intha916 said:

They aren't nearly as commercial as those other cats you listed and keep a strong underground following. Huh?

chickengrease said:

Overrated by the underground, aint that a bitch.

More undrrated acts: Fishbone, Human League, and Adam Ant.

Essence said:

Actually yea they are overrated by the underground "heads" out there. I can't tell you how many times people have tried to tell me ?uest is a GREAT drummer. Look the Roots get props because they play. Problem is they don't play that well and I haven't been impressed with their output. From Jay-Z to Emenim the Roots have been the band to call when a top hip hop act is doing a live set. When in fact both could have put a much better band together to back them but they selected them because they are "The Roots" I feel they live off their name more than their real skilz.

Underrated: Donnie Hathaway, Franck Zappa...

Anyone who thinks Bob Dylan is over-rated doesn't know much about Bob. Granted he does not have a great voice, but he is a lyrical genuis who sings and writes with his heart and doesn't give a shit about hit songs or selling cd's. Bob is a true pioneer and deserves the utmost respect from everyone. Buy a cd or two and listen with an open heart and you just might eventually get "it".

Bob Dylan's lyrics may be poetic and he may have broken new ground with that, which is totally respectable. However, his voice and his instrumentation is nothing to write home about, in my opinion.

here's a big on I forgot:

underrated:

KRAFTWERK

so damn far ahead of their time. influenced not only the techno scene but also hip hop.

intha916 said:

They've been mentioned by a few people. I wholeheartedly agree.

Overrated: Creed(man, do they suck ), N.E.R.D., The Strokes, Ashanti, and did I mention Nirvana?

Underrated: Bauhaus, The B-52's, India.Arie, Ani DiFranco, Eagle-Eye Cherry, Beck, James Chance and that whole underground "No Wave" movement, Madness (but I guess you could file that under the 2-Tone roster.), Fela Kuti and the Africa 70, and Ben Folds Five.

NWF said:

[This message was edited Mon Apr 14 15:06:22 PDT 2003 by Moonbeam]

Moonbeam said:

Thank you, Moonbeam. I thought I was the only one who believed that. What do you think of some of the underrated artists I posted?

Oh yeah, China Crisis is another underrated act.

NWF said:

Bauhaus, B-52's, India.Arie and Madness are definitely underrated in my opinion, but I'd also say that N.E.R.D. and the Strokes are. I feel their material is so fresh and innovative, something that's totally lacking in the current industry. I'm not familiar enough with the other artists to be a fair judge.

kisscamille said:

Alright some of you guys are making me sick with some of your over-rated artists. Nirvana? The Beatles? Aerosmith? AC/DC?(THE band of my jr high years...some great memories associated with them) ARETHA FRANKLIN??? The Police? BOB fuckin DYLAN??? Y'all are on CRACK!

My list of Over-rated?

Dave Matthews Band
Alicia Keys
Creed
Celene Dion
All those current punk/pop bands out there right now.


Under-rated?

Gomez
Travis
The Jam/Paul Weller
The Beta Band

All of the bands above are underrated in the US...I am pretty sure they all were/are pretty big in the UK and other places in the world. Anyone can confirm?

Prince
Genesis
WILCO!!! (best American band out there right now)
Wendy & Lisa
The Band (practically invented country rock along with Bob Dylan...but doesn't get NEAR the props they deserve. Richard Manuel had one of the best voices in rock...EVER!)

intha916 said:

I'm happy you mentioned Prince because I have always thought he is under-rated and definetely a legend! You're dead on with your over-rated list(except maybe Em, I think he's earned his status) I just wonder if any of the peeps you listed ever wonder if they are da shit or they just got lucky...

Pagey said:

OK, I'll give you props for the Jam, cuz I like Paul Weller as well as his work with the Style Council. But I don't know about Travis and Wilco. Maybe I should listen to more of their stuff. And don't tell me you don't think Nirvana isn't overrated.

NWF said:

I think the respect Nirvana gets is warrented. They kinda shook things up in the early 90's. Pop music was in a similar state as it is today, and they kinda reopened the door for hard, raw, emotional, real rock n roll. I love that kind of music anyway & it was so refreshing to hear back then and I play their music on a pretty regular basis. They are in no way overrated according to my ears.
BUT Definately check out Wilco & Travis. Both extremely talented bands.

pejman said:

It would be a safe bet to assume they do think they are the shit. Take Em for example. Just look at an interview with Em 3 years ago and then peep him 2003 style. On the MTV special about hip hop, he had me rollin. Dude was sittin up there lookin like he was being interviewed by 60 minutes or somethin'. Most cats fall into this "I'm a serious artist" trap but the fact it was Emenim made it even funnier.

intha916 said:

The Roots as a hip-hop unit don't showcase their skills on album. And every single one of those cats has skills...the only exception I would say is Kamal...but I've never heard him solo. Even if you don't think they play that well, the fact that they can produce a hip hop show with live instrumentation without a dj and 500 sidekicks hoppin around on stage should be impressive to any music lover. I just don't get the overrated status considering that if you ask any fan of Jay-Z or Ememim if they like the Roots, you'd more than likely get the response of "Who?"

Pagey said:

---

no, i don't believe they are on crack. a lot of the people, not all, but a lot, that list artists as overrated, weren't around when those artists were in their prime, and so really don't know what their true influence was.

that's why i wrote what i posted about dylan, somewhere way back earlier in the thread.

also, a lot of folks don't differentiate between what they like and what is over/under rated. there are many artists that i don't particularly like, but i know they had profound influence and are major artists. take springsteen for example, he just doesn't really move me at all, but i know he is a very important, influential artist, despite whether or not i like him.

chickengrease said:

Thanks. you summed it up with this line:

"the fact that they can produce a hip hop show with live instrumentation without a dj and 500 sidekicks hoppin around on stage should be impressive to any music lover"

No what should impress me is good music being made by a band. That's my point. Sorry, but I'm not giving props just because these fools play instruments. Same goes for Alicia Keys. Now-a-days, we act like seeing someone play is like creating fire a million years ago. I come from an era where there were 200+ acts just as good or better than the Roots and Alicia. They benefit from the low expectations we have with today's music scene. I stand by my overrated comment on both.
[This message was edited Tue Apr 15 8:24:10 PDT 2003 by intha916]

Overrated, Bob Dylan: He is a great artist with great lyrics, who deserves a place in history, but I get mad when rock critics act like he is the greatest song writer ever on the planet. He has great songs, but is never consistant, except strangely for his newest stuff; which is great.

Alicia Skeez..I mean Keys. Fitty Cent (50), Greatful Dead, The Band, Mozart, Bach, Velvet Underground, The Strokes, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell, The Kinks, AC/DC, Madonna, LL Cool J, Run DMC, PM Dawn, Chic, Donna Summer, Def Leppard, Duran, Duran, Tricky, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Celine Dion, Kraftwerk (suckwerk), U2, D'angelo, Musiq (icky, pooey, )

Unerrated: PRINCE (by a mile. Boy, the critics hate my lil bro. I'd say, he is the most unfairly picked on artist in music history.), Terrence Trent D'arby, Rahsaan Patterson (A shame, this motherfucker is the new Stevie Wonder, but noone cares, especially his wack record company.), Michael Franks, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Ratt, Living Colour, Urban Dance Squad, Portishead, 70's Elton John, Digable Planets, Common, Talib Queli, The Roots, Culture Club, Wham (Not kidding,lol.), Color Me Badd, The Family Stand, Lisa Stansfield, Keith Washington, Wall Of Voodoo, Circle Jerks, Frank Zappa.

2freaky4church1 said:

Your over-rated list is a joke (to put Alicia Keys in the same paragraph as Mozart, Joni, the Band, and Bach is too fucking funny then to list Wham! as under-rated )...but I will agree with Terence Trent D'arby. Its a shame people forgot about him after the debut...his voice is an instrument unto itself. Wild Card is one of the best albums of 2002 imo.

2freaky4church1 said:

Some real problems with a few on your overrated list:


Run-DMC: Raps first supergroup. Part of the reason Hip Hop is mainsteam today is due to these brothers.

LL: 10 Albums covering 20 years! That shit is unheard of in the rap game.

Mozart & Bach: Ridiculous to even bring them onto this discussion.

Kraftwork: Name another group that spawned two different forms of music (hip hop and techno... and could even argue house) Of all on your list, saying these cats were overrated is the most foolish.

I'm sorry that I don't thin robots fucking other robots is funky. Electric music should be warm and have soul. Kraftwerk is quirky nonsense. No groove or soul.

Even Zappa said he thought Mozart and Bach sucked.

I like Joni Mitchell, but don't think she is great.

Like LL And Run DMC, but it is not genius music. Tricky rymes are not enough. Public Enemy, now that's the jelly.

2freaky4church1 said:

Agree with PE. As far as what Zappa said, really means little to me. Just another opinion. And you totally misunderstand the importance of Kraftwerk. Your arguments about them not being warm or soulful is a waste of time. That's not what they were about nor is it what makes them important in music history. Kratwerk is all about the beats. For better or worse, they were the first group to focus on the BEATS as the driving force in a song. The "numbers" beat was the basis of one of the all time classic jams, Planet Rock, which launched Hip Hop into another gear. Kraftwerk launched the whole "Electric Funk" sound of early hip hop. That alone makes it ridiculous to lump them in an underrated category with people like Ahanti. Doesn't matter if you like them or not, it's a matter of their place in music history. I have more I can share if you want to go to school on Kraftwerk but I think I'll leave it at that for now.