Most overrated bands/performers

say absolutely, rather than maybe.

 

So obvious, yet haven't been mentioned yet:

John Lennon and Paul McCartney as solo artists (and I'll include Wings in that). A handful of good songs, a couple great ones, but a whole lot of "meh" without each other to collaborate/compete with.

 

Lennon I agree with, but I think McCartney is actually underrated at this stage. People have shit all over his solo work. A lot of it deserves to be shit on -- and some of the worst songs became big hits - but there's also some pretty great stuff in there that he doesn't get any credit for.

 

McCartney has the old Tin Pan Alley outlook. Just keep writing songs. Sure, many of 'em will suck, but some will be excellent. Of course, those songwriters had to have that attitude to keep on eating. Not his problem for sure.

 

"Tumbleweed Connection" is so fucking badass. Mrs. Whitman knows when she hears the intro to "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun" come out of my speaker, the beers are flowing and I'm in a good mood.

 

Lennon came out of the box hot after the breakup, released two landmark albums and a spate of hit singles, then hit the skids for about four years, then retired.

It'll never be possible to judge his 1980 comeback stuff without the fact of his murder a month after the release of "Double Fantasy." There are indications he could have been a consistent hit maker in the 80s and possibly veered into more cutting edge stuff, but also indications he might have just put out nondescript pop crap.

McCartney just seemed to drift out of the game following the breakup of Wings. He probably should have kept Denny Laine around as a collaborator. McCartney had another brief spate of production when he wrote with Elvis Costello, another partnership he probably should have pursued. Costello was actually good in his role as the "designated Lennon," the wry/acerbic balance to McCartney's pop fizz.

McCartney has stayed busy touring and put out new stuff as often as anybody, but of course it could never match the success he had with the Beatles.

 

So fucking great, especially the solo....

 

I actually think the original Pretenders would have been a truly great band, maybe the best female-led group ever. (They might have been that anyway.)

They were pretty good anyway, but after Honeyman-Scott and Farndon died they became strictly the Chrissie Hynde Show, and she fell victim to some of the same solo indulgences that hit Lennon/ McCartney.

 

So there I was back stage, getting ready for the biggest concert of the year...

 

Lady Caca, I mean Lady Gaga.

 

I mean, she doesn't sound like a goat ... I mean, Stevie Nicks.

 

I'll say this about Sir Paul: I saw him live three summers ago, and the man can still kick ass live, even in his 70s! Plus, he has an excellent backing band.

He made your point, too, by playing about half Beatles, half Wings/solo stuff, and the latter was pretty good. "Let Me Roll It," in particular, sounded great live.