"The Overrated Book"

[YDload]

This is a fascinating book that calls everything ever "overrated." I can already tell it's fairly tongue-in-cheek in a sort of "Kill Your Idols" way. It has a huge list of albums that it tears down, ranging from obvious stuff like Nevermind to more obscure fare like The Gun Club or The Residents.

So if you've heard of this book you can talk about it. Or better yet, ask me if your favorite band/album is in here and I'll tell you what they said about it.

:D

[masada]

Post the book stupid.

[YDload]

I'll check this out. "Kill Your Idols" was a decent read, but it didn't go after true critical favorites like Remain in Light or New Day Rising or anything like that. Attacking Desperado by the Eagles instead is a bit questionable.

Remain In Light is in here, as is Zen Arcade. They also put Grant Hart in a category of "Overrated Drummers."

RIL: "There has never been a more white band that wanted to be more balck than the Talking Heads. This is the album where they finally gave up trying to do it alone, and got authentic black people to help them. They sure put some stank on it. Then Adrian Belew and Brian Eno came in, and cleaned up the stank. That's why they didn't call it Remain In Dark."

Okay so its not always clever, but it's damn thorough. And it's not just albums, they cover lots of things from beyond music itself, and have funny drawings of "Music Icon Action Figures" like a Mike Watt doll that rants when you pull a string and Paul Westerberg too.

[Bukowski]

Is Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth there?

[EightMilesHigh]

Is Damaged by Black Flag in there?

/listening to TV Party

[Luxor]

Is Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth there?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say EVERYTHING by Sonic Youth is in there.

[masada]

Except NYC Ghosts & Flowers lol

[Anxious]

Okay so its not always clever, but it's damn thorough. And it's not just albums, they cover lots of things from beyond music itself, and have funny drawings of "Music Icon Action Figures" like a Mike Watt doll that rants when you pull a string and Paul Westerberg too.
I have to get this book.

[YDload]

Is Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth there?

yes

"It was a good concept that somehow lost its way: to bend, spindle, and mutilate rock music and its beloved instruments in a time-worn effort to create a truly new variation on a theme. But tooo soon they decided not to bury rock music but to praise it. As they became the Kings of College Rock in the late-80s and early 90s, their screwdrivers and hacksaws started to look and sound downright cute and adorable. From streetwise muscic terrorists to the cuddly darlings of Sassy magazine, it was a transformation that I found hard to stomach."

Is Damaged by Black Flag in there?

/listening to TV Party

"Referred to by Black Flag purists as the 'where it all went wrong' album, Damaged marked the first appearance of Henry Garfield in the band. Who is Henry Garfield, you ask? Oh, you may know him as Henry Rollins- the muscle-bound, meat-head Ted Nugent of punk rock who appears in Apple PowerBook ads and is ready for the hire any time VH1 needs a new talking head to make jokes about Bobby and Whitney's marriage. Seriously, Greg Ginn even hates this guy- even though without him, he'd be a lot less rich."

[Anxious]

Greg Ginn hates everyone

[YDload]

Oh, there's also this huge list in the middle of the book caleld "1000 Unrelated, Overrated Things" Samples include: "Drummer: Dave Grohl" and "Accidental break-dancer: Michael J. Fox" how cruel!

[masada]

Hey DMD looks like you can publish a book again.

[Otherside]

At the Drive-In?

Prince?

[masada]

Pancakes

[YDload]

so in other words, it takes a list of things that people hold in high esteem and calls them 'overrated' without any reasoning?

Overrated band: the Beatles
Overrated album: OK Computer
Overrated genre: rap
Overrated singer: Aretha Franklin
Overrated drummer: John Bonham
Overrated classical composer: Mozart

No, the book has a bunch of different sections. The two largest sections are the ones that I'm pulling large quotes from (overrated albums) and the quick takes on a bunch of "random" items that aren't always music related.

There's a LOT of stuff to read and there's no way I can possibly tell you how awesome it is just by typing things from it. There are pictures too :)

[Zappa]

Mozart is pretty overrated.

[Zebra]

What did this book have to say about Tom Waits?

/is listening to Rain Dogs at the moment.

[Dave de Sylvia]

Appetite for Destruction?

[Well_Respected_Man]

aphex twin

[Matt?]

master of puppets?

[Jacaranda]

Ritual de lo Habitual or Nothing's Shocking?

[EightMilesHigh]

music for airports?
electric warrior?
l.a.m.f.?
my aim is true?

[Kaden]

Jesus Christ?

[pulseczar]

Pumpkins' Siamese Dream?

[ToolBox]

Neutral Milk Hotel?

[Sepstrup]

Odessey & Oracle by The Zombies? I dare anyone to say something bad about it.

[sgrevs]

The Flaming Lips?
TMV?

[Electric Riley]

Gracelands - Paul Simon

[Sam]

Remain In Light is in here, as is Zen Arcade. They also put Grant Hart in a category of "Overrated Drummers."

The joke's on them then I guess, because no one thinks Grant Hart is an amazing drummer.

[superpeer]

I bet Troublegum isn't in there.

[BringHomeTheBacon]

Doolittle or Surfer Rosa? Nobody hates the Pixies.

[team_racket]

i second tom waits.

[stevensonmat2]

the pixies can never be overrated

[asdf]

Show me some of The Residents stuff.

[Zappa]

The Residents don't fit, because no one ever really rates them. They just ramble about how weird they are.

[knox]

Is Nick Drake - Pink Moon in there?

[I'm The Face]

Guided By Voices, are seriously overrated. Only 1/4 of each album is ace, the rest is complete bollocks.

I like GBV, but I don't cream my jeans at the thought of Robert Pollard like some GBVers... yeesh.

[bleep_bloop]

I think that book is overrated.

[PinkFreud]

Make me a happy person by telling me that Radiohead is in there.

Ooooh, I hate them.

[FA]

M. Ward - Duet For Guitars #2

[YDload]

oops i forgot about this thread
At the Drive-In?

Prince?

ATDI: just a short quote about their career:

"...three of the band members resurfaced in Sparta, about whose music the best and worst that can be said while it's playing is, 'Well, there's music playing.' The other two guys went on to form the Mars Volta, a tribute to '70s prog-rock that, over the course of just two albums, has managed to create an 'experience' roughly equivalent to listening to the entire recorded output of Santana and yes (including the Rick Wakeman solo records) while an erectile-dysfuncitonal Geddy Lee feebly tries to assault you with his flaccid dick."

Prince: Sign 'O' The Times:

"After all the critical and commercial success of 1999, Purple Rain, and Around the World In A Day, Prince's megalomaniacal tendencies were significantly peaked. Thus, Sign O The Times. This hyper-indulgent, unfocused two-disc wankfest marked the first in what would become a long list of the Purple One's grandiose crapfests, and the beginning of a decline that impossibly reaches lower than the midget himself."

What did this book have to say about Tom Waits?

/is listening to Rain Dogs at the moment.

nothing

Appetite for Destruction?

use your illusion (imagination). too many words just think something up.

aphex twin

Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2: "Anything 'innovative' he did with software, Coil was doing without software ten years earlier. He just had the assistance of a major label, music videos and tons of money from his commercial work."

master of puppets?

yeah but its kinda dumb and not very interesting

Ritual de lo Habitual or Nothing's Shocking?

"But I always thought of Perry as a shitty Jim Morrison. Jimbo did massive amounts of LSD and penned 'The End' and Perry shoots a bunch of heroin and gives us 'Three Days.' What is it about California that subjects us to overblown, self-indulgent crap?"

music for airports?
electric warrior?
l.a.m.f.?
my aim is true?

probably, but thats too many words.

The Flaming Lips?
TMV?

The Soft Bulletin: "Proof that anyone can make a great album using Pro Tools software."

Yoshimi: "Proof that anyone can make a mediocre album using Pro Tools software.

Gracelands - Paul Simon

"Aging whitey rings up a mess of Africans to record himself a colorful record. Africans happily agree, and also offer to dance in whitey's music videos. Everyone is pleased. Whitey then hangs up the phone, pulls out his copy of the Africans' Shaka Zulu record, records it onto a 1/4 tape, and proceeds to sing stuff only the lamest caucasians could possibly care about on top of it. He names the album after the diamond-encrusted home of a fellow whitey who stole gospel from black people, and made a fortune writing it up..."

ok thats enough for now

[YDload]

I bet Troublegum isn't in there.

its not overrated because not a lot of critics got excited over it, i suppose.

Doolittle or Surfer Rosa? Nobody hates the Pixies.

correct. no mention of them except when talking about what bands ripped them off :)

Show me some of The Residents stuff.

Meet the Residents: "Not one tangible song on the whole album, just incoherent sludge. The fact that these guys and this record are compared to Beefheart is a shame."

thats it

Is Nick Drake - Pink Moon in there?

its number 12 (separate from the alphabetical list, they have a top 20 of all-time)

"To say any Nick Drake record is overrated is a stretch, considering he was never really held in high regard until long after he was cold and dead. However, if any album of his is overhyped, hit's this 11-song, 25-minute snore fest. It's just him in a room with an acoustic guitar. Drake himself was quoted as saying htat he just had no more to record."

Make me a happy person by telling me that Radiohead is in there.

Ooooh, I hate them

yes. not quoting anything because the forum will lynch me. basically it says that OK Computer was inferior to The Bends and the subsequent albums just plain sucked >:-}

I think that book is overrated.

quote from the back jacket: "This 'Overrated' Book wasn't nearly as good as I'd been led to believe." -Buzz Osborune

hehe

[Zappa]

Do they have any jazz? At least the big guns, A Love Supreme and Kind of Blue?

[YDload]

Do they have any jazz? At least the big guns, A Love Supreme and Kind of Blue?

just Sketches Of Spain: "Okay, I like Miles a lot, but I do hold him responsible for all of those lanky, white, technically-proficient-but-utterly-soulless Berklee College of Music turd monkeys, because this is the album they buy. If they really wanted to be more like Miles, they'd score some coke on the way home."

so it was more a dig at Berklee dorks than Davis. there's a mention of him on the preface to the overrated records section, something about Kind of Blue being given a place on the list by clueless white people.

[Syncratic]

What does it say about Tool?

[Dave de Sylvia]

What does it say about Tool?
Hopefully some jibe about it being self-descriptive. But probably not because noone really cares about Tool.

[groomits]

something about Bad Religion?

[Substitute]

What about..


The Velvet Underground?


They played like pigs. But none of their albums cracked the top 100 and lots of artists are indebted to what they did when they did it for their four albums. And they had 'the greatest debut album ever' under their belt.

[stevensonmat2]

Bruce Springsteen?

[asdf]

just Sketches Of Spain: "Okay, I like Miles a lot, but I do hold him responsible for all of those lanky, white, technically-proficient-but-utterly-soulless Berklee College of Music turd monkeys, because this is the album they buy. If they really wanted to be more like Miles, they'd score some coke on the way home."

That makes fun of my ex-bandmate more than Miles Davis. It describes him almost prefectly.

[Wanker]

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness must've been in there. It's almost a staple of those overrated list thingys. Or at least something by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Also, are there any post rock bands in there or did he just call them all overrated?

[superpeer]

its not overrated because not a lot of critics got excited over it, i suppose.

Nuh uh, it's not overrated 'cause it's really good. >=[

I think this is a pretty odd book.

[Sunny Afternoon]

The Velvet Underground?

I'd like to know.

[YDload]

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness must've been in there. It's almost a staple of those overrated list thingys. Or at least something by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Also, are there any post rock bands in there or did he just call them all overrated?

Mellon Collie was in there a little bit, nothing too important.

And there was a mention of Mogwai by the members of Mogwai themselves. they actually have a few artists who bash their own albums for fun :)

also, the book is obviously dated by about a year or so, but still relevant. they go on a big long rant about how Franz Ferdinand is "this" year's latest manufactured savior of rock, and how there will be another one just like them next year.

the next year, the Killers came out, and then The Arctic Monkeys after that. it was an easy prediction to make but it was right all the same!

[Sunny Afternoon]

Was this just a book calling every band overrated?
Or was it a book taking a select few and bashing everything they do?

[Zappa]

I'd like to see what they could say about Wire, specifically Pink Flag.

[Ficus]

"Person most likely to say while having sex, 'Prepare to accept the seed of Rollins': Rollins"

Great book

[EightMilesHigh]

i wonder what it says about bright eyes.

also, i dare it to say something bad about nick cave.

[YDload]

I'd like to see what they could say about Wire, specifically Pink Flag.

They get a passing mention about how snide they are in interviews, but overall they get much less flak than the people who were influenced by them.

i wonder what it says about bright eyes.

also, i dare it to say something bad about nick cave.

bright eyes: they don't like that one album of his called Lifted or The Story Is In the Soil... whatever

and nick cave? they just don't like The Boatman's Call but think everything else he did was great

[Sunny Afternoon]

Is there an author?
I'll take a quick look next time I'm in Chapters.

[Sepstrup]

They get a passing mention about how snide they are in interviews, but overall they get much less flak than the people who were influenced by them.



bright eyes: they don't like that one album of his called Lifted or The Story Is In the Soil... whatever

and nick cave? they just don't like The Boatman's Call but think everything else he did was great

The Boatman's Call is one of his best albums.

Is it this one: http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/920758/-/Product.html?searchstring=the+overrated+book&searchsource=0

?

[YDload]

Is it this one: http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/920758/-/Product.html?searchstring=the+overrated+book&searchsource=0

?

Yup, that's the one. If anyone's familiar with Chunklet magazine, they're the ones behind it (didn't think they would actually credit a single author!)

[sweboy]

Any Sublime (40oz to Freedom?) in there?

[Sepstrup]

Is it worth the money?

[The Stig]

Where did you find it? Will Barnes and Noble/Borders have it?

[YDload]

I got it at Barnes and Noble (because they didnt have "Our Band Could Be Your Life" in stock :()and yes it was worth it :cool:

[Badmoon]

Anything bout the Minutemen?

or Uncle Tupelo?

[YDload]

Minutemen were always mentioned favorably, usually talking about how other bands aren't as good as them. Same with Pixies and anything with David Yow in it. Lots of Yow love.

Also, Nacho you should read it just to see what they have to say about Emergency And I ;)

[Excursions]

That's because David Yow pwns.

[Dave de Sylvia]

The Minutemen are/were so overrated.

[rocknrollstar5]

Oasis?
Sex Pistols?

[Dave de Sylvia]

I think those go without saying.

[EightMilesHigh]

Oasis?
Sex Pistols?

Oasis are not overrated or underrated.

The Sex Pistols are overrated, especially by rebellious teenagers who want "anarkee".

[Jacaranda]

Oasis are way overrated, man.

[rocknrollstar5]

Not in the UK they aren't. they were quite big and influential

[Bukowski]

That's because David Yow pwns.

true

The Minutemen are/were so overrated.

false

[YDload]

Not in the UK they aren't. they were quite big and influential

That's what makes them so overrated: the fact that someone, somewhere believes they were really really good. They're not overrated in America because nobody cared about them past 1998. But in the UK they're still heralded despite being nothing more than The Shitty Beatles.

[Frequently Tripping]

Oasis shall henceforth be known as The ****ty Beatles.

[incubliss]

Can you give us an Amazon link to this book.

[YDload]

http://www.amazon.com/Overrated-Book-Patton/dp/0867196572

There ya go :)

[incubliss]

Cheers bhey.

[aphexmonster]

I hate books and articles like this. all it really says is if anybody knows about it im gonna say i dont like it because its cool. I get a rise out of people who get all defensive over their music even though my tastes are just as bad or even worse because i only like stuff nobodys ever heard of. Maybe some things are over rated, but its an opinion sort of thing, because if you dont like it of coursre you're gonna think its over rated, you rated it 0. Its a vicious hate cycle because all this does is point the finger at the author for people to rate what they like ... or just plain call it over rated regardless of how good or bad it is. However, if you like stuff like this, books like this, or articles like this, feel free to check out something awfuls " your band sucks " section. They've done Tool, Coheed and Cambria, Avenged Sevenfold, The mars Volta, and a **** load of other namely artists that they just dont have anything good to say about. Personally I think they've come too far into modern times when theres plenty of bands in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's that they missed. Argh, i cant stand people that just bad mouth music... any music.

[PinkFreud]

I can't tell if you know this but SA's "Your Band Sucks" section is all in jest.

Minutemen aren't overrated at all.

Oasis and the Sex Pistols suck.

[YDload]

I hate books and articles like this. all it really says is if anybody knows about it im gonna say i dont like it because its cool. I get a rise out of people who get all defensive over their music even though my tastes are just as bad or even worse because i only like stuff nobodys ever heard of. Maybe some things are over rated, but its an opinion sort of thing, because if you dont like it of coursre you're gonna think its over rated, you rated it 0. Its a vicious hate cycle because all this does is point the finger at the author for people to rate what they like ... or just plain call it over rated regardless of how good or bad it is. However, if you like stuff like this, books like this, or articles like this, feel free to check out something awfuls " your band sucks " section. They've done Tool, Coheed and Cambria, Avenged Sevenfold, The mars Volta, and a **** load of other namely artists that they just dont have anything good to say about. Personally I think they've come too far into modern times when theres plenty of bands in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's that they missed. Argh, i cant stand people that just bad mouth music... any music.


jesus christ, shut up. nobody cares what YOU have to say either, but at least the "Your band sucks" and similar things are well-written and carry a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek playfulness to their articles.

[feel_good_lost1]

Did they say anything about Cat Power or Broken Social Scene?

[Sepstrup]

I hate books and articles like this. all it really says is if anybody knows about it im gonna say i dont like it because its cool. I get a rise out of people who get all defensive over their music even though my tastes are just as bad or even worse because i only like stuff nobodys ever heard of. Maybe some things are over rated, but its an opinion sort of thing, because if you dont like it of coursre you're gonna think its over rated, you rated it 0. Its a vicious hate cycle because all this does is point the finger at the author for people to rate what they like ... or just plain call it over rated regardless of how good or bad it is. However, if you like stuff like this, books like this, or articles like this, feel free to check out something awfuls " your band sucks " section. They've done Tool, Coheed and Cambria, Avenged Sevenfold, The mars Volta, and a **** load of other namely artists that they just dont have anything good to say about. Personally I think they've come too far into modern times when theres plenty of bands in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's that they missed. Argh, i cant stand people that just bad mouth music... any music.

It's supposed to be funny

[Dave de Sylvia]

It's supposed to get a rise from you then make you feel stupid for getting upset.