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over-rated and under-rated bands: one man's insober list


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Hey Bluefire, if i am not careful I am gonna start liking this 'electronica' stuff. granted you are probably more into the 'real' stuff where as i am getting into the more popular stuff. But I went and saw Postal Service last night and I really really enjoyed them, never thought it would be my type of music, but in the past year i have seen and thoroughly enjoyed bands like Skillrex, Django Django, Thomas Dolby and now Postal Service....it's pretty infectious music

 

i gotta give the electronica genre a huge thumbs down. a guy playing "music" with a computer is not a band to me.

 

just a personal opinion. i don't get the whole "world famous DJ" or electronica thing at all. I have an itunes shuffling machine on my phone, don't wanna pay 200 to hear the "amazing DJ"

Edited by Ryan L Billz
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I get that completely. My opinion was swayed when I saw these bands live. Now keep in mind, save for skillrex, the others are bands that have someone playing on their computer along with the other insturmentalists, but i just watched some dude, 'pretty lights' on youtube, and while i don't think i could plunk down cash to attend one of his shows, it was very very good, the energy, the crowd interactions...cool stuff, but i get you pov

 

i gotta give the electronica genre a huge thumbs down. a guy playing "music" with a computer is not a band to me.

 

just a personal opinion. i don't get the whole "world famous DJ" or electronica thing at all. I have an itunes shuffling machine on my phone, don't wanna pay 200 to hear the "amazing DJ"

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-- still not really sure what Chef Jim's agenda was here. if he wanted to make a list, have him have at it. as for Kevin, i thought he was more unctuous in playing the role of Chef's lapdog, while lacking the hint of a thought to call his own.

 

jw

 

Oh I had a list mostly on the underrated side but when I added your heroes the Stones to the overrated list my opinion all if a sudden became an agenda. Them when I backed up my reason for why the Stones are overrated (any R&R band treated as gods are overrated [my opinion]) I all of a sudden became a troll.

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Oh I had a list mostly on the underrated side but when I added your heroes the Stones to the overrated list my opinion all if a sudden became an agenda. Them when I backed up my reason for why the Stones are overrated (any R&R band treated as gods are overrated [my opinion]) I all of a sudden became a troll.

 

not entirely how i remembered it. you said you were essentially going to trash anyone considered a rock god. guess i musta misinterpreted that as being some type of lucid point. my mistake.

 

jw

 

the Stones in my opinion are rock and roll's best band. they produced the most important music in the 1960s and '70s, recorded two of the era's best albums, starting with "Exile ..." and have influenced just about everything that's good in music that's followed. i don't care if you disagree. that's my opinion. go ahead and trash away because that has been your stated intention.

Edited by john wawrow
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not entirely how i remembered it. you said you were essentially going to trash anyone considered a rock god. guess i musta misinterpreted that as being some type of lucid point. my mistake.

 

jw

 

the Stones in my opinion are rock and roll's best band. they produced the most important music in the 1960s and '70s, recorded two of the era's best albums, starting with "Exile ..." and have influenced just about everything that's good in music that's followed. i don't care if you disagree. that's my opinion. go ahead and trash away because that has been your stated intention.

 

JW...as one who worships the Stones as "gods", which is the other "best album" of the era....you already mentioned "Exile On Main Street"?

 

Just curious, because on any given day, my favorite rock album of all time could fluctuate between "Exile","Stickey Fingers", "Let It Bleed", and "Beggar's Banquet". I like other albums of theirs a whole lot, but, for me, no rock band has ever been as flawless as the Stones were during that run of albums.

 

I would even throw the live album "Get Yer Ya-Yas Out" in there...because the live performances of some of those songs takes them into places that you didn't hear on the studio recordings..they sounded more menacing and dangerous than the studio albums. It is the earliest live album by a pop/rock band that I can think of, where they weren't trying to sound like the album... a conscious effort to create new songs out of old songs...a concept that rarely works, but Stones hit it out of the park, IMO. Having Mick Taylor in the line-up certaily didn't hurt. Seems like his influence on the bands was more pronounced in live performance than on studio album at that point (1969) I normally fall back on "Let It Bleed" as my favorite..."Gimmie Shelter", "Monkey Man", "Midnight Rambler...amazing songs, amaznig art. Maybe this is another topic for another thread...

Edited by Buftex
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let's get this over with

Over-rated No. 1: The White Stripes

 

hard as Jack White might try to save rock and roll and elicit a long-lost sound, he fails at nearly every step with an over-bearing ego and heavy touch that blots and smudges essentially everything he gets his hands on. this Zepplin wannabe, this self-ascribed "raconteur" has difficulty getting out of his own way with an all-to-smart and smug approach. yeah, i get it. you like, hard rock, Jack, but must you remind us with every wilty vocal and off-key bridge?

 

you really, really want to root for him to succeed, and then you wind up wondering what all this muck is about and supposed to mean.

 

sure, the Stripes have had their moments. "Icky Thump," rocks with a threatening desperation, as does "Screwdriver," and there's a soft beauty to "300 MPH ..."

 

and then you have to slog through all the self-absorbed hoo-haw in which White proceeds to go on and on to show you how smart he is. from the first song off the Stripes first album, "Jimmy the Explorer" to "St. James Infirmary Blues." and you go on through the entire playlist to find as many duds -- "Conquest" and his off-key, cloying remake of "Jolene." must we continue to discover that Jack will attempt to amaze with his attempts to do it all, and then disappoint us in proving that he can't.

 

and all the while you're listening, it's difficult to surpress the desire to pick up a Led Zeppelin album and wonder whether Jimmy and Co. didn't do it all better?

 

prolific as he is, White''s agenda is overly ambitious to such an extent that it pokes holes in his talent. that was particularly and peculiarly apparent on White's over-bearing touch in producing and contributing to Loretta Lynn's album, "Van Lear Rose." the record succeeds because of Lynn, and despite White, who seems to consider himself Loretta's equal by attempting to infuse his sound throughout the record.

that is so unlike what Rick Rubin did in staying mostly behind the scenes while nurturing Johnny Cash's final albums and forays into rock and roll.

in Lynn's case, White seems to be pushing her down the path and nearly off the cliff.

 

and must country music and Nashville, in specific, embarrass itself further in its want to be recognized as "important" and "hip" by awarding White the title of "Nashville Music City Ambassador." really?

 

much of the same can be said regarding White's countless side projects. the Raconteurs come off as forced, a heavier Matchbox 20.

 

The Dead Weather, as i've mentioned previously, pales in comparison to much of what the Kills have to offer.

 

i get he's good, but too often too good for his own sake to the degree that whatever message he's trying to make gets muddled in his own self-absorbance.

 

what White needs more is the occasional intervention than further accolades.

 

 

 

 

Under-rated No. 1: The Drive-By Truckers

no band over this past decade has done more in carrying the rock and roll torch of American-rooted music than the DBTs. period.

and yet no band has been left in the shadowy fringes more than them either. they've hardly rated more than a mention in most traditional publications despite being critically acclaimed. it's a juxtaposition i have difficulty comprehending.

 

having obtained their early influences from southern rock acts, including and especially Skynyrd, the Truckers have evolved into a complete band that produces its own sound, drawing also upon Memphis rhythm and blues and country. they're lineup has boasted as many as four top-notch song-writers at one time, a luxury few bands have rarely had. and it's why the Truckers have proven capable and comfortable in blowing your socks off with such sharp rockers as "Nine Bullets" or "Shut Up and Get on the Plane," to soft country ballads of "Box of Spiders" and Space City -- i dare you not to be moved by that song upon first to 20th listen -- to quirky, off-beat odes to degenerates, from "Dead Drunk and Naked," and "The Night GG Allin Came to Town."

 

they're storytellers at heart, and fronted by the yin and yang duo of Patterson Hood and the very under-rated Mike Cooley.

 

from their ranks, they've spawned Jason Isbell, an under-rated artist in his own right, and his former wife Shonna Tucker.

 

it's Patterson and Cooley, though, who founded the band and have maintained its focus throughout.

 

start with "Pizza Deliverance" and move on up to "Blessing and a Curse." and when you get to "Brighter Than Creation's Dark," give Ghost to Most a listen, because it's as perfect a song as you're going to hear. thing is, the Truckers have many of them. and yet few, from what i can gather, have ever heard of them.

 

they, like many on this list of under-rated acts, deserve more. far more.

 

jw

Since a lot of older groups have been rated either over/under. It's stunning no one mentioned Spooky Tooth possibly Rocks most underrated band of all time. Spooky Two is one of the best rock/blues albums ever. Also, For consideration I offer up Steamhammer. With the underrated Martin Pugh on guitar.
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not entirely how i remembered it. you said you were essentially going to trash anyone considered a rock god. guess i musta misinterpreted that as being some type of lucid point. my mistake.

 

jw

 

the Stones in my opinion are rock and roll's best band. they produced the most important music in the 1960s and '70s, recorded two of the era's best albums, starting with "Exile ..." and have influenced just about everything that's good in music that's followed. i don't care if you disagree. that's my opinion. go ahead and trash away because that has been your stated intention.

 

I may have used the term trashed I'm not going to go back and look and I don't expect you to either. If I did that was wrong I trash very few musicians. As a matter of fact I did say the Stones are a very good band I just feel this Godlike status (not saying you are giving them that status but many do) is way over the top.

 

And I repect your opinion that the Stones are R&R's best band. I could never nor would ever even attempt to give any band that title seeing there are so many types of R&R and my opinion on that changes from day to day. It's based on mood, song, album, lineup etc. etc. I just thought is was funny that as soon as I said they were overrated it is no longer my opinion but me being a troll with an agenda.

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I may have used the term trashed I'm not going to go back and look and I don't expect you to either. If I did that was wrong I trash very few musicians. As a matter of fact I did say the Stones are a very good band I just feel this Godlike status (not saying you are giving them that status but many do) is way over the top.

 

And I repect your opinion that the Stones are R&R's best band. I could never nor would ever even attempt to give any band that title seeing there are so many types of R&R and my opinion on that changes from day to day. It's based on mood, song, album, lineup etc. etc. I just thought is was funny that as soon as I said they were overrated it is no longer my opinion but me being a troll with an agenda.

 

reviewing the discussion, you are correct. my apologies for jumping out of the gate a little too quickly on that front.

 

jw

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reviewing the discussion, you are correct. my apologies for jumping out of the gate a little too quickly on that front.

 

jw

 

No worries man. I know I come across as a contrarian........because I am. As a matter of fact this thread sucks because there are too many replies in it.

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I'm a big DBT fan and also a big fan of former trucker Jason Isbell's solo work. His new album Southeastern is his best yet IMO.

 

agreed 10 fold on isbell, and have mentioned it in a few threads recently.

 

hes had some great songs before, but i think this ALBUM is head and shoulders above any other album start to finish.

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I'm a big DBT fan and also a big fan of former trucker Jason Isbell's solo work. His new album Southeastern is his best yet IMO.

 

you are now the 8th person to recommed Southeastern. obtaining is in the works. and i've got tickets to isbell's show in Buffalo on Aug. 1.

can't wait.

 

Hood just played in Ithaca last week, but it was too tight a timetable for me to get off work and then rush down there. as it turned out, last Friday proved to be a busy day with EJ signing and the whole Mario WIlliams "kill em" story.

 

jw

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