Overrated Albums of the 90s.

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Kirun

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I know we have a 90s thread, but I decided to get barbecued(high)last night and put on a bunch of 90s albums I realized I never listened to all the way through. I figured it'd be a cool trip down memory lane to list some albums that were/are completely overhyped.

1.
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Not only is this album on pretty much every single "best albums of the 90s" list, it even makes a lot of "greatest albums of all-time" lists. While some of the writing is pretty solid and it's obvious that Muse based pretty much their entire sound around this album, I just don't get the praise for it at all. Maybe there's a technical side to this album that I don't understand as a non-musician, but as a listener, this is easily my most overrated album of that decade.

2.
GnR--UseYourIllusion1.jpg


Outside of November Rain, I don't think I really recognized a single song from this album. Sure, this album isn't as highly received as something like OK, Computer, but I've still seen it pop up on a lot of "best of" type lists. Not something I think really deserves the praise.


3.
220px-FooFighters-FooFighters.jpg


While many bands put out a "rough" first album, I've seen Foo Fighters get a lot of praise for their debut album. I think The Colour and the Shape was fantastic, but their debut is pretty awful. Maybe it was the fact it came at a time when grunge was in the midst of its quick death, but a lot of songs on this album just seem like noise and faux "anger".
 
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Chanur

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I know we have a 90s thread, but I decided to get barbecued(high)last night and put on a bunch of 90s albums I realized I never listened to all the way through. I figured it'd be a cool trip down memory lane to list some albums that were/are completely overhyped.



2.
GnR--UseYourIllusion1.jpg


Outside of November Rain, I don't think I really recognized a single song from this album. Sure, this album isn't as highly received as something like OK, Computer, but I've still seen it pop up on a lot of "best of" type lists. Not something I think really deserves the praise.
Live and let die and Don't cry also come to mind.
 

Alasliasolonik

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Beck is fucking garbage. When the lyrics are: Swimsuits with ginger ale, mop tops resting in pudding pools with a tornado, Lipstick and fire ants here I come with my batteries.

Fuck off Beck. I dont care if he has normal songs or anything else, its fucking trash.
 
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Alasliasolonik

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I couldnt stand this shit on the radio every day. I get it, I know every song but it was never on any ipod or anything I owned. Never had a cd but I saw them live and hes a Cubs fanatic so hes only half as bad.
 
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Vanessa

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Live and let die and Don't cry also come to mind.
Coma was a multi-key changing sprawling epic of a song off that album that I really liked! But overall I'd say that UYI 1 was the more inferior of the two (UYI 2 being king... more 'hits' )

NirvanaNevermindalbumcover.jpg


This is my submission. Now hear me out! I'm not denying their overarching influencing on pretty much taking hair-metal bands and curbstomping that entire genre out of existence. That cheeve is well earned on their part.

I put this as an overrated album strictly from a musician's point of view. Whilst the hair-bands that Nirvana overtook were cheesy in retrospect, they still commanded great musical talent in their music... much more so in heavy metal like Metallica and Prog Rock like Rush from the era pre-Grunge. Nirvana took a shit on all of that. Their songs were catchy, I give credit, but they were mind-numbingly basic from an artistic point of view and I realize that was kinda their point. A revolt and social dissonance to the established and polished rock/metal scene and sound of the late 80s very early 90s.

I'm sure I'll rustle some jims with picking Nirvana but again... Culturally? Yes, they had a significant place in music history but musically? Overrated as f00k.
 
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iannis

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Yeah, but that was part of it with nirvana. It was New Punk. Stripped down, super simple. A large portion of the songs is in the sound of kobain's pedals and his voice / lyrics. It's not about virtuosity.

Dave Grohl came out of it surprisingly well. I remember the joke after Kurt Cobaine'd himself was "what does dave grohl say now that Kurt is dead? Would you like fries with that?" His part in that band could have been played by a clicktrack.
 
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TomServo

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could of but wasnt. his powerful drumming made those albums imo.
 
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iannis

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Yeah, he's a more talented musician than what the music required.
 
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Sevens

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Worst album ever....whiny snot nosed little bitch just boo hoo'ing about everything. God I hate this band
 
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OU Ariakas

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This was my issue with the album format in general. There are a handful of albums that I can listen to from start to finish and really enjoy. Most of them have a TON of filler with about 4-5 good-to-great songs. It makes me wish that they had just asked bands to work on 3 to 4 singles a year that could be released as EPs and then after they complied ten plus songs you bundle them together with a fresh track or two for the new album. It would have made some bands much more successful and reduced the glut of shitty music.
 
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Kirun

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View attachment 265075

I couldnt stand this shit on the radio every day. I get it, I know every song but it was never on any ipod or anything I owned. Never had a cd but I saw them live and hes a Cubs fanatic so hes only half as bad.

But both "Black" and "Release" are on that album. Release might be one of my all-time favorite "long" songs. Plus, you have things like Oceans. Sure, shit like Jeremy and Even Flow got a metric fuckton of radio play, but they are still solid songs despite it. While I think it might be a bit of a stretch to include it on "all-time" type lists, I think it's hard not to have it on a "best of" 90s list.

Coma was a multi-key changing sprawling epic of a song off that album that I really liked! But overall I'd say that UYI 1 was the more inferior of the two (UYI 2 being king... more 'hits' )

View attachment 265072

This is my submission. Now hear me out! I'm not denying their overarching influencing on pretty much taking hair-metal bands and curbstomping that entire genre out of existence. That cheeve is well earned on their part.

I put this as an overrated album strictly from a musician's point of view. Whilst the hair-bands that Nirvana overtook were cheesy in retrospect, they still commanded great musical talent in their music... much more so in heavy metal like Metallica and Prog Rock like Rush from the era pre-Grunge. Nirvana took a shit on all of that. Their songs were catchy, I give credit, but they were mind-numbingly basic from an artistic point of view and I realize that was kinda their point. A revolt and social dissonance to the established and polished rock/metal scene and sound of the late 80s very early 90s.

I'm sure I'll rustle some jims with picking Nirvana but again... Culturally? Yes, they had a significant place in music history but musically? Overrated as f00k.

I 100% agree with you that Nirvana as a band are overrated as fuck and mostly made popular by Kobain's suicide(I think if he hadn't offed himself, they would've had a very similar career track to Smashing Pumpkins. Plus, we likely don't get a Foo Fighters in that case and Foo Fighters > Nirvana). But, you absolutely can't deny the effects this album had on music at the time and since. It was pretty fucking massive. And since this is an overrated albums list and not bands list, I'm not sure it deserves to be listed.

View attachment 265105
Worst album ever....whiny snot nosed little bitch just boo hoo'ing about everything. God I hate this band

Fucking great call. This definitely deserves to be up there. I remember all the dick sucking they got after "When I Come Around" broke them out and by the time shit like "Brain Stew" came around, I just wanted them to fucking stop.
 
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Kirun

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This was my issue with the album format in general. There are a handful of albums that I can listen to from start to finish and really enjoy. Most of them have a TON of filler with about 4-5 good-to-great songs. It makes me wish that they had just asked bands to work on 3 to 4 singles a year that could be released as EPs and then after they complied ten plus songs you bundle them together with a fresh track or two for the new album. It would have made some bands much more successful and reduced the glut of shitty music.

Well, I think that's really the differences between what constitutes a decent, good, and "all-time" great album. Albums that end up on "best-of" or "all-time" type lists tend to be those that you can listen to either the entire album without skipping, or almost the entire album.
 
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Furry

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I know we have a 90s thread, but I decided to get barbecued(high)last night

Best and worst albums are very subjective to the listener and you change as you age. IMO OK Computer is/was some pretty good stuff, but now I'm gonna check if it's just nostalgia.
 
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Kirun

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Best and worst albums are very subjective to the listener and you change as you age. IMO OK Computer is/was some pretty good stuff, but now I'm gonna check if it's just nostalgia.
Completely agree. I tried to be as objective with my thoughts as possible and filter through a contextual lens of the genre/music of the era. It's why I made sure to do another complete listen of every album I listed as well as several others I thought might be overrated, but after listening again, realized they were actually pretty damn good(Ten is good example of this).
 

Gamma Rays

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Back in the day, my sister gave me OK computer as a birthday gift ( IIRC )

She has gone on to be a huge Muse fan. I listened to OK computer once . . . since then it's been gathering dust.
 

iannis

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I never really got radiohead.

It's not bad music, but it follows a pretty simple format most of the time. It's super spaced out and hard to focus on and then the singer will say something completely fucked up very clearly. Which makes it -perfect- stoner party music.

Obviously they also produced a few songs that are basically top ten of the decade. So it's not like i'm shitting on radiohead.

A band that I really really never got was Stone Temple Pilots. But I think they were more '00's than they were '90's.
 

Kiroy

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almost all music coming out of the 90s was overrated with the exception of _____________
 
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Alex

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1.
R-1399301-1404414270-1807.jpeg.jpg


Not only is this album on pretty much every single "best albums of the 90s" list, it even makes a lot of "greatest albums of all-time" lists. While some of the writing is pretty solid and it's obvious that Muse based pretty much their entire sound around this album, I just don't get the praise for it at all. Maybe there's a technical side to this album that I don't understand as a non-musician, but as a listener, this is easily my most overrated album of that decade.

It's a third of the Muse sound. The other 2/3s is Rage Against the Machine and Queen. How could you say their entire sound is based on Radiohead when those other influences are probably more prevalent?
 
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Alex

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A band that I really really never got was Stone Temple Pilots. But I think they were more '00's than they were '90's.

They're definitely 90s. Their first two albums are the only two people give a shit about and they were both out in the mid 90s. And those albums are fucking amazing.

I don't have the hate some of you display for Dookie but I would agree that it's overrated.

I agree with just about every other submission so far except for the debut Foo Fighters album. That's probably my favorite album of theirs.
 
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