Before my brain collapses under the weight of hot stove rumors, hints and allegations [although the latest has us offering a one-year deal to Rudy Seanez], I wanted to step away from baseball for just a second.
Outside of the Red Sox and working on my all-terrain Colonel Sanders robot, one of my truest passions is music. I’m no music snob by any means; KISS, Snoop Dogg, Weezer and The Darkness sit just fine alongside U2, The Beatles, Marshall Crenshaw and Johnny Cash on my shelves. Sure, I endure plenty of slings and arrows from my more musically inclined pals, and have almost worn out my neck muscles from nodding politely when people ask, with just a hint of disgust, “You listen to this?” I’ve also survived a couple “musical interventions,” through which friends have tied me up and thrown me in the closet as they replace my Spice Girls and Dierks Bentley CDs with The Killers and Franz Ferdinand.
And speaking of those last two bands, if there’s one thing I’ve learned through the years it is that, for the most part, when the musical cognescenti try to push a band down my throat, that band, nine times out of ten, will suck. At least in my mind.
I always give ’em a fair shake. But the results always seem the same. Franz Ferdinand? Ugh. Lauryn Hill? I’d sooner deep-fry my tongue. The Strokes? Come on… does anyone outside of New York even give a shit about this band? Their biggest press came from their drummer shagging Drew Barrymore: That’s a red flag, people.
So today I come to you with a question, and that question is: Who, in your opinion, is the most overrated musician or band? Doesn’t have to be someone currently on the cover of Rolling Stone or Blender; no time frames apply. Whose output or visible talent has yet to match the hype or exposure?
My personal choice for most overrated band is… Coldplay. Don’t get me wrong; I immensely enjoyed A Rush of Blood to the Head, and X&Y, while not as good in my opinion, is still quite listenable. But I’ve heard this band being built up to be the next U2 since their first disc, and just don’t get that. Everyone in the free world — from the entertainment media to the guy who slices my turkey at the deli — tells me I should love Coldplay. But I don’t.
So I turn it over to you. In your mind, who are the J.D. Drews and Kevin Browns of the music world?
