Most overrated bands ever?

[Megadead2]

Originally Posted by boo boo

Sex Pistols don't even deserve the real credit for that. Prog was already on a decline by the time punk rock came about.

I mean, 1977. What were the big and popular prog releases back then? Besides Animals and A Farewell to Kings?

Actually, ELP and Yes had their highest charting hits on the UK charts in 1977 (with "Fanfare for the Common Man" and "Wondrous Stories" respectively). Obviously that had more to do with the natural momentum those bands had gathered over time than the actual popularity of those songs, but it does indicate that prog was not already in its death throes when punk arrived. Maybe artistically the original set of bands was in decline, but that would simply have meant that better, more modern younger bands would have taken their place.

lol and lol again

You fell back on a LOL? Weak. I can see we're not going to get along well...

you are missing the point of punk entirely, prog rock had its heaviest influences in classic rock and jazz and it was exactly the kind of music that punk was retaliating against. can you see a bunch of teenage musicians who just picked up the instruments a year ago rocking out to Working Man or In the Court of the Crimson King? punk rock was simple and fun. what sucks is that a movement with such a great message got whored and distorted (like what is happeneing to indie as i type this).

That's the thing, the phrase "simple and fun" ignores that music CAN be fun and be artistic, out-there, innovative as well. Look to Talking Heads for an example of a band who could entertain their audience and engage in intense avant-funk workouts at the same time. Three-chords + backbeat + vocals actually isn't very fun for me, it's tired, but ESPECIALLY in the case of the Sex Pistols, who were drowning in machoismo and lacked any of the dirty swagger of, say, the Troggs. As for being on the level that a teenaged band can play, I don't believe that music should aspire to mediocrity, although technical complexity is not necessary for music to be progressive or to be good ("In the Court" is actually rather easy to play, though admittedly maybe not "rock out" material).

I also don't believe that sounding "teenaged" or "adolescent" is something to be admired. Rock's whole mythology of refusing to grow up is an ugly one. I look for maturity in music. I do enjoy some "childlike" music as well (twee pop, indie pop etc.) because it recaptures a feeling of innocence and simplicity in life, but adolescent music (which includes most trad punk as well as later bands like Dinosaur Jr.) lacks both that simplicity and innocence, and the control and discipline of more mature music. In some cases, adolescent music can work because it captures a very visceral, raw, intense feeling, which is why I can enjoy some of it despite my misgivings (examples I have given include the Troggs and Rites of Spring) but the Sex Pistols were actually no where near as visceral as they are made out to be.