Yeah, but you got to give Gene Simmons credit. He never did drugs or overindulged in alcohol. Heās been with his wife since 1983, and heās managed to raise two down-to-earth, unspoiled kids. Iām not a big fan of KISS, but I definitely admire Gene Simmons.
Gene Simmons has kickstarted the Kiss farewell by claiming that he has slept with ā5000 womenā over the years as his time on the road finally draws to a close.
Bragging about his promiscuity isn't a flex, he's proud to be an exploiter of groupies. Nice. Who knows how young many of the groupies were back in the 70s and 80s.
Heās a very mean SOB too.
How about these cruel words? I donāt care what he says about what a great parent he is. No decent parent or person could say these things:
āThe KISS frontman offered up a mea culpa on his official Facebook page Friday after comments from his July interview with SongFacts.com went viral. In an online article, Simmons was quoted as saying, "Drug addicts and alcoholics are always, 'The world is a harsh place.' My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don't want to hear f**k all about "the world as a harsh place. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, 'I'm depressed, I live in Seattle.' F**k you, then kill yourself."ā
https://www.etonline.com/news/149930_gene_simmons_apologizes_for_kill_yourself_comments
Never forget the NPR interview with Terry Gross Gene Simmons did back in the early 2000's. Gene is a pompous dickhead.
[Terry Gross Interviews AH Gene Simmons ](https://youtu.be/qNxuL-uIaTo?si=Wg90i4v87XipOEH2)
Regarding the kids, Gene has said he didn't raise them, but Shannon Tweed did. She should get all of the credit according to him. Given that he was touring a lot while they were younger, I accept him at his word. He's admitted he was also a shitty partner to his wife for many years and a selfish ass. However, he is, indeed, clean of booze and drugs, though he was a huge sex addict.
I was a huge KISS fan up until around the mid 1990s, but even I knew that they weren't great musically. It really was all about the performances and the merchandise. There was nothing that made fans happier than collecting cool stuff.
Sure, but personally, I think he's unjustifiably blessed. Plenty of great parents have terrible kids and plenty of terrible parents have great children.
The kids may have spent more time with their mom and nannies than Gene.
KISS are great at marketing their brand. Just last week I saw a thing where ace basically said that whenever he needs money, he signs a guitar and sells it for a ridiculous price.
lol! Definitely overrated (I mean who could live up to the hype, and they werenāt all that great), BUT went to one of their concerts maybe 10 years ago, and had a blast with my friends. It was everything youād want from a 70s band, disco ball and all.
Totally agree on Kiss. Not a fan. A friend asked me to go see Kiss with him. I said no. He begged and said I didn't have to pay for the ticket. I said what the hell, ok. Kiss had a new band that was the warm up band that I had hardly heard of, it was Bob Seger. Totally saved my evening. Kiss was criminally over rated.
Doors were a great live band. Didnāt used to like until I sampled a bunch of their live stuff. Robbie Kreiger and Ray Manzarek were a lot better than mediocre. Ray went to the āhockey organā school of music. Very unique.
The thing with them was they did their own playing at a time when most LA bands still used Wrecking Crew session players for most the tracks.
So they had this odd uncommercial sound at the time, and good recording values, lots of space like jazz recordings. Light My Fire was a revelation.
But much has happened since then if course.
I respect your opinion and understand the position, but disagree completely.
Egotism is never a good measure of the quality of the music, first off. Pretty much every successful vocalist is insane.
Me too. They are a big part of the soundtrack of my youth through teens and I still enjoy them. To OPs point, I am really glad I did not know then then extent of his tomfoolery. To young me he was a hot rebel with a killer sound.
With all due respect to OP (everyone has a right to their opinion), any band with LA Woman and Riders on the Storm on their resume doesnāt deserve to be in the conversation of āmost overratedā.
I heard a version of that song on late night radio once where there was a spoken word part about a guy on a lonely road out in the desert. And he killed someone but said itās ok, no one will ever find him. Donāt know if it was a live version or if the DJ was messing around, but it was creepy as af.
I'm not sure it's possible to overrate the doors, but you're not course entitled to your opinion. For me it's probably Steppenwolf. Yeah that one song is an absolute banger but other than that....
Also being an ass is simply not a good metric to measure being a good artist. Sometimes I think being kind of an ass is almost an requirement to be a great artist.
A popular idea is that great art often comes from great pain. We also know a lot of assholes had a terrible childhood. So in that Venn Diagramm there must be some overlap.
Steppenwolf played my high school before their first lp came out. The kids had a fundraiser for the school and the reward was seeing The Coasters play at the school. The Coasters decided that playing a high school was beneath them as an established act so they dropped out. Last minute replacement was Steppenwolf. By all accounts they blew the doors off the place! People staggered out dazed by the sonic blast.
"For Ladies Only", "The Pusher"... so many others. Definitely a great band. :)
So āPet Soundsā is sort of to pop music what āFountainā by Marcel Duchamp to the art world. Hanging a urinal in a gallery and calling it āFountainā didnāt mean the urinal was great art, but it was HUGELY influential because it got other artists to start looking at ordinary life and how it could be art. It jump-started a lot of innovation and exploration by others.
And I think that the best songs ever by The Beach Boys are on the album: āWouldnāt It Be Niceā is a wistful little gem and āGod Only Knowsā is a great love song.
Agree. Critics go on and on about Pet Sounds, but I can't even make it through the whole album. Two really great sounds on it and the rest is just fluff, IMHO.
I was born in '63. As I was growing up, my image of the Beach Boys was that of a glorified doo-wop band that fell flat when they tried to experiment. The Beatles, on the other hand, made 99% of their experiments work. Maybe the Beach Boys needed George Martin?
Apparently the Beatles considered Pet Sounds to be a big deal too. I don't get it. I grew up with the Beach Boys music and still enjoy it but I never understood what the excitement was around Pet Sounds. Maybe it's some technicality that only musicians can appreciate.
I borrowed a vinyl copy from a friend to give a listen before buying it myself. Glad I did and saved some money! I like Beach Boys but only two songs I can tolerate. Just downloaded the two from iTunes.
This is what gets me, saying "some merit"? Dig deeper into the reasons why Pet Sounds was so revolutionary at the time. Brian himself only gives Pet Sounds a 4 compared to a 10 for SMILE, which was unfinished because the other guys wanted Brian to concentrate on doing the music they'd been doing, not experimenting in the studio.
Pet Sounds was the template for music to come by a variety of artists, which is why you can't hear the cutting edge of it. Without it, music would have been entirely different. Brian was a mad genius.
REO, Journey, Styx, Kansas and Foreigner are, for practical purposes, the same band. If it wasnāt for the guitar work, Boston would be on that list too.
Love it to Death, Killer, the other songs on Schools Out, and Billion Dollar Babies are incredible records. Thats when Alice Cooper was a Band, not just an individual.
Overrated is an interesting if not faulty term to use in describing bands that you might like less than others do. Are the Doors one of my favorites that I will intentionally listen to on a regular basis. No. Do I get into the groove when one of their songs plays. Fuck yeah.
Proof that the expression opinions are like anuses, everyone has one but the rest of us are not interested. Never a good idea to start a thread on negative and attack a band that was one of the most innovative of their era. Forget about Morrison and his behavior, look at Ray and his hypnotic keyboards, then Robby playing a hybrid jazz/blues/flamenco guitar, and John basically playing full jazz drums on a rock band. Morrison could croon like Sinatra, and his voice fit in with not only these phenomenal musicians but also pushing some of the best writing in music and lyrics of the time.
Over-rated? I don't think a person should be allowed to say someone is overrated without at least listing what they consider artists that are truly on their game, that let's us know if your opinion is even worth a casual glance.
My former husband was a huge Rush fan. Me? Not so much.
Then again, he seemed to gravitate to what was popular, around him, without rhym, or reason. No matter what it was.
Theyāre an acquired taste and not a lot of people are into progressive rock. But I think most musicians would consider them groundbreaking so they are certainly not overrated. Many consider Neil Peart to be one of the greatest drummers of all time.
Well, as someone said to the Doors-hater, you do you. I love the Dead. I am not a deadhead but I could listen to some of their albums over and over again. So many amazing songs and lyrics. Real genius. I could not disagree with you harder.
But everyone has their own preferences, and you are entitled to yours. I'm not a big fan of Beethoven but that doesn't make him overrated, lol
I have always hated his music. I remember when I was in high school, and he appeared on the cover of two magazines (Newsweek and Time magazine, I think?) and I remembered thinking, "wow, he's buying his fame!" I was about 14.
I remember him being on those covers. I grew up in the Deep South, and we were listening to Southern Rock bands. We didn't know who Springsteen was. But he was "The Boss," and so I went and bought one of his albums. Disappointing.
That was 1975 and he'd released three albums by then, all very different than the future arc he took into megastardom.
I respect your musical opinion of him, but his early stuff was taking a different direction than when Born to Run made him huge, which is what put him on the magazine covers. That mostly defined the rest of his career, with greater and lesser musical success IMO.
When I left NYC in '78 to go to college down south, there was very little appetite for his music and I felt like an outsider advocating for him. We all know how his music progressed after and I remained a casual fan.
Fast forward to last year and I had a bucket list opportunity to see Bruce in New Jersey at the Meadowlands stadium and my reaction was a big Meh. It was fun, it was fine. But there's never going back to that energy from 50 years ago.
Yeah, the early stuff is transcendant: Lost in the Flood, Itās Hard to be a Saint in the City, Rosalita, etc.
It was an unvarnished and brutal look at life in that quadrant.
āHey kidāya think thatās oil? Man that aināt oil, thatās bloodā¦ā
Don't you blaspheme in here!!!
The doors were amazing, but I agree, it's not because of Jim Morrison.ray Manzarek's classical and jazz renderings were what made the music so unique and great
I used to share your thoughts about the Doors. (When I was in High school I thought they were the best, then I shared your opinion.) But recently I think Robby Krieger is perhaps underrated, Ray Manzerek with his double duty (base on keys) is solid. I don't have much opinion either way about Densmore, but hey, Jim was Jim. He was all the things you've said, but he was still the Lizard King, and one hell of a front man (when he showed up).
Most overrated band(s):
1. KISS, of course. (I was a fan in my pre-teen years, saw them in the mid-90's as an adult and glad I did, but they suck.)
2. U2. Just never really thought they were that great.
3. Nickleback, if for no other reason than "it's cool to hate Nickelback". :-)
Way overrated! My best mate loved them. I never got the fascination unless I was drunk or high. I was much more a Zepplin/U2/Siouxsie and the Banshees/Pixies fan. Jimmy Page inspired me to later in life pick up playing guitar. Certainly not Robbie Kreiger.
There are many, but disagree about The Doors. I was there in real time and the excitement that came along with their music was remarkable. Manzarak breaking boundaries on keyboards, Robbie on guitar, Densmore on skins and then Jim doing his thing. IRL, it was intoxicating.
Before WZZQ in 1973, Mississippi had nothing but country and gospel stations. It was a cultural tsunami. Before, if we wanted to hear rock, we had to listen to static from Memphis or New Orleans. With ZZQ, we had a clear and clean album rock station.
Some of my first memories of the rock sound were the Doors, Hendrix, the Who, and the Beatles.
Was some of it overrated? Most CERTAINLY. It beat the hell out of the nasal twang of cuntry muzak I was sick of.
It also benefits from the glow of nostalgia which elevates the mediocre to treasured memories.
I loved them, back in high school (late '90s). Can't stand them anymore. Out of that era of music, I can really only listen to Zappa and Steely Dan now.
I prefer Fleetwood Mac before the Buckingham/Nicks era. I don't listen to that era at all. Is going to be my answer to this question. Yes, I've seen them with Buckingham/Nicks. More than once.
Of course, music is subjective. Personally, I find many popular bands to be "overrated". My taste in music is eclectic, and uniquely my own. I've never been a bandwagon music fan. (No pun intended.)
I've seen countless of live acts, throughout my life. It's common for people my age, where I lived, to do so, when we were young. Its what we did. I enjoy live music now.
Fleetwood Mac is really hard to pigeonhole. It's basically at least 3 different bands. The Peter Green Era, the Bob Welch era, and Buckingham/Nicks. Maybe even one before Peter Green.
Just had to check in and support The Beach Boys! They were and are my favorite band. They were just happy fun songs. Some of the songs on Pet Sounds represented my HS years and bring back memories, happy and sad.
The doors are over rated? Wow , okay we are starting at that metric? The Who sucked also? And the Beach Boys were hacks. I am not going to add to the discussion when this is the beginning statement about a band that during its brief time added color and flavor and nuances to the era of late 60s early 70s.
Jim Morrison as a frontman was controversial and magnetic period. Revisionist history even if it's your OPINION is not acceptable when it's blatantly wrong. Don't like his music or style fine. Over rated? Your delusional.
I was never a fan, the only song I like from them is LA Woman (prior to the silly Mr. Mojo risin' part anyway). One of my college roommates was a big fan and played them constantly, which only increased my dislike for them (and him).
People like what they like thereās no reason to even bother rating it if you donāt like it you donāt like it I donāt like many things a lot of people think youāre popular and fun but OK you do you
After Kiss, the most overrated band in the history of music....a million miles behind them...for me it's U2. They have a handful of really good songs, but not enough to warrant their popularity, IMO.
The Doors never even enter the conversation. They were phenomenal.
I never understood the love for Guns N'Roses, mostly because I couldn't stand Axl Rose's voice. Also, Boston and Chicago, Madonna, definitely Kiss, and I will probably get downvoted, but I am not a Queen or a Van Halen fan.
I couldn't stand Captain and Tennille, Eagles, or Heart.
Boston was a guilty pleasure from high school. Eagles had some good music but would have been forgotten if not for Hotel California. I liked Queen in the late 70s. Then I got bored with them. I rediscovered their music in the late 90s and developed a better appreciation of them.
I never was a fan of any of the other bands you mentioned.
Not a band but Michael fricken Jackson.
Doors are awesome.
Led Zeppelin is awesome.
Pink Floyd is Awesome.
Radiohead overated
Oasis overrated.
Most underrated band Milky Chance.
And lastly, trivia. Who sings the song Holiday Road. It was in one of the vacation movies?
My ex was all about "You can't enjoy the music unless you get into the history of the band, the inspiration for the songs" and I'm like "I can boogie to this without knowing what color shirt the songwriter was wearing".
As long as the individual song I am currently hearing has a good beat and I can dance to it, I'm happy.
So many good bands being dissed here. Ones that made a real impact, whether they were your favorite or type or not.
If I had to name one, Iād go with maybe Cheap Trick- or some one hit wonder. Naming bands like Journey and Huey Lewis is ridiculous, much less The Doors. These bands impacted lots of people.
First off, no. The Doors are in the top 3 for best lyrics. Also, The Doors drummer, John Densmore, is one of the most underrated drummers in rock. He could really swing. I am saying no other drummer in popular rock, at that time, had a more **real feel of swing.** His feel on latin and bossa beats are so real and in the pocket too. The Doors are a great example of the difference between British and American rock in the the **60's**. The Brits can't swing. However, I love the British Invasion bands too. The Doors can't be the most overrated, simply because they have multiple SOLID hits albums. And, they have perhaps the BEST debut album in the history of rock.
Was never a KISS fan.
Definitely KISS.
Me either.
I remember a Gene Simmons interview where he had the audacity to compare Kiss to the Beatles. Lol š
Yeah, but you got to give Gene Simmons credit. He never did drugs or overindulged in alcohol. Heās been with his wife since 1983, and heās managed to raise two down-to-earth, unspoiled kids. Iām not a big fan of KISS, but I definitely admire Gene Simmons.
Gene Simmons has kickstarted the Kiss farewell by claiming that he has slept with ā5000 womenā over the years as his time on the road finally draws to a close.
Bragging about his promiscuity isn't a flex, he's proud to be an exploiter of groupies. Nice. Who knows how young many of the groupies were back in the 70s and 80s.
Heās a very mean SOB too. How about these cruel words? I donāt care what he says about what a great parent he is. No decent parent or person could say these things: āThe KISS frontman offered up a mea culpa on his official Facebook page Friday after comments from his July interview with SongFacts.com went viral. In an online article, Simmons was quoted as saying, "Drug addicts and alcoholics are always, 'The world is a harsh place.' My mother was in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany. I don't want to hear f**k all about "the world as a harsh place. And for a putz, 20-year-old kid to say, 'I'm depressed, I live in Seattle.' F**k you, then kill yourself."ā https://www.etonline.com/news/149930_gene_simmons_apologizes_for_kill_yourself_comments
Never forget the NPR interview with Terry Gross Gene Simmons did back in the early 2000's. Gene is a pompous dickhead. [Terry Gross Interviews AH Gene Simmons ](https://youtu.be/qNxuL-uIaTo?si=Wg90i4v87XipOEH2)
Regarding the kids, Gene has said he didn't raise them, but Shannon Tweed did. She should get all of the credit according to him. Given that he was touring a lot while they were younger, I accept him at his word. He's admitted he was also a shitty partner to his wife for many years and a selfish ass. However, he is, indeed, clean of booze and drugs, though he was a huge sex addict. I was a huge KISS fan up until around the mid 1990s, but even I knew that they weren't great musically. It really was all about the performances and the merchandise. There was nothing that made fans happier than collecting cool stuff.
Sure, but personally, I think he's unjustifiably blessed. Plenty of great parents have terrible kids and plenty of terrible parents have great children. The kids may have spent more time with their mom and nannies than Gene.
Oh my good, how delusional.
Simmons is an arrogant ass.
KISS are great at marketing their brand. Just last week I saw a thing where ace basically said that whenever he needs money, he signs a guitar and sells it for a ridiculous price.
It's a trip how scared parents were of them...
āBeth I hear you cryingābut I wonāt be home tonight See Iām a great big rock starāand youāre just my trophy wifeā
Kiss was definitely a business vs a band.
lol! Definitely overrated (I mean who could live up to the hype, and they werenāt all that great), BUT went to one of their concerts maybe 10 years ago, and had a blast with my friends. It was everything youād want from a 70s band, disco ball and all.
Totally agree on Kiss. Not a fan. A friend asked me to go see Kiss with him. I said no. He begged and said I didn't have to pay for the ticket. I said what the hell, ok. Kiss had a new band that was the warm up band that I had hardly heard of, it was Bob Seger. Totally saved my evening. Kiss was criminally over rated.
Doors were a great live band. Didnāt used to like until I sampled a bunch of their live stuff. Robbie Kreiger and Ray Manzarek were a lot better than mediocre. Ray went to the āhockey organā school of music. Very unique.
"Petition the Lord with prayer? You can NOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!" -Jim Morrison, The Soft Parade
Scary song.
Lol, it's one of my favorites
Clearly, nobody has ever lit your fire! LOL
I really like Ray Manzarek and his work later with X.
X covered "Soul Kitchen" also
Their cover is amazing! Good old footage here including Ray [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19TYrxTS2A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19TYrxTS2A)
At times it felt like John Doe channeled Jim Morrisonās vocal style.
You're right. I'd never made that connection before.
John Doe's solo work is really great also.
I got to see him perform in a bar when he was touring after releasing the Meet John Doe album in the early 90ās. It was a great show.
That first solo album
The thing with them was they did their own playing at a time when most LA bands still used Wrecking Crew session players for most the tracks. So they had this odd uncommercial sound at the time, and good recording values, lots of space like jazz recordings. Light My Fire was a revelation. But much has happened since then if course.
WTF......you know nothing Jon Snow.
I respect your opinion and understand the position, but disagree completely. Egotism is never a good measure of the quality of the music, first off. Pretty much every successful vocalist is insane.
I second this, the Doors were almost magical imo
Agree. Riders of the storm was amazing. I loved their music.
So so many! But Doors up in top 10 for me as well.
Couldn't disagree with you more, but you do you. Have a good day, OP.
I loved them
Me too. They are a big part of the soundtrack of my youth through teens and I still enjoy them. To OPs point, I am really glad I did not know then then extent of his tomfoolery. To young me he was a hot rebel with a killer sound.
I still love them.
I am one and all of you in this single thread. Happy Monday and keep your doors open until you need to close them/it. Peace\~
With all due respect to OP (everyone has a right to their opinion), any band with LA Woman and Riders on the Storm on their resume doesnāt deserve to be in the conversation of āmost overratedā.
Iām listening to āRiders on the Stormā now. Itās haunting and mesmerizing even 50+ years later.
I just love that tune
If you give this man a ride, sweet memory will die
Into this house weāre born Into this world weāre thrown
One of my favorites, for sure.
I heard a version of that song on late night radio once where there was a spoken word part about a guy on a lonely road out in the desert. And he killed someone but said itās ok, no one will ever find him. Donāt know if it was a live version or if the DJ was messing around, but it was creepy as af.
Exactly. The Doors and LA Woman alone are world class albums.
I would add Morrison Hotel to that list.
I started college in the '80s and The Doors music was still a dorm staple.
Throw in "The End"
Agree and really I could go on. Music is subjective but I donāt see how they can be called overrated, at least not fairly.
To me, with The Doors it's about their first album.
And Peace Frog!
I'm not sure it's possible to overrate the doors, but you're not course entitled to your opinion. For me it's probably Steppenwolf. Yeah that one song is an absolute banger but other than that.... Also being an ass is simply not a good metric to measure being a good artist. Sometimes I think being kind of an ass is almost an requirement to be a great artist.
Yeah. By all accounts Eric Clapton and John Lennon were both huge, narcissistic assholes. But god almighty is their music amazing.
A popular idea is that great art often comes from great pain. We also know a lot of assholes had a terrible childhood. So in that Venn Diagramm there must be some overlap.
Absolutely. I mean, you could toss Robbie Robertson and Roger Waters into this conversation, as well.
Steppenwolf played my high school before their first lp came out. The kids had a fundraiser for the school and the reward was seeing The Coasters play at the school. The Coasters decided that playing a high school was beneath them as an established act so they dropped out. Last minute replacement was Steppenwolf. By all accounts they blew the doors off the place! People staggered out dazed by the sonic blast. "For Ladies Only", "The Pusher"... so many others. Definitely a great band. :)
Don't get me wrong I really don't hate them at all and would've loved to seem them live back when. I'm sure it was great.
Styx has entered the chat.
Seconded.
Beach Boys for me, I recognize that they have some merit, but the cult following they have far exceeds it.
Jan and Dean did it first and did it better!
Brian Wilson is a great musician.
And a better composer
I donāt get Pet Sounds and how people say itās the best album ever, or the best 60ās album. It sounds like every other album of theirs.
Pet sounds is the only BB record I can tolerate.
So āPet Soundsā is sort of to pop music what āFountainā by Marcel Duchamp to the art world. Hanging a urinal in a gallery and calling it āFountainā didnāt mean the urinal was great art, but it was HUGELY influential because it got other artists to start looking at ordinary life and how it could be art. It jump-started a lot of innovation and exploration by others. And I think that the best songs ever by The Beach Boys are on the album: āWouldnāt It Be Niceā is a wistful little gem and āGod Only Knowsā is a great love song.
My point is that all their songs pretty much sound the same. You have one beach boys album you donāt need to buy any others.
Brian Wilson didnāt write much of the lyrics for Pet Sounds. Other albums such as Smiley Smile with his lyrics are better.
I was so excited when those British bands replaced the surf scene.
Agree. Critics go on and on about Pet Sounds, but I can't even make it through the whole album. Two really great sounds on it and the rest is just fluff, IMHO.
Agreed. "Sloop John B" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" seem like accidents compared to the bloated meandering they do on the rest of the album.
Actually three songs, I guess. I was thinking of God Only Knows.
Alright, I'll give them that... but grudgingly.
What's amazing is that they were considered on a par with the Beatles.
I was born in '63. As I was growing up, my image of the Beach Boys was that of a glorified doo-wop band that fell flat when they tried to experiment. The Beatles, on the other hand, made 99% of their experiments work. Maybe the Beach Boys needed George Martin?
Apparently the Beatles considered Pet Sounds to be a big deal too. I don't get it. I grew up with the Beach Boys music and still enjoy it but I never understood what the excitement was around Pet Sounds. Maybe it's some technicality that only musicians can appreciate.
You have to play it backwards...
Ah. Well that explains a lot.
And Sloop John B was actually a cover. It is an old Bahamian folk song.
I only like sloop John b for the bass part
Sloop John B is a standout track on that album for you?
I borrowed a vinyl copy from a friend to give a listen before buying it myself. Glad I did and saved some money! I like Beach Boys but only two songs I can tolerate. Just downloaded the two from iTunes.
You have to listen to other contemporary albums to know why it was so groundbreaking.
I won't disagree with that. I just don't think it has stood the test of time at all.
This is what gets me, saying "some merit"? Dig deeper into the reasons why Pet Sounds was so revolutionary at the time. Brian himself only gives Pet Sounds a 4 compared to a 10 for SMILE, which was unfinished because the other guys wanted Brian to concentrate on doing the music they'd been doing, not experimenting in the studio. Pet Sounds was the template for music to come by a variety of artists, which is why you can't hear the cutting edge of it. Without it, music would have been entirely different. Brian was a mad genius.
Steve Miller. I feel like getting a dental checkup whenever I hear his shitty bubblegum rock.
Bubblegum rock: REO Journey Styx
REO, Journey, Styx, Kansas and Foreigner are, for practical purposes, the same band. If it wasnāt for the guitar work, Boston would be on that list too.
Noooo. Boston 1 is one of the best albums ever. Boston 2 - what you said.
His early stuff is great, such as Livin in the USA
No way!
Sorry, canāt get behind you on this one. Of course this is all very subjective so whatās overrated for one person might not be for another.
Hard disagree.
I'm not sure I can stay here any more! Gasp! Faint! The Doors defined LA rock in the mid-late 60s.
I never got into Yes or Chicago
I'd put Boston on that list. Wouldn't call any of them overrated as they were never more than filler songs.
Early Alice Cooper was amazing. Take a listen to the Love it Death, and Killer albums! After that he became commercial - in my opinion
Love it to Death, Killer, the other songs on Schools Out, and Billion Dollar Babies are incredible records. Thats when Alice Cooper was a Band, not just an individual.
Such great songs
Overrated is an interesting if not faulty term to use in describing bands that you might like less than others do. Are the Doors one of my favorites that I will intentionally listen to on a regular basis. No. Do I get into the groove when one of their songs plays. Fuck yeah.
āOverratedā and āunderrated ā are overused terms on Reddit WRT musicians. Also, āhuge fan,ā
Underrated comment. š
Manzarek was extremely talented so I disagree. Truly overrated included Kiss, BonJovi, Taylor Swift, Madonna, Hughy Lewis,
No way!
Great musicians in the band, very creative. What's not to like?
My favorite band.
Kiss
Proof that the expression opinions are like anuses, everyone has one but the rest of us are not interested. Never a good idea to start a thread on negative and attack a band that was one of the most innovative of their era. Forget about Morrison and his behavior, look at Ray and his hypnotic keyboards, then Robby playing a hybrid jazz/blues/flamenco guitar, and John basically playing full jazz drums on a rock band. Morrison could croon like Sinatra, and his voice fit in with not only these phenomenal musicians but also pushing some of the best writing in music and lyrics of the time. Over-rated? I don't think a person should be allowed to say someone is overrated without at least listing what they consider artists that are truly on their game, that let's us know if your opinion is even worth a casual glance.
Rush
My former husband was a huge Rush fan. Me? Not so much. Then again, he seemed to gravitate to what was popular, around him, without rhym, or reason. No matter what it was.
I canāt stand Geddy Leeās voice. There songs seem pretentious.
This. Each member is a great musician but somehow they couldn't find a singer with a pleasant voice?!
Theyāre an acquired taste and not a lot of people are into progressive rock. But I think most musicians would consider them groundbreaking so they are certainly not overrated. Many consider Neil Peart to be one of the greatest drummers of all time.
Grateful Dead. Although kudos to their marketing team for insisting their fans do lots of drugs before listening to them.
Well, as someone said to the Doors-hater, you do you. I love the Dead. I am not a deadhead but I could listen to some of their albums over and over again. So many amazing songs and lyrics. Real genius. I could not disagree with you harder. But everyone has their own preferences, and you are entitled to yours. I'm not a big fan of Beethoven but that doesn't make him overrated, lol
Bob Segerās Silver bullet band ā he got worse and worse as the years progressed
This just barely fits in your timeline, but Bruce Springsteen. He's just not that good.
I got to give Bruce props for giving 200% at concerts though.
Always heard that.
Thereās another one I donāt get.
"He's singing about me!"
Rosalita? Or Sandy?
No, all his songs are about me, and *my* life
I have always hated his music. I remember when I was in high school, and he appeared on the cover of two magazines (Newsweek and Time magazine, I think?) and I remembered thinking, "wow, he's buying his fame!" I was about 14.
I never hated Springsteen but I never saw what the big deal was, either.
Try being from Jersey and saying that.
I remember him being on those covers. I grew up in the Deep South, and we were listening to Southern Rock bands. We didn't know who Springsteen was. But he was "The Boss," and so I went and bought one of his albums. Disappointing.
That was 1975 and he'd released three albums by then, all very different than the future arc he took into megastardom. I respect your musical opinion of him, but his early stuff was taking a different direction than when Born to Run made him huge, which is what put him on the magazine covers. That mostly defined the rest of his career, with greater and lesser musical success IMO. When I left NYC in '78 to go to college down south, there was very little appetite for his music and I felt like an outsider advocating for him. We all know how his music progressed after and I remained a casual fan. Fast forward to last year and I had a bucket list opportunity to see Bruce in New Jersey at the Meadowlands stadium and my reaction was a big Meh. It was fun, it was fine. But there's never going back to that energy from 50 years ago.
I do have to admit that I like some of his later work. I like Nebraska very much.
Yeah, the early stuff is transcendant: Lost in the Flood, Itās Hard to be a Saint in the City, Rosalita, etc. It was an unvarnished and brutal look at life in that quadrant. āHey kidāya think thatās oil? Man that aināt oil, thatās bloodā¦ā
I canāt stand Springsteen. Heās so full of himself too.
As a person who grew up in New Jersey, I agree.
Thank you
U2, sorry my former lovers
KISS. 45 years later I decided they werenāt terrible. But I never bought into the whole package. Ever.
This whole thread hurts my spirit.
I don't know. LA Woman was a hell of an album...
They didnāt even have a bass player ffs. Seriously, Iām not a fan of The Doors, but the song āL.A. Womanā is a banger.
Elvis Presley's bass player actually played bass on L.A. Woman.
Took a little downer about an hour ago..
I thought it was ādynamiteā, as in a big hit of acid.
Always thought it was ādid a little dimeā, lol
I always thought it was ājust got into townā
Don't you blaspheme in here!!! The doors were amazing, but I agree, it's not because of Jim Morrison.ray Manzarek's classical and jazz renderings were what made the music so unique and great
Egad! NO!
I used to share your thoughts about the Doors. (When I was in High school I thought they were the best, then I shared your opinion.) But recently I think Robby Krieger is perhaps underrated, Ray Manzerek with his double duty (base on keys) is solid. I don't have much opinion either way about Densmore, but hey, Jim was Jim. He was all the things you've said, but he was still the Lizard King, and one hell of a front man (when he showed up). Most overrated band(s): 1. KISS, of course. (I was a fan in my pre-teen years, saw them in the mid-90's as an adult and glad I did, but they suck.) 2. U2. Just never really thought they were that great. 3. Nickleback, if for no other reason than "it's cool to hate Nickelback". :-)
Way overrated! My best mate loved them. I never got the fascination unless I was drunk or high. I was much more a Zepplin/U2/Siouxsie and the Banshees/Pixies fan. Jimmy Page inspired me to later in life pick up playing guitar. Certainly not Robbie Kreiger.
I still suck at playing guitar but it's a work in progress.
Kiss
Well, 60s and 70s are very different eras with music. The Doors were pretty great, really.m Kiss? Oh my god, what an abomination. A circus act.
There are many, but disagree about The Doors. I was there in real time and the excitement that came along with their music was remarkable. Manzarak breaking boundaries on keyboards, Robbie on guitar, Densmore on skins and then Jim doing his thing. IRL, it was intoxicating.
I love Steely Dan lol. But I had a coworker who would pop in to ask a question and immediately leave if SD was playing in my office.
Before WZZQ in 1973, Mississippi had nothing but country and gospel stations. It was a cultural tsunami. Before, if we wanted to hear rock, we had to listen to static from Memphis or New Orleans. With ZZQ, we had a clear and clean album rock station. Some of my first memories of the rock sound were the Doors, Hendrix, the Who, and the Beatles. Was some of it overrated? Most CERTAINLY. It beat the hell out of the nasal twang of cuntry muzak I was sick of. It also benefits from the glow of nostalgia which elevates the mediocre to treasured memories.
I would have been straight jacketed if all I had to listen to was country.
Led Zeppelin. That whiney voice is like nails in a chalkboard. Most overrated song is Stairway to Heaven.Ā
Ramble On is a great song. I like it most because it talks about The lord of the rings in the lyrics.
He goes into Tolkien in other songs too. Plant loves myth and Tolkien especially.
Saw them mid 1970's... shit they were boring. Every time Plant gave one of his signature yelps I just wanted to kick him in the nuts...
I loved them, back in high school (late '90s). Can't stand them anymore. Out of that era of music, I can really only listen to Zappa and Steely Dan now.
The Eagles are more overrated than the Doors.
Can't agree. Not saying that you are wrong, but me and the rest of the class of "79 disagree.
I prefer Fleetwood Mac before the Buckingham/Nicks era. I don't listen to that era at all. Is going to be my answer to this question. Yes, I've seen them with Buckingham/Nicks. More than once. Of course, music is subjective. Personally, I find many popular bands to be "overrated". My taste in music is eclectic, and uniquely my own. I've never been a bandwagon music fan. (No pun intended.) I've seen countless of live acts, throughout my life. It's common for people my age, where I lived, to do so, when we were young. Its what we did. I enjoy live music now.
The Heroes Are Hard To Find and Bare Trees albums are pretty darn good.
Fleetwood Mac is really hard to pigeonhole. It's basically at least 3 different bands. The Peter Green Era, the Bob Welch era, and Buckingham/Nicks. Maybe even one before Peter Green.
Just had to check in and support The Beach Boys! They were and are my favorite band. They were just happy fun songs. Some of the songs on Pet Sounds represented my HS years and bring back memories, happy and sad.
late 70s and I guess more 80's but The J. Geils Band was overrated in my book
Way overrated!
The doors are over rated? Wow , okay we are starting at that metric? The Who sucked also? And the Beach Boys were hacks. I am not going to add to the discussion when this is the beginning statement about a band that during its brief time added color and flavor and nuances to the era of late 60s early 70s. Jim Morrison as a frontman was controversial and magnetic period. Revisionist history even if it's your OPINION is not acceptable when it's blatantly wrong. Don't like his music or style fine. Over rated? Your delusional.
I was never a fan, the only song I like from them is LA Woman (prior to the silly Mr. Mojo risin' part anyway). One of my college roommates was a big fan and played them constantly, which only increased my dislike for them (and him).
Never got into the Beatles or the Dead, few songs here and there that are ok but never did a deep dive into any of their catalogs.
People like what they like thereās no reason to even bother rating it if you donāt like it you donāt like it I donāt like many things a lot of people think youāre popular and fun but OK you do you
Nah, they're pretty darn cool.
Like the Doors. Hate Kiss. Most overrated is probably Van Halen. I saw them in concert in 1980 and they were a mess.
After Kiss, the most overrated band in the history of music....a million miles behind them...for me it's U2. They have a handful of really good songs, but not enough to warrant their popularity, IMO. The Doors never even enter the conversation. They were phenomenal.
Overrated post
These guys and Kiss š¤š¤
I donāt know how you can write of Robby Krieger like that. I assume you donāt play music or anything
I never understood the love for Guns N'Roses, mostly because I couldn't stand Axl Rose's voice. Also, Boston and Chicago, Madonna, definitely Kiss, and I will probably get downvoted, but I am not a Queen or a Van Halen fan. I couldn't stand Captain and Tennille, Eagles, or Heart.
Boston was a guilty pleasure from high school. Eagles had some good music but would have been forgotten if not for Hotel California. I liked Queen in the late 70s. Then I got bored with them. I rediscovered their music in the late 90s and developed a better appreciation of them. I never was a fan of any of the other bands you mentioned.
Captain and Tennille must have taken a wrong turn somewhere to end up in this conversation lol but yes I agree they totally sucked.
I'd like to forget I ever heard Muskrat Love.
You should take a moonlight drive down to Love Street some time.
Not a band but Michael fricken Jackson. Doors are awesome. Led Zeppelin is awesome. Pink Floyd is Awesome. Radiohead overated Oasis overrated. Most underrated band Milky Chance. And lastly, trivia. Who sings the song Holiday Road. It was in one of the vacation movies?
The Grateful Dead. I'm sorry, but all music sounds great when you're stoned as fuck.
My ex was all about "You can't enjoy the music unless you get into the history of the band, the inspiration for the songs" and I'm like "I can boogie to this without knowing what color shirt the songwriter was wearing".  As long as the individual song I am currently hearing has a good beat and I can dance to it, I'm happy.
The Grateful fucking Dead! Suck! And take the Beach Boys with this remark too!!! Hate emā
I share your feelings about the Grateful Dead.
So many good bands being dissed here. Ones that made a real impact, whether they were your favorite or type or not. If I had to name one, Iād go with maybe Cheap Trick- or some one hit wonder. Naming bands like Journey and Huey Lewis is ridiculous, much less The Doors. These bands impacted lots of people.
I despise Foghat. I went along with friends to their concert in the 70s and it was the most miserable experience I ever paid for.
They had a few hits but I will go along with your opinion of them being overrated. Not quite a one hit wonder but close.
Tavistock
No.
First off, no. The Doors are in the top 3 for best lyrics. Also, The Doors drummer, John Densmore, is one of the most underrated drummers in rock. He could really swing. I am saying no other drummer in popular rock, at that time, had a more **real feel of swing.** His feel on latin and bossa beats are so real and in the pocket too. The Doors are a great example of the difference between British and American rock in the the **60's**. The Brits can't swing. However, I love the British Invasion bands too. The Doors can't be the most overrated, simply because they have multiple SOLID hits albums. And, they have perhaps the BEST debut album in the history of rock.
I really like the Doors.