Most overrated albums

Exile on Main Street - first time I didn't like a Rolling Stones album, and I owned them all. I've probably listened to it ten times all the way through, and it does nothing for me. Yet I understand it's many people's favorite Stones record.

Pet Sounds

the entire Madonna catalog

Anything Aretha Franklin.

You're full of shit, OP.

(Well actually, you're right about Oasis.)

R5 Rumours sounds like muzak to my ears. It's boring inoffensive elevator music.

R2 As I am an ex-Beach Boys loon I can totally agree, but I also really enjoy Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson will always be one of the great innovators of pop music.

P.S I think Pet Sounds sounds more contemporary than Rumours, and they're 11 years apart. Fleetwood Mac's sounds has not aged that well, the last time I really dug 'em was in the late 2000s.

The Wall or Dark Side of The Moon. Pink Floyd is mostly fake jazz to me when I listen, it bores. Syd Barrett was great, anything he did was pretty great, they had a different dynamic. And underrated album by them? Meddle. Very much a folk-rock vibe through the album, a lot nicer than what they did later on.

Dark Side of the Moon

Beyonce, Gaga, Madonna, Harry Styles, Kanye, U2, and Bob Dylan make fine music but they are all extremely overrated. Bob Dylan's place as poet laureate of the boomer generation continues to baffle me. I think Joni Mitchell was underrated for a long time, but not so much anymore. Paul Simon went from overrated to underrated. Dark Side of the Moon was revolutionary from a technical standpoint but I agree that Syd really made Pink Floyd listenable.

Nevermind(1991) by Nirvana is overrated. Kurt accomplished what he needed to accomplish with Bleach(1989) and I like Steve Albini's hands off production style on In Utero(1993) better.

Kayne west. Any album.

No way R11. Nevermind still feels current and doesn't have one filler song. It's a fantastic album. I loved Bleach as a kid, but can hardly listen it to now, btw.

"The Wall," "Pet Sounds," "Thriller," "Jagged Little Pill."

Thriller. Ugh, that was all you fucking heard for about two years.

R1, Exile on Main Street is my favorite album, period. I listen to it often.

Stevie Nicks generally is overrated. She's the only person I can think of with the singer songwriter label who doesn't play an instrument. Bowie is overrated too. He was so coked out of his mind in the 70s that Eno had to do most of the work.

I love Exile on Main Street, but can understand why it’s considered minstrelsy in some circles. I love Mick when he shows up in that Aretha Franklin doc Amazing Grace.

Paul McCartney solo.

Anything by Nirvana

Let It Bleed is a better Stones album than Exile On Main Street.

Pet Sounds is innovative in its inventive use of offbeat sounds, but some of the lyrics are painfully gauche.

[quote]Let It Bleed is a better Stones album than Exile On Main Street.

By far. My favorites are Aftermath, LIB, Satanic Majesties, and Between the Buttons.

anything by taylor swift.

Let It Bleed is the best Stones album.

R19 Have any critics said positive things about any solo McCartney aside from Tug of War?! I’d say his solo stuff is underrated.

Overrated: Graceland by Paul Simon

R15 is right about Thriller. It doesn’t hold up. It’s still special to me because it was the first album I ever bought.

Pet Sounds is an odd one for me. I don't think it's overrated, especially in terms of its influence. However, it's not an album that I want to re-visit very often. Not sure why. It's almost too much.

Any Fiona Apple album.

People say "Paul's Boutique" by the Beastie Boys is one of their favorite albums, but they never listen to it

Johnny Ryall, Johnny Ryall!!!

R29 I've always suspected that way more people SAY they listen to The Beastie Boys, in general, than actually listen to them. And I'm not saying that to denigrate The Beastie Boys.

Every album from Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Who, Beyonce, Lady GaGa, etc. Blah.

Yeah, ArtPop is sure overrated... 🙄

I found a trench coat in my garage and wore it one rainy day. When I came back inside my roomie laughed at my appearance. I immediately launched into Sabotage! Laughs all around.

Fuck you OP. Fuck you.

OP, get your vagina bone over here so I can kick it.

Katy Perry, Lady gaga, Ariane Grande - all boring drivel.

Most of Daft Punk.

Considering how many great albums came out in 1977, Rumours isn't even in the top 10.

[quote] Beyonce, Gaga, Madonna, Harry Styles, Kanye, U2, and Bob Dylan make fine music but they are all extremely overrated.

Except for Dylan and Beyoncé, those people generally aren’t “overrated”—they’re merely commercially successful, but no one thinks of them as brilliant artists (and I have no fucking clue why Beyoncé enjoys such vaunted status). And R37, same goes for the 3 artists you mentioned. Does anyone who’s serious and knowledgeable about music rate them highly? No.

Rumours needs to fuck off. It’s enjoying a resurgence now because of extremely young people who just became aware of it, on top of the Millennials who just discovered it ten years ago.

Rumours isn't even the best Fleetwood mac album. That would go to Then Play On or Tusk. Rumours continues to sell because of the soap opera aspect.

Joy Division is good but overrated due to Ian Curtis' suicide. More people have the shirt than the album.

Grace by Jeff Buckey

The Wall by Pink Floyd. And I like PF; but this thing is bombastic and also reveals why Roger Waters is a control freak. I actually sold the LP back to a used record store as I heard all the "big" songs way too many times 2 years after its initial release.

Whoever said Paul Simon's "Graceland" was spot on. The album for which the word "overrated" was invented.

Stevie Wonder's albums were very good, but critics used to fall over themselves to praise them. A little too much.

Any Arcade Fire album, but specifically The Suburbs. I mean they're not the worst, but I never bought that they were THAT great. Critics went WILD for them.

Hounds of Love. It's good but I prefer both The Dreaming and The Sensual World.

OP, I agree with you about Morning Glory. In fairness, it does have three fantastic songs: "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Champagne Supernova". But the rest is just blah.

Fucking Tapestry (or any other Miss King album, for that matter). The fact that Boomers went apeshit over a mediocre album like that just goes to show how dreadful their taste was.

[Bold] ANYTHING BY GUNS N' ROSES AND THE SMASHING PUMPKINS!!!!!! TWO OF THE WORST BANDS IN MUSIC HISTORY!!!!!!

I like the Eagles, truly, but I can't believe their GH sold 40 million copies or something.

They were solid but I think way overrated.

I feel the same about Coldplay today. I like them a lot, especially their last album, but I think they coasted for a long time on their first 3-4 albums.

God, you people are so tedious. Many of these albums are rightly classics.

R49: ha I opened this thread to post ‘Tapestry’ as an answer. A few of the songs are good but the way critics and the media wank over it is ridiculous.

Eagles - Hotel California.

Lou Reed

I liked the Elton John approach to albums. He would put out a great one (Tumbleweed Connection, Honky Chateau, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy) and follow it up with junk (Madman Across The Water, Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player, Caribou, Rock Of The Westies).

Rock Of The Westies is a GREAT record, r56.

“Ray of Light” by Madonna. So pretentious and phony with her claiming to be so enlightened suddenly. And critics acted like it was groundbreaking when in reality underground artists had been doing that sound for years. She simply was the first one to go mainstream with it.

Rock Of The Westies is a GREAT record, [R56].

There should be a rule here. For each album you think is overrated, post one you think is underrated.

And before you post this album or that was overrated, first think if it was overplayed, which may explain why you don't like it.

Some of you are just contrarian, some of you are stuck in disco.

Oh, and I eat old peoples excrement.

No, I just hate stupid takes, like yours r61.

Ouch that hurt, r62.

R60 Emitt Rhodes 1970 S/T album is underrated, even if he's just doing a Paul McCartney impression, it's an immaculate impression.

Underrated: The Divine Comedy (Milla)

70s progressive rock. I have no idea what albums they actually are. But it's what the older kids who were stoners listened to while they cut class and smoked cigarettes at their cars with the doors open and prog rock (Rush????) playing.

I'll be bold and submit the debut album of, oh, maybe... 60-70% of the debut albums belonging to the "Best New Artist" Grammy nominees.

A few specific albums that stand out to me as overrated: Songs in A Minor by Alicia Keys, Chamber Music Society by Esperanza Spalding, Come Away With Me by Norah Jones....

Sorry, let me fix that: "I'll be bold and submit the debut album of, oh, maybe... 60-70% of the "Best New Artist" Grammy nominees." Oops!

R66 I used to feel that way a lot. I actually just loathed Rush, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, et al, and in some ways, more because of who listened to them: loser dudes who didn't have a job and drove around in their vans smoking weed, drinking booze out of a Pepsi bottle, and skeeving on girls.

A few years ago I began to appreciate Led Zepplin's actual artistry. And to a lesser degree the others.

Beethoven. Totally overrated.

[Quote] I actually just loathed Rush

Wow. Where I lived dorky rockers were into them. Now they all are millionaires in the tech world.

I can't believe people aren't embarrassed to admit owning any Britney Spears album

R47 Agree that The Dreaming is criminally overlooked (Mary!) and The Sensual World is sort of forgotten but Hounds of Love IS that amazing. The truth is Bush has never put out a mediocre album. Even Lionheart, had some gorgeous moments: Symohony in Blue and Oh England, My Lionheart, for example.

What I really don’t get is why many fans don’t like The Red Shoes....but that’s for another thread, I guess lol.

R72 By whom is Britney Spears overrated by? Other than her fans.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill - it reeked Eminem - i don't know any of his album titles but i just never liked him The Smashing Pumpkins - dreary heroin music

Beyoncé’s Lemonade, and actually all her albums but that one seems to be one critics went mental for.

Anything by Radiohead. They made rock music sexless and thom Yorke’s warble is unbearable to me.

[quote] Beyoncé’s Lemonade, and actually all her albums but that one seems to be one critics went mental for.

Agreed it seemed the mass media tried to push it as a "classic" and huge cultural event too. Clearly it wasn't a big influence because it's been 5 years and forgotten pretty quickly. All visuals no substance.

DL is probably not familiar with Tool but they are know for writing songs with melodies inspired by fibonacci, bernoulli, etc sequences. It's just eggheaded nonsense.

Beyoncé - Lemonade. The acclaim is for the message, album is meh.

Patti Smith -Horses. Natalie Merchant does her signature hit better.

U2 - The Joshua Tree. A good album but not as groundbreaking as critics think. Achtung Baby was way better.

Underrated? Ellie Goulding -Bright Lights. A very interesting electronic folk album.

R74 the millions of people around the world going on about how exploited her genius was in the devoid of gas-station pussy flashing pics "Framing Britney Spears"

It's stupid trying to compare Britney's songs to "the thinking man's music". But when it comes to mindless bubblegum pop aimed at teen girls and babygays, her first two albums (and the other stuff those Swedes were producing at the turn of the Millennium) were obviously the best that dreaded genre had to offer at the time and it totally reinvented it, for better or for worse.

R81 I do t remember her music being praised to Hugh heavens in Framing Britney Spears, but go off.

R83 she was actually being praised for her humanity

R83 but go off

Nobody was thinking about Britney or her music for years until that Framing Brtney documentary dropped. Her stans are a vocal minority. Most of her music is dated and seen as a relic of the time period. People liked her image and music videos but most people are not delusional to think Britney was a musical genius when she didn't sing, write or play instruments. She was just a fun pop star who is nostalgic for people.

R86 you lost me at dropped

R84 Praised for her humanity? Why is that praiseworthy? She's a human being of course she has humanity. She also pisses and farts, should she be praised for that too?

R88 lower your dosage

Dark Side of the Fucking Moon -- stoner twaddle.

R89 OK. Britney is a manufactured pop star who is not an artist and is not highly regarded because she doesn't sing well, doesn't write her songs and doesn't play instruments. Is that coherent enough?

OK, once upon a time everyone was blasting “Joshua Tree” and White Snake’s “Slip of the Tongue” and I thought both were overrated.

David Byrne put out “Rei Momo“ and it hinted at what Peter Gabriel would deliver with “Us” and both of those just delivered.

Judy at Carnegie Hall.

Britney Spears without her music is a Tuesday night stripper in Arkansas

Underrated and forgotten?

Don’t bash Fortune Feimster, R94.

Criminally underrated

Kid A and OK Computer are overrated and when every random douche claimed them as their favorite band

R94 Yep. But her stans believe otherwise. If she wasn't pretty and didn't have the Mickey Mouse Club connections, she would still be in Louisiana. Her label made her dress slutty, sing in an sex doll voice and overproduced her songs because they knew it would sell. She was just the face to sell Max Martin's (and other producers) factory sound.

Folklore by Taylor Swift. All of her albums are overrated but the press hyped up Folklore as if it was her big artistic statement when it was just as shallow and boring as every other album she released.

Britney is about image, not making albums of original music. There's a difference. "Album" has a history in rock music beginning in the period of '65-'67 as a collection of songs by artists that were not necessarily Top 40 songs, although some of those songs did reach into the charts. Albums were considered an expression of artists in a given span of time and usually performed all the instruments on the tracks. I don't consider any diva to be the same as that previous generation. I think the diva records are, of course, controlled by the recording history to be hit factory machines relying on tempos, and visual and audio trends; certainly not much muted introspection, reflection, or commentary are allowed in that music. They don't make "albums".

This is a MUCH narrower context, because these albums aren't even a huge thing generally.

But in 90s alt rock/"college rock" circles - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless; Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II, and Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation.

I actually like all these albums to varying degrees. But, there were often written about as if they were beyond reproach. Anyone who disagreed that they were incredible was stupid, pedestrian, and too unsophisticated to "get it." Rolls eyes.

"Dark Side" is fantastic. So fuck go fuck yourselves. Its jazz influences can't be denied, but the album is much better than "The Wall".

R101 Fair point but wouldn't you say that Michael Jackson, Madonna, George Michael and Janet Jackson challenged that in the 1980s and 1990s by making concept pop albums?

I sort of agree with Exile on Main Street. I like it it, but enjoy a lot of other Stones albums more - even the pasted together from stuff in the vaults Tattoo You.

Eminem has some good singles but listening to an entire album is repetitive

If you have to pick one Rolling Stones album which is consistent and listenable many times over, I do think Exile is the best overall

[quote] OK, once upon a time everyone was blasting “Joshua Tree” and White Snake’s “Slip of the Tongue” and I thought both were overrated.

Yes of course, Whitesnake. They were praised to the heavens by far too many. So undeserving of the many accolades they received.

R104, I agree with you, because, they have an organic sound. There is too much processed sound as of 2010. I should have made this a point in my previous post. The artists you mentioned were organic as well as having soul.

OP and I would never meet because I love Fleetwood and Oasis. I agree Radiohead is over rated and used by middle aged douches to appear relevant to music.

Whoever dissed Daft Punk - cmon !

Criminally underrated: Richard Thompson. Sparks.

Nirvana's Nevermind

Ah OP fuck you. Rumours is great.

Anything Beatles.

C'mon. That line: "Becky with the good hair" is iconic.

R111, good choices!

What exactly do people like about Rumours? I'd rather listen to my furnace making noises.

I'm happy to see I'm not the only one on Earth who isn't a fan of "The Wall".

"Wish You Were Here" is among my very favorite albums of all time, and when I saw all the rave reviews coming in for Pink Floyd's new magnum opus, I rushed out to buy it. I was just a teenager, and it cost what was for me a fortune at the time, but I just knew it would be worth every penny.

I brought it home, put it on, and...I could not believe how bad it was. Three, maybe four, memorable songs, with a bunch of tuneless, puerile, whiny, self-indulgent, immature, self-pitying nonsense in between. I gave it a few more listens over the next few days, trying to force myself to see the genius that everybody else claimed was there, but I never found it. It actually made me angry at how bad it was.

I think Rumours has gotten a critical bump in recent years because the band had 2 female members.

"Thriller."

Thriller the song is probably the worse on the album, as fun as the video was.

I still like most of the Thriller songs, but they have, of course, been played to death. The Lady in My Life is my absolute favorite on the album - one of only two songs (of nine) that wasn't a single.

Off the Wall is way better as an album.

"[R29] I've always suspected that way more people SAY they listen to The Beastie Boys, in general, than actually listen to them."

This is something I'm always fascinated by - what people ACTUALLY listen to. I was an absolute music fiend growing up in the 80s, college in the 90s. Loved playing music, talking about it, reading about it, buying it. Was around a lot of music aficionados and music snobs. And there's a LOT of people who know a lot and have big music collections and claim to love this or that, but actually really don't listen to it all that much (many actually do of course). Their music fandom/taste is peformative and status-seeking to varying degrees. Again, there's plenty of genuine, deep, knowledgeable music fans, but there are many of the type I'm talking about.

I love the Beatles, but I don't love the White Album. It's only a double album because they were fighting so much they couldn't decide on a finalized list of songs so they threw everything on there. If you the dreck you'd have one fantastic album in there:

Revolver, on the other hand, is a stone classic I could listen to over and over (and have). It's considered one of the Beatles' strongest albums, though, so you couldn't really call it underrated.

I agree that Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was vastly overrated at the time. The singles were good, but there was a lot of filler.

Anything by Michael Jackson.

Wait. Janet Jackson made "concept albums"?

Anything by the Talking Heads. I just can’t warm up to Byrne’s voice. His lyrics aren’t great, either.

I guess I should be thankful nobody has yet stated that Steely Dan is overrated. WTF are you guys trying to denigrate rock classics? As if any crap today should be in even the same paragraph! One simply cannot listen to rock icons today(!) and make an assessment from today's current standards. You have to take into account groundbreaking innovation that influenced music from that time on. You must take into account the cultural milieu and place it context.

So many bad choices...

I like a lot of Rumours and, I know this is heresy among the gays and the Americans, but I fucking detest Stevie Nicks and her bleating voice, and Songbird can sod off as well. Over all I prefer Tusk even if (as ever) Nicks’ songs all suck.

I don’t get Radiohead at all. The Bends is decent, but OK Computer? I can’t get into that. And best record of the 90s/20th century/ever? Fuck off. Maybe I need to be a straight white man to understand it.

I’m glad I’m not the only one to appreciate Their Satanic Majesties Request.

The music I like does not really get critical acclaim, but I don’t care. So some seriously underrated albums:

Secrets – The Human League

How To Be A Zillionaire – ABC

Rage In Eden - Ultravox

A Secret Wish - Propaganda

Visage - Visage

Care - Shriekback

Naked - Kissing The Pink

I always felt like the King in Amadeus when I listened to Radiohead: "Too many notes." I can stand about one song and then I have to listen to something else. When it comes to bleating British bands of the 90s/00s, I prefer Coldplay.

Anyone who puts down a classic album like Rumours must list an album they think is underrated.

There are records that don't resonate with everyone -- even big bands. I'm not a fan of Nirvana except for the Unplugged album. Soundgarden had some decent songs but way overrated because of Cornell's death. I love Radiohead though. The Bends is amazing. OK Computer is fantastic and truly a headphones album. Kid A is sublime. Still remember driving home from the record store and popping it in. Had to drive around for an extra 45 minutes because I didn't want to stop it. "Everything In It's Right Place" is so weird and melancholic and unlike anything I had heard before.

[quote] don’t get Radiohead at all. The Bends is decent, but OK Computer? I can’t get into that. And best record of the 90s/20th century/ever? Fuck off. Maybe I need to be a straight white man to understand it.

I am white and I identify as straight and am a total rock music snob/nerd/obsessive, and you are not missing anything. Radiohead is mostly dreck, and you can safely ignore anyone who claims that album is the best of a year/decade/era. They have some cool songs, and some songs that have cool parts, etc. Yorke’s voice is irritating as hell. He has two speeds: whining and wailing, I guess.

R131, are you a musician?

I don't know why anyone would listen to Kid A or OK Computer over The Bends unless you prefer computerized sounds over guitars

Kid A was interesting. Not a classic, imho.

Pet Sounds is not overrated at all. It's the closest (white) modern music has ever come to some of the eternal classical music movements. Here's another underrated album.

Everything by Rod Stewart with the exception of Every Picture Tells a Story.

How is Kind of Blue underrated? It’s the entire world’s favorite jazz album.

R138 How many jazz aficionados do you actually know? It's a great record period and should be just as well known as Abbey Road.

R51 I don't feel like The Eagles Hotel California is overrated because critics and cool people never really liked them. They were commercially successful but not rated highly. Meatloaf's Bat Out if Hell is the same.

R139, I agree. I love it. But it’s not underrated.

Everything/anything by Bob Dylan.

Fleetwood Mac = Karen muzak

The album Bonnie Raitt won all the Grammys for. It's overrated because it's not her best work. To me, her strongest album is Green Lights.

It does seem a lot of people are trying to legitimize a ton of pop and pop rock music. That poptimism movement that the mainstream press is hopping on like Rolling Stone that is putting Backstreet Boys, Britney and Beyoncé in the top 20 in lists for best songs and albums lately. Since pop music is mainstream music and designed to be popular and forced onto the masses. All this is doing is making overrated music more overrated.

I was going to say Richard and Linda Thompson Shoot Out The Lights because it is top rated by Rolling Stone all the time and I’ve literally never heard it played anywhere but someone upthread said he was underrated so I guess he has his fans.

R145 my problem with poptimism is that with a lot of popular music the 'artist' is really just an avatar for a small army of producers and writers. Is it really fair to have a Britney Spears album on 'best album' lists? Shouldn't Max Martin get the lion's share of the credit? It seems like in the old school producer guys like Phil Spector got a lot of respect whereas we have to play a game now where we pretend Britney Spears is a legitimate musician.

I think it depends. Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins, Pharrell, Kanye, Daft Punk and Irv Gotti will have their names dropped in their songs and had a vocal presence in the music industry. Max Martin, Calvin Harris, Mark Ronson, Danja, Avant and Bloodshy and Dr. Luke are more discreet.

Jesus, the Britney loon has overtaken this thread. Get over it sweetie! She sucks! The only reason she gets attention is because she’s a train wreck.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness should have been retitled and edited to a single disc with the good songs left off and released on The Aeroplane Flies High

1. Tonight Tonight 2. Bullet with Butterfly Wings 3. 1979 4. Zero 5. Muzzle 6. Thirty-Three 7. Stumbleine 8. Pennies 9. Medellia of the Grey Skies 10. The Boy 11. Clones 12. Transformer 13. Tonight (reprise)

R140 Pennies is a great song.I wish Set the Ray to Jerry had made it into Mellon Collie too.

@146 Shoot Out the LIghts is an absolute masterpiece. "It's Just the Motion" is hauntingly beautiful. And speaking of them, Richard has a memoir coming out any time now.

Oh, I see @146 I misread...you're saying Shoot Out the Lights is overrated, not underrated. Have to agree to disagree on that one.

Stevie Nicks is overrated, Christine McVie is not. What instrument does Stevie play again? The tambourine? lmao.

Stevie Nicks is overrated, and she'd still be cleaning people's apartments were it not for Lindsey Buckingham, who helped arrange and improve her songs. And how does she repay him, by kicking him out of the band.

Not all that great...

Stevie Nicks can play piano and guitar enough to create the basic framework of the songs. She doesn’t play well enough to play on stage, but she knows enough chords to write a song.

The Bonnie Raitt cd that won all the Grammys was Nick of Time, which I like a lot. She won all those awards because it was a major comeback for her on a new label (Capitol) after her drug issues and getting shafted by Warner Brothers Records. She's a survivor.

I've been a fan since 1972s Give It Up and she definitely had some artistic ups and downs at Warners, especially when they kept trying to make her more "commercial" and downplaying her bluesy side.

I'm not that fond of Green Light. There are some good cuts on it, but I find Give It Up, Takin' My Time, and Sweet Forgiveness much stronger.

My favorite of her Capitol years is Silver Lining, if only for her brilliant version of the title song, written by David Gray.

Lennon and Ono's Double Fantasy

R157 she knows chopsticks and 3 chords on the guitar.

Lennon is overrated but at least he didn't do Wings.

R161, I'd rather listen to anything McCartney released then what Lennon and Ono put out.

Kate Bush's The Dreaming is better than Hounds of Love.

McCartney and Wings put out one good-ish album: Band On The Run, and I think that was overrated somewhat. Everything else was mostly dross, with some good cuts here and there.

McCartney's first solo album isn't that good either. Ram is better but even that has some crap on it.

I loved Paul McCartney's first two albums, wasn't in love with Band on the Run, and played the side of Wings at the Speed of Sound that had "Let 'Em In" on it. They used to play "Let 'Em In" at the Candle fairly frequently. It reminds me of Big Dick David, one I should never have let get away.

I also liked Rumours, and Pet Sounds is my third favorite album of all time, after Linda Ronstadt's Hasten down the Wind and the Beach Boys' SMiLe.

Ten by Pearl Jam. Nirvana was million times better, original and more important. PJ were just another bluesy, stadium classic rock Nothing alternative or grunge/punk about them. OK Computer. It is voted number one best album ever on Rate your music. How? And it constantly appears at number one spot on the best of 90s lists of any music mag.

Stevie Wonders’ “Talking Book” is brilliant and tuneful and memorable.

Tapestry

Rumours

Most of Beyoncé’s crap. How is this woman a 28-time Grammy winner?

I bought "First Offense" by Corey Hart when it first came out, but "Sunglasses at Night" was the only good song on it. No idea how it went platinum.

[quote] Rumours isn't even the best Fleetwood mac album. That would go to Then Play On or Tusk. Rumours continues to sell because of the soap opera aspect.

You must be old as dust to even remember the FM soap opera. "Rumours" is fantastic and the songs exist outside of any interpersonal drama in the band 45 years ago.

“Born To Run” - Bruce Springsteen

Overrated: Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Overrated as the "seminal" country rock album. Parsons was already doing the same thing with his earlier International Submarine Band. Gene Clark and the Gosdins pre-dated this as well, and did it better imo.

Underrated: Gilded Palace of Sin, by the Flying Burrito Bros. Not a dull song here. Dark End of the Street is one of my all time faves, by any American rock band.

also Overrated: Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, other 'classic' pre-1970 Dylan

Underrated: Desire, and Hard Rain. His mid-to-late 70s divorce-drama output is where I began to be a fan. His scorching performances in the Rolling Thunder Revue are amazing, almost punk-like before punk was a thing. Isis live, in particular, is almost like rap.

Every Beatles album.

The game here is "overrated," not "records that I dislike but which mainly receive boutique/piecemeal recognition." You can't get more overrated than The Beatles.

Stringbean Hee Haw Cornshuker

"Everything by ________ "

Lame inattention to the criteria.

Therefore I'll be extra cunty. 95% of ALL HIP HOP. Half of the albums considered classic jazz.

ALL JANET JACKSON.

Rumors was a great album.

^It’s RUMOURS

Great doesn’t mean it’s not overrated

Frampton Comes Alive! OVERRATED

[quote]Overrated: Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, other 'classic' pre-1970 Dylan

[quote]Underrated: Desire, and Hard Rain.

I like Blonde on Blonde. Where else am I going to find "Visions of Johanna"? But yes, it was overrated. It included some songs I didn't like so much. I hardly ever played the "Sad Eyed Lady" side. I hated "Rainy Day Women." And why didn't it include "Positively 4th Street"?

Desire is my favorite Dylan album. It and Blood on the Tracks are really the only ones I listen to nowadays.

[quote]Wait. Janet Jackson made "concept albums"?

Control - a young woman coming into her own, a Declaration of Independence

Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 - the album tackled various social issues including racism, mass shootings, homelessness and illiteracy, all set to massively influential imagery and music videos

janet. - an album about love and sex. Janet had outgrown her shy, covered-up-to-here persona and was ready to show the world that she was embracing her sexy side, exemplified by the legendary Rolling Stone cover that is still arguably the most famous photo of a female pop star of all time.

The Velvet Rope - Janet was tackling her inner demons and learning to love herself. After a long bout with depression, she struggled to make the album but in the end, it would be her most heralded work to date. Topics included examining self-worth, abusive relationships, homophobia, and reflecting on loved ones who’ve passed away.

All For You was about her newfound freedom after divorce - a sort of happy flip side to The Velvet Rope. Damita Jo examined her different sides - freaky, romantic, still in control and in love (with Jermiane Dupri of all people). 20 Y.O. reflected on her lengthy career and was more urban than anything she’d done up until that point. Discipline was futuristic in tone. In press interviews, she explained the title by reflecting on how disciplined she’d been as a kid growing up in the industry, but it was a party album that celebrated gays and depicted S&M culture with its slick black and white imagery. Unbreakable was a mature, reflective album that garnered Janet her best critical reviews since The Velvet Rope. With nary a “sex” song on the album, there were club jams, slow R&B grooves, whimsical pop tracks, a song dedicated to her late brother Michael and even hints at a newfound dabbling with the Muslim religion due to her marriage to Qatari business magnate Wissam Al Mana.

OP: regarding ‘Morning Glory’, I think the album is ultimately saved by this song

Unpopular Opinion: Fleetwood Mac was better when it was still Peter Green's band.

Any past, present and future Beyonce albums

As a Madonna fan, I agree with the poster who mentioned Ray of Light. The demos still hold up well, especially Nothing Really Matters, but the album does seem especially phony today considering how Madonna has turned out. She went from reincarnated Hindu, cowgirl, wannabe Che Guevera, disco queen, wannabe hip hop/R&B star, bitter divorcee and then plastic surgeried, sex addicted, (arguably) drug addicted grandma. Huh?!

[quote]Lennon and Ono's Double Fantasy

It was flopping along with the single...until he died. I think the single "Woman" was stuck at 39.

Or was the single "Starting Over"? Equally as ghastly.

I love Rumours, though I prefer Tusk and Tango in the Night. The '76 to '87 albums are all terrific. I love the super deluxe editions released by Warner over the last decade.

I agree that Ray of Light is overrated, and I am a Madonna fan. Erotica and Bedtime Stories are far superior '90s albums from Madonna. I thought Madonna revealed more about herself on those two albums than she did on ROL.

A lot of the albums that are considered one of the best albums of all time tend to be overrated only because we are constantly told "this is one of the best albums of all time!" One album that gets lumped in that category is Dusty in Memphis. But I would never call it overrated. It's one of those albums that I appreciate more each time I hear it. In fact, the first time I heard it, I wondered what all the fuss was about. But, upon further listening, the special qualities of that album have revealed themselves to me over time.

R189, adding to that, I feel that most of the acclaimed New York rock bands are overrated. That's probably due to the fact that in previous decades, most music critics were from the East coast. In general, the best American bands came from the West Coast.

"Paul's Boutique" by Beastie Boys

It's always on top ten favorite lists and NO ONE EVER LISTENS TO IT

Hounds of love - overrated

Kick inside - underrated

Ah yes, here are the smart asses trashing great popular music that was both original and complex- another DL poster mining the cave dwellers of the Internet.

R191 Blasphemy! It’s perfect! I will concede it’s a fan favorite album - people (like myself) who are big Beastie fans will have it as their favorite of the bunch. However, I don’t know any person who’s listened to more than one Beastie Boys album that says their most popular one (Licensed to Ill) is their best.

I’d also say Hey Ladies and Shake Your Rump are two of their well known singles beyond their major hits.

Nevermind - I would say grunge in general The Wall Use Your Illusion Anything by Radiohead (except The Bends) Anything by Eric Clapton solo - Ozzy Osbourne 1990s REM

Sorry, R178. I'll do my 5 minutes in the DL Shame Closet now.

R1 agree. Some Girls is much better (and probably underrated ).

Admittedly only read thru the first few posts.

The White Album is also overrated. But Abbey Road is NOT.

Kudos to whoever said Paul Simon's "Graceland". For the life of me , I can't see why critics fell over themselves praising this pretentious drivel.

I love Graceland, only partly because Linda Ronstadt sings "Under African Skies" with Paul Simon. Except for Bridge over Troubled Water, it's my favorite Paul Simon album. So much '80s music was pure crap. This stands out as one of the best albums of that godforsaken time. It was one of the best sounding CDs, as well.

I used to wish they'd done an entire album together.

R193 appreciate a cave dweller announcing itself

Dark Side of the Moon!!!!

"Beyonce's Lemonade is a masterpiece that changed music forever!!!!"

Ur, no.

Nevermind by Nirvana

I couldn't stand the Beastie Boys until Check Your Head and Ill Communication which are both cohesive stoner albums

Live from La Mirage, by Dominique Devereux. Terrible album from 1986. 🤮

I hated Rumours when it came out, which was unfortunate because it was inescapable for about a year. A couple of years later, after new wave music became popular, Rumours really did sound like Muzak.

Mozart

I like Graceland, too. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is another key to the album's success.

But stories of Simon ripping off artists such as Los Lobos during the making of the album have spoiled it for me. Also, there is no way he could record this album now without being accused of cultural appropriation.

[quote] I was going to say Richard and Linda Thompson Shoot Out The Lights because it is top rated by Rolling Stone all the time and I’ve literally never heard it played anywhere

You never hear it played anywhere because it's the album of choice for middle-aged men going through a bitter divorce who sit at home drinking alone and playing it over and over obsessively. Like many Rolling Stone critics, I suppose.

The problem with Rumours is that the singles off the album are saturated to the point of insanity. Who ever needs to hear Dreams, Don’t Stop, Go Your Own Way, and You Make Loving Fun ever again? Even non-singles like The Chain and Gold Dust Woman have been embraced by radio and rendered them background noise at this point.

The deep cuts, however, are fantastic. Second Hand News, Songbird, I Don’t Want to Know and Never Going Back Again hold up because FM and Sirius radio haven’t run them into the ground.

Bruce Fucking Springsteen. Thank Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone, and Jon Landau for creating the myth. He was sexy, but his music is overrated and his singing sounds like a painful bowel movement. The cover of Time and Newsweek in the SAME week???? How did that happen? LOL - no one was ever more manufactured.

Is there a "Most Underrated Albums" thread? I searched on DL and on Google, and didn't find one. I'd start one but I don't want to invoke the wrath of the control cunts.

Second Hand News is a great underrated and underplayed track r210 - agreed.

[quote]Bruce Fucking Springsteen. ... The cover of Time and Newsweek in the SAME week???? How did that happen?

The release of the Born to Run album, that's how. This album contains four of the greatest songs of all time: "Born to Run," "Backstreets," "Jungleland," and my favorite "Thunder Road." The Born to Run tour, which I saw in two locations, remains some of the best concertizing I've ever seen.

Beatles albums

For the two posters who WWed r214, here's Bruce at the Roxy in the summer of '78, performing "Racing in the Street" and "Thunder Road" together. Easily my favorite "Racing" I've heard so far. And he explains where "Thunder Road" comes from.

Speaking of Bruce…overrated: Born in the USA (and I saw him on that tour, which was great anyway).

Underrated: Kirsty McColl, Kite

Most of PJ Harvey's 90s output is very overrated and sounds like a product of its time. Her two classics are Rid of Me and Stories from the City. The rest is either very good or good (but not great).