Albums seen as ‘classics’ that you think are rubbish.

Barney

Anything by U2

TTBZ

I think there's a lot of music I find overrated but I can see why people like it... Metallica, Queen, U2, Pink Floyd, every britpop band ever - actually I can't see why anyone likes that apart from a bit of Blur.

My least favourite music of all time is that 00s NME limp indie bollocks. Stuff like The Libertines, Razorlight, Franz Ferdinand, Killers, The Kooks etc is just nails on a chalkboard stuff to me. Also Interpol and Arcade Fire, I just don't get it. Songs of meandering nothingness.

Cols

Possibly the thread needs to be renamed “Popular Bands From History Which I Hate”, judging by the number of entries which are just “Anything by (insert band name here)”.

It’s all down to personal taste in the end, but it would be better if people could highlight a specific album and make an argument about why it’s overrated.  For example, @scrumhalf made an excellent point on how Appetite For Destruction would’ve sunk without a trace if it had been released in 1972 rather than 1987.

Hootsmon

There are very few genres of music i won't listen to, perhaps that shit awful show music is one but that rambling inane keyboard in The Doors is torture ......

Oh yes , and every single note played by that German guy from Gregs Guitars......this is the guy that makes elevator music sound sophisticated by comparison. 1000 vids of a 1000 different guitars and vid one is an exact music and tone replica of video 1000

There, i said it

ICBM

Hootsmon said:

There are very few genres of music i won't listen to, perhaps that shit awful show music is one but that rambling inane keyboard in The Doors is torture ......

I love the Doors and the slightly sinister fairground organ .

There is also very little music I really can't stand, but one major exception is anything metal with screamy or cookie-monster vocals, although I'd probably also agree with you about most 'show music'.

And smug muso funk.

Haych

Pretty much anything by Pink Floyd, Genesis, Phil Collins, Nirvana.

I'm a huge Dire Straits fan but don't quite appreciate Brothers in Arms - the songs are good but the production sucks.  Side two is better than side one in every respect.

The whole of The Beatles catalogue, just don't get them at all, they were just a serendipitous confluence of the era as far as I'm concerned and any of the beat bands back then could easily have made it in their place. 

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Rory Gallagher, again I just don't understand the hype.

Appetite for Destruction - a couple of decent songs but the rest of the album is mediocre and it doesn't deserve the acclaim.

2112, again I'm a huge Rush fan and while it is good I don't understand why it's achieved the status it has.  Hemispheres was a much better record but it never gets a look in by comparison.

Hotel California wasn't amazing either - a couple of epic songs accompanied by a bunch of forgettable fillers.

scrumhalf

What this shows is the breadth of musical tastes of the members of this forum.

Or, to put it another way, I'm right and the rest of you have tin ears.

Litterick

They were all great albums before everyone liked them.

darcym

some of this thread is really interesting to me on two fronts, I've posted about this in other threads in the past, but the content that's coming up in this thread reminds me of it, and years ago I'd have agreed with some of it, and some if I've only started to agree with now.

growing up, I really struggled to get the bands and albums everyone thought where classics (and to be honest, I'm sure a lot of my friends didn't get them either and just repeated they where classic as they had heard they where classic from a 'cool source).

eg: I didn't get the beatles, at all, the magic of Sgt Pepper, and the white album was lost on me, 

As I became a guitarist in my early years and all the way up until I don't know ~6 years ago, I didn't get all the guitar greats I should, eg: SRV, Hendrix,  -  I got others, eg: Clapton, but the 'greats' just escaped me.

something clicked for me which was it's not about the recording, it's about the content (I know that seems daft to have to say out loud) once you start listening to the actual playing, the songwriting, the composition, you excuse the recording and the production, that was of it it's time, then you start going a bit deeper and realising that it was ground breaking at that time at a production level too....etc etc.

which means I finally got the Beatles, Hendrix, etc etc.

However it's also made me look at music I always disliked in the past differently.

Eg: in this thread and Oasis album is quoted as a false great, I really don't like Oasis as a band, I think their music is bad, their sound is bad, Liam is a bad front man, playing on the Manchester thing etc etc, it never did it for me and it still doesn't today, however, if you look at the songs eg: Listen to Noel Gallagher do the unplugged session or listen to some of the covers in a different style, the songs are good, it's the presentation that's bad (to me).

this is true of some of the other albums mentioned in this thread too, where as it's the presentation or recording that ruins it but the actual musical output is good.

I'd challenge any of the people posting these bad albums to go back and have a listen if you can to the song and try to pull yourself away from how it's presented to you by the band and see if the 'music' is a great, or if the album still sucks.

There are still many I don't get just because it's not my type of music or didn't click for me personally, but honestly, try to have a proper listen to the albums you don't like and give them a more open minded listen with fresh eyes (ears)

Littlejonny

This thread should really have asked you to nominate a Classic in place of each non-classic. That way we’d have an understanding of where you’re coming from. 

You didn’t like Oasis? What did you like at the time?

i went off them after their first album, but there’s no denying that he’s written some great tunes. Half The World Away came on the radio the other day and I was really moved - I’d never really listened to it properly before. That was a b-side I think.

Deadman

Definitely maybe was the album I was into in ‘91(??), along with RHCP’s Bloodsugarsexmagik. Just fitted perfectly in with a 21 year old’s idea of musical movement having come out of the 80’s personally. I felt blessed. Rock/funk/punk etc etc and a great way to enjoy a good night out. The songs from those albums were on every video jukebox in every pub and mean a lot to me.

I haven’t got any negatives to contribute I’m afraid.

the_jaffa

Definitely Maybe was 94

tekbow

Nirvana, Nevermind.

Just don't like it.

Deadman

the_jaffa said:

Definitely Maybe was 94

So it was! The drinking must've blurred my memory. 

ICBM

tekbow said:

Nirvana, Nevermind.

Just don't like it.

Nor me, but I don’t have any doubt that it’s a classic.

Stuckfast

There are lots of albums that I personally don't really like, but I understand why they're classics and why people enjoy them. But there are a few albums that seem to be regarded as classics where I just can't understand the appeal at all. The Beano album is one. Another is the first Fleet Foxes album. I bought it when it came out because there was so much hype about it and it's crap. Unmemorable, drippy songs, and the harmony singing that everyone made such a fuss about is like Folk 101.

Redlester

Littlejonny said:

This thread should really have asked you to nominate a Classic in place of each non-classic. That way we’d have an understanding of where you’re coming from. 

You didn’t like Oasis? What did you like at the time?

i went off them after their first album, but there’s no denying that he’s written some great tunes. Half The World Away came on the radio the other day and I was really moved - I’d never really listened to it properly before. That was a b-side I think.

Why not start your own thread under these terms dear boy? It’d be an entirely reasonable approach. 

Redlester

Cols said:

Possibly the thread needs to be renamed “Popular Bands From History Which I Hate”, judging by the number of entries which are just “Anything by (insert band name here)”.

It’s all down to personal taste in the end, but it would be better if people could highlight a specific album and make an argument about why it’s overrated.  For example, @scrumhalf made an excellent point on how Appetite For Destruction would’ve sunk without a trace if it had been released in 1972 rather than 1987.

No. The question was absolutely clear. 

That people like to interpret it more widely wouldn’t get them very far in a school exam perhaps, but it’s entirely reasonable in a public forum and to be expected. 

You are most welcome to start a separate thread using terms of your own preference. 

Cols

Redlester said:

Cols said:

Possibly the thread needs to be renamed “Popular Bands From History Which I Hate”, judging by the number of entries which are just “Anything by (insert band name here)”.

It’s all down to personal taste in the end, but it would be better if people could highlight a specific album and make an argument about why it’s overrated.  For example, @scrumhalf made an excellent point on how Appetite For Destruction would’ve sunk without a trace if it had been released in 1972 rather than 1987.

No. The question was absolutely clear. 

That people like to interpret it more widely wouldn’t get them very far in a school exam perhaps, but it’s entirely reasonable in a public forum and to be expected. 

You are most welcome to start a separate thread using terms of your own preference. 

Gosh, a thread all of my very own!  Thank you for your kind and gracious permission.

I’ll pass though; I don’t think a near-identical adjacent thread is the best idea ever.

StageStruck

Stone Roses - S/T
Didn't really get they hype surrounding them, still don't get it now.  A couple of reasonable songs but nowhere near as memorable (in my opinion!) as the average NME journo would have you believe.