass]

On ‎29‎/‎04‎/‎2020 at 19:52, Mykesbass said:

OK, just for fun, overrated in my book has to be Bryan Adams. A 27th rate Bruce Springsteen, and yet everyone loves THAT song.

Underrated - an amazing band who had a fabulous hit in the 80s but also have a great body of work that nobody else except @BigRedX have heard of, Furniture.

 

Saw them in Worksop Town theatre of all places when this single was in the charts.  They were pretty good, bass player was pretty accomplished as I recall.

Edited May 1, 2020 by martthebass

[adamg67]

50 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

For sure. By a zillion miles his best album (IMO) is Station to Station, made while he was seriously caning Charlie

As well as Transglobal Underground there are/were also several other  'world fusion' acts that were way to inventive and different for the mainstream; Loop Guru, Banco da Gaia, Afro Celt Sound System, Astralasia, Suns of Arqa...

I've still got a thing for Scary Monsters, maybe because Ashes to Ashes was my first "proper" single purchase.

Manu Chau circa Proxima Estacion - Esperanza would be on "too interesting to be mainstream" world fusion list for me as well.

[NancyJohnson]

23 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Overrated: Iggy Pop, Genesis, Pink Floyd.

Underrated: Scarce (reminds me of Pixies with female bassist) and Fortune Drive.

 

 

Forking hell.  Fortune Drive gave me goosepimples.  That is sooooo good.  (Reaches for Spotify)

[PaulWarning]

On 29/04/2020 at 19:29, lemonstar said:

OK one half of the premise for this thread sounds like a local radio invitation to a heated debate - the other half might make some of us curious about what we've been missing.

I'll keep it to one of each and come back for another bite of the cherry later on perhaps.

Kraftwerk - I'll file under disappointing. WTH were the doing in their Kling Klang studios for years!? They produced so few albums and only a few of them are really that great imho. I'm reading "I Was A Robot" Wolfgang Flur's memoir - the world of Kraftwerk is as strange as you might like to imagine but some of Flur's accounts of sexual exploits are hard to believe tbh - anyway - with all the big issues they could have addressed in a concept album e.g. global warming - they could have left a lot more music to know them by.

Under-rated - not sure how well known or otherwise the Australian band Smudge are in general - Tom Morgan is the key member - songwriter/singer - they are a late 80's/early 90's grungy/indie band - Tom co-wrote a lot of songs with Evan Dando of the Lemonheads which helped the sweet singing poster boy up the ladder to global success. Dando is a great talent but a normal faulty individual like the rest of us but Tom Morgan is a great lyric writer imho. Some well known Lemonheads songs are actually Smudge songs or ones co-written - e.g. Outdoor Type, Down About It, Tenderfoot, Divan, No Backbone, baby's Home...
Here's a link to a collection of Smudge songs.
Album recommendation: Manilow

 

just read right through this thread and the first post is the one I agree with most, Tom Morgan, brilliant songwriter, apparently simple songs that hit the spot, for me anyway.

Overrated? tough one, I suppose it's artists you just don't understand why they're so popular, Queen, Bowie when he stopped collabarating with Mick Ronson are two that spring to mind

 

[NickD]

I'm going to skip the overrated bit, cos the subjectivity involved tends towards meanness. There's shedloads of stuff I don't like or don't get, some obviously decent, some obviously crap.

Underrated - 

I'll never understand why the Wildhearts aren't bigger than they are. Album after album of great tunes, and a phenomenal live act at their best.

Ditto Jellyfish. Spilt milk is a work of art, it should have been everywhere at the time, but it was largely ignored. As soon as spring comes around I'm drawn to listening to it, and it's as perfect now to me as it was on first listening.

Trouble. The end of the 80s was a pretty stale time for the more traditional rock/metal scene IMO, and I bought the 1990 self titled album on spec, knowing nothing about it other than from the band shot on the front it might be my thing.... It was that day I discovered that it was possible to shoehorn groove into those kind of songs. 30 Years later and its still a favourite. I bought Soundgarden's Louder than Love and Alice in Chains' Facelift around the same time, and though more rooted in the past it still stood proudly alongside them for me.

 

[Belka]

The two biggest overrated offenders for me would have to be Pearl Jam and to a lesser extent the Foo Fighters. This is not simply because I don't like them; there are a few bands/artists who, while I personally do not enjoy their music (The Spice Girls, The Pogues, Free, Soundgarden, The Mavericks and Nickelback to name an eclectic few), I can at least appreciate why others would enjoy them. It's also not a genre thing, I happen to think Nirvana were brilliant writers and I like lots of alternative rock. But they're just so boring. The melodies, harmonies and dynamics are not necessarily bad, they're just complete cardboard. Utterly dull. The fog-grey 2005 Ford Mondeo of music. Serious music for people who don't really like music. 

In terms of underrated, rather than going for obscure acts whose lack of success eludes me, I would rather mention popular writer who are often dismissed as lightweight. Abba, Gary Barlow, Nick Kershaw, all are extremely skilled writers who craft great music. Take That's Everything Changes has more melodic and harmonic interest than Pearl Jam's entire back catalogue. 

I'm not the only one who seems to think so:

https://www.laweekly.com/pearl-jam-are-the-most-boring-band-in-20-years/

[Mykesbass]

26 minutes ago, Belka said:

Nick Kershaw,

Now that is a good call, although I have seen some love from others on here for his excellent later material (check out the album Frank).

[Japhet]

They weren't around for long but this band should have been massive in my opinion. Audley Freed is a monster guitarist.

 

[spectoremg]

50 minutes ago, Belka said:

The two biggest overrated offenders for me would have to be Pearl Jam and to a lesser extent the Foo Fighters. This is not simply because I don't like them; there are a few bands/artists who, while I personally do not enjoy their music (The Spice Girls, The Pogues, Free, Soundgarden, The Mavericks and Nickelback to name an eclectic few), I can at least appreciate why others would enjoy them. It's also not a genre thing, I happen to think Nirvana were brilliant writers and I like lots of alternative rock. But they're just so boring. The melodies, harmonies and dynamics are not necessarily bad, they're just complete cardboard. Utterly dull. The fog-grey 2005 Ford Mondeo of music. Serious music for people who don't really like music. 

In terms of underrated, rather than going for obscure acts whose lack of success eludes me, I would rather mention popular writer who are often dismissed as lightweight. Abba, Gary Barlow, Nick Kershaw, all are extremely skilled writers who craft great music. Take That's Everything Changes has more melodic and harmonic interest than Pearl Jam's entire back catalogue. 

I'm not the only one who seems to think so:

https://www.laweekly.com/pearl-jam-are-the-most-boring-band-in-20-years/

I think the Foo Fighters hooked into the right audience and I agree with you. 

ABBA are awesome. 

[Barking Spiders]

2 hours ago, adamg67 said:

I've still got a thing for Scary Monsters, maybe because Ashes to Ashes was my first "proper" single purchase.

Manu Chau circa Proxima Estacion - Esperanza would be on "too interesting to be mainstream" world fusion list for me as well.

+1 for Manu Chau though IMO by best setting is live and by virtue of that his best albums are Radio Bemba Sound System and Baionarena. They're that good you wish you were there at the party. Also MC's an example to many of how to combine political views with fun and not taking oneself too seriously.

 

 

Edited May 1, 2020 by Barking Spiders

[ClassicVibes]

1 hour ago, NickD said:

I'm going to skip the overrated bit, cos the subjectivity involved tends towards meanness. There's shedloads of stuff I don't like or don't get, some obviously decent, some obviously crap.

Underrated - 

I'll never understand why the Wildhearts aren't bigger than they are. Album after album of great tunes, and a phenomenal live act at their best.

Ditto Jellyfish. Spilt milk is a work of art, it should have been everywhere at the time, but it was largely ignored. As soon as spring comes around I'm drawn to listening to it, and it's as perfect now to me as it was on first listening.

Trouble. The end of the 80s was a pretty stale time for the more traditional rock/metal scene IMO, and I bought the 1990 self titled album on spec, knowing nothing about it other than from the band shot on the front it might be my thing.... It was that day I discovered that it was possible to shoehorn groove into those kind of songs. 30 Years later and its still a favourite. I bought Soundgarden's Louder than Love and Alice in Chains' Facelift around the same time, and though more rooted in the past it still stood proudly alongside them for me.

 

Great band I agree but a simple reason - drugs!

[JottoSW1]

On 30/04/2020 at 14:33, peteb said:

I'm sure that the managerial problems didn't help, but I don't think that religious strife was a big factor as it only really alienated the Christian rock market, which was hardly crucial to them. I think that their big problem was that they were just too original, which made them difficult to market them successfully.

It was the 'if you knew, you knew' factor that made them a cult favourite, but didn't make it easy for them to appeal to a mass market...! 

Saw them at (I think) the Forum with a pal and they were v v good. Latter-day effect is I G.A.S for a Schecter dUg Pinnick Bass and have to console myself with reports that they have awful neck dive.