B5Erik

Or the credit - it all depends on your point of view!

Personally, I say credit. The older I get and the more I learn about music, the more subtle sophistication I hear in a lot of those songs... on top of some killer riffs and infectiously catchy vocal melodies!

To each his own, though.

Hokeyboy

Nine Inch Nails -- absolute garbage that a trained monkey with a nervous disorder could compose in less time than it takes to scarf down a Hoho.

And Ace was (and is) sloppy as hell and that's one of the reasons why he was one of the best parts of Kiss. Although people who dismiss the group as talentless hacks never paid attention to the music because they couldn't get past the relentless merchandising and promotion.

NoirFan

Pearl Jam, Rush, Tool and 70s Who are all grating to my ears.

The Cow

I really like the stuff he has done with his own band also. They are a good time live.

As for the topic, Nirvana and NIN are pretty high on that list.

stingermck

This. I came in the thread to see if anyone had the balls to say it. Other honorable mentions would be Metallica, and Rage against the Machine.

Corleone316

Led Zeppelin
The Rolling Stones

Rainet

Definetely Kiss, but i love Kiss. But the lyrics are rediculous. The irony is, the my favorite Kiss songs has the worst lyrics. All i have to do is catch myself singing along to Love Gun and i crack up everytime. Catchy riffs but over the top inane lyrics.

B5Erik

But that's what Rock and Roll is supposed to be all about! Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis - Rock and Roll! Lyrically there isn't much difference between them and KISS.

Personally, I'll take the "Inane," lyrics of "Love Gun" over any Pearl Jam or Nirvana song any day of the week. I'm not big on Pretentious Rock - unless the music is just killer!

Rainet

You just made me shoot soda out of my nose as i am now picturing Elvis singing Love Gun with his famous hip thrust.

B5Erik

Damn, it's a shame he died just a couple months after Love Gun came out! That would have been a great song for him to cover...

...well, after he lost about 50 pounds, maybe. I could easily picture the Elvis of 1972 or so doing it. That would have been classic!

(And, let's face it, the lyrics to Love Gun are just the 1970's version of Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On! Jerry Lee and Elvis did both start on Sun!)

UAIOE

I still think that one of the requirements for attending a four year college is that you must own or like this group. Everyone I have ever met who admitted they liked Dave Matthews Band was attending some University.

My theory about their popularity is that its "the band you feel you need to listen to when you go to college to make you feel accepted".

Giles

oh this is too easy:

Arctic Monkeys

NoirFan

Ditto. When I was in college, they were inescapable. Since then, I have lived a blissful DMB-free existence.

cranberries fan

The Rolling Stones (For the Band )

(Artist) that would be Elivs.

The most underrated is Roy Orbison The-Greatest-Male-Artist-Of-All-Time.
he was the best thing next to Buddy Holly to come out of Texas.

Giles

I find most every band/artist on XM's channel: (Flight) 26 like Dave Matthews Band so utterly bland and commercial I want to slam a rusty spoon into my ear.

slop101

Both types of lyrics have their place and work equally well if the artist writing and/or singing them is genuine about it. Is it pretentious when someone's just being honest?

nothingfails

I agree. IMO, Pretentious is when you're trying to be deeper than you really are and it backfires. Someone like Bono or Eddie Vedder singing about issues that are important to them instead of about partying and chicks are not being pretentious IMO.

Anyways, I think the "simple songs" came to bite KISS in the ass in the long run. Look at how fans refused to accept an album like The Elder from them because they wanted simpleminded songs like Rock N Roll All Night and Love Gun. So while it helped them at the start, it probably stunted them from becoming a greater band and they had to resort to pop-metal in the late 80's to stay on the charts because the fans proved with The Elder that they were never going to accept anything deeper from them.

Drexl

You know, even though I love them, I don't get too upset when someone says the Beatles or U2 are overrated. They do get a lot of praise, and I can see why someone who isn't into them would think "it's all too much." It's kind of like how I feel about the Yankees.

I don't think Dave Matthews Band are highly rated, are they?

nothingfails

I guess it depends where you live. I live in Louisville KY, so there's a number of colleges around here, people think they're so cool in college if they namedrop DMB as a favorite band

Norm de Plume

U2
Velvet Underground
Crowded House
Big Star
Ron Sexsmith

printerati

DMB, U2, 311.

They are barely rated, much less overrated, in this country.

NoirFan

Although neither were big commercially, both of these bands were hugely influential - Big Star was ground zero for power pop, and VU inspired countless artists. Big Star, in their original incarnation, released three albums. Two of them are absolute masterpieces - #1 Record and (the flawed but essential) Third, and their middle record, Radio City, has it's moments, including the utterly sublime "September Girls". Even Chris Bell's solo album, the bleak, harrowing I Am the Cosmos, is fantastic. As for The Velvet Underground, no serious record collection should be without Velvet Underground & Nico or their self titled third album. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree that either one of these bands are overrated. The term "overrated" is rather arbitrary anyway. For me, the first Godfather is a fantastic film, but the second is simply one of the best American films ever made. Since people always seem to place the first slightly about the second, I would say that it is overrated. On the other hand, I find Forrest Gump to be a gooey, sentimental piece of claptrap that celebrates stupidity. Among a certain segment of the population, as well as several mainstream critics, it is a beloved film. So, to me, both The Godfather and Forrest Gump are overrated, but the degree to which I find them each to be overrated is wildly different.

auto

Thanks buddy. Saved me some typing.

redhenry

Oh wow. I thought I was an orphan in thinking that these bands were overrated:
Nirvana
Green Day
Radiohead
Coldplay
Metallica
Pearl Jam

I will add:
Foo Fighters
Timberlake
Spears
Aguilera
Beyonce
Kylie Minogue
All rap 'artists'
All Hip Hop 'artists'.

nothingfails

I can definately tell you're Australian for that. In the US, Kylie is almost completely unknown outside of the gay community where she's revered as a diva. But even with a lot of promotion, she couldn't get her last album above #139 on the album chart.