Overrated Bands and the Critics Who Love Them

Do you ever wonder why all of a sudden a band becomes the darling of critics? I've often pondered this myself. It's as if there is a top secret community of "taste makers" that meet inside of a giant volcano in the Philippines and suddenly decide what's going to be "cool" this season. It could also be due to a lack of originality, where reviewers simply read what others have written and rewrite the copy verbatim.



. . .and the winner of the most overrated band of the last five years goes to (drum roll) TV on the Radio. First let me say, I don't dislike TV on the Radio. I own three of their albums and listen to them on a somewhat regular basis. They're hard to classify musically, and I love that. Their blend of pop, punk, R&B, and hip hop is "interesting" if nothing else. But do these guys really deserve all of the hype? I mean Jesus, Spin Magazine awarded them "album of the year" for "Return to Cookie Mountain" in 2006, and named them "Band of the Year" in 2008. They were given the cover both times. Critics heap praise on them like they're musical messiahs, who have returned to save everything rotten about modern pop. Like someone once said about Radiohead, "they could release an album exclusively featuring the noises made while shitting and critics would hail it as a brilliant new direction." Maybe it's the fact they're primarily an African American band consisting of Brooklyn hipsters, and this makes them "cool." Perhaps white intellectual writers are afraid to say anything negative about them for fear of being labeled a bigot?



Radiohead, by the way, are not overrated. They receive an equal amount or more positive press, but since their music is in fact the work of inspired geniuses, they are not overrated. They are what Chuck Klosterman would call a "rated" band. Read his article on this, it is excellent.

I could go on forever about bands that somehow become "hip," but aren't that interesting musically. To save you the time (and paragraphs) I'll go through them quickly.



Joanna Newsome. She is gorgeous, but sings like a retarded kindergarten student. Who exactly decided this is good?



Vampire Weekend. Another band I like, but how difficult is it to find a tape of 80's African music, copy it almost verbatim and present it like you're the new cool thing?



Fleet Foxes. Robin Pecknold's voice is stunning, but where the hell did these guys come from? I live in Seattle, and I'd never heard of them until this year. Now they've played SNL, toured everywhere and released 200,000 + copies of their Sub Pop debut.

Alright, I'm done being the bitter grump. What bands can you think of that are way over hyped? I'd be really curious to hear from you, maybe we can get in an argument over it!