Bands / things you're "Not Allowed" to Dislike...

[KevShmev]

Hendrix is the first that came to mind for me.  I have never been a fan, although I acknowledge his massive influence, unlike a lot of the anti-Beatles "I don't like them, so therefore I refuse to acknowledge how influential they were and still are" crowd.

[ZKX-2099]

Fuck the Beatles. If influence had anything to do with quality we would all still be driving Ford Model T's around because they "did it first."

[Big Hath]

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion about bands and whether you like them or not, but to me it gets silly when people say stuff like "The Beatles weren't that innovative, they just wrote a bunch of pop songs!" because its totally missing the point.  You don't like them, its weird but whatever.  You don't think they did much for music?  Go in a time machine and wipe them out of existence and see what happens. 

where do I sign up?

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Fuck the Beatles. If influence had anything to do with quality we would all still be driving Ford Model T's around because they "did it first."

Well, to further that comparison, if it really was a "they did it first" mindset, we'd all still be listening to reproductions of ancient Egyptian or Indian ritual pieces.

[Ben_Jamin]

I understand the contributions The Beatles made, its just their music sounds a bit dull in studio. When Paul plays their songs live they really come alive. I find it sad they couldnt tour anymore.

[Perpetual Change]

Fuck the Beatles. If influence had anything to do with quality we would all still be driving Ford Model T's around because they "did it first."

Go youtube "The Beatles" and click the first video that comes up. Then youtube "American Bandstand", and click the first thing that comes up.

You can't even pretend there isn't a massive leap in quality and originality. 

[wkiml]

too me its not about whether  someone likes someone or not.....Beatles/Hendrix and the likes

You may not like their sound or be able to connect with the music, but when someone says they are over-rated, than that shows their ignornace...these classic bands were influential on the music you may listen too today and too deny that is just plan silly

[Perpetual Change]

too me its not about whether  someone likes someone or not.....Beatles/Hendrix and the likes

You may not like their sound or be able to connect with the music, but when someone says they are over-rated, than that shows their ignornace...these classic bands were influential on the music you may listen too today and too deny that is just plan silly

Indeed. Mind you, you can be ambivalent on some of the artists, and feel free to say they're not your cup of tea. BUT, in my honest and somewhat militant opinion, anyone who says any of the artists in question are "overrated" is either 1.) too young and/or ignorant to know what popular music was like before the 60's or 2.) too old to be posting on message boards.

Here's my shortlist of PRIMARILY 60's artists you're not allowed to dislike:

The Beatles
Johnny Cash
Cream
Leonard Cohen
Bob Dylan
Jimi Hendrix
The Rolling Stones
The Who

...And there's pretty much a shortlist for every decade. 

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

in my honest and somewhat militant opinion, anyone who says any of the artists in question are "overrated" is either 1.) too young and/or ignorant to know what popular music was like before the 60's or 2.) too old to be posting on message boards.

Your opinion is overrated.

[Scorpion]

While I agree with you PC, I'd still say that you can dislike all these artists - I'd just be hesistant with calling them overrated. Honestly, I don't like a single one of these artists aside from The Who, but I still recognise their importance to the music as a whole.

[BlobVanDam]

too me its not about whether  someone likes someone or not.....Beatles/Hendrix and the likes

You may not like their sound or be able to connect with the music, but when someone says they are over-rated, than that shows their ignornace...these classic bands were influential on the music you may listen too today and too deny that is just plan silly

It's not necessarily ignorant, it's a matter of usage.
There's an important distinction between calling a band's influence overrated, and calling a band's music overrated. Two different things here. Some people may be using it in the first context here, but I hope most would be using it in the latter.
When I say "overrated", I'm personally not speaking of influence at all, I'm talking about quality of music vs popularity of the music. Influence and popularity are fairly objective (as far as music goes), but whether music is good or bad is 100% subjective, and no level of popularity validates one opinion over another.

If I think certain music is not good enough to warrant its current level of popularity, then it's overrated. The average rating from others is over what I would rate it as. Over rated. It's only a relative measure, not an absolute one.

Popularity and influence doesn't have any bearing whatsoever on how good or bad the music sounds to me as a music listener. There's nothing wrong with disliking a band no matter how popular. Anyone who thinks there are bands you're not "allowed" to dislike, or thinks that disliking certain music makes you ignorant has missed the point of music entirely.

[King Postwhore]

too me its not about whether  someone likes someone or not.....Beatles/Hendrix and the likes

You may not like their sound or be able to connect with the music, but when someone says they are over-rated, than that shows their ignornace...these classic bands were influential on the music you may listen too today and too deny that is just plan silly

Dead on.  it's not like we are talking about Herman's Hermits!!

[wkiml]

Blob fully understand where your coming from its when people say Band A's influence is over rated that erks me.

Could you draw a direct line from some sub level metal genre directly back to Band A...no but in following the metal bands influences than following that bands influence and so forth and forth, it eventually leads you back to Band A.

[BlobVanDam]

Blob fully understand where your coming from its when people say Band A's influence is over rated that erks me.

No problem, it's just that when people assume "overrated" means "denying a band's historical influence" instead of "I don't like them as much as others do", then people make statements along the lines of "if you think band A is overrated, then you're ignorant", then it comes across very rudely, and that irks ME.

[Man-Erg]

Half of 70s classic rock bands (excluding Zeppelin (still I don't think deserve the praise they get), Sabbath, Purple and the likes), Hendrix, Beatles.

[Perpetual Change]

Blob fully understand where your coming from its when people say Band A's influence is over rated that erks me.

No problem, it's just that when people assume "overrated" means "denying a band's historical influence" instead of "I don't like them as much as others do", then people make statements along the lines of "if you think band A is overrated, then you're ignorant", then it comes across very rudely, and that irks ME.

In my understanding, the term "overrated" always means "they (other people, society, etc) give them too much credit" and rarely ever means "I personally just don't like them".

[BlobVanDam]

Blob fully understand where your coming from its when people say Band A's influence is over rated that erks me.

No problem, it's just that when people assume "overrated" means "denying a band's historical influence" instead of "I don't like them as much as others do", then people make statements along the lines of "if you think band A is overrated, then you're ignorant", then it comes across very rudely, and that irks ME.

In my understanding, the term "overrated" always means "they (other people, society, etc) give them too much credit" and rarely ever means "I personally just don't like them".

Then I think you're reading people wrong. There are plenty of situations where calling something overrated isn't even in a context where it at all relates to influence or that kind of "credit". If everyone loves something, and you don't, then you'd be right to call it overrated, relatively speaking.

[Perpetual Change]

Okay, but if everyone loves something, and, while you don't, you can see and understand why, you shouldn't be using the term "overated".

Something's only overrated when you don't like it AND you don't think there's a valid reason why everyone else rates it so highly. For reference...

Two artists I dislike: Jay Z, and Metallica.

While I dislike both, Jay Z is constantly getting praise as being the Elvis, or Sinatra, or whoever of the generation, and sells out stadiums in seconds, which I think is a complete travesty. I think music circles on the whole gives him way too much credit, considering his music features very few redeeming qualities. It's not just that I don't like him. He is, IMO, "overated".

Meanwhile, I just don't like Metallica. I get why they're important, and why so many people like them, but I'm not a fan. I don't think they're overated, as I know and understand why people think they're so great. But, I'm just not a fan.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I think I agree, it feels like it's less of "I don't like them" and more of "Tons of people like them and I don't - I don't get the big deal, therefore, the band is overrated".

[BlobVanDam]

Well that may be how you use the term, that's not how I'd generally use it at all.
I can even like something quite a bit and still consider it overrated, and that's a situation where I perfectly understand why people like it.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Not saying I use it that way, I'm saying when people use that term, that's what it feels like they're trying to convey, to me.

[Scrub206]

The Beatles.

Get over it, people.

And to a lesser degree, Led Zeppelin, although I like them, just not as much as I'm "supposed" to.

.... I think i love you.

also i just flat out dont like led zeppelin

[Perpetual Change]

Blob, part of what's wrong with that, I think, is that it's just overusing the term. Whether something is overrated or not has nothing to do with how your personal opinion contrasts with the average Joe's. It has to do with how valid the average Joe's opinion is, regardless of whether you like the topic in question or not.

If you think all the praise the Beatles get for making influential genre-defining records in the 60's belongs to someone else, then it makes sense to call them overrated.

If you just don't like the Beatles for whatever reason, but wouldn't challenge the validity of the praise they get, I don't know why you'd throw around the term "overrated", unless you were just being intentionally vague, or asking for trouble.

"Liking" something has to do with personal tastes.

"Rating" something has to do with gauging overall accomplishments outside just personal tastes.

[RuRoRul]

The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
Pink Floyd

[Cedar redaC]

Jimi Hendrix hasn't ever blown my mind like it has some people. Sure he has a few good songs, but I don't really find myself enjoying his music all that much.

[KevShmev]

I think it has become far too common and, quite frankly, lazy to call universally popular bands overrated.  Considering the popularity of acts like The Beatles, Zeppelin, Dylan, U2, Floyd, Hendrix, etc., it becomes pretty easy and, again, lazy to just dismiss them as overrated if you think they are undeserving of all of the praise and attention than they get.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

I like The Beatles. But I do think they're incredibly overrated. That's for me though, I find influence has literally 0% to do with quality.

Well to be fair, they probably wouldn't have been influential if they really objectively sucked.

I don't think they suck in the first place so that doesn't matter. I like them a fair bit. But just think with the way music has evolved they don't seem like anything totally special. I'm sure if it was an earlier year I'd probably like them more.

[FreezingPoint]

I see it like this. Overrated is such a broad and subjective term. For me personally, I feel that a band is overrated if the hype generated by the fans is more than the quality of the music.

Thank about it.

Let's say that I have never heard (or actively listened to) the Beatles. But I constantly hear about how they are the greatest band ever. People consider them better than God, and people would lay down their lives for the Beatles. So I decide to get into and check out the Beatles. But because of what I have been told, I have absolutely massive expectations. I am expecting my mind to be absolutely blown - and it isn't. The music may be good, but I was expecting just so much more. I feel underwhelmed. So really, it isn't overrated, it is just underwhelmed.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

I didn't exactly have massive expectations. At all. In fact I had relatively low expectations as the stuff I had heard from them already was meh to me. They surpassed my expectations, but not enough for me to not find them overrated.

[Jaq]

Everyone runs into this, and its not just classic artists. God forbid around these parts if you express anything remotely resembling a critical opinion of a DTF darling like Devin Townsend or Steven Wilson. Which I do. Fairly often. 

[The King in Crimson]

Everyone runs into this, and its not just classic artists. God forbid around these parts if you express anything remotely resembling a critical opinion of a DTF darling like Devin Townsend or Steven Wilson. Which I do. Fairly often. 

Depends upon how close to album-release time it is. 

[BlobVanDam]

Blob, part of what's wrong with that, I think, is that it's just overusing the term. Whether something is overrated or not has nothing to do with how your personal opinion contrasts with the average Joe's. It has to do with how valid the average Joe's opinion is, regardless of whether you like the topic in question or not.

If you think all the praise the Beatles get for making influential genre-defining records in the 60's belongs to someone else, then it makes sense to call them overrated.

If you just don't like the Beatles for whatever reason, but wouldn't challenge the validity of the praise they get, I don't know why you'd throw around the term "overrated", unless you were just being intentionally vague, or asking for trouble.

"Liking" something has to do with personal tastes.

"Rating" something has to do with gauging overall accomplishments outside just personal tastes.

We'll have to agree to disagree.
Giving a personal rating has nothing to do with accomplishments. If I rate something, I'm giving a value to how much I like something. If you asked me to rate a band or a song, I'm going to rate it based on how much I like it. I wouldn't "rate" a band a 10/10 that I hate because of their influence. I'm not going to say "well I think this album sounds like a dying cat scratching its nails on a chalkboard, but it was an influential album to music, so therefore I shall give it a rating of 100%." Everyone rates things subjectively.
You have some very strange definitions of terms.

The few people who have used the term overrated in this thread have mostly made it very clear they're talking about their opinion of the music, and not devaluing their influence (whether it be The Beatles, or Queen etc), so the only people arguing that it's referring to influence are the people trying to dismiss the opinions they don't agree with.
Somewhat ironic to not "allow" someone to call a band's music overrated considering the thread we're in.

[Kotowboy]

Bill Hicks.


Never found him remotely funny.

[Lowdz]

too me its not about whether  someone likes someone or not.....Beatles/Hendrix and the likes

You may not like their sound or be able to connect with the music, but when someone says they are over-rated, than that shows their ignornace...these classic bands were influential on the music you may listen too today and too deny that is just plan silly

Indeed. Mind you, you can be ambivalent on some of the artists, and feel free to say they're not your cup of tea. BUT, in my honest and somewhat militant opinion, anyone who says any of the artists in question are "overrated" is either 1.) too young and/or ignorant to know what popular music was like before the 60's or 2.) too old to be posting on message boards.

Here's my shortlist of PRIMARILY 60's artists you're not allowed to dislike:

The Beatles
Johnny Cash
Cream
Leonard Cohen
Bob Dylan
Jimi Hendrix
The Rolling Stones
The Who

...And there's pretty much a shortlist for every decade.

I honestly don't like any of those bands- don't own an album by any of them- but I'm not stupid enough to say they weren't influential. Many bands I do like were influenced by these very bands. I just don' t like 'em and reserve the right not to.

Other bands that I don't like- Opeth, Steven Wilson/PT, pink Ployd, Led Zep, Muse, most prog- given my love of DT even I thnk I should like them  I just don't.
I admit to being wrong about Devin Townsend (at least his DTP, DTB albums) though.

[bout to crash]

I've had multiple people (some VERY obnixiously) tell me I "should" like Devin Townsend based on the other stuff I like. I have tried, and I still can't really stand him. I've enjoyed a few songs (and the concept/some of Ziltoid), but most of it sounds the same to me. I find it extremely repetitive and droney and annoying. This one asshole I met in a parking lot (he was wearing a Dream Theater shirt so I approached him) got super prog-snobbish on me and was like "HOW can you not listen to Devin? If you don't listen to Devin, you don't matter." I couldn't believe that kind of shit actually happened in real life