Most Overrated Bands of the 90's

[Lynch]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

Ok, other extremely overrated bands on the 90's....

Eesh, where to continue with this. I'm not going to write up a diatribe on any of the others on the list, Nirvana was enough (and I had to cut -that- one short)


Radiohead
Morissey
Oasis
Dave Mathews Band
Deftones
Bad Religion
Tool
Korn
Spice Girls

 

[Slip'nn2Darkness]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

^^^ I wish I could find the actual film scene in the movie "The Rocker" where they were in the studio and doing the song "Bitter" and the drummer rolls his eyes and say's.. "It makes me want to kill myself" Then brings the tempo up to make it more of a Happy song..
But that is how I feel about most grunge bands music.. Granted.. Not all the songs are bad.. But for the most part they deal with a very disturbed side of a persons life.. And I personally don't like focusing on negativity..
But here's "Bitter" revived and made into a better song.. But I still loathed this kind of music..

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

Oooh, just discovered this thread.... where to start? (heh, anyone who knows me know where I'll start).



Nirvana, EASILY the most overrated band of the 90's and one of the most overrated bands in the history of rock/pop music. Ridiculous, incoherent, blathering lyrics that make as much sense as talking to a 3 yr old in many cases. As a guitar player, anyone who says that Kurt is anything more than average-at-best doesn't know squat about guitar playing. when I hear people say that their music was groundbreaking, lyrics were inspiring, etc, I can only shake my head and say "put down the ****ing peace pipe". Inspiring lyrics?

Uh yeah. I'm really inspired right now. When and if you can actually get a "message" from Nirvana lyrics, all too often, it's about self-loathing, woah-is-me, crybaby bullshit. I'm sorry if this crap connected with a bunch of depressed kids who now had a social reason to not wash or comb/brush their hair and generally just look frumpy. I'd say I'm sorry the dude killed himself, but I'd be lying, the only thing that bothers me about his death is that the selfish dink left behind a daughter without a dad, and that the media turned this selfish dink into some sort of musical martyr, hoisting him on some proverbial and undeserved pedistal.

I will give them credit in that they did have a couple of songs that musically were decent. Smells Like Teen Spirit is a good tune. It's too bad they didn't do more of this sort of thing rather than went into the dark, self-loathing despair direction. The lyrics of this song were pretty ridiculous, but fun rock shouldn't be "deep", at least not in my opinion.

Anyway, yeah, Nirvana = the MOST overrated band of the 90's, without question. there are others, but I'll post them separately.

Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what you do like Lynch! Dokken, KISS and Kid Rock I suppose!

I guess I think the Nirvana thing is just as much beating a dead horse as anything else! I think honestly people hate Nirvana more than anything because they destroyed a particular era of music. While Nirvana may be dark and depressive it destroyed music that was more about having a good time. A lot of it party rock from what I gather! There were exceptions of course to the party stereotype but I think the biggest change Nirvana brought was a change in tone from people tired of that cliche. Personally, I prefer bands with a darker tone than the glammier stuff. I don't find it whiny or emo, just cathartic.

I don't think that either side was limited to the stereotypes but how often does someone with a preference for one really delve deeply into the other to see anything. I'm not sure how much of Nirvanas catalog you know but I've seen you use the Rape Me example more than once. I'd hardly call it a highlight. Anyway, I've seen people want to knock Kurt Cobain off this pedestal just as avidly as those who put him on it! The real winner! Kurt! His name will be stirred in this boiling pot forever so I guess he did something right!

 

[LG]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

You make a sapient point Sooty, but Dark themed rock music was around long before Nirvana came along. It marks a generational split, new rock fans idolized that band who's success was as much a matter of good timing as anything else. Nothing wrong with that music history is replete with delivering the right album at the right time for the most impact. I simply don't Like Nirvana, I am sorry to all their legions of fans, but I can find darker themed music played by better musicians than they represent.

Lynch quite a list, I disagree about Radiohead, they are massive and a good band, their hard core fans tend to go a little overboard about their impact but nonetheless if I had to pick One band that stood apart from all the others the last two decades RH gets my vote.

 

[Lynch]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what you do like Lynch! Dokken, KISS and Kid Rock I suppose!

those among many many others.

I guess I think the Nirvana thing is just as much beating a dead horse as anything else! I think honestly people hate Nirvana more than anything because they destroyed a particular era of music. While Nirvana may be dark and depressive it destroyed music that was more about having a good time. A lot of it party rock from what I gather!

See, personally I'm not one to "blame" grunge for "ruining" the music that I loved in the 80's and early 90's. Times change, so does the music of the times as well as the mindset of the fans and the growing up/maturing of some fans. When I was younger, I'll admit I kinda had that mindset, but as I got older, I don't blame grunge for it at all.

There's some grunge/seattle-sound bands that I like. Alice in Chains is awesome. I like a lot of the early Stone Temple Pilots. But Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden? Ish. Musically, Pearl Jam had some decent tunes, unfortunately Eddie Vedder chooses to sing with a piece of dogcrap in his mouth on nearly every song. Soundgarden never did anything for me. Slept through one of their concerts even. I'm not a fan of anything Chris Cornell has done, to be honest, but I'll give him a HELL of a lot more credit as a frontman, songwriter, etc than I'll ever give Kurt Cobain. Cornell has talent, even if most of the things he does aren't of my taste, but at least I'll give him props for being good at what he does. Cobain? A whiny poser who was turned into a musical martyr by idiots in the press who typically don't know squat and by a bunch of depressed, whiney, emo-like kids who over-analyzed every aspect of the guy.

His name will be stirred in this boiling pot forever so I guess he did something right!

yeah, perhaps, however the "elitist" nirvana fans who claim to know and understand everything that Kurt was about would claim that he'd hate that if he were still alive. Supposedly he didn't like the attention, the press, etc. Personally, I say it's 100% bullshit. Any musician, actor/actress, model, etc who ****** and moans about being in "the spotlight" knows how to quit. You just stop wtf you are doing and go do something else. But these people are selfish, attention whoors (<---- spelled incorrectly on purpose, say it like it's spelled) who will always bask in the limelight, even if they put on a front that they are unhappy or sad. Just my opinion.

 

[Lynch]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

You make a sapient point Sooty, but Dark themed rock music was around long before Nirvana came along.
(snip)
I simply don't Like Nirvana, I am sorry to all their legions of fans, but I can find darker themed music played by better musicians than they represent.

Agreed.. there was plenty of "dark" themed music around long before Nirvana got and as you said, played by much better musicians than the likes of Nirvana.

Lynch quite a list, I disagree about Radiohead, they are massive and a good band, their hard core fans tend to go a little overboard about their impact but nonetheless if I had to pick One band that stood apart from all the others the last two decades RH gets my vote.

I wish I could understand it. It's not like I've only listened to a couple of songs and blown them off. I've listened to a LOT of radiohead (thank you youtube) and not one single song has ever made me say "ok, this one isn't quite so bad". It just falls flat, is incredibly boring and unstimulating. *shrug*

 

[LG]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

^^Opposite for me, when I played "OK Computer" I was floored...it was a long long time since a new band grabbed me like RH on that CD. However I did not like "Hail to the Thief" that much, it was definitely below the standards I expect from them. But RH has one quality I really like, and that is you Know instantly who is playing, they have a signature sound, but they still experiment and take chances as well. I could go on a bit more but then I would fall into the "Fanboy" category and I'm too Old for that.

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

Dear Lynch,

No, I respect that you don't like Nirvana Lynch! It does seem vengeful at times with the persistence but it's computer world and emotions can't quite be read so who knows! I do know it's taste but concerning lyrics I personally don't find that I understand a lot of artist lyrics at first. Another poster mentioned the word cryptic to describe lyrics and that works for me. I hate hearing from an artist what the song means. Let me connect my own meaning! I'm the listener you know. I always like the more ambiguous lyrics. Actually I prefer lyrics with imagery rather than straight ahead ones but hell, simple works fine at times to.

I like Alice In Chains myself. Actually been hearing it a lot recently due to hearing my friends play a lot of them on guitar and bass, amongst Van Halen, Pink Floyd, Sabbath, etc. IMO I wouldn't consider Layne Stayley overly coherent either. I actually have to look up the words to a lot of their material. Actually, before even making out the words to a song I get caught up in the vocals anyway and get wrapped up and sing even if it's just making sound. Music just pulls me in when I feel an emotion in it. All the bands you've listed from that era do that for me. I have a synergy with it and no I'm no more depressed than the average person in my age/gender/whatever bracket!

One thing we do agree on is martyring Kurt! Suicide is selfish and hurts others a lot more! Not a lifestyle to follow! On the other hand I have two counterpoints:

#1 The art and artist is separate for me! The music was the productive way that Kurt expressed feeling we all have whether we admit we are emo enough to have them or not. It was art and I connected to it. I respect the music regardless of him. I owe nothing to the artist other than to not be hypocritical and ditch the art which did something for me.

#2 Martyring any artist dead or alive to an extreme is not for me! I have my favorite but I give them as much breathing room as any other artist. No one musician/group is a God which I see Waaaay too much of outside of just Nirvana! Seriously, the gears of music are moving in way too many directions and cranking out so much great stuff that one great artist is never enough!

 

[Lynch]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's

Good enough for me.

I understand about Stayley too. he does have some incoherent vocals at times. that whole grunge thing did, and I don't know why. AIC, for me, was more about the music and harmonies than Stayley himself. I love Jerry's guitar playing and background vocals as much as anyone in the past 18 years.

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: Most Overated Bands of the 90's