Most Overrated Artists/Bands of 70s?

Yeah during the years when so many were wondering how come KISS wasn't in the Hall Of Fame yet,I think the argument against them may have been that they were merely a passing fad glam rock outfit whose works may not exactly stand the test of time.I personally think they do indeed belong in the hall because they were major players on two fronts-the hard rock heavy metal explosion of the 70's and the aforementioned Glam Rock thing.Many believe it's rather a borderline case and the Hall voters didn't really want them in there,but eventually caved to the legions of KISS army who viamently protested the initial snub...........

^^Considering who got in the dubious RRHOF before many more deserving artists I wouldn't lose sleep over it if my band got snubbed, there are many legendary bands who still deserve recognition and haven't received it yet.

KISS seems to generate controversy either by their own actions or from external sources, but I think they handled the whole thing rather well, accept the induction for their fans sake who have been lobbying for years to get them in, but in the big picture realizing it's not really a true hall of fame voted by your peers or fans but an anonymous group of people who seem to live in a different universe from most of us because some of their choices and omissions are stupefying when I think about it.

Didn't Roxy Music get the whole Glam Rock thing going?

CP/M User said:

Didn't Roxy Music get the whole Glam Rock thing going?

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I thought Marc Bolan and Bowie were early pioneers of glam as well, it's hard to pick just one artist/band that started it all, granted I am not a massive fan of glam generally but there was a lot of good music that came out of that genre.

This looks like a job for me!



LG is right. Glam rock started with Bowie and T. Rex but more specifically with the latter. Marc Bolan laid down the foundation for it's dreamy, theatrical, romantic sound and style as well the overall image. Bowie however was the one who incorporated the more spacey style (that would be imitated by the likes of Sweet, Jobriath, Roxy Music and others) and themes, presumably to create a stream of consciousness from his previous hit in "Space Oddity" and his general interest in outer space in general during that period of his career.

Personally I don't see KISS as glam rock as much as I do a theatrical form of shock rock akin to Alice Cooper, whom I also do not really consider glam rock. The themes and overall sounds aren't consistent with the genre though that could be from an American interpretation of the style as opposed to the British one the genre originated in. They are entirely different, though not separate entities, after all. The New York Dolls (whom I do believe are one of KISS' biggest influences) on the other hand are more along the Slade style of glam rock with the striped down, aggressive songs that would later be a big influence on punk. That where I personally draw the line as to what is and isn't anyway.

Eagles, Elton John, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin. All overrated.

For me, the seventies belonged to Kansas, Yes, Styx, Springsteen, Rush, ABBA, Fleetwood Mac and Boston.

Oh, scrap that last message.

Glam rock, all the main bands. They sucked!

The only thing I know about Kiss is that they painted their faces and sold a lot of merchandise, dolls etc.
I have listened to three random songs on YouTube and knew every song.
If you were to 'sell' me Kiss... What album would you recommend?

The first album, Hotter than Hell or Alive!

If you get hung up on producttion value (need a polished sound) Destroyer or Rock and Roll Over might be the studio albums to go for.

I'd say if you had to hear only one album Alive! is the one.

CREAM'd said:

The only thing I know about Kiss is that they painted their faces and sold a lot of merchandise, dolls etc.
I have listened to three random songs on YouTube and knew every song.
If you were to 'sell' me Kiss... What album would you recommend?

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In order:

Kiss - Alive! (1975) - one of the best sounding live albums of all time.



Kiss - Kiss [self titled debut] (1974) - one of the best debut albums of all time.



Kiss - Destroyer (1976) - one of the band's most popular albums. The first 3 songs of side one are amazing.





One of my personal faves would be their third album, Dressed To Kill (1975)




All of these albums, of course, are from their early days being 4 of their first 5 albums. in all seriousness, you can't go wrong with any of their first 8 albums where they rose from obscurity to one of biggest and loudest bands as well as one of the most easily recognizable bands on earth.

If you just want to check out a Best-Of album, then I would suggest 1978's Double Platinum



A number of songs on this 20-song compilation were remixed and/or even re-recorded from the original version, but most still sound very good and for the most part stay very true to the originals.


From the 80's, the first two albums I would suggest would be their last in makeup and their first without, Creatures of the Night (1982) and Lick It Up (1983)



That should give you a decent enough selection to sift through to decide if they are a band you like or don't like.