411 Music Top 5 10.09.07: Most Overrated Albums
Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 10.09.2007
411 Music's Top 5 lists are back and this week the staffers dissect their top 5 most overrated albums of all time! Come inside and see our lists!
New and improved, 411 Music's Top 5 is back!
I am your host, Daniel Wilcox and I'll be here to guide you through 411 staff's Top 5 lists each and every week.
For the return of the column, the staffers look at the Top 5 Most Overrated Albums, and this is a tough one because there's a hell of a lot of overrated stuff out there for these guys to choose from.
Let's not waste any more time and get straight to the lists!
Dan Haggerty
No. 5 – Eagles - The Greatest Hits
Before you hit me with tons of hate mail for the number one selling album of all time, just listen. I appreciate that the Eagles have the number one spot in sales, and I also appreciate the fact that a 70's act have the honors instead of some pop-princess or God forbid Jackson. My issue is that this is on the back of a "Greatest Hits" album. When an artist writes an album, it's a statement as a whole. The album is a journey about what the artist was doing and trying to convey at that moment in their life, and for me an album is something that should be taken in its entirety. Ripping the best songs for your personal amusement on a theme disc is fun, but at the end of the day people should appreciate an artist's music as the original experience they created, and not some jumbled mix of era's that someone else decided to put together. See where I'm going with this? If you like the song "Hotel California", that's great and you should… Just buy the damn album it came from and enjoy the band's complete vision. Now copy/paste this for every other greatest hits package out there to tie for this spot.
No. 4 – Guns ‘N' Roses – Appetite for Destruction
Every time I see a Top 100 or 500 Album list, be it VH1, Rolling Stone, or whatever, this album is usually on it. Why? Use Your Illusion I and II were much better, and quite frankly sound more legitimate. Appetite comes across like it was calculated to take advantage of the hair/pop-rock meltdown the public was ODing on in the late 80's, like a well placed anti-hair album by a recovering hair band; on the flip side, Illusion has the feeling of a band that wrestled for years (and they did) being pushed to their limits to show their worth. Not that Appetite is a bad album, it's just not worth the accolades or sales it gets when the industry and even the band itself has better to offer.
No. 3 – Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
If you were not alive in 1986, then this one will be lost on you. A metalhead couldn't turn around to take a piss without bumping into this piece of pop purgatory. It was a great year for music, with lots of history making albums for the long haired masses:
Slayer - Reign In Blood
Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin
Megadeth - Peace Sells… But Who's Buying
Queensrych - Rage For Order
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Yes, it was a great year… Far better than this pre-teen unoriginal chick rock disguised as a faux western tale and a party I'm glad I didn't attend.
No. 2 – Metallica - Metallica
Pretentiously known as the black album, people buying into the hype that this was metals answer to the Beatles' classic, this is undoubtedly the thrashers most overrated album. Not that it was a bad album, for it is not, and it's certainly head above everything they did after it. It's a fun album, if a curious stripped down recast of the previous three with more hooks and groves (and a token ballad or two) to get your kid sister on board. But 14 times platinum? I think not. The first four albums gave this institution its bragging rights and smoke this album any day of the week - From a great height.
No. 1 – Def Leppard - Hysteria
The soundtrack to selling out and an overall pile of musical self-loathing, this was Leppard's runaway hit of the ages. Only problem, it was completely devoid of life and sterile. I can picture Elliot hooked to a synthesizer like some Star Trek borg monstrosity while the sound room engineer surgically recreates his voice ten tracks deep in a chorus written to current marketing trends and focus group polling. Man, Def Leppard's first two albums were great, from NWOBHM classics to the sound of teenage anthems in all the right ways; those were the soundscapes of any Saturday night in the early 80's. But then the band turned left at commercial stardom to shit out this view from a hill. Sad really - Some fun hooks and groves, along with decent guitar work, but all canned and repackaged through production over substance, product placement over soul. I can see anyone carrying away a few guilty pleasures from this thing, but 12 times Platinum based on "Excitable" and the lyrical prose of the ages "Armageddon It". Someone shoot me.
Go buy On Through The Night or High ‘N' Dry for the real Def Leppard classics.
Dan Marsicano
No. 5- Metallica - Black Album
I am a huge Metallica fan. I'm one of the few fans that found some redeeming qualities in St. Anger. However, out of all their albums, this one is definitely the most overrated. Any of the energy and excitement that the band showed on the first four albums basically disappears. I have no problem with this being their "sell out" album. My problem is that most of the songs are either boring as hell or go on for way too long without any progression or riff changes ("Sad But True," I'm looking at you). Do I listen to this album? Occasionally, but I can't stand people that say this is their best album because of the overplayed "Enter Sandman." If I never heard that song again, I would die a happy man.
No. 4 – The Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollicks
Oh The Sex Pistols. They are so punk, aren't they? Too bad they didn't know how to write a decent song. Yeah, "God Save The Queen" was a controversial song, but when I can't understand half of what Johnny Rotten was saying. Yeah, punk is suppose to be about attitude, which The Sex Pistols had a lot of. Too bad they didn't have a lot of skill at anything else. I really hate people who look at The Sex Pistols and say "Man, those guys are legends." If one album, a lot of bullshit, and attitude can make you a legend these days, I might have to jump in on that.
No. 3 – Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion I and II
Appetite For Destruction is one of my favorite albums of all time. The anticipation for Use Your Illusion was huge. When both parts came out, they sold like hotcakes. Of course, it sold like that because of the fact that the album had Guns N Roses on it. The problem with these albums is that there is so much random filler that they could of cut it all down to one album and made it a classic. Cmon, "Get In The Ring?" Yeah, Axl, I want to hear about how you hate critics so much. Jesus, it's a shame that songs as crappy as that were put next to "November Rain" and "Civil War."
No. 2 – Queensr?che - Operation:Mindcrime
When I saw Dream Theater live at Radio City Music Hall on April 1st, back in 2006, a guy there told me about this band named Queensr?che. He said they were as good, if not better than Dream Theater. Well, I got excited, so I picked it up the next day. What I heard out of my speakers was an hour of cheesy 80's vocals and even cheesier songs. I really don't see what people like about the album, other than the solid lyrics. Comparable to Dream Theater? Hell no!
No.1-Nirvana - Nevermind
Ah, yes. I had to include this album, just because of the lasting effect it had on the music industry. I know this is a bold statement, but I'm going to say it. Nirvana almost killed metal. There is no doubt in my mind about that. What Nevermind did was push bands that were much better musically into the underground. Listen, I have nothing against Kirk Cobain. However, we all know that his vocals were decent at best, and he had no idea how to play a guitar solo. Yes, the music was emotional and deep, I guess. That doesn't stop the fact that most of the album is crap. Dave Grohl was the only talented guy in the band and his talent was basically wasted. I will admit that I do enjoy a few of the songs on the album ("In Bloom"), but most of it is overplayed garbage.
John Cullen
No. 5 - Funeral by The Arcade Fire
I feel like no matter what I type in any of these spots, people are going to cringe at reading my top 5. What can I say? Overrated is always a tough discussion because literally anything can be overrated if other people like it and you don't. Hell, you can even like it quite a bit, but not LOVE it like others do, and you will still be vilified for putting on your list. Well, in this case, I just straight up don't get it. The Arcade Fire. The newest, latest, "big thing". I just don't. I first heard this album well before the Arcade Fire got hugely popular, as a gushing friend told me I just *HAD* to listen to the album. It didn't catch me then, and it doesn't catch me now. I don't doubt they put on an amazing live show, and I also don't doubt the talent of the band, it just seems to be like it's all too orchestrated—epic for the sake of being epic—and the songwriting lacks as a result. As far as Canadian indie rock troupes go, Broken Social Scene has my vote any day.
No. 4 - OK Computer by Radiohead
Ian Wright now officially hates me. But that's okay, I still like him a lot. I like "OK Computer". In fact, I like it a lot. "Paranoid Android" is a stunning moment of revelation on a record that's otherwise well above average—but not the pillar by which all other bands should be measured by, as the Pitchfork crowd(and many others) would have you believe. In fact, I think that "The Bends" and "Kid A" are both superior records, with "The Bends" featuring far more consistent songwriting and "Kid A" creating a blueprint for how bands can successfully shift their sound without losing what made them great. "OK Computer" is quite good, but to me it just lacks a bit of consistency to be considered as unbelievable as it is by many, especially when the rest of the band's catalogue is even better, never mind any other artist.
No. 3 - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis
This is more of a response to the 411 Top 100 than anything else, as I didn't realize this album was actually THAT highly rated. #15. Really? The 15th single greatest record of all-time is by Oasis? Let's be real here for a minute. Sure, the album has three fantastic singles that will probably be listened to on FM channels until we're all off of this planet, but after that, what are we looking at? A lot of Beatles-aping, to be certain, while attempting to cross-breed wherever it was Nirvana left off with British acoustic rock that is largely boring and uninspired. This album presents nothing original whatsoever in terms of structure, phrasing, lyrics, anything, and is largely boring outside of the three singles. Not only that, but it presented absolutely no progression from their first record, "Definitely Maybe", and in fact, they STILL haven't shown any progression since then. Do you ever wonder why "Be Here Now" was such a commercial failure, and every record since has failed to capture the magic of "What's the Story…"? Because "What's the Story…" is three songs and a lot of the "skip" button. That's why.
No. 2 - Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin
This is another case where I do really enjoy the record, but it's not the best the band has to offer, despite what many out there believe, and that's why I feel it is so overrated. "Led Zeppelin IV" represents a lot of what made Led Zeppelin great—epic, intense rock anthems that bridged the gap between early 70's metal and mainstream rock. But it's also likely their most straight-forward album. It's hard to say that "Led Zeppelin IV" is their best when they have other albums that display the band's talents so much better. "Led Zeppelin I" was their finest hour in terms of bringing straight-forward rock, and "Houses of the Holy" displays them at their experimental best. "IV" was a case of an album riding one amazing song to critical acclaim, but if you look at the album as a cohesive whole, it really doesn't offer the best of the band, or even close.
No. 1 - All That You Can't Leave Behind by U2
This album was rated in the top 150 albums of all-time by Rolling Stone magazine. Of all the albums ever released, THIS belongs in the top 150? It didn't even belong on the entire Top 500 list compiled by RS a few years ago, never mind the top 150. This album is pretty much garbage. U2 haven't been relevant since the early- to mid-1990's, when they reached their creative peak and have been mailing it in since. I just get really sick of all the talk about how U2 has revived their career with the last two albums(this and "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb"), when really all they've done is abandoned their attempts to be artistically relevant, and have just sought out to write catchy, vanilla songs that will make them money and sell out stadiums. At least with "Zooropa" and "Pop", they were trying to be a band that was defining a DIFFERENT sound, different from what made them popular originally, and different from what the mainstream would like, just as when they came on the scene in the 1980's and defined the mainstream by mixing a flair for the bombastic with interesting guitar work, a riveting rhythm section, and powerful lyrics. By the time the millennium rolled around, they abandoned all their attempts to become something different in exchange for becoming accepted, writing boring songs about how nice the weather is and how being in a moment that sucks really sucks. This album wasn't a "return to form", but rather it was a return to the mainstream for U2, where instead of forging their own path to the mainstream, they took the easy way out and the bags full of dollars they got in return.
Patrick Robinson
No. 5 – Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101 by Young Jeezy
Oh. My. Gosh. There are people that actually hail this as a modern day classic. Obviously, I have been listening to a different album as the one I've heard is nothing but annoying adlibs ("THAT'S RIIIIIIGHT"), redundant beats and a tired, tired concept. Seriously, stop rapping about dealing cocaine cause if you're going to do that, at least do it creatively like Raekwon ("Only Built 4 Cuban Linx") or the Clipse ("Lord Willin' ").
No. 4 – Get Rich Or Die Tryin' by 50 Cent
Another "modern day classic" Right. People call this the rebirth of gangsta rap. Someone should have seriously paid for an abortion because this is ridiculous. Production is solid, but the clich?d lyrics, complete lack of charisma (he sounds like he's rapping in a coma) combined with little to no creativity, PLUS "21 Questions" make this album extremely overrated in my opinion.
No. 3 – Tha Carter II by Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne fanatics hail this as his greatest album and one of the best albums in the last decade. This album is nowhere near ‘classic' status, as Wayne fans would have you believe as there some extremely poor songs on the album. Furthermore, this came out just before Wayne was accused of having a ghostwriter. Having listened to his efforts after this album (and the supposed ghostwriter quit), there could be some truth to those claims, which only further tarnishes the album's reputation. As I said in my GOAT discussion, he's nowhere near being the best rapper alive.
No. 2 – The Naked Truth by Lil Kim
This is more overrated for the fact that it was the first album done by a female MC to receive the coveted 5 Mics from The Source, which is a complete insult to female MCs such as MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, and Roxanne Shante. The songs can be categorized into the following: Brooklyn, how good her sex game is, Biggie references and how she's become famous. Turns out, Lil Kim's manager was sleeping with the co-editor of The Source at the time or something like that which serves two purposes. Firstly, sex will get you anywhere and secondly, The Source was, and had been since 2001, full of crap.
No. 1 – The Blueprint by Jay-Z
Yes another album which received 5 Mics from The Source. It's the most overrated album in my opinion as the album follows much of Jay's previous albums. Raps about money, raps about girls, raps about the streets (by this point in his career, you have to wonder when the last time he visited a ghetto was) with the occasional moment of introspection like we saw on "Reasonable Doubt". Added to this, Jay gets completely and utterly outshined by Eminem on "Renegades". It's a good album certainly, but definitely NOT 5 Mic quality as the rating was almost certainly given to further push the feud between Nas and Jay.
