Most Overrated Artists/Bands of 70s?

[Vehicle]

Surprised a bit by some of the names I'm seeing, but what's great music to some may be yaaaawwwnnn to others.

I feel that way about Clapton. He's sold a skillion records, but I have 'Strange Brew' in my IPod. Other than that, there's no sign that Clapton even exists to me.

Along with Clapton, I never got anything from The Grateful Dead either. They've sold a skillion records as well. I just don't hear it.

I think a better thread title might be I Just Don't Hear It Like Most Others. And that's cool. Not everyone hears music the same way.

That's why there's such a huge variety of music. Everyone has a choice, which, in the end makes us music lovers the big winners, you know?

I will say, though. This might be the first time I've ever heard anyone consider Elton John overrated.

Bennie And The Jets
Border Song
Burn Down The Mission
Candle In The Wind
Daniel
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
Elderberry Wine
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
High Flying Bird
Honky Cat
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues*
Island Girl
Levon
Little Jeannie*
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
Philadelphia Freedom
Pinball Wizard
Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting
Someone Saved My Life Tonight
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
Take Me To The Pilot
Teacher I Need You
The Bitch Is Back
Tiny Dancer
Your Song

*These two cuts came after Blue Moves, and I whole heartedly agree with LG. After that album, Elton either got lazy or burned out for a while. He got new life from the bastard child of corporate money grubbers, MTV. A good idea gone terribly wrong in the lab. That's what happens when the bankers and lawyers get ahold of anything. the focus always ends up on money.

But, like Aerosmith, Chicago, Heart, et.al., his MTV music was not the same.

As far as the Eagles and The Boss, I've always thought they were brilliant at capturing little snippets of life in song.

Bruce's song structures and his lyrics are a bit unorthodox at times.
I can understand people not enjoying Kitty's Back, but grooving on Downbound Train.

But alas, The Boss himslef fell victim to MTV. Showered, shaved, got in the gym to become MTV friendly to look at, and cut his songs all down to MTV friendly length to listen to.

I distictly remember my Mom falling in love with Springsteen when the 'Dancing In The Dark' video came out. She asked me if I had any of his records.

"Mom, I have six"

She barely made it through The Wild The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle before proclaiming there's no way that was Bruce Springsteen. hehehe.

Ok, end of overly-wordy, meandering post. Any time you use 'alas', it's time to go.

 

[LG]

^^Post of the day Old Man.

 

[Squidbilly]

Guns&Roses
The only tune of their's I thought was decent was Civil War,Before&After that its all fluff.

 

[Vehicle]

Guns N Roses wasn't even born in the 70s.

 

[Squidbilly]

Good Point
(edit) I post my opinion in the correct decade.

 

[TheDoubleNeckGuitar]

The Eagles were alright but quite overrated in my opinion and I know what you mean about Clapton! Although I thought Clapton was a good guitarist and Cream were an amazing band I couldn't get into much more than Slowhand and Layla

 

[gorgon]

I think it might be a generational thing with me when it comes to Elton. Maybe if I had been there when he was new and popular, and surrounded with 70's culture, ie plenty of drugs and disco, I might think more highly of him. The song Benny and the Jets for example, is an automatic channel changer for me. I think the lyrics are redundant. His falsetto or whatever he's trying to do is quite irritating to my ears and the song structure to me is just terrible. Give me some gritty Detroit rock any day.

It's very true what was said about certain music sounding good to certain ears. I never could understand how my mom could jam out to Hall and Oats, and my dad who was a Doors fan, thought The Misfits, Metallica, Iron Maiden, M.O.D. or any other hard music I listened to was pure shit. Different strokes for different folks.

Clapton. His guitar playing is tight, but very sterile to my ears. I'll never forget the "deer caught in the headlights look" on Slowhand's face in the 1985 Carl Perkins and Friends video. He was completely lost trying to keep up with the boys. I hope this post comes across ok, I'm over worked and sleep deprived.

 

[Vehicle]

Clapton. His guitar playing is tight, but very sterile to my ears.

THANK YOU!! I have for years, been trying to describe how I hear him. I've used rehearsed and rigid. Sterile is better.

 

[Powerage]

If anything, I would say Cheap Trick are one of the most under-rated bands EVER.

While Budokan is the obvious choice, their studio albums in the 70s were outrageous and should have been million sellers each. Instead, they sold out 10 copies!

As for the thread title, I think Queen and The Clash are was over rated.

 

[Khor1255]

Already been said but easily Springsteen and Billy Joel (both of whom I quite like in measured doses). And yeah, without Cream or Derek and The Dominoes Clapton has always been a snooze fest for me. And other than that weird (and very cool) progressive album the Grateful Dead never did much for me.

Also:
Journey (except for the first album)
Fleetwood Mac (without Peter Green)
and
Tom Petty just to name a few.

Bear in mind that I like a lot of songs by just about every one of those mentioned it's just when you hear all this crap about them and realize bands like Sabbath, Rush and Crimson were contemporaries it is kind of laughable.