Who would you consider the most overrated musician, and why?
I'm answering this mostly because I have a disagreement with the way most people interpret the word "overrated." I think of its actual definition "over praise, over estimate."
Popular pop stars are not overrated. I'm fairly sure everyone agrees how plasticized and weak some of them sound. They are not, however, overestimated. The product they are marketing sells, and sells extremely well, to the exact market it is directed toward.
You don't remember the name of an overrated musician. Oh, they were a big deal for about a week, especially when the single released, but when the whole album came out... *crickets*
History remembers these people as one-hit-wonders. They were overrated.
Actual money making, ticket selling, world-touring artists...? Just because you don't like pop-music doesn't make the successful performers in that genre overrated.
I, for one, have very little Pop music that I listen do, but I do listen, because I like to dance, and guess what genre produces silly, fun, house-cleaning pop music... yup.
Anyway, overrated musicians are those people who sound really awesome and are on magazine covers for one or two weeks then forgotten forever.
I don't know who the most overrated is. I forgot. Also, I probably deleted their music from my library.
Let's go with overpraised. You can believe that an artist is praised too highly for the work that they have put out. Sure, it sells, but does that make it good? Just because someone can make a lot of catchy songs with deep meaningful lyrics or great guitar solos, doesn't mean that they should be hailed as a "genius" or what not.
Yes, thousands think Beyonce is awesome. I don't. Is she overrated? Doesn't seem so. Performers don't get booked if they can't fill seats.
I see your point, but I disagree with taking affront to someone doing a good job with a genre on par with B Movies. It's not proper genius, but it is best of show.
And I don't think that's a proper application of being overrated - unless you judge a pop musician as being the best all of music. Then the whole genre circles the drain.
Edited at 2011-02-11 03:30 pm (UTC)
Clearly choosing pop as a random example was a bad idea given your feelings towards it. It could be anything. The Beatles. Hans Zimmer. Anyone. And heck, why aren't movie comparisons adequate? Paranormal Activity had quite a hype. Did it let you down? If so, you could say that it was overrated, and you would be right. Sure, musicians are real people, but it isn't exactly like you're judging the goodness of their hearts. You're talking about their music.
The question asks for the personal viewpoint, so it's not like, "Who is the most overrated musician of all time?" has some right or wrong answer. Trying to exclude the opinion when using the word overrated is impossible, because the "rating" in the first place comes from the general public. Unless what you're saying is that the only musicians that count as being overrated are the ones who are first rated highly by a consensus and then later rated poorly by a consensus. Unless there's some rubric of what makes a musician or song "good," the only thing that judges whether it is properly praised or correctly rated is your own opinion.
Close: What I'm saying is that (in my opinion) I consider overrated to be a musician that was high rated by the general population and marketers of that musician only later to be rated poorly, or even, mediocre.
And yeah, that's totally my opinion.
That fits my definition of overrated. My personal opinion of the definition.
Edited at 2011-02-11 01:38 pm (UTC)