U2
Nirvana
Madonna
Elton John
Beck
R'n'B artists in general(R.Kelly, Usher, Keith Sweat,....)
Oasis
Hip Hop artists in general(LL cool J, Dr Dre, Eminem)
Vocalists in general (Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera)
Pop Rock in general( Muse, Jack Johnson,...)
Punk Rock in general

Sorry for not mentionning specific names, life is too short to think about them.

this is real stupid
you guys are listing people with great voices

i don't listen to most of those you mentioned
but that doesn't matter
most of them that you all listed have a decent voice behind them


i used to think peter garrett was hopeless
but who am i to judge???
it's HIS art, his expression... not mine

these days i love his work
and i'm glad i realised what i did and changed

*edit due to spelling mistake due to lack of sleep due to prince
[Edited 1/5/09 11:34am]

Umm, let me think...

First you have these kind of 'vocal acrobats' who mistake a reach several octaves and unneccesary vocal 'frills' with soulfull, passionate singing.
People like:
- Whitney Houston (alltough she did start rather well, i must say)
- Celine Dion
- Mariah Carey

Keeping it with the soul and R&B, you have a number of singers that seem to 'score' big, but judging on their vocal abilities i have no clue why:
- Janet Jackson
- Rhianna
- Britney Spears

Going into the rock-department now there are some people who might not always be overrated, but which are nonetheless so annoying I can't stand them:
- Thom Yorke, Radiohead (Ooh.. the goddamn whining)
- Those singers from so called 'alternative rock' bands like Creed, Nickleback, Korn, Limp Bizkit and Staind, fake bullshit
- James Hetfield, Metallica (always the same quasi-angry trick)
- Ed Kowalski, live (keeps wishing he was Eddie Vedder or Michael Stipe)

And, yes, as other said.. who or what the f*** is Katey Perry?

Donjuandeblacko said:

Yes and I hate it.

kanamit said:

da fuck u smoking?

funkii said:

Whether they have great voices is subjective.

Michael Dean.

lowkey said:

Let me restate my point with a comparison. Miley Cyrus or John Legend?
Avril Lavigne or Alicia Keys. Believe me i have listened to R&b from the 70ties the point is were in 2009 now howmany from a younger age group make such music still like alicia keys?

Riverpoet31 said:

I know taste is relative, but I still don't understand this....Janet Jackson has been able to sing on key since she was a child. Sure, her voice has become unfortunately lighter over the years, and she usually dances too much to even be able to breathe to sing live, but she still has the natural vocal ability when she sits down and sings. Why is Janet being categorized with those two computer-tuned voices (or whatever that vocal pitch correcting program is called) U have listed with her, who can't be Soul/R&B even when they try? LOL.

I agree that Rihanna and Britney are overrated. Britney should have tried rapping instead, and Rihanna should not be in musical showbusiness. But I think Janet deserves her stardom. Something about Janet's voice has been tolerable to me (plus she's a great performer), unlike the other two.

Timmy84 said:

I agree, but I think Jennifer Hudson is overrated (please don't kill me
) She screams and shouts rather than sings.

I feel all of the posts on this blog that I started.
When I started 'Most Overrated Singers' it was not meant for only r&b, it was that I was thinking of acts that maybe have scored big hits and or drum up lots of media hoopla and fawning fan praise.
I wouldn't chage anyone that I have named, and this includes [b]Patti Labelle, plus I add [b]Bono, [b]Bob Dylan (although a very good songwriter), and as far as rappers (i.e. emcees), well I don't think that is singing, rather I think that artform has mainly contribution to the degradation of the entity known as 'the music business'.
Non-talent runs rampant in all genres, and some of the people I have named, may be able to sing, but not what I would call good singing, but they also lack talent in a real way. Madonna, Briteny, Janet, Ciara, Rhianna and that type are more showwomen, than singers. So when they win in categories as 'Best Female Vocalist' it makes me wanna upchuck.
Back to the hip-hop genre, I am not saying that all rappers have no talent in rhyming - not at all, but what I am suggesting is that the damage done by over-saturation of very tepid foul mouthed gangsta wanna bees and major disrespecters of women emcees has led to a dark cloud over the whole music business. R&B at a point in time couldn't be a hit unless it had a guest rapper. Now the trend has reversed itself, many of the rappers are getting guest vocal appearances from R&B singers. How about some autonomy?
In the end each perosn will like what he or she likes and judge it accordingly.
It is what it is!

EmbattledWarrior said:

To each his own, if thats what you call music then good luck to you, as far as i'm concerned it sums up what the music business/radio/tv are feeding us every day.
In a nut shell, crappy music

RnBAmbassador said:

Of all the 'overrated singers' in music history, this is the initial list you picked? Wow!!

The fact that you left Britney and Madonna off just makes this list lack credibility to me; but that's just me. I respect Madonna's business savvy and love her older stuff, but nobody is more overrated vocally than these two ladies, past or present IMO...I can't respect Britney until she learns how to truly respect herself. They are both good entertainers, but so are the monkeys at the circus, so they are not 'artists' I would heap loads of praise on. Just because an artist can sell sexual imagery and dance well to catchy songs doesn't make them talented...strippers do that every night and aren't getting paid millions of dollars for it, just sayin.

I will agree with you on Ashanti, John Legend, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and Ciara, even though I like some of their songs. Honestly, the majority of them I wouldn't necessarily honor with the title of 'singer'...much of your list I refer to as 'images with soundtracks' (which is pretty much what the music industry consists of nowadays)...with the exception of Alicia Keys. I have never liked her voice or her really, but will say she plays piano very nicely and writes good songs. For me, she's very much like Carol King whose songs I love, but who's voice doesn't do much for me.

Everyone has a different ear for what they like and don't like, but seriously, Patti, really? You leave off over-singers like Beyonce, Whitney, Celine, and Mariah and pick Patti Labelle to top your list? If the reason many would add Patti to their list is because she over-sings and does excessive ad-libbing, than they are probably disliking lots of R&B singers, because that's what lots of them have a tendency to do at some point. I would have put Cher on the list before Patti, even though I don't really dislike her voice. I just think it's highly over-rated for what it is.

Keshia Cole and Robin Thicke both write and produce much of their music, but I wouldn't call them over-rated singers. Their voices aren't amazing, but they are far from being terrible. Vocally, they are in the middle, but far from being over-rated for me.

Janet is probably one of the few artists with mediocre vocals that I love. I've never been able to call her a vocalist, because she isn't. She's more an entertainer, much like Madonna, Britney, and several others, but the reason I like her the most out of this group is because she's doesn't rely on scandal and constant media whoring to define and help sell her music. Sure, she's done some questionable things publicly, but nothing compared to Madonna and Britney who seem to use their images like crutches most of the time, which annoys the living dog doo-doo out of me. If they would learn how to be more discreet with their personal lives, I really wouldn't have a problem with either of them.

Keith Sweat used a lot of that voice altering shit on many of his songs, so still don't get why people are going gaga over it and thinking that any current artist who uses vocoder (or whatever the hell that voice-altering shit is called) and praising artists who use it. To me, voice-altering was only innovative back in the late 80s to mid 90s when Roger did it first and then Blackstreet followed suit. Any artist nowadays who uses is far from being original, innovative, or amazing IMO.

My list would have to include these 'images with soundtracks', since they seem to now be considered actual singers by people who can turn on a radio:

Britney Spears (She's Number 1!)
Ashlee Simpson
Miley Cyrus
The Jonas Brothers
Madonna (love old Madonna...new Madonna, not so much)
Katy Perry
Chris Martin
and the ones I agreed with on the original list.

The word 'singer' really is being thrown around too loosely nowadays...let's just refer to them as entertainers until they prove they are real vocalists. Even though they may have similarities in their jobs, I wouldn't call an architect a carpenter. Just my

WaterInYourBath said:

I agree, i was also thinking about janet's voice a few days ago, and its great. The sound, the tone of her voice is very soothing and unique. Even though she doesn't have a range, or can do really high notes with her voice it very pleasant.

MADONNA is the most UNDERrated singer because it is "in" to slag her now.
Most people forget Evita, Ray Of Light, You ll See and of course the live performances of You Must Love Me.
She has interesting voice and A SOUL unlike Mariah who now doesnt have even voice.

kanamit said:

U2 doesn't deserve to be on there, cause arrogant as he may be, Bono probably is(was) one of the best contemporary rock singers around
Nirvana is a grunge band, they're not even rated as singers so how can they be overated.
As a band they're overrated.
Madonna isn't a singer she's a pop star,
Elton John, in his hay day was probably the best singer in the 70's
Beck's not known for his singing, rather his compositions and song writing.
R. kelly, though a child abuser, is in fact a talented singer, he's just degenerated and whored himself out.
same for Usher (probably not as talented as R. kelly)
etc...

It seems to me you mistaken the subject matter of this thread as Overated Artist...
semantically speaking your assessments are erroneous

WaterInYourBath said:

OK. I tell you what I'm going to do: ( I have something of Janet's in storage if not my brother has her albums) I'm going to go back a listen to her stuff. I'm going to try to keep an open mind because I never like Jimmy Jam or Terry as producers. I'm not suppose to say this here, a fellow formatie told me I couldn't say anything negative about Jimmy J/Lewis. Right.
[Edited 1/7/09 14:34pm]