Over-rated albums?

Tricky Trevor · Post by **Tricky Trevor** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:23 pm

Don’t think we’ve covered this before but we’ve had so many music threads I could be wrong.

Anyway I’ll start off with—Fleetwood Mac…Rumours.
Mrs. T. put it on in the car today and it does nothing for me at all. Never did but early 70s you couldn’t avoid it.

fatboy47 · Post by **fatboy47** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:24 pm

Anything by Coldplay.

fatboy47 · Post by **fatboy47** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:27 pm

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:23 pm
early 70s you couldn’t avoid it.

You could.Didnt come out till 77/78 ish

aclaretinstevenage · Post by **aclaretinstevenage** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:37 pm

It's all about individual music preferences.

2 albums I think are overrated / do nothing for me :- Thriller - Michael Jackson + Spirits Having Flown - Bee Gees. My wife loves them but not for me.

ClaretsPadiham · Post by **ClaretsPadiham** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:38 pm

Anything by David Bowie, awful music.

ClaretsPadiham · Post by **ClaretsPadiham** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:38 pm

Anything by David Bowie, awful music.

bobinho · Post by **bobinho** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:50 pm

fatboy47 wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:27 pm
You could.Didnt come out till 77/78 ish

Excellent addition to the thread, if only because it exposes the OP for the absolute gobbledegook it is. As everyone knows, Rumours is an outstanding piece of work.

Stand by for my next post - some of you are going to have kittens!!!

bobinho · Post by **bobinho** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:57 pm

Anything by:
Queen
Pink Floyd
Meat Loaf
Led Zeppelin
Jimi Hendrix
Bananarama

Pearcey · Post by **Pearcey** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:02 pm

The title should probably read ‘Popular Albums I hate’ shouldn’t it? Clearly, some of the artists mentioned aren’t overrated due to the amount of albums and sell out tours they have.

ClaretPete001 · Post by **ClaretPete001** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:19 pm

I think some albums are highly rated because they were innovative for the time but musically are not quite as good as they are rated. Two that always spring to mind are:

Sergeant Pepper: Mc Cartney had started to get very whimsical with his output and although When I'm 64 is a good song it's not great. Fixing a hole. It's getting better etc. Not as strong as The White Album or Abbey Road IMHO but regarded as the Beatles most iconic album.

Dark Side of the Moon? Not as good as Wish you were here in my opinion and given the plethora of Prog albums
since has lost it's lustre a bit but still a very good album.

chekhov · Post by **chekhov** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:22 pm

Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon. In addition to being overrated everyone should know the far side of the moon isn’t dark.
The album cover’s okay though.

AfloatinClaret · Post by **AfloatinClaret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:35 pm

chekhov wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:22 pm
...Dark side of the moon. In addition to being overrated everyone should know the far side of the moon isn’t dark...

It couldn't be could it; if it were made of two sorts/colours of cheese it'd just fall in half.

houseboy · Post by **houseboy** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:41 pm

bobinho wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:57 pm
Anything by:
Queen
Pink Floyd
Meat Loaf
Led Zeppelin
Jimi Hendrix
Bananarama

I take it you’re a soul fan? Although I agree with Bananarama (although have they ever actually been over-rated?). Their one claim to fame is that they couldn’t sing.

CaptainKirk · Post by **CaptainKirk** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:42 pm

bobinho wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:57 pm
Anything by:
Queen
Pink Floyd
Meat Loaf
Led Zeppelin
Jimi Hendrix
Bananarama

What a ridiculous thread.
You say Rumours is outstanding (which it is) and then write off some of the best artists ever.
It's all about opinions, which are like ars***es in that everyone has one.

blatherwickstattoos · Post by **blatherwickstattoos** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:55 pm

Anything by oasis

IPAclaret · Post by **IPAclaret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 4:45 pm

Of course it's all about opinions and we all like different music but to write of the Floyd and DSofM is just ridiculous.

Some of the most thoughtful music with incredible lyrics that's ever been written. They are not songs they are more like a journey which you either understand or just think it's a series of weird sounds.

And BTW I listen to all genres of music, rock, indie, dance (I did the 80s raves) , late punk eg The clash etc. British music is like truly amazing.

Hibsclaret · Post by **Hibsclaret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 4:53 pm

Strange thread tbh. You could argue that Back in Black is overrated given it has the 2nd highest sales in history of any album. It is not imo even the best AC/DC album but it’s still great.

It’s definitely all about opinions and I reckon rumours is an absolute work of genius for the record.

bobinho · Post by **bobinho** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:00 pm

CaptainKirk wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:42 pm
What a ridiculous thread.
You say Rumours is outstanding (which it is) and then write off some of the best artists ever.
It's all about opinions, which are like ars***es in that everyone has one.

I absolutely agree.

I suppose there is no such thing as bad music…. Someone, somewhere will like it. Take jazz for example… a cacophony if ever there was one. Yet some folk swear that Miles Davis and Jackson Jeffery Jackson are masters of music in its purest form!

Casper2 · Post by **Casper2** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:01 pm

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:23 pm
Don’t think we’ve covered this before but we’ve had so many music threads I could be wrong.

Anyway I’ll start off with—Fleetwood Mac…Rumours.
Mrs. T. put it on in the car today and it does nothing for me at all. Never did but early 70s you couldn’t avoid it.

Rumours , overrated when it’s sold over 45 million worldwide, and I wouldn’t call 1977 early 70s

The Shire Claret · Post by **The Shire Claret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:09 pm

This thread is going to to be interesting....

I disagree that album sales means a good album but most likely increases the chances of it being so....

There are many albums out there that will have very little following that just didn't get the support it deserved

If I have to go for an over rated album though ill go for ...

Yellow Submarine by the Beatles

The Beatles for what they were made some great songs but never got the hype with that one ... maybe the controversy made it appealing...

As for the Rumours album being overrated .... not for me .... its a Masterpiece

dougcollins · Post by **dougcollins** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:10 pm

As someone has already said, it's more a thread about high selling albums that you don't like.

I would agree about 'Rumours'. I don't like 'Brothers in Arms' either.

bobinho · Post by **bobinho** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:13 pm

houseboy wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 3:41 pm
I take it you’re a soul fan? Although I agree with Bananarama (although have they ever actually been over-rated?). Their one claim to fame is that they couldn’t sing.

Nope. Quite an eclectic taste really but my first love was punk (buzzcocks/SLF/pistols) and I developed from there. Listening to the reggae influences in the clash, opened up reggae itself and two tone/ska. Love rock music, but not all of it obv. Love early Elvis. Love Springsteen, the Wilburys and all those in that group as individuals. Recently developed a liking for country music… in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I couldn’t stand abba, now I’m happy to listen to them.

People rave about those artists I mentioned earlier, absolutely shout and scream from the rooftops that they are world class and leaders in their field. Well I just don’t get it, and there are plenty more who don’t. I personally think Complete Control by the clash is one of the greatest songs ever written, but most of you won’t even have heard of it let alone listened to it - and if you did you’d just wonder what on earth I’m on about, and that’s fair enough.

Every opinion on this subject is valid, every single one, because personal taste varies so much.

Hibsclaret · Post by **Hibsclaret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:14 pm

Brothers in arms is another great example of where the band has made much better albums with less sales.

Hipper · Post by **Hipper** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:25 pm

Just to throw an interesting one in!

Nick Drake albums. Very few people bought or listened to him at the time. I certainly hadn't heard of him then (1969 - 1972, then he died in 1974 - usually a good move for record sales but it still didn't happen) but of course I didn't know everything. Then in the late 1990s I got to hear of him as he was folk or maybe folk rock but to be frank I couldn't hear much that I hadn't heard before.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Drake

More interesting to me is 'albums I used to like back in the day but am now bored or worse with them'. But that's another thread!

IanMcL · Post by **IanMcL** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:26 pm

Wedding albums
Holiday albums

Hipper · Post by **Hipper** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:26 pm

Hibsclaret wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:14 pm
Brothers in arms is another great example of where the band has made much better albums with less sales.

Yes, their first one. I don't think that can be over rated!

Hipper · Post by **Hipper** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:28 pm

IanMcL wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:26 pm
Wedding albums
Holiday albums

'What We Did on Or Holidays', Fairport Convention, is pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za58yB9 ... XB&index=1

claret2018 · Post by **claret2018** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:31 pm

Urban Hymns

Hibsclaret · Post by **Hibsclaret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:37 pm

I can’t even listen to any song by the verve without feeling immediately depressed. It’s a bit strange because I liked urban hymns when it came out.

Ptangyangkipperbang · Post by **Ptangyangkipperbang** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:38 pm

I fully agree it's all about opinions and personally I hated both Bat out of Hell and Rumours and just didn't get all the hype but one LP I was really disappointed in and so much wanted to like it was Astral Weeks by Van Morrison it seemed to top a lot of lists in the 90s and upon hearing it I thought it was boring

Hibsclaret · Post by **Hibsclaret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:40 pm

Hipper wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:26 pm
Yes, their first one. I don't think that can be over rated!

Absolutely, I would argue that 3 of the 4 albums before Brothers in Arms are superior tbh.

depechedingle · Post by **depechedingle** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 5:55 pm

Music is so subjective, for example I can't stand Coldplay or Simply Red.

However my tastes vary very much from the next man from Enigma to Stereophonics, through OMD, Depeche Mode, New Order and other electronic bands. Dance music from my younger days early 90s Rave, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, Kinobe and Saint Etienne.

The offbeatness of Half Man Half Biscuit is a personal favourite.

That said the most overrated for me would be U2 - Songs of Innocence.

ClaretPete001 · Post by **ClaretPete001** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 6:05 pm

IPAclaret wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 4:45 pm
Of course it's all about opinions and we all like different music but to write of the Floyd and DSofM is just ridiculous.

Some of the most thoughtful music with incredible lyrics that's ever been written. They are not songs they are more like a journey which you either understand or just think it's a series of weird sounds.

And BTW I listen to all genres of music, rock, indie, dance (I did the 80s raves) , late punk eg The clash etc. British music is like truly amazing.

As far as I can see no one wrote it off. In my opinion, and in others it's not even Floyd's best album but it's still a great album. Give Me Wish You Were Here any day of the week.

bfcjg · Post by **bfcjg** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 6:06 pm

Now that's what I call music 111.
All the rest are amazingly good and great value, especially the ones with Black lace,MUD and Suzi Quatro etc on.

rincon · Post by **rincon** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 6:26 pm

standing on the shoulder of giants by oasis
crap album that shouldn't have made the charts, but the music journos didn't dare give it a bad review because oasis were gods at the time
I remember the massive poster advert outside turf moor at the time advertising the album with the comment underneath sayiing 'not bad that'!!!!
obvously leading the disciples of oasis to think 'not bad.... its f..ing brilliant' which it wasn't.
To be fair to oasis, they've had one or two decent songs, but they think they're better than the beatles, which they aren't

karatekid · Post by **karatekid** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:11 pm

What was the first mainstream album to be released on CD?

Dark Cloud · Post by **Dark Cloud** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:14 pm

bobinho wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:57 pm
Anything by:
Queen
Pink Floyd
Meat Loaf
Led Zeppelin
Jimi Hendrix
Bananarama

All agreed barring Meat Loaf. The late Jim Steinman couldn't half write a cracking song!! Let's be fair.
PS. Anything by Simple Minds - utter garbage!

AlargeClaret · Post by **AlargeClaret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:28 pm

rincon wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 6:26 pm
standing on the shoulder of giants by oasis
crap album that shouldn't have made the charts, but the music journos didn't dare give it a bad review because oasis were gods at the time
I remember the massive poster advert outside turf moor at the time advertising the album with the comment underneath sayiing 'not bad that'!!!!
obvously leading the disciples of oasis to think 'not bad.... its f..ing brilliant' which it wasn't.
To be fair to oasis, they've had one or two decent songs, but they think they're better than the beatles, which they aren't

Seriously did anyone ever really rate SOTSOG?? more than a mid phase mediocre album ?

Silkyskills1 · Post by **Silkyskills1** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:30 pm

karatekid wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:11 pm
What was the first mainstream album to be released on CD?

Was it Brothers- In - Arms?

Swizzlestick · Post by **Swizzlestick** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:37 pm

It’s all subjective, but never got on board with anything by The Who, Billy Joel or The Carpenters.

In terms of individual albums, I’d have to agree about Dark Side of the Moon, and I do like Pink Floyd. I’d have about four of their albums ahead of it.

Rowls · Post by **Rowls** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 8:10 pm

There's some great albums here, but also of plenty worthy of this thread too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Prize

Tricky Trevor · Post by **Tricky Trevor** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 8:10 pm

karatekid wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:11 pm
What was the first mainstream album to be released on CD?

Can’t remember which one but it was Billy Joel.

Glad I got the discussion going even if most don’t agree with my choice, I expected a kicking but stand by it not being for me.

Casper2 · Post by **Casper2** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 8:36 pm

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 8:10 pm
Can’t remember which one but it was Billy Joel.

Glad I got the discussion going even if most don’t agree with my choice, I expected a kicking but stand by it not being for me.

What was you listening to in the early 70s which you thought was Rumours?

LincsWoldsClaret · Post by **LincsWoldsClaret** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 9:33 pm

First mainstream - factory pressed mass market - cd was The Visitors - ABBA

Lots of others before it on limited pressings - mainly classical

timshorts · Post by **timshorts** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 10:06 pm

bobinho wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 2:57 pm
Anything by:
Queen
Pink Floyd
Meat Loaf
Led Zeppelin
Jimi Hendrix
Bananarama

Yes. I have to agree with most of this. That's not saying that I dislike all of the above, but I agree that it is probably overrated.

Overrated would be determined by, say, taking a generally perceived/accepted grade out of 10, and comparing it with your own considered grading.

Strangely, this is probably easier to do with classical music. There are lots of people who claim to like classical music that probably do, but don't have the musical intellect to understand anything remotely challenging. My understanding of art is probably equally flawed. But these people still buy music and affect sales figures etc.

So from the above list:-
Queen.
Perceived rating about 9. Actual about 6. Overrated.

Pink Floyd.
Perceived rating 9.5 actual about 7.5. Overrated.

Meatloaf.
Perceived rating about 7. Actual about 4.5 studio, 3 live. Overrated.

Led zeppelin
Perceived rating 10. Actual between 7. 5 and 9 depending on which album you are listening to. Overrated.

Jimi hendrix - see led zeppelin, really.

Bananarama
Perceived rating 5. Actual 2. Overrated.

Simple minds
Perceived rating 7-8. Actual 7-8 not overrated.

It is almost impossible to be anything other than overrated if your perceived level is a 9+.

I will leave it to others to provide gradings for the likes of utc favourites Bruce springsteen, van de graaf generator, the beatles, one of which is probably underrated almost everywhere but on this website.

TommyPicks · Post by **TommyPicks** » Mon Oct 21, 2024 10:47 pm

AlargeClaret wrote: ↑
Mon Oct 21, 2024 7:28 pm
Seriously did anyone ever really rate SOTSOG?? more than a mid phase mediocre album ?

There’s good moments on it. Go let it out, where did it all go wrong, f*ckin in the bushes etc. Gas panic in particular is a hugely underrated song, and some of the live versions of it are excellent. Oasis at their most psychedelic. Check out some of the footage on YouTube.

Overall though, the album lacks potential and has too many weak tracks. By 2000 their 90s hype had died away and I feel they were always going to be compared to their first two albums, which they’d never be able to live up to.

CharlieinNewMexico · Post by **CharlieinNewMexico** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 2:57 am

Sam’s Town : Killers

I assume it’s rated by Killers fans but after waiting 2 years from the magnificent Hot Fuss it has 2 passable singles and the rest is just a bloated nonsense.

IMHO, of course

bfcjg · Post by **bfcjg** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 8:02 am

Everyone has different musical tastes, I really rate some bands/singers/albums that others don't and vice/versa,

The Hung Juror · Post by **The Hung Juror** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 8:38 am

All about opinions. A pointless thread, unless you are on the wind up.

Big Vinny K · Post by **Big Vinny K** » Tue Oct 22, 2024 8:42 am

Spot on
This thread may aswell be titled “music you like and don’t like”

When you see a comment like ‘anything by David Bowie - awful music” then it’s nothing to do with albums being over-rated. They just don’t like Bowie.

I did laugh at the mention of Bananarama on the same thread as Fleetwood Mac, The Beatles etc !!