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What are the 5 most overrated rock albums?

1. The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. The songs on this album are nowhere near as memorable as those on "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul". For that matter, this album is nowhere near as innovative, nor ultimately as influential, as either "Pet Sounds" or the first Velvet Underground album. I'm not the first to point out that blame for such artless excess as all seventeen minutes of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida rests primarily with Sgt. Pepper.

2. Pink Floyd: The Wall. All of the criticisms usually applied to late 70's stadium rock, i.e., that it was pretentious, bloated, pseudo-intellectual,and self-indulgent; apply doubly to this crock opera. If you want witty and insightful philosophizing on the human condition, read Nietzsche, H.L. Mencken, or Michel Foucault. To seek such wisdom from pop music, a genre defined by its righteous Dionysian folly, is the greatest folly imaginable.

Pearl Jam: 10. Johnny Rotten was bang on when he described Pearl Jam as "bloody awful" and as sounding like "Joe Cocker singing for Black Sabbath." To my ears, this sounds like so much bland 70's rock (e.g., Bad Company). As The Monkees are to The Beatles, so are Pearl Jam to Nirvana.

4. U2: The Joshua Tree. I don't know where to begin. These guys plagiarized Joy Division, and set their sublime riffs to dumbass lyrics bespeaking the most niave sort of Oprah Winfrey meets Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms bourgeois liberalism. I've said it before, I'll say it again: If you make me listen to a record by someone named Bono, his first name better be SONNY.

5. Bob Marley & The Wailers: Exodus. Not only was Bob Marley not, by a long shot, the best pop music figure to come out of Jamaica, he wasn't even my favorite member of The Wailers. The monomaniacal cult of personality surrounding the deceased Robert Nesta Marley comes at the expense of all the other, far more exciting, music to come out of that poverty-stricken island. As Lester Bangs put it:

"Toots and the Maytalls, who never got promoted properly, are the real heat from a Stax/Volt kitchen, whereas Marley always struck me as being so laid back he seemed almost MOR. Rastaman Vibration was the last straw: an LP obviously calculated to break Disco Bob into the American Kleenex radio market full force, complete with chicklet vocal backdrops chirping 'Pos-i-tive!'
tweakgeek
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Regarding The Wall-to me this album singles the end of Floyd-with Waters ego taking over but alternatively indicating that he pretty much was being left to do it all himself anyway,the musical contribution that they all use to make was long gone by then,as such the cohesion of their earlier work is gone....
It's always been flawed to me-it would have made a classic single album and it does feature some great music but it does also descend into pompositity as the album progresses.
There are some interesting ideas about the world of the rock star but these don't really get developed or realised-Tbadder is off on some of his analysis as it's obviously a very personal album to Waters,I mean surely you are not suggesting that Water's ripped off the idea of his father's death during WW2 which hangs over the first quarter of the album?
As for the social relevance mmm not so sure maybe about school but most of society doesn't get to become rock stars,I think most of the impact tends to be on the personal themes-self-worth,alienation,lonliness,childhood and yes you are right Waters is hilarious his commentary on The Wall DVD is exceptionally funny.
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Anything by Moby, Creed, Korn, M&M, Bush, Filter, Garbage, Smash Mouth and Rage Against The Machine......whoops got caried away. Ben Campbell, Neil Young's newest release doesn't even come close to how pathetic Zuma was. Never-the-less, Neil Young still remains my hero.

Here's my question: When todays youth is old and gray are they going to be sitting around the campfire singing songs of the bands I trashed??
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docwarnock
63 posts
 
Seems like we've hit a raw nerve here. I've got to agree with Beowulf and point out that we would be well served not to take rock so seriously. If you are looking to drug-addled twenty-somethings to lay bare the true meaning of life, existence and everything for you, then you are in a world of hurt.

There is a reason for the saying "sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll." Take rock for what it is --- and enjoy it! If you are looking for truth and meaning, look elsewhere.
jbweaver
33 posts
 
I suppose whether an album is "overrated" must be assessed in reference to how an album is rated. When I was growing up, Sgt. Pepper's was considered the greatest album of all time by many, and it was the first record I owned. By that measure, it is clearly overrated for the reasons Tweak mentioned. Listening to it in the 1990s I found it dated. With an upgraded system, I have returned to it and enjoy listening to parts of it again. An influential album but not as good as the earlier hype or the other Beatles albums listed or "Pet Sounds" in some ways. Though far less talented than the Beatles, I have also returned to the early Stones stuff and found it much more clever and enjoyable than when I was listening to it on car speakers.

Though sometimes enjoyable, by the measure laid out above, I would consider The Who overrated. However, The Who and much of the music dismissed above I like much better than the new stuff I hear on the radio. Where might I turn instead?
ben_campbell
1,169 posts
 
Tweakgeek-give us a laugh-what are your Top 5 albums of all time?
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