I'm sorry and I know this is going to tick some people off but I would have to say Madonna. She has earned her status through controversy and controversial music and videos. I don't think that makes her a great singer/musician but it does make her an excellent marketer. Just my opinion though, what about you folks?
Madonna overrated?? I think she makes amazing albums. She will be in the industry as a producer for many years imo. She has an incredible ear for what is trendy. My vote for most overrated is Sheryl Crow. She has a great voice, but her lyrics are stupid, and she is a lousy musician. I saw her play an electric guitar, a bass, and a harmonica in three different songs. She was trying to prove her versatility, but she played all three badly.
Most overrated musician is as specific as best basketball player ever. There are too many overrated musicians to choose from. However, Madonna is a good starting point. All flash and no substance. She was a perfect musical model for the 1980s.
Nirvana has to top my list. Sure they brought about the whole grunge rock thing, but in my opinion, their music was not that brilliant, impressive, nor innovative. Hell, I can play the drum beats for Smells Like Teen Spirit. I may get grilled for saying this, but Aerosmith is another that tops my list. Two GREAT songs in Sweet Emotion and Dream On, but all that fluff, sellout, pop-rock they put out afterwards just irks me.
Madonna is probably the most popular and influential musician in the past 20 years outside of Michael Jackson. Madonna has grown with her fans. When all her fans were teenagers back in the early 80's, she sang club, dance music that wasn't very deep, but fun and easy to listen to (Like a Virgin, Get into the Groove, Borderline). During the late 80's/early 90's, she sang songs that started to tackle social and personal issues as her fan base was growing up and starting to make their own decisions (Papa Don't Preach, Like A Prayer, Express Yourself). During the mid 90's, she went through the "sexual phase" with the Erotica album, when her fans were becoming adults. Now that she's a mother (and most of her early fans probably with families of their own), she's singing those fun songs once again, but this time the real meanings of her songs are a little harder to find. The most overrated to me is Creed...I just never really got into them...I don't know, maybe I'm just getting old.
You-all are missing some blatantly obvious ones: All the pop out there, especially these bubblegum pop artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, and 'N Sync. To say that Nirvana and Radiohead (post OK Computer or not) is overrated and not mention these "artists" is laughable, IMO. I will say though, that I think Pearl Jam is overrated, especially after "Ten" & they are one of my favorite bands. Also, I agree on the selection of Creed and any of those rap-metal bands out there today.
I believe someone needs to elaborate on how a group/singer is overrated. I mean I don't think nsync or the backstreet boys are playing themselves off as great musicians, so how are they overrated? How's Madonna overrated? She's clearly one of the more influential singers in the last 20 years, and unlike Michael Jackson, she still is extremely popular in the states. I think the reason everyone praises Madonna is for her ability to stay popular and change with the times, which is true, so I don't see how she's overrated.
nirvana wasn't even a band when grunge was sowing its oats in the mid-to-late 80's; they were simply the first to break into the mainstream. imo, nirvana is always unfairly maligned for people's inaccurate perception of them. they didn't invent grunge, cobain did not fancy himself john lennon; they were just a garage band that broke at a time when the cyclical music business needed a swift kick in the ass. right place, right time. and, fwiw, the simplicity of punk is it's calling card. jeff, or someone more knowledgeable than me when it comes to music, can correct, but i think the ramones only knew, like, one or two chords. punk was an answer to the bombastic excess of the stones, zepplin and the like that sold big in the early to late 70's.
I don't think I said they "invented" anything. I think I said they brought it about....which may have been vague terminology, but I meant they brought it heavy onto the scene...the mainstream. How can a perception be inaccurate? Perceptions are after all, one's personal way of seeing, discerning, or understanding something.
granted, what i'm trying to say is (still using nirvana as an example): you're rating their music not based on the music itself, but on others' perception of the music. i don't mean to pick on you, HOOP-T -- the thread as a whole is flawed in the same way; i just don't really care about madonna, or most of the other musicians being mentioned. but my feathers get ruffled when people start in on a band i like and admire for reasons beyond the music. it should always be about the music.
Yeah, boy I'll tellya that Beethoven feller couldn't even hold a tune, much less play the pi-anner. Give me Slim Whitman any day of the week! Yodle-ay-ee-hooooo!!!!!
Agree with Madonna - an artist should be judged by what he/she/they create, not by what actual artists create for them so that they can sing over it. Granted, Frank Sinatra never wrote a song, but then again, his voice was awesome. Madonna can't even sing in key and isn't a songwriter of any note. Her music has good hooks, but she's never written or sung a truly classic song. Nor is she an influence to any artist worth a damn. As far as "challenging" listeners, her career can be summed up in one phrase - Catholic girl trying to upset the nuns. How lame is that.
Jennifer Lopez and Cher Both of them CANNOT SING LIVE! They lip sync at their shows and have the help of computers to fix their off tune singing.
