I'm gonna have to say Tori Amos. Her voice is shrill and most of her songs are not very melodic.

Yes. That 2.9 million was a long time ago. Most of those fair-weather fans have moved on to something else. Nowadays her albums are only certified gold if anything at all.

Then she's a has-been, not a cult item. A cult item is someone who is only ever popular with a small group of individuals. Madonna's "American Life" only went gold - by that extension is she also a cult item?
[Edited 3/7/05 19:49pm]

Madonna was popular from the beginning. Tori wasn't.

She GOT popular, though. That's the point.

I think popular is a relative term. Tori never had a hit single in her entire career unlike Madonna who is queen of the charts. And 2.9 million copies of one record over the course of 13 years isn't really that much in todays market.

BTW, American Life is certified platinum.

Hey, whatever you say.

All I know is that Janet Jackson didn't start off popular, The Velvet Rope has only sold 3.1 million copies over 8 years, and Damita Jo struggled to go platinum. So you know what, she qualifies as a cult figure!

C'mon, you're ignoring the sales of Control, Rhythm Nation and Janet. The sales of those albums in addition to all those platinum singles blow Tori out of the water!

Its very easy to put him in this thread.....
Like I said, 50's.....
Right place, right time.....
Rock & Roll would've still exist,
even if there's was no Elvis.....
He's just overhyped, dead as well as alive.....
I remember seeing his comeback special....
I'm still trying to figure out the big deal.....
[Edited 3/7/05 17:58pm]

And can we please add Tori Amos to the list?

Then she's a has-been, not a cult item. A cult item is someone who is only ever popular with a small group of individuals. Madonna's "American Life" only went gold - by that extension is she also a cult item?
[Edited 3/7/05 19:49pm]

vainandy said:

"Watered-down, non-funky, midtempo shit."

Sorry, a cult figure isn't someone who's ever sold 2.9 million copies of 1 album.

But you just described MANY artists...dead and alive (Janis and Jimi...heck even Nirvana) You know I think that my generation and ones after mine don't get elvis. I'm 34. I didn't get Elvis for a long time. Just didn't get him. I grew older and have been exposed to his works and can say that for his time and everything he did a LOT. Not the best music...but much of it was really good.

Same with James Brown. He's sort of a "first" too. A lot of his music is quite similar in sound...and if he had passed perhaps over a decade ago...or before his troubles, he would be in the same view as Elvis. Trust me Elvis is not overrated...over hyped when ever they find a new tune or something like that...but over rated

Like I said it's hard to put artists like Elvis, Beatles or JB on a thread like this. There is no over rated...you just don't like them.

Nirvana. I will never ever understand why they continue to pop up on these top 10 and top 20 lists of artists of ALL time? Why? There are a few songs by them that I like, but they don't deserve the all of the praise they get. I think they just so happened to fill a void during the 90's.

Erikah Badu...her wanna be African goddess gimick, and her pot-head spirituality

Beyoncé...Nothing bad to say here. Just too much exposure for not really doing anything.

Mary J. Blige...talking in 3rd person queen! some good songs but nothing we really haven't heard before. Just because you wail and sweat on a stage doesn't mean you are actually "sangin'" Self proclaimed 'queen of hip hop soul'?? Ok let's just make up titles.."I'm king of backwoods funky pop-rockin' soul blues!"

Elvis...I like. But he was just at the right place at the right time. Sorry folks..he was basically a "dance" act himself!

Eminem... Pure unfiltered shit!

Kid Rock... I guess there's a market for everybody.

Justin Timberlake...See Eminem. "Hey ma! Look at me..I'm down! gun fire.."Mommy!!!!"

White Stripes...3 words, WHAT THE FUCK!?!

Usher... See his brother Justin above. Another nasty piece of shit!

50 Cent...Yep..his name just about sums it up.




That was fun! Thanks kanamit


forgot an "R" EDIT.
¤
[Edited 3/7/05 12:46pm]

When was that law passed?

Sorry, a cult figure isn't someone who's ever sold 2.9 million copies of 1 album. Even if their time HAS passed and all that's left is the die-hards. Just because you don't have a hit single doesn't mean you aren't popular.

30 years ago I would have agreed with you, but Eminem can sell 2 million albums in one week. It's not such a big number anymore.

What are you talking about? Most artists would KILL to sell that many copies of one album. There will always be one or two big league albums that sell 8 million copies in 1 year but diamond certifications are getting rarer and rarer for a reason.

Who Do You Think r the most overrated artists ever
Here my list

1- U2
2- R Kelly
3- Madonna
4- Elton John
5- Rod Steward

and many more of course( Eminem, Snoop, Cher, Lionel Ritchie....

I agree with a lot of your entries but i need to comment on one that keeps popping up thats pissing me off.

There is no way Elvis is overrated.

I am not a big fan of Elvis, and yes, he didn't invent rock n roll...however he made it accessable to the masses. He's the one that clicked with so many ears that he made some of them pick up a guitar and want do what he was doing. Yeah, he didn't write his own music, and he was popular for his looks and dance moves as much as his music at the time. But his influence is monumental within the history of rock. Without Elvis there would be no Beatles...John Lennon said many times Elvis is the reason he picked up a guitar. There are many other artists from that era (including Eric Clapton, Brian Wilson, Keith Richards/Mick Jaggar, and Pete Townsend to name a few) who say Elvis was a big reason they got into rock n roll in the 1st place. I think Elvis is an easy target for these kinds of questions but you need to look at other things beyond whether he wrote his own music to write him off so easliy.