Son of JayJamJah

19. The Grateful Dead

Most Overrated Album: All their Live albums
Most Overrated song: Casey Jones

The Grateful Dead are another band I really enjoy but whose fans are guilty are overrating them to the utmost degree. Unlike Radiohead it never spread to the mainstream, mostly because their fans were too stoned to start any sort of advertising movement. Still the droves of dedicated delinquent and degenerate tie-die clad warriors have followed the Bands every move for decades. No fans are more intolerable when it comes to there ability to listen to this music and revel in it as others keel over in pain.

The Dead released some very good albums in the early 1970's American Beauty and Workingman's Dead are outstanding examples of the type of music that they made at their best. However following the release of American Beauty they released 8 of 11 Live albums the next 20 years where they essentially played the same 20-30 songs at extended lengths without any sense of energy or timing. It was essentially 60 minutes of Stoned guys playing songs you like very poorly for twice as long as the studio albums lasted.

Sometimes they'd sing other times they'd not bother, always they'd suck. In fact their best numbers were covers over the last twenty years and that's all well and good except no cover band should be a top 50 band of all-time like the Dead are often considered by American Media. Their fame is as much a result of the atmosphere of their shows and the counter culture feel it lended itself to as it is the music. All of this makes them the 19th most overrated band ever.

lucifer_sam

Here's a funny story:

Just prior to The Grateful Dead taking stage at Woodstock, an announcement was made about a certain type of acid that was being distributed. Apparently a contaminant introduced into the LSD had caused some illness. The announcement pleaded people who took the blue acid to go to the medical tent.

Afterwards, The Grateful Dead took the stage and attempted to dissuade people from leaving. "We took the blue acid and we think it's groovy." What followed was perhaps the worst concert the Dead have ever played. It sounded, according to a friend, as if they were trying to play five different songs at the same time.

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sl1ck

Radiohead should have been higher, other than that I think the list holds up pretty well.

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WaspStar

...I still think the Beatles, Zep, Queen, Floyd, and a few others should be on that list, but as far as "modern" music goes it's pretty comprehendize.

Son of JayJamJah

18. Snoop Dogg

Most Overrated Album: Doggystyle
Most Overrated song: Gin & Juice

It was around 1998 and my son was probably 14 years old when he came home with Snoop's first No Limit LP the ill-fated near career killer "Da Game is to be sold not to be told" I thought Doggy Style was a pretty good album and probably actually prefer Tha Doggfather, which has good beats and catchy lyrics. However this monstrosity was another story. This abortion of an album got off to a somewhat promising start, but then top sharp turn don't horrible music avenue. Featuring the traditional canine-inspired songs like "Woof", "Tru Tank Dogs" and "Doggz gonna get ya" There are now fewer then two instances where the phrase "bow-wow muther fuker" is used.

What makes it worse is that he also drug (or is it dragged) the good name of his former work through the mud proving that sequels always suck. "Gin and Juice II" and "Still a G Thang" are among the most embarrassing tracks ever. I guess it should have been expected after all it was Master P and No Limit who emerged from the aftermath of the Big and Pac drama on top the popular Rap world and almost singly handedly ruined the genre, still you'd expect better from Snoppy.

Now all of this would be forgivable if Snoop learned his lesson. He should have bolted from No Limit and begged Dre to help him recapture the Magic but instead he produced two more duds with No Limit and is now up to seven straight albums ranging from insignificant to atrocious. He even lost a $hit talking contest with Bill O'Reilly. All of this and yet he is still revered as either a great emcee or an innovator. What's the dizzle with that shizzle?

Son of JayJamJah

Who would bump to make room for those guys? and how high would you rank them?

Cool Story I am not surprised, keep the great feedback coming all!

Beany

How the hell is Bruce Springsteen over rated?! Have you listened to the River, Born To Run, Magic, The Rising?

And I like U2. They've had some great songs. Even if Bono is a bit of a ****.

Nirvana should be higher. They had at best 3 decent songs. They should be number one.

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lucifer_sam

The Boss has sounded the same since the seventies. The fact that Magic sounds like Born to Run might be great for an aging rocker, but to me it just means that he never really tried to push the creative envelope.

U2 is in the same boat as most other artists on that list (especially Coldplay). They came along at the right time, produced a few memorable songs but never really did anything outstanding. And there are still nimrods out there like Chris Martin that want to suck Bono's cock dry.

I agree about Nirvana, very overrated indeed.

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Beany

I think he's made more of an effort than most to change his sound. You've got the e street Bruce sound with Born to Run, Magic, Born In The USA,etc, you've got the solo acoustic stuff, like Nebraska and Devils and Dust, you've got the solo non acoustic stuff like Tunnel Of Love, then you have the Seeger sessions where he's doing country style music. Therefore, I don't think it's fair to say that all his stuff sounds the same. Maybe some albums he's done lately goes back to albums in the 70's but he's had enough range over the years to counter that. Certainly a lot more than other acts anyways.

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WaspStar

Springsteen hasn't done much of artistic merit since The River (notable exception: The Ghost Of Tom Joad), but it's pretty hard to overrated vintage Springsteen. Let's say that his first five albums are still great, and that all his other work is overrated. He did try to change the sound around on The Rising and Devils & Dust; unfortunately, the songs were crap. Magic, on the other hand, tries so hard to be a classic ESB record that it's a pure dud. The drum fills are too predictable, the anthems are by-the numbers...but man, there's no way that Darkness On The Edge Of Town or The River can be overrated.

I'd have to put the Beatles at #1, not because they're bad, but because so many people act as if they're the only band that really matters. To me, they're in the same league as CCR or The Doors; they're ok, but I can't get too excited about them and I never feel like playing their records.

Other than that, I really can't "rank" a personal list of "overrated" artists. There are too many variables. I really hate Floyd, Queen, and Zep, but there are enough haters out there that I couldn't put them terribly high (then again, I have yet to meet a single U2 fan; who buys their records?).