Most Over Rated Band In History.

Probably Metallica for me.. despite liking other thrash, I don’t really get them at all.
U2 are shite as well.
ACDC.. good rock and I enjoy listening to them, but they are overrated.

unfortunately I now have “ken lee” stuck in my head and know it will come back to haunt me. probably on some godawful grunting climb 😯

The Beatles are the most under-rated band around here!
They more or less invented Pop music as we know it. They were a complete shock to the establishment when they appeared. As were the Pistols in the mid 70s.
Time for a new Revolution but from where?

Re: Van Halen

One of the most influential guitarists in history?

Duane Eddy, Les Paul. Clapton, Santana, Chuck berry, Hendrix, Gary Moore, BB king, these are the sort of names of influential guitarists.

Yes, ONE of the most influential guitarists in history. He practically invented a whole new style of playing. Unlike Gary Moore, who you mention: As much as I rate him and loved the music of his rock era (he was my first guitar hero, alongside Mark Knopfler), he could hardly be described as being innovative.

If you don’t think Eddie Van Halen deserves to be alongside the other names you mention, then you clearly don’t know anything about the guitar. Pick up any guitar publication and they will refer to EVH in similar reverence as those other names you mention.

Back to hair metal..

I got three for the bands (I think) Poison, VanHalen (who should never be tagged in the hiar metal genre) dunno the third but I think it could be Cinderella and White Lion (again how you can dump them into hair metal is way beyond me, Vito Baretta is an unbeleivable guitarist)

So who was the third band?

on this forum? PWEI. They were decent, not great.

Third – Warrant

Fourth… keep guessing….

on this forum? PWEI. They were decent, not great.

they can’t be overrated only about 3 people like them.

anyone who says hendrix is over rated ..please he is still relevant some would say ahead of his time ,IMHO still ahead of todays sounds,music,beats,rythym whatever you want to call it

watch any Jimi concert half the audience are stoned and half cannot take in what is happening …where did he pull those sounds from ?

PWEI?

Hardly ‘over-rated’. They barely made it to mainstream so they can’t be classed as OVER rated surely?

Stone Roses and in particular Ian Brown solo. Jesus wept my bestmate literally wants to bum him yet its just 90’s catchy-tuned stuff.

mikey74

EVH is nothing compared to those people. A decent guitarist perhaps but nothing compared to the greats – maybe Moore should not be in that list.

A whole new style of playing? educate me – must be a youtube clip you can show me to demonstrate

IMO a ‘great’ guitarist doesn’t have to be technically gifted, just be able to move people with their playing.

For example – Joe Bonamassa. He bores me to tears. He might be wonderful but he simply doesn’t inspire me. It’s the same with ClappedOut.

Gary Moore is another – just no spark for me – in either his early rock days or his more recent bluesy stuff. And I would say EVH too – apart from perhaps on Beat It where the rock guitars lit up the song wonderfully.

For me, musicians that really do it for me are Randy Rhodes, Slash, Lemmy (bass I know, but who cares) and Gilmour too. Perhaps it is simply because when you watch him he seems to be ‘feeling’ his way around the guitar and he takes you with him, I dunno. And BB King too for sure – just oozed style as he played. I could also watch Jools Holland on his piano all day long. Probably quite happy to do so with no sound 🙂

Disagree that Madonna’s overrated. A lot of it is filler, obviously, and I dismissed her as just another disposable pop bimbo until I heard Like A Prayer, specifically the bass run on the 12″ version, which is the sort of thing I never thought I’d hear on a cheesy pop record. Anyone who’s prepared to allow real virtuosity on their records when it won’t make them sell a single further copy is OK in my book.

Or just listen to pretty much the whole of Ray Of Light, her seventh album, and probably her best to date. How many artists are producing their best work 15 or more years after their first success?

You may not like Madonna – fair enough – but to call her overrated is probably inaccurate. She’s certainly had a pretty major impact, although to be fair she’s also responsible for foisting Alanis Morissette on the world (signed her to her own Maverick label) so for that she deserves a good punch.

I think the sex pistols are over-rated
I think the jam are over-rated
My friend thinks U2 are over-rated

I would disagree about the Sex Pistols – they defined a whole generation through their style and attitude. Yes they were a manufactured boy band and they weren’t the first to make ‘punk rock’. But they completely changed the face of music in the UK. I wish I had been old enough to have understood what was going on in 75/76 and to have been able to see them live.

The Beatles are the most under-rated band around here!
They more or less invented Pop music as we know it.

And that’s a good thing?

PWEI?

Hardly ‘over-rated’. They barely made it to mainstream so they can’t be classed as OVER rated surely?

they can’t be overrated only about 3 people like them.

that’s why i began with “on this forum?”. barely a music thread goes by without them turning up..

A whole new style of playing? educate me – must be a youtube clip you can show me to demonstrate

FFS

He set the blueprint for heavy metal soloing. Although tapping had been around for years, never to the extent he employed it. His technique was so revolutionary he soloed with his back to the audience so as to hide his technique.

Nobody played like EVH before, but millions have since. He is one of the most influential guitarists of all time.

Really? Youtube clip that shows how this is differnt from clapton or Hendrix?

Millions have followed his style? really? More influential than Clapton or Hendrix?

I’d vote for:

The Beatles – not ‘cos they weren’t great, or innovative, but because no band is more consistently lionized by the likes of arse face Paul Gambaccini with a load of simplistic “they invented the ’60s” nonsense. A shock to the establishment? Was Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da a shock to the establishment? Was it?

The Sex Pistols – I love the ideas behind them and John Lydon was the most amazing frontman and lyricist, but the music was boring pub rock which reduced the radical ideas of punk to wearing a leather jacket and a mohican.

The Velvet Underground – inept art rock, equating being a junkie with artistic achievement, sod off.

Yup, more influenced by EVH than any of the above you mention, c’ept EVH was influenced by them, well thats a different matter..

Randy Rhodes.. give me a buscuit “spits crubs out over keyboard” the lad was rubbish.
Now Jake E Lee, at least that lad had styleee..

SInce we’re talking hair guitarists, one underated, certainly in my eyes.. Warren DeMartino out of Ratt..

Really? Youtube clip that shows how this is differnt from clapton or Hendrix?

Millions have followed his style? really? More influential than Clapton or Hendrix?

One word: tapping

He didn’t invent it, but he popularised it and took it too new levels. It’s the cornerstone of heavy metal soloing.

Listen to or watch Eruption

He’s definitely up there with Clapton or Hendrix. I’m sure it was Tom Morello who said that in the legacy of guitar playing, there was Hendrix and then there was Van Halen and those are the two critical turning points in the history of guitar playing.

On EVH…

Eddie Van Halen is commonly known for his innovative performing and recording styles in blues-based rock, tapping, intense solos and high frequency feedback

The All Music Guide has described him as “Second to only Jimi Hendrix…undoubtedly one of the most influential, original, and talented rock guitarists of the 20th century.”.

And conversely

He is ranked 70th on the Rolling Stone list of Top 100 guitarists.

Now Jake E Lee, at least that lad had styleee..

Sorry?

Are you talking about the same Jake E Lee that was in Ozzy Osbourne’s band after RR died? Apart from ‘Bark at the Moon’ (the song), I don’t remember any of his guitar playing to be near to compare to RR’s – Suicide Solution, Over the Mountain, Mr Croweley…

there was Hendrix and then there was Van Halen and those are the two critical turning points in the history of guitar playing.

Yep, both re-wrote the book when they developed their style.

You know, it is possible to be the ‘greatest’ band ever, yet be so far out in front by popular opinion, to also be the most overrated .. 😉

And scousers.

Eddie Van Halen is commonly known for his innovative performing and recording styles in blues-based rock, tapping, intense solos and high frequency feedback

Clapton copy then with a bit of Townsend thrown in?

Van Halen were also enormous in the US, but less so here so their influence is probably less apparent in the UK. They were the ultimate college frat boy party soundtrack in the eighties. Unbelievably big in the US.

Being popular in the US makes you great? I always thought that Van Halen were second rate copies of the real thing

If you think so TJ, then yes – that definitely IS your opinion.

I just copied and pasted the Wiki entry on him so clearly that opinion of him is commonly known but, as always, you know better than common opinion.

Clapton copy then with a bit of Townsend thrown in

Clapton’s far from original.

were second rate copies of the real thing

The real thing being….

The real thing being bands like Deep purple, black sabbath, Cream and so on. The 70s originals

The real thing being….

A tremendous album.

The real thing being bands like Deep purple, black sabbath, Cream and so on. The 70s originals

But Van Halen are an entirely different sort of band to any of them so hardly a copy.

TJ, perhaps you could tell us what you feel best defines greatness?

If it’s not sales, and it’s not popularity (and I wouldn’t disagree with that), what is it?

The real thing?

ICMC

Problem with all music threads is a lot of it is about taste and opiniion. No hard facts. I must confess I had never heard EVH referred to in this reverential way before.

Cougar – Member
The real thing being….
A tremendous album.

Agreed.

And great live.

Cougar – Member

TJ, perhaps you could tell us what you feel best defines greatness?

If it’s not sales, and it’s not popularity (and I wouldn’t disagree with that), what is it?

Impossible to define – a lot of it is about taste – critical acclaim?

mastiles_fanylion – Member

The real thing being bands like Deep purple, black sabbath, Cream and so on. The 70s originals

But Van Halen are an entirely different sort of band to any of them so hardly a copy.

I thought they were supposed to be metal – a style created in the UK in the 70s by bands such as I mention – no?

mikey74

EVH is nothing compared to those people. A decent guitarist perhaps but nothing compared to the greats – maybe Moore should not be in that list.

A whole new style of playing? educate me – must be a youtube clip you can show me to demonstrate

I can’t at the moment, but I will find something when I get home tonight.

The fact is that EVH inspired a whole new generation to pick up a guitar, and that is undeniable.