"Corona", the Jackass theme song. Great song, but I've never really listened to much of their other stuff to comment on them. I'll check em out.

+1 on the Ventures, I've always liked surf rock for some reason (Pulp Fiction probably).

I think Nirvana was an incredible band on their studio albums. That said I get that not everyone would like them. It was polished indie rock/punk and many people don't like the polished part. And I don't think anyone would argue KC was a good guitarist, but they weren't really a guitar-centric type of band. He just played the right thing at the right time for the song which was good by me.

With that out of the way, how in the world can anyone say their albums sound the same? Bleach, Nevermind and In Utero were very different albums. Not just in terms of songwriting but production. One sounds like a glorified demo, the next is an over the top Butch Vig job, and Steve Albini after that.

I don't know that Slash is overrated as he's pretty good, but he's definitely overexposed. I'm pretty sure he'll make a cameo in this thread before it's done.

I am enjoying reading this thread but have nothing to contribute other than James Taylor IS NOT overrated. He's tremendous!

But I can't really contribute because I have a very specific wheelhouse when it comes to music. About mid 60's to mid 70's. Everything before that I call oldies and everything after it "new" stuff. Don't get me wrong as I love a lot of oldies and "my" new stuff but I never had enough attachment to it as I do with my wheelhouse era.

But over/under rating is very subjective and subject to personal taste and preference. For example I hate Nirvana and Radiohead and just never really understood the allure but I am in no position to call them overrated. I know lots of the kids love them.

Pantera I like at their best but once I pick out their best songs, I realized there's only about 10 I'm into.

Anthrax is Anthrax. That's a band with a pretty deep catalog of good music, and they have a fair number of albums listenable the whole way through. Some a little goofy but it works for them. I bought their last one and it's just like the old days, singing about comic book **** again. They're dependable.

Kudzu, have you ever attempted to play non-watered-down Pumpkins music? Grant it, I'm not a Jazz musician, but I find their music to be one of the few places in R&R I can look and find a decent challenge. Outside of a few examples, there isn't much they created that can be conquered in a two-hour sitting*. Yeah, they didn't do fly-off-the-handle shreds, but their rhythms and techniques betray their Jazz leanings. Surely, from your musician background, you fight the dichotomy of bands you loved that you learned to hate after learning a few licks, and vice versa? If you haven't pushed through the cadences, triplets, and odd-ball hammering, and modulations SP did, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.

I didn't say their albums sounded the same, I said they re-released the same songs over and over again on different albums ad nauseum. This is a very different accusation, and it is an accusation I backed up with a link.

Oh, I misunderstood you. My bad.

They also have the Not-Man. Not quite as awesome as Vic Rattlehead or Eddie, but still freaking awesome.

I won't go into why I think so highly of Pantera. That would have to be another thread entirely.

Damn, has anyone in this thread listened to any new music since 1992?

Overrated: Muse

Underrated: Tame Impala (sounds like Pink Floyd mixed with The Beatles), Queens of the Stone Age

I found them particularly lead-footed. No swing at all. Very processed, to the point of killing the groove.

This was discussed in another thread, and I blamed part of that on their lack of a real bass player. I don't recall any obvious jazz leanings, unless it's in some kind of fruitless complication like the fusion guys used to jizz over. I don't remember it as particularly challenging, rhythmically, and the voicings were pretty standard. I guess, since you mentioned Corgan and Iha specifically, it's in the guitar work, which I haven't listened to in a while. I don't recall anything particularly noteworthy, but if you say it is there, I don't doubt it is, and I just overlooked in my haste to get away from it, and my disgust at the very unfunkiness of it all.

I thought it was common knowledge that everything made since the year 2000 is over-rated. Audioslave, Blue October, and The Killers? Yuck.

I think the Cure's new stuff is way underrated. Just love Bloodflowers.

Imogen Heap is underrated as well.

Okay, I can agree with this stuff. Not sure what to make of the bassist, but I was referencing specifically to the guitar work, since that is pretty much the only instrument I can speak intelligently on. Now that I really think of it, there didn't seem to be much notable bass work in their music, but for me to really note, it has to be in your face, like what Greenday or The Offspring did. Call me incomplete, but I don't obsess to hard over the mythical groove you speak of, but perhaps that is because I'm not a percussionist of any manner.

gotta assume that the slow death of rnr radio radio and mtv moving away from music created a schism and not everyone got on the pitchfork indiemusic bus.

Leonard Cohen is a wizard and I guess that's not rock and roll but people mentioned James Taylor so hey.

Suicide was a fun band. Joy Division > any punk band by a mile but more people seem to know about the sex pistols than them bc of their antics and whatnot.

Coldplay sucks.

LOL. I wondered if that might hit a nerve. He seems to be one of those Patron Saints for singer/songwriter types, so I figured you to dig him.

Respect to anyone, I guess, who got to play slap and tickle with Carly Simon on a regular basis. I hope he enjoyed it more than his somnambulist voice would indicate.

Groove is not a myth, sir. It is the most important visceral gift Rock and Roll has given us. Take it away from the Allman Brothers, and they are merely the Grateful Dead with southern accent. It's the primary difference between The Band and the Eagles, or Led Zeppelin and Blue Cheer.

It's the lilt, the movement, the carnal stride in the side-to-side. It's the thang George Clinton used to free your mind so your ass would follow. It separates the men from the boys, the man from monkey, and the lady from her inhibitions.

You don't have to obsess over it, but it is ignored at one's musical peril.

Never was there a movie abut how Stella got her minor seventh chord back.

I can't remember if young Carly Simon was horribly ugly or beautiful. Or both. She wrote great songs, always liked her.

I was being silly about it, and sort of poking fun at you. I certainly wouldn't want to be in a band without some kickin' sounds. Albums can sort of get away with not having it, but if you want to be a good live band, the bass is where it all drills down into the soul. This is what differntiates the experience of rocking on your creaker listening to a paultry blues album and coming home sweating after seeing the same band play live.

I totally get it. No bass equals not good live show.

Speaking of somnambulist voices (and Axl), Lana del Rey goes in the overrated bin.
Chan Marshall, otoh...

Oh, also X for under. Warren Zevon too. Maybe even Steely Dan. Youngsters probably identify them too closely with just the Aja songs.

Captain Beefheart's underrated.

Eta:
Under- Love, Can, The Velvet Underground, Acid Mothers Temple, Thee More Shallows, xiu xiu, My Bloody Valentine, Liars

Eta2: @kioshk... It won't let me load youtube videos atm to clearly illustrate this, but, let's just say that it's one thing to get it right on record, but it's a whole nother ball of wax to have that man's smooth, effortless control, presence, and charisma when performing...

hell yes

The Captain Beefheart wikipedia page's Influence section is pretty incredible. The Clash, Talking Heads, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sonic Youth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Velvet Underground, the Minutemen, Blondie, Devo, The B-52s, The White Stripes, Nirvana, Little Feat, the Sex Pistols, Tom Waits, The Black Keys and the Pixies among many others have all credited Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band with being an influence. Woody Allen's supposedly a big fan.

Under- Al Stewart. If nothing more than his epic "Road to Moscow."