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Thread: Most Overrated Band

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    Senior Member pemberly's Avatar
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    Default Most Overrated Band

    i've heard beatles, led zeppelin, etc. For me, it's nirvana. yeah, smells like teen spirit was ok, but, in my opinion, if kurt cobain had lived, nirvana's legacy would be a lot different. they're always on those lists for the greatest bands of all time, and they've made a butt load of money, but i've always thought of them as not that special. in fact, a lot of their songs sound similar.
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    Senior Member Azn Dude's Avatar
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    Nirvana can only do so much with 3-4 chords and Kurt Cobain had a vocal range of like 5 notes. But still, I agree they are overrated but Lithium isn't a bad song. Without Kurt, what would angry depressed socially awkard teenagers look up to? As bad as grunge's dressing habits were, they are 100x better than emo kids these days.

    The Beatles, as much as I love them and I do, I think they are the most overrated band. They might be bigger than Jesus but greatest band of all time, no. Their musicianship was above average exception being George Harrison, who was just great. Their song writing skills were also good excluding Ringo Starr. And they do win bonus points for writing Helter Skelter and other various songs that appearntly "told Manson to kill", but greatest band of all time not quite.

    Led Zeppelin can't be the greatest band because all they did was steal blues songs from the 40's and turn it up louder. All of Jimmy Page's licks are blues licks that every beginner guitarist learns. Stairway to Heaven is a beginner solo with generic blues licks that you learn in a day.
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    Senior Member pemberly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Azn Dude View Post
    Led Zeppelin can't be the greatest band because all they did was steal blues songs from the 40's and turn it up louder. All of Jimmy Page's licks are blues licks that every beginner guitarist learns. Stairway to Heaven is a beginner solo with generic blues licks that you learn in a day.
    i'll give you 50 bucks to teach me the stairway to heaven solo in one day.
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    Senior Member Jilly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pemberly View Post
    i've heard beatles, led zeppelin, etc. For me, it's nirvana. yeah, smells like teen spirit was ok, but, in my opinion, if kurt cobain had lived, nirvana's legacy would be a lot different. they're always on those lists for the greatest bands of all time, and they've made a butt load of money, but i've always thought of them as not that special. in fact, a lot of their songs sound similar.

    Yes, many of their songs sound similar, but it doesn't make them the most overrated band. Even if Kurt Cobain is still alive today, Nirvana's legacy will remain strong. You have to give the poor guy credit for popularizing the grunge and commercializing alternative rock

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    Senior Member pemberly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jilly View Post
    You have to give the poor guy credit for popularizing the grunge and commercializing alternative rock
    i do give credit for that. i give credit to eddie vedder and pearl jam.
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    Registered User JamesG's Avatar
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    The 'Stones'!

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    Senior Member Canuck21's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jilly View Post
    Yes, many of their songs sound similar, but it doesn't make them the most overrated band. Even if Kurt Cobain is still alive today, Nirvana's legacy will remain strong. You have to give the poor guy credit for popularizing the grunge and commercializing alternative rock
    Alternative has always been popular in the UK. I too nominate Nirvana as the most overrated band. I hate grunge music in general, but Kurt Cobain's death brought the band to legendary status that I think didn't quite deserve. Successful yes, but among the most creative, innovative and talented? I don't think so.
    Last edited by Canuck21; 12-13-07 at 01:34 AM.
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    Senior Member Canuck21's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pemberly View Post
    i do give credit for that. i give credit to eddie vedder and pearl jam.
    I don't know much about grunge, but from what I read, Pearl Jam was the true pioneer in the genre.
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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Nirvana had all of four albums to prove itself (and one of those was a live album). BLEACH, NEVERMIND, and IN UTERO each had at least one classic song on them, but I wasn't sold on Nirvana until I heard their UNPLUGGED: LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY album. In many ways, I think the true measure of a rock band's ability is what they can do when you take away all the electric guitar noise and see what's underneath. Using just acoustic instruments, Nirvana played through a fine collection of its own songs and diverse covers (everything from David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" to Leadbelly's "Where Did You Sleep Last Night") and, to my surprise, did very well on them.

    I think Nirvana did get a little too much hype during the 1990s, and Kurt Cobain wasn't exactly the guy I would have chosen as the so-called "spokesperson" of my generation (to be fair, however, he never wanted or embraced this role; it was forced upon him), but Nirvana was a good rock band of the 1990s...maybe even great. Just not the be-all-end-all band of its generation like some claim it was.

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    Senior Member Jilly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Canuck21 View Post
    I don't know much about grunge, but from what I read, Pearl Jam was the true pioneer in the genre.
    No, Pearl Jam merely replicated Nirvana's success. They're even accused of cashing-in on the grunge explosion. They released their album ("Ten") a month before Nirvana's "Nevermind," but the album didn't perform well until a year later... after Nirvana popularized it.

    Soundgarden is one of the pioneers of the genre.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jilly View Post
    No, Pearl Jam merely replicated Nirvana's success. They're even accused of cashing-in on the grunge explosion. They released their album ("Ten") a month before Nirvana's "Nevermind," but the album didn't perform well until a year later... after Nirvana popularized it.

    Soundgarden is one of the pioneers of the genre.
    I thought Pearl Jam sounded, for the lack of a better word, more "conventional" than Nirvana did. Nirvana sounded more like a departure from the kind of hard rock being played on the radio and on MTV before 1991. Pearl Jam sounded much more like an extension of the hard rock from the 1970s.

    Moreover, I think Pearl Jam's instrumentalists were more sophisticated than the Nirvana crew (well, Jeff Ament was a more sophisticated guitarist than Kurt Cobain, anyway).

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    Senior Member Jilly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post
    I thought Pearl Jam sounded, for the lack of a better word, more "conventional" than Nirvana did. Nirvana sounded more like a departure from the kind of hard rock being played on the radio and on MTV before 1991. Pearl Jam sounded much more like an extension of the hard rock from the 1970s.

    Moreover, I think Pearl Jam's instrumentalists were more sophisticated than the Nirvana crew (well, Jeff Ament was a more sophisticated guitarist than Kurt Cobain, anyway).
    I'm not a music expert in any way, but Pearl Jam does sound more sophisticated than Nirvana. And I think Nirvana's unconventional sound is what catapult them into stardom.

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    Senior Member pemberly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jilly View Post
    And I think Nirvana's unconventional sound is what catapult them into stardom.
    that and the fact that kurt cobain is a heck of a lot better looking than eddie vedder.

    and does popularity really make a band great? if that's so, bsb and nsync are surely two of the greatest of all time.
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    Senior Member Jilly's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by pemberly View Post
    that and the fact that kurt cobain is a heck of a lot better looking than eddie vedder.
    LOL! But Kurt looks so unkempt

    Quote Originally Posted by pemberly View Post

    and does popularity really make a band great? if that's so, bsb and nsync are surely two of the greatest of all time.
    Popularity is not the only criterion to judge. But popularity without justified reasons, such as good musicianship or changes that they brought to the music scene, to back it up, then the band is qualified to be considered as an overrrated band. I would pick NSync anyday over Nirvana in this category.

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    Senior Member Canuck21's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jilly View Post
    Popularity is not the only criterion to judge. But popularity without justified reasons, such as good musicianship or changes that they brought to the music scene, to back it up, then the band is qualified to be considered as an overrrated band. I would pick NSync anyday over Nirvana in this category.
    How can N'Sync be overrated when nobody respects them? If you're a guy and you say that you like N'Sync, dudes will laugh at you. If you're a female who are passed your teenage years and still are a fan of N'Sync, people will think you're immature. I don't call that overrating at all.

    Kurt Cobain is the epitome of someone who is overrated. I think he is listed as among the greatest guitarists of all time by the Rolling Stones. Greatest guitarist?!? I don't even know if I should consider him good, let alone great.
    Last edited by Canuck21; 01-24-08 at 12:51 AM.
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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Canuck21 View Post
    Kurt Cobain is the epitome of someone who is overrated. I think he is listed as among the greatest guitarists of all time by the Rolling Stones. Greatest guitarist?!? I don't even know if I should consider him good, let alone great.
    Cobain wasn't a very technically sophisticated or skilled guitarist, it's true. He'd get smoked in terms of technique by guys like Hendrix or Van Halen (or heck, even by the Edge, Keith Richards, Pete Townsend, or George Harrison), but he was an emotive guitarist...like John Lennon and Joe Strummer were. In rock 'n roll, sometimes technique is secondary to emotiveness, and Cobain at least had that going for him.

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    Senior Member Azn Dude's Avatar
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    Rock music isn't about musicianship, its about writing songs people can sing along too. While I love guitar solos and flashy techniques because I'm a guitarist, most people could careless about them. Kurt was a song writer who happen to play guitar, thats how I saw it. Plus, after the 80's guitar solos were going out of fashion. Cut Kurt some slack, he was married to Courtney Love.

    The 100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time article by the Rolling Stones wasn't about who's the most technically proficient. It was about who changed the music scene with their playing. Hendrix ranks at the top and I agree; he wasn't the most technically proficient but he was innovative. Jimi was the first to truly use the whammy bar and his effects rig was just amazing for the time. Kurt, on the other hand sparked a rage in power chord song writing for future aspiring guitarist that would play Smell Like Teen Spirit at every Guitar Center. If it was a technical skill guitar list, Kurt and Jimi wouldn't have been up there at all. Guys like Steve Vai, Joe Satrani, John Petrucci,...names most people never heard of.

    I think KISS is an overrated band and they know it. How many people can name more than two KISS songs?

    As for Pearl Jam I don't think they were ever a 'grunge' band, they just happen to be around that time and got lumped into it. Like Alice In Chains.

    I think the truly most overrated band of all time is U2. Even eclipsing Led Zeppelin.
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    Senior Member Canuck21's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Azn Dude View Post
    Rock music isn't about musicianship, its about writing songs people can sing along too. While I love guitar solos and flashy techniques because I'm a guitarist, most people could careless about them. Kurt was a song writer who happen to play guitar, thats how I saw it. Plus, after the 80's guitar solos were going out of fashion. Cut Kurt some slack, he was married to Courtney Love.

    The 100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time article by the Rolling Stones wasn't about who's the most technically proficient. It was about who changed the music scene with their playing. Hendrix ranks at the top and I agree; he wasn't the most technically proficient but he was innovative. Jimi was the first to truly use the whammy bar and his effects rig was just amazing for the time. Kurt, on the other hand sparked a rage in power chord song writing for future aspiring guitarist that would play Smell Like Teen Spirit at every Guitar Center. If it was a technical skill guitar list, Kurt and Jimi wouldn't have been up there at all. Guys like Steve Vai, Joe Satrani, John Petrucci,...names most people never heard of.

    I think KISS is an overrated band and they know it. How many people can name more than two KISS songs?

    As for Pearl Jam I don't think they were ever a 'grunge' band, they just happen to be around that time and got lumped into it. Like Alice In Chains.

    I think the truly most overrated band of all time is U2. Even eclipsing Led Zeppelin.
    Wasn't Hendrix an innovator? He created guitar effects that nobody did before him. Since I'm no guitarist, I don't really know, but that's what I read somewhere. Whether it's talent, creativity, emotion, Kurt Cobain doesn't impress me with either quality; he's just darn ordinary to me. Sure I'm biased, I actually HATE Nirvana.

    I forgot about U2 and I must agree with you. I do like U2 much better than Nirvana though. I just can't for the life of me see why Nirvana is so liked. I at least enjoy some of U2's songs. What about Radiohead? Men seem to love Radiohead like crazy. They make a good cover and people say they're just GREAT. I never got into their music, but people respect them a lot.
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    Senior Member Azn Dude's Avatar
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    Yea, Hendrix was very innovative. He employed lots of effects that were new at the time. He never invented any effects, he was just the first to use them. The most famous being the wah-wah, and it serves as the intro to his classic Voodoo Chile.

    Radiohead is considered good to people who like Pink Floyd, aka stoners. They seem to be dubbed the modern day Pink Floyd, a title I don't think they deserve yet. I like Radiohead, their not for everyone though. They use odd time signatures and unusual key changes so musicians give them respect.
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