Most overrated band ever?

Kula Shaker
The Vines
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Hall & Oates
Death In Vegas

Deep Purple
Dilated Peoples
Chemical Brothers

- I'm in a frenzy here!!!

I would like to add Supergrass (I do like I Should Coco BTW, but their still overrated), Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

1. James Brown
2. Public Enemy
3. Sex Pistols
4. Led Zeppelin
5. Aretha Franklin

Nine-Inch Nails deserve a mention to. As do lots of other people.

Most overrated early rock'n'roll star: Roy Orbison. Okay I'll stop.

Bite me, Chuck! I'm going to see them in May!!!! =)

White Stripes are definitely terribly overrated, but the certainly need several more years of being overrated for being the most overrated band ever.

I guess, in ten years, The White Stripes are forgotten, and as such, nobody will see them as overrated anymore.

And yeah, Beach Boys too. I mean, they were good, but come on...

Now we're talking.

How about Mozart, while we're knocking people?

dog latin=OTM

Smiths
Stone Roses
Radiohead
U2

Vincent Van GAGH?!!!

I don't think they're on CD. There's also a UK LP called The Best of the Dave Clark Five that's those stereo mixes from 1978 but it's a single album. (I'm reading all about it! Apparently, DC5 was not in print AT ALL for a long time until a 2008 29 track comp only available as a download. Mono mixes.)

yeah, for real, DC5 were prolific for years and its all fun or good or great!

there are some youtube rips from that comp. some of them sound pretty good as far as youtube goes. a lot of them say *true stereo* in their titles.

can you link one, scott?

From that forum:

The stereo mixes were done in 1968 by Adrian Kerridge and John Macksworth, both the original engineers on the DC5 recordings. The mixes were made from the four-track multi-tracks, and approved by Dave Clark, who subsequently made the stereo mixes unavailable after the lease to EMI ran out in the 1980s.

this for instance on that comp is just so sublime! every element, the horns, the piano, everything is all perfectly placed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov2bfiyZRy8&feature=related

this is what i would play for people in the store. youtube, sadly, doesn't do it a bit of justice, but you can get the idea. the bass is HUUUUUGE on vinyl. everything about it is huge, but also this real depth and clarity to the sound. kills me every time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa-CjVb9m1c

that track is so beautiful to me. sax + organ + piano + guitar + vocals + kickass drums + deep bass!!, man, they had a lot going on and it just swings like hell!

it's just thrilling rock & roll. pure & simple.

YES! that is fantastic. I've always loved how they're just a *little* bit rough around the edges. Not Sonics ragged but just slightly outta control.

In the context of the British Invasion, DC5 records definitely stuck out as having a much bigger sound than any of their contemporaries' records (except for the Kinks and, later, the Who).

yep

Wow!! I never knew the DC5 were so damn good. This is what I always hoped The Action sounded like, wild and slightly out-of control RnB tinged rock and roll.

DC5 are the shit

There was a great Saturday afternoon Chicago radio show in the 80s called "Rock 'n' Roll Roots" and one day they played all non-Beatles/Stones/Kinks British Invasion stuff. I hadn't heard most of these bands, and a lot of it was meh -- Freddie and the Dreamers, Herman's Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers -- but man, once the DC5 came on, it was like they were from a different universe. A universe that rocked.

the brits had the bass going on in the 60s. they KILLED the bass sound. in the u.s. you had jazz and r&b with fat bass - and amazingly recorded bass - but in rock it was often a non-entity. i don't know why. listening to brit freakbeat and psych last week - like the god-like band The Attack - and damn its just so powerful. definitely english drum 'n' bass music i can fully support.

The Action were super disappointing for me. A mod band? Great, I love the Who and the Small Faces! Produced by George Martin? Sign me up! But their sound was so thin and restrained.

xp

if The Who had been an American band they would have totally toned down that unholy rhythm section. i have no doubt about that. would have been all roger the dodger and some twangy guitar up front.

A lot of the Chess groups -- Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry -- were still using acoustic bassists, and it really wasn't until James Jamerson plugged directly into the board at Motown (and, nearly simultaneously, when Booker T and the MGs recorded "Green Onions") that bass guitar was heard really prominently on US rock records.

xp

thoughts/theories on why that is? ie US/Britisher no bass/bass?

Haha, yeah, totally. It's not insignificant that the producer of their early records, Shel Talmy, was American -- he specifically set out to find an English group that could bring it in a way other English groups hadn't up to that point. (He also produced the Kinks up through Face To Face, but was less impressed with their live sound)

xp

a lot of it was meh -- Freddie and the Dreamers, Herman's Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers -- but man, once the DC5 came on, it was like they were from a different universe.

I like Gerry and the Pacemakers quite a bit. They were a legit Merseybeat band and probably one of the best. Stuff like "Here's Hoping," "It's Gonna Be Alright" - really good.

The Attack are the mod band everyone needs everything by. everything they did was amazing.

thoughts/theories on why that is? ie US/Britisher no bass/bass?

It's funny, because the Beatles thought US records had MASSIVE bass, and compared to the early Beatles records, they did. But so did DC5 records. EMI in Britain supposedly had very strict rules about bass frequencies on their records, which is why so many early Beatles records sound small. But really, it was Motown and Stax leading the way, with British bands trying for that hugeness of sound and, in the case of the DC5/Kinks/Who, achieving it.

Ironically, the Stones recorded in US studios -- Chess and Gold Star -- hoping for that BIG US SOUND, but still sounded tiny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAtAwjFk9Z4&feature=related

The arrangement on this!!

I don't know if the Action are well enough known to be over rated, but other than "Shadows and Reflections" they do little for me. Supposedly they were the "mod" band, I guess their live energy never translated to vinyl. Maybe it would have been different if their producer had been Shel Talmy instead of George Martin.

maybe its because in the u.s. it was such a priority to have pop hits and the voice was all important? like, rock was a fad and who cares about the actual sound of the music, just get a catchy tune and have a lead singer who could sell it. that's one theory anyway. or maybe british producers and engineers just REALLY liked the electic bass! lots of british invasion stuff - other than stones and beatles - and british psych stuff have really prominent bass sounds and really well-recorded rock bass. badass bass! thick, chunky, proto-metal bass even.

compared to the early Beatles records, they did

I always thought the bass sounded good on Please Please Me. Used to have a Parlophone stereo copy.

Byrds had good bass sound, yeah? "Eight Miles High," Younger Than Yesterday.

badass bass! thick, chunky, proto-metal bass even.

The first person to ever play through a (massive, theretofore-unheard-of 100 watts) Marshall amplifier was John Entwistle. So, huge bass was on the agenda.

Although, ha, I just put it on and you're right, it certainly doesn't sound like the Attack!

I always thought the bass sounded good on Please Please Me. Used to have a Parlophone stereo copy.

The mono PPM definitely sounds good, decent bass. Especially "Twist & Shout." But after that, it was all hi-hat shhhh and no bass for about a year or so.

I think I remember seeing a picture of the Attack and they had Marshalls!

one exception being the raiders on this track. sadly, youtube makes it almost unlistenable, but on record its one of the heaviest bass sounds until black sabbath debut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uF6PgNHwzc

could actually be the saddest youtube upload of an amazing song that i've ever heard.

The Attack...jesus, what a band. almost as genius as Small Faces if you ask me. But they were one of many. The Creation being another. and, yeah, the byrds had it sometimes, but the brit bands featured the bass as a big part of their sound in a way that american bands never did.

Early Who, Creation, Small Faces...all engineered by Glyn Johns. Dude knew what he was doing.

from brit invasion to blues rock to early u.k. doom a la sabbath to early 70's freakout rock a la groundhogs to glam to art rock to prog to punk to post-punk the bass is large and in charge and on a whole 'nother level. no comparison or competition really. no entwistle or even a jah wobble to be found here. or a peter hook even! you have to go to jamaica to beat them. or be ron carter. or mingus.

post-punk bands alone! jeez louise. the bass is king of the castle. and its not only loud but impossibly and perfectly recorded. don't know why americans are so tinny. white americans anyway. god bless the great state of florida and its bass-loving denizens.

I find the evolution of it really fascinating. And I honestly hadn't given a lot of thought to the recording studio having the influence; before, I'd only ever thought of it in terms of the band and the musicians.

not for nothing is england completely in love with big booming "northern" soul music. the drum & bass of its day.

I find the evolution of it really fascinating. And I honestly hadn't given a lot of thought to the recording studio having the influence; before, I'd only ever thought of it in terms of the band and the musicians.

I think in the case of Motown it was, "We can't let this genius musician get lost in the mix the way his contemporaries are." iirc, when Motown was 3- or 4-track, James Jamerson had a bass track all to himself. The producers knew that the success of the song -- on every level -- was dependent on what Jamerson was doing.

motown can never be overrated enough. i beg and implore anyone with ears to get themselves real motown vinyl and hear the wonder of that sound in all its glory. every warhorse that you never thought you needed to hear again will become a revelation.

otm

Led Zep shouldn't have been in my list up there. Replace them with Mötörhead.

Orbital Joy Division Bowie

Nicholas Jaar (if we're talking purely ILX)

Nicholas Jaar (if we're talking purely ILX)

Absofuckinglutely.

mmm....let me see..

Top-hated Bishop stole the show at fete.

http://i48.tinypic.com/2akbtvp.jpg

oh what whoops

http://i47.tinypic.com/a9rbs4.png