Music: Most Overrated and Most Underrated Rock Band in History

[Roo Returns]

NOFX is another good candidate for most overrated band of all time. Straight up unlistenable imo

Aw man. Maybe you don't like his voice but those guys can play and write. Have you heard The Decline? It's like a 20-minute prog punk track from around 2000.

NOFX was so underrated they're one of the only bands of the 1990s to never be on MTV and get successful from touring and grassroots. All their contemporaries were on that network in some way.

 

[kingsfan28]

Overrated..Oasis for sure .Those cocky Brits couldn't even keep it together for more than a few albums, before imploding. They were barely a notch better than the rest of the new British invasion like Blur and The Charlatan KROQ was trying to push in the 90's. They claimed they were going to be bigger than the Beatles. Even Ryan Adams cover of Wonderwall was better [ and it sold more too] than the original

 

[kook10]

Pearl Jam
White Stripes / Jack White in general
Foo Fighters
U2
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Coldplay
Green Day
Grateful Dead
Radiohead (I love their early stuff, but somehow they evolved and devolved at the same time and got stuck on repeat)
Jay-Z

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Seeing as I'm about to talk about NOFX: For anyone interested in band biopics, I highly, highly recommend you check out NOFX's Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories. One of my favorite books of all time. You don't have to be a fan of the band or of punk rock to enjoy the book.

It does get dark at times, and Mike drones on about his sex life for too long, but it's really a great book. Highly recommended.

NOFX is another good candidate for most overrated band of all time. Straight up unlistenable imo

I disagree. Everything from S&M Airlines to Punk in Drublic inclusive is fantastic IMO. They really fell off a cliff after that for the most part, but there are at least some highlights (such as The Decline, which is awesome) after Drublic.

Now, prior to the Steve Kidwiler era they definitely were unlistenable at times. Some of the songs from their 1984 demo tape and first two EP's are beyond terrible.

Aw man. Maybe you don't like his voice but those guys can play and write. Have you heard The Decline? It's like a 20-minute prog punk track from around 2000.

Did you ever see the "live" (some of it re-recorded) video they did with an orchestra a few years ago?



I will neither confirm nor deny bonus points for the attractive cellist.

NOFX was so underrated they're one of the only bands of the 1990s to never be on MTV and get successful from touring and grassroots. All their contemporaries were on that network in some way.

Make no mistake about it, Fat Mike is a douchecanoe. He's not terrible at bass and he's a good songwriter, but he's an awful singer. That said, good/authentic punk rock does not require clean or proficient vocals in the first place. NOFX's content going downhill was less to do with his vocal abilities and more to do with them both losing the raw energy that built them up to begin with and producing albums with far too much filler content nonsense IMO.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

I never really saw GD as a punk band, not that I listened to them a lot. They just seem like a normal pop rock band with a twinge of stoner and then they go political try hard but in a way that still felt way too accessible compared to punk political songs.

They're not really "punk" per se, not at this point in time, but they came from a punk background and definitely have at least some influence remaining at times, unlike...

The Offspring are the definition of pop punk in my opinion. I feel like they have the "attitude" right. They definitely feel like the type of band who started as more punk and then went for the money.

I can think of no other band that started with a bit of punk influence and then went so completely in the other direction more than the Offspring. Not even Blink 182 took the corporate thing to another level they way The Offspring did. The difference between their current content (which I hate) and their first two albums (which I love) is absolutely staggering. If you listen to anything of theirs after 1994 there's absolutely no way you'd have any idea they were influenced by TSOL. I don't blame them at all for doing what they did, but holy hell have they not been listenable for me in over two decades.

 

[isles52480]

Underrated:
The Band
The Kinks
The Talking Heads

 

[Roo Returns]

Underrated:
The Band
The Kinks
The Talking Heads

I think the Talking Heads are just right in terms of where they are then and now.

They still get played on Classic Rock Radio, have the Pitchfork Media cred, and are still an influence.

 

[Incubajerks]

I think the Talking Heads are just right in terms of where they are then and now.

They still get played on Classic Rock Radio, have the Pitchfork Media cred, and are still an influence.

TH are simply seminal!

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks Pink Floyd is underrated.

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks Pink Floyd is underrated.

You might be right.

I like their post-Barett and their pre-Dark Side material quite a lot. It might be a little underrated overall but they're so damn big it's hard to make that call.

I'm going to throw out Polvo as an underrated band. They had some really cool, creative guitar sounds and noise, and interesting tempo changes. But they are also of a very specific sound (90's indie rock) that maybe they're just a niche band belonging to a certain time. They still exist but I consider them a 90's band.

 

[K Fleur]

I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks Pink Floyd is underrated.

I can see it.

I think their albums outside of Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall are definitely underrated.

 

[Shareefruck]

That's true of most deserving popular things, IMO. Even with the bands that are wildly successful, they usually aren't successful because of exactly the same things that make them great-- it's pretty incidental. I feel that a lot of them are simultaneously overrated and underrated at the same time.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks Pink Floyd is underrated.

Perhaps not underrated, but definitely misunderstood.

John McFerrin (who has been reviewing classic rock and genres for more than 20 years) has a good essay on the topic in the intro to his Pink Floyd page. I was going to quote the whole thing but might be easier to link it - Pink Floyd

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Eddie Van Halen was an overrated guitarist with 1 trick he overused (tapping). Even then others quickly became a lot better than him.

I think Pearl Jam was overrated as hell in the 90's. I always hated Nirvana, but at least I appreciate what he brought to the cultural shift.

Layne Staley's solo project Mad Season was incredibly underrated.

Evanescence unfortunately faded with the Rap-Metal fad even though the record company forced the rapper onto them. Amy Lee is a brilliant vocalist. One of the few chicks that has the power to really carry a metal band.

They're hella underrated for how talented they are:

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I don't care if this is derrivative of classic Zeppelin.

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

I don't care if this is derrivative of classic Zeppelin.

i gave this a listen. accept no substitutes. led zep 1968-1980.

i'll even say anything from the firm's 2 albums i'd rather listen to anytime, any place, over what i just heard.

 

[VMBM]

Bands/artists I dislike but many love; Gary Moore, Blur, the Smiths/Morrissey, Eric Clapton/Cream, Coldplay... I don't particularly hate U2, R.E.M. or Pearl Jam but feel quite indifferent about them. So yeah, one of those would be the most overrated.

As for underrated, some New Orleans guys come to mind; Professor Longhair, Earl King, Dr. John, the Meters... power pop acts like Badfinger, the Posies, Jellyfish... soul/R&B singer-songwriters like Bobby Womack, William Bell, Little Willie John...

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

Bands/artists I dislike but many love; Gary Moore, Blur, the Smiths/Morrissey, Eric Clapton/Cream, Coldplay... I don't particularly hate U2, R.E.M. or Pearl Jam but feel quite indifferent about them. So yeah, one of those would be the most overrated.

As for underrated, some New Orleans guys come to mind; Professor Longhair, Earl King, Dr. John, the Meters... power pop acts like Badfinger, the Posies, Jellyfish... soul/R&B singer-songwriters like Bobby Womack, William Bell, Little Willie John...

if you don't mind me asking what do you have against gary moore?

 

[Perfect_Drug]

i gave this a listen. accept no substitutes. led zep 1968-1980.

i'll even say anything from the firm's 2 albums i'd rather listen to anytime, any place, over what i just heard.

Love zepps first 5 albums. Problem is i listened to it 2973937383738393838 times, so it's not new.

Greta Van Fleet is somewhat new-ish? And put on an amazing live show. Later material has some of a Bowie and Zappa influence added to it, but it's nice hearing a classic rock sound again.

 

[VMBM]

if you don't mind me asking

I don't mind at all... go ahead.

Seriously speaking, I just don't like Gary Moore, whether it's his hard rock/metal or his blues stuff. It's quite hard to intellectualize it, but for starters, I was never a fan of '80s hard rock (or 'hair metal', whatever), with maybe the exception of some of Rainbow's material; it was always the heavier and/or quirkier stuff like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and then later on Anthrax and Metallica that I liked. A band like Whitesnake doesn't do much for me, and imo GM is even worse; the music just sounds pompous and cheesy to my ears. What can I say.

I'm sure Moore was a great guitarist, but if one doesn't care for the songs, it's hard to even appreciate that. He didn't have a good 'metal voice' either.

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

I don't mind at all... go ahead.

Seriously speaking, I just don't like Gary Moore, whether it's his hard rock/metal or his blues stuff. It's quite hard to intellectualize it, but for starters, I was never a fan of '80s hard rock (or 'hair metal', whatever), with maybe the exception of some of Rainbow's material; it was always the heavier and/or quirkier stuff like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and then later on Anthrax and Metallica that I liked. A band like Whitesnake doesn't do much for me, and imo GM is even worse; the music just sounds pompous and cheesy to my ears. What can I say.

I'm sure Moore was a great guitarist, but if one doesn't care for the songs, it's hard to even appreciate that. He didn't have a good 'metal voice' either.

that's cool and i get it. the stuff i was into was his 80's hard rock phase. i can see how many people may not like his songs, as most of them can be considered as cookie cutter 80's tunes as excuses to wail on flashy guitar solos.

but i agree regarding the blues phase of his career. i consider this period a "dumbing down" era of his songwriting/playing, if that makes any sense.

 

[Hippasus]

Overrated: Radiohead; underrated: Boris. I like Radiohead, but question whether they deserve to be considered in the handful of greatest rock bands in contemporary times. I only really listen to them up through Amnesiac occasionally. Boris, on the other hand, has a reputation as among the greatest contemporary rock acts in some fringe circles, like amongst metalheads, but I think it's predominantly a fringe opinion. They deserve to be right there with Radiohead or a bit higher based on song structure, dynamics, inventiveness, etc. They're not *really* original, but who is? I've also only listened to select albums from them, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

[93gilmour93]

Overrated - U2

Underrated - Faith no More

 

[Sentinel]

Overrated: U2. They invented the genre of "rock without rocking."

Underrated: Nocturnal Rites or Grand Magus.

 

[MoreOrr]

Overrated: Led Zeppellin
Underrated: Styx