Overrated?

How can a prog be overrated? I just don't see this word useful in music.

Edited by Xenoxen - June 14 2006 at 23:02

There are cases of something being overrated, usually with cheap pop bands that are being pushed by the media to being super hip and popular, while many truly alented prog bands remain obscure because no one promotes them.  They don't because prog is not for everyone and it's so much harder to make a teen girl like Hella than green day.

They promote what's the most marketable without paying much attention to the quality, so most of this music is complete sh*t.

In the prog world, there are a few bands that are overrated because they are over-the-top rated, like DT albums(don't get me wrong, DT are one of my all time favorite bands, I love them). I mean, over 300 ratings for octavarium, mostly people passing by who don't know much other prog, while a lot of more obscure bands with albums better that deserve more attention. I don't like the term Underrated though, "overlooked" is much better. They're not really rated too low(usually if a band/album is rated very low it deserves it), they're just not getting the attention they deserve due to labels not willing to promote.

This topic is overrated!

bhikkhu wrote:     It has to do with objectivity. It's a hard task to step back and give something you love an accurate analysis. Overrated may be too extreme a term, but some things may get valued more than is warranted.

Overrated is overrated.

The Ryan wrote: This topic is overrated!

In my opinion you can better focus on the underrated, overlooked and underestimated bands because some bands got so much attention like Dream Theater, Tool, Pain Of Salvation, Arena, Opeth, etc. Of course these are good bands (not my cup of tea) but in my opinion the huge attention they got on this site is unbalanced with the little attention lots of great bands from Spain, Italy, Japan and Latin-America get. But thanks to the treads about these bands I have the idea that more and more progheads discover bands like Museo Rosenbach, Triana, Gerard and Nexus.

Edited by erik neuteboom - June 15 2006 at 08:33

Teaflax wrote: Overrating stuff is overrated.

bhikkhu wrote:     It has to do with objectivity. It's a hard task to step back and give something you love an accurate analysis. Overrated may be too extreme a term, but some things may get valued more than is warranted.

Objectivity is not possible with music. There are objective qualities in music, some of them can even be quantified. But music cannot be discussed or judged solely on that level.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: bhikkhu wrote:     It has to do with objectivity. It's a hard task to step back and give something you love an accurate analysis. Overrated may be too extreme a term, but some things may get valued more than is warranted. Objectivity is not possible with music. There are objective qualities in music, some of them can even be quantified. But music cannot be discussed or judged solely on that level.

I agree that objectivity is not possible in music, even to quantify some qualities in music is only possible if you are very knowledgeable about music, i certainly lack that knowledge. It is possible to be objective about your own subjectivity though, i do feel that some people get carried away by their enthousiasm after listening to an album a few times.Then they  give the album 5 stars without analyzing objectively how the album  compares with other albums. I have even read comments by people that there should be a sixth star for real masterpieces, a situation these people  created themselves by rating incorrectly in the first place.