My favorite line: In the shopping mall of popular music, Green Day is the store “Hot Topic.”
REO Speedwagon
Oddly enough, for most over-rated bands, I would include:
The Beatles,
Michael Jackson,
U2, and
Madonna
I don't really like either Elvis or the Rolling Stones but I'm not sure they're over-rated to the extent that these others are.
U2
Dylan is the greatest songwriter of all time. His standing has nothing to do with Rolling Stone but with the quality of his songs.
Crosby, Stills and Nash (forget Young) released one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Young added nothing to the group.
Personally I like Stevie’s music better than Fleetwood Mac though it isn’t a bad band.
There is a long list of rockers I would classify as overrated including Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Boston (flame away), Blondie, Yes, ELP....no doubt others will come to mind.
Green Day is shopping mall punk. Garbage.
The Pistols were it. Not the poseer and bankwagon jumping Clash or all the US frauds like Henry Rollins.
The Ramones were good but it was sort of comic book punk. MC 5 or Iggy and the Stooges - nah.
Beatles. They name EVERYTHING after them in New England...it gets tired real fast...
I agree with Bob Dylan, CSNY and Green Day
I would add Jimi Hendrix and The Doors
Agreed on Dylan, Green Day, not on the others.
I’ll add two:
Dave Matthews Band. I do NOT get the appeal. Soft, whiny shit. He’s a good musician, but that doesn’t mean the SONGS are good.
The Grateful Dead. Unless you’re stoned, it’s just not that good.
Whitney Houston
Mariah Carey
[Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young]
I’ve never heard of these guys.
Dylan, Springsteen and U2.
Never listened to Bob Dylan, love Fleetwood Mac, hate Green Day, like Tom Petty, never heard of that other band.
Never got it.
Maybe it’s just that Rolling Stone Mag is overrated...
no other way to say it.
you are totally out of your mind.
bob dylan overated? you are kidding right?
Rush. I just don’t get it.
The list fails to prove its stated thesis and moves the goalposts at will. If there’s “no way to quantify” then why is the author quoting record sales figures?
Actually there is a way to quantify: count media appearances and mentions and record company hype and compare these to longevity, sales, tickets, etc. It’s more difficult but the author can’t be bothered. Which doesn’t exactly buttress his position.
A better column and/or more easily-tested thesis would be: which bands’ hype outstripped their output and/or their influence?
You leave Dylan off the list simply because of the musicians who were influenced by him. Frankly I can do without any folkie with only an acoustic guitar for accompaniment but I love the Byrds and you can draw a line from Dylan to the Byrds to ... Tom Petty who is also on this list and should be excused.
And why - *WHY* - does any critic use the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame as a measurement? The selection committee is comprised strictly of has-been hipsters like Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone and his army of sycophants. Arguments about who’s in and who’s out are pointless when the selection committee is simply playing favorites and CSN are particular favorites (read: friends) of Wenner.
No doubt the majority of responses here will be ‘bands that are/were popular but the poster doesn’t personally like them’ and that, unfortunately, is the wrong way to go about it.
The list should be focused on media-fueled creations and so here are five of them:
Sex Pistols
The Strokes
Britney Spears
Any Maurice Starr/New Kids/Backstreet Boys/NSYNC product
Dixie Chicks (both pre and post GWB controversy)
U2,
Ugh I'd say THEY'RE over-rated.
and Madonna
Please, put down the crack pipe.
This smells like an AA entry.