The Five Most Overrated Classic Rock Artists

[Indrid Cold]

My favorites are Long As I can See the Light and Midnight Special.

Someday Never Comes is a forgotten gem

 

[Iggloo]

It's interesting to see such divergent opinions on groups like The Doors. To me, they were a great band. Robbie Krieger was underrated as a guitarist, and yes, songwriter (he wrote some of the Doors' most successful songs including "Light my Fire" and "Love Me Two Times". Jim Morrison was perhaps overrated but he was an iconic figure as a rock frontman.

Similarly, I think Bruce Springsteen is an all time great. Much of his output the past few decades has been junk, but the same could be said of the Rolling Stones. His first two albums with the E street band are tremendous.

 

[batchaps4me]

Someday Never Comes is a forgotten gem

Midnight Special is what piqued my interest in Delta Blues. It took me down the road that John and Alan Lomax took to record some of these greats. I watched a few documentaries and really cannot get enough of folk/blues. There is not a type of music in America that is not heavily influenced by these greats which opens up all kinds of music to me.

 

[batchaps4me]

AAAAHHHHHH!

Wait...is it the version with the professor and Mary Ann called out, or are they just "the rest"?
This is critical info...

"The Rest" … out of revenge. For Sugar, Sugar, I deny you Mary Ann.

 

[fknhippie]

I mentioned that in humor and implied green font. It is a bit of trivia that I love, the most hits without a number one.

 

[Indrid Cold]

"The Rest" … out of revenge. For Sugar, Sugar, I deny you Mary Ann.

I would take Mary Ann over Ginger any day....but the Professor beats them both!!
Even though he could make a radio from a coconut but couldn't fix a hole in the fucking boat...

 

[_rolltideroll_]

1. Queen
2. Journey
3. U2
4. Van Halen
5. Beach Boys

I think the Beatles are overrated, but not overrated enough to make my top 5, and my stance has softened quite a bit on them the last few years.

You're a monster....

I have my eye on the rest of you heathens.

 

[batchaps4me]

I always thought that was a Vietnam song but Fogerty said it was about gun proliferation in America a couple of years ago.

 

[Indrid Cold]

Midnight Special is what piqued my interest in Delta Blues. It took me down the road that John and Alan Lomax took to record some of these greats. I watched a few documentaries and really cannot get enough of folk/blues. There is not a type of music in America that is not heavily influenced by these greats which opens up all kinds of music to me.

A friend loaned me a Skip James CD years ago....really opened my eyes. So many of those guys were not appreciated until they were dead or nearly so...

 

[batchaps4me]

I would take Mary Ann over Ginger any day....but the Professor beats them both!!
Even though he could make a radio from a coconut but couldn't fix a hole in the fucking boat...

The Mary Ann or Ginger was always a no brainer. Now Mary Ann or Jeannie is a real choice.

 

[Indrid Cold]

The Mary Ann or Ginger was always a no brainer. Now Mary Ann or Jeannie is a real choice.

Tough call, but Sam from Bewitched beat them all.
So hot, and a bad girl in real life....

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

Just skip to the meat of the solo and I love that song!
I really think Ronnie Van Zant's voice was a bad match for Free Bird, just didn't seem right for a slow song where he had to hold notes for long periods. I thought his performances in songs like Gimme Three Steps and That Smell were quite good.

Since we're talking about over-rated bands, Skynyrd gets my vote when it comes to Southern Rock groups. They were the best known and they have one of the most iconic songs in Freebird, but musically they were just okay. Several other groups from that era were much more talented but not as well known.

I guess this is true for any period; what gets played isn't always the best music but has the catchiest hook.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

I saw them in San Diego on the Physical Graffiti Tour and it was a disaster. Page was stoned out of his mind, the sound was horrid and the 20+ minutes of "Whole Lotta Love" was a waste of time.

The first album of theirs I ever heard was The Song Remains the Same (on 8-track, natch). At the time I didn't understand that it was awful, until I picked up a few of their studio albums and heard the original versions of the same songs.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

My favorites are Long As I can See the Light and Midnight Special.

Long as I can see the light is one of my favorites, too. The other is Have you ever seen the rain.

I used to love to crank up Chronicle when I was a teen, but over time I soured on John Fogerty's voice.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

It's interesting to see such divergent opinions on groups like The Doors. To me, they were a great band. Robbie Krieger was underrated as a guitarist, and yes, songwriter (he wrote some of the Doors' most successful songs including "Light my Fire" and "Love Me Two Times". Jim Morrison was perhaps overrated but he was an iconic figure as a rock frontman.

Dead on...Robby was the real genius of the doors, but Jim left a lasting impression because of his weirdness. He even admitted he couldn't sing for shit. Robby was so good he could play lead guitar and bass lines at the same time.

Similarly, I think Bruce Springsteen is an all time great. Much of his output the past few decades has been junk, but the same could be said of the Rolling Stones. His first two albums with the E street band are tremendous.

Agree here, too, somewhat. I wasn't really aware of Bruce until Born In The USA, but later on when I picked up some of his earlier albums, I liked them a lot better. Have not enjoyed anything he has put out since the mid-80's, so i stop short of calling him an all-time great, IMO.

 

[batchaps4me]

Long as I can see the light is one of my favorites, too. The other is Have you ever seen the rain.

I used to love to crank up Chronicle when I was a teen, but over time I soured on John Fogerty's voice.

I watched CMT's Crossroads with John and Keith Urban. Amazing watch if you liked John and Keith can sound just like him in his early days. I was not an Urban fan until I saw that.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

I watched CMT's Crossroads with John and Keith Urban. Amazing watch if you liked John and Keith can sound just like him in his early days. I was not an Urban fan until I saw that.

Will check it out...I heard John recently on some kind of reunion tour thingy, and he sounded awful. Nothing you can do about it, everybody gets old.

 

[Myles]

Since we're talking about over-rated bands, Skynyrd gets my vote when it comes to Southern Rock groups. They were the best known and they have one of the most iconic songs in Freebird, but musically they were just okay. Several other groups from that era were much more talented but not as well known.

I guess this is true for any period; what gets played isn't always the best music but has the catchiest hook.

It's kind of tough with Skynyrd. They had a ton of good songs. I don't agree with the order of this list, but the songs are good. If they were not as popular as they were, we'd be talking about them as one of the most underrated bands.
1. Freebird
Picking the top two Skynyrd songs is a no-brainer. After all, they are both in the Hot Lists of all time best rock and roll songs by most journalists, and while “Freebird” has been driven into the ground by classic rock radio and made into the butt of many a joke, and while yelling “Fee Bird!” at shows by everyone from R.E.M. to The Tommy Talton Band (Tommy had the best response I ever heard. I’ll share it with you sometime.) has become an ongoing joke, the song remains the all-time classic Southern Rock song.

2. Sweet Home Alabama
The lead track off Skynyrd's second album Second Helping, remains one of the most recognizable songs in Southern rock. Ed King’s

opening riff from "Alabama" is instantly recognizable, even if you don’t count the KFC commercial, and it is probably one of the most-covered songs in the world. Everybody knows the Neil Young story, so I will spare you the rehash.

3. That Smell
A true fan favorite, this anti-addiction song is musically remarkable, with soaring guitar work from Allen Collins and passionate vocals from Ronnie, and let’s not forget the all-important backing vocals of The Honkettes, JoJo Billingsley

, Cassie Gaines and Leslie Hawkins.

4. All I Can Do Is Write About It
It’s all about the lyrics in this Ronnie Van Zant country song that talks about his concern for the urbanization of the rural South and the whole tearing down historic buildings to build a new mall kind of thing. Well sung, from the heart.

5. Saturday Night Special
Skynyrd’s anti-handgun song off their 1975 LP Nuthin' Fancy doesn’t mince words. “Hand guns were meant for killing, they ain’t no good for nothin’ else.” Ronnie takes a political stance.

6. Tuesday's Gone
Ronnie Van Zant shines as a songwriter, and on this one he positively glows. My personal all-time favorite Skynyrd song, it has been included on numerous soundtracks, including those of Happy Gilmore, Dazed and Confused, My Name is Earl, and others. No small wonder. It’s just good. Trivia note: Robert Nix of Atlanta Rhythm Section is the drummer on this track.

7. Simple Man
Van Zant's beautiful and inspirational tribute to his grandmother is a a tribute to all mothers. There’s a lot of truth in these lyrics. This is another of Skynyrd’s best loved songs.

8. The Ballad of Curtis Loew
A timeless tribute to the corner store musicians in Van Zant's old Jacksonville neighborhood, it’s a classic story of loving music, anti-racism and the innocence of childhood.

9. I Know A Little
Allen Collins and Gary Rossington

rock out sixties-style on the guitars that follow an instantly recognizable high-hat and guitar riff opening segment.

10. Gimmie Back My Bullets
Ronnie’s shout at the Billboard charts following a slump in Skynyrd’s chart standings. Put .em back where they belong.

11. On The Hunt
Heavily influenced by British bands like Cream, “On The Hunt” is Skynyrd at their hard rocking best. Turn it up to eleven.

12. Call Me the Breeze
The band’s cover of this JJ Cale

song became another bar band staple during the seventies and remains one today.

13. Whiskey Rock and Roller
Ronnie took so many songs straight from life. Whatever he was living at that particular moment went into the song. Obviously, he was doing a little drinking at the time. What? Skynyrd drinking? You kiddin’ me?

14. When You Got Good Friends
This country to the bone track from Legend serves as Ronnie’s tip of the hat to brothers of the road like Charlie Daniels

and Marshall Tucker.

15. Double Trouble
Another one of my personal favorites. One of Ronnie’s ‘bad ass” songs.

16. What's Your Name?
How to pick up girls, chapter one. Well, first, be a member of one of the hottest rock and roll bands on earth. Second, mix all ingredients together and stir.

17. You Got That Right
The opener from Street Survivors blew my wig off the first time I played it on my old tube Panasonic stereo. Ronnie trading off vocal licks with Steve Gaines and telling it like it was. “I like to drunk and dance all night/Comes to a fix I ain’t afraid to fight/You got that right.”


18. Don't Ask Me No Questions
Simple rules when a band is home from the road. What happens in Vegas, or in Cleveland, stays there. Don’t ask me no questions and I won’t tell you no lies. Seems simple enough to me.

19. Swamp Music
Swampy as a Muscle Shoals fishin’ hole, another Skynyrd signature song. I love it.

20. The Needle and the Spoon
The anti-heroin song. Another Ronnie masterpiece.

21. The Last Rebel
The title track from their 1993 album is a really great song and one of only two post-Ronnie songs in my countdown. I have really likes this tune since day one, and Johnny Van Zant

sings it well.

22. Red, White and Blue
From their Vicious Cycle release of 2003, my second post-Ronnie pick, and a wonderful post-9/11 tribute to America. Makes a fella proud to be an American

23. Honky Tonk Night Time Man
Written by Merle Haggard and recorded for Street Survivors, this one, I believe, was a foreshadowing of things to come. Had he lived, I believe Ronnie would have eventually “gone country.” He certainly had a love in his heart for all things Haggard, Jones and Waylon, and he could simply sing the hell out of a country song.

24. Comin’ Home
Ronnie’s story of a road weary traveler who is just plain tired of life on the road and is longing for home. Van Zant’s vocals are in top form. An underrated Skynyrd classic.

25. Gimmie Three Steps
As a long time honky tonk singer myself, I must have performed this song a million times, but the fans and party crowd never get tired of hearing it. A true bar band classic, the original is still a redneck anthem beyond compare.

 

[batchaps4me]

It's kind of tough with Skynyrd. They had a ton of good songs. I don't agree with the order of this list, but the songs are good. If they were not as popular as they were, we'd be talking about them as one of the most underrated bands.
1. Freebird
Picking the top two Skynyrd songs is a no-brainer. After all, they are both in the Hot Lists of all time best rock and roll songs by most journalists, and while “Freebird” has been driven into the ground by classic rock radio and made into the butt of many a joke, and while yelling “Fee Bird!” at shows by everyone from R.E.M. to The Tommy Talton Band (Tommy had the best response I ever heard. I’ll share it with you sometime.) has become an ongoing joke, the song remains the all-time classic Southern Rock song.

2. Sweet Home Alabama
The lead track off Skynyrd's second album Second Helping, remains one of the most recognizable songs in Southern rock. Ed King’s

opening riff from "Alabama" is instantly recognizable, even if you don’t count the KFC commercial, and it is probably one of the most-covered songs in the world. Everybody knows the Neil Young story, so I will spare you the rehash.

3. That Smell
A true fan favorite, this anti-addiction song is musically remarkable, with soaring guitar work from Allen Collins and passionate vocals from Ronnie, and let’s not forget the all-important backing vocals of The Honkettes, JoJo Billingsley

, Cassie Gaines and Leslie Hawkins.

4. All I Can Do Is Write About It
It’s all about the lyrics in this Ronnie Van Zant country song that talks about his concern for the urbanization of the rural South and the whole tearing down historic buildings to build a new mall kind of thing. Well sung, from the heart.

5. Saturday Night Special
Skynyrd’s anti-handgun song off their 1975 LP Nuthin' Fancy doesn’t mince words. “Hand guns were meant for killing, they ain’t no good for nothin’ else.” Ronnie takes a political stance.

6. Tuesday's Gone
Ronnie Van Zant shines as a songwriter, and on this one he positively glows. My personal all-time favorite Skynyrd song, it has been included on numerous soundtracks, including those of Happy Gilmore, Dazed and Confused, My Name is Earl, and others. No small wonder. It’s just good. Trivia note: Robert Nix of Atlanta Rhythm Section is the drummer on this track.

7. Simple Man
Van Zant's beautiful and inspirational tribute to his grandmother is a a tribute to all mothers. There’s a lot of truth in these lyrics. This is another of Skynyrd’s best loved songs.

8. The Ballad of Curtis Loew
A timeless tribute to the corner store musicians in Van Zant's old Jacksonville neighborhood, it’s a classic story of loving music, anti-racism and the innocence of childhood.

9. I Know A Little
Allen Collins and Gary Rossington

rock out sixties-style on the guitars that follow an instantly recognizable high-hat and guitar riff opening segment.

10. Gimmie Back My Bullets
Ronnie’s shout at the Billboard charts following a slump in Skynyrd’s chart standings. Put .em back where they belong.

11. On The Hunt
Heavily influenced by British bands like Cream, “On The Hunt” is Skynyrd at their hard rocking best. Turn it up to eleven.

12. Call Me the Breeze
The band’s cover of this JJ Cale

song became another bar band staple during the seventies and remains one today.

13. Whiskey Rock and Roller
Ronnie took so many songs straight from life. Whatever he was living at that particular moment went into the song. Obviously, he was doing a little drinking at the time. What? Skynyrd drinking? You kiddin’ me?

14. When You Got Good Friends
This country to the bone track from Legend serves as Ronnie’s tip of the hat to brothers of the road like Charlie Daniels

and Marshall Tucker.

15. Double Trouble
Another one of my personal favorites. One of Ronnie’s ‘bad ass” songs.

16. What's Your Name?
How to pick up girls, chapter one. Well, first, be a member of one of the hottest rock and roll bands on earth. Second, mix all ingredients together and stir.

17. You Got That Right
The opener from Street Survivors blew my wig off the first time I played it on my old tube Panasonic stereo. Ronnie trading off vocal licks with Steve Gaines and telling it like it was. “I like to drunk and dance all night/Comes to a fix I ain’t afraid to fight/You got that right.”


18. Don't Ask Me No Questions
Simple rules when a band is home from the road. What happens in Vegas, or in Cleveland, stays there. Don’t ask me no questions and I won’t tell you no lies. Seems simple enough to me.

19. Swamp Music
Swampy as a Muscle Shoals fishin’ hole, another Skynyrd signature song. I love it.

20. The Needle and the Spoon
The anti-heroin song. Another Ronnie masterpiece.

21. The Last Rebel
The title track from their 1993 album is a really great song and one of only two post-Ronnie songs in my countdown. I have really likes this tune since day one, and Johnny Van Zant

sings it well.

22. Red, White and Blue
From their Vicious Cycle release of 2003, my second post-Ronnie pick, and a wonderful post-9/11 tribute to America. Makes a fella proud to be an American

23. Honky Tonk Night Time Man
Written by Merle Haggard and recorded for Street Survivors, this one, I believe, was a foreshadowing of things to come. Had he lived, I believe Ronnie would have eventually “gone country.” He certainly had a love in his heart for all things Haggard, Jones and Waylon, and he could simply sing the hell out of a country song.

24. Comin’ Home
Ronnie’s story of a road weary traveler who is just plain tired of life on the road and is longing for home. Van Zant’s vocals are in top form. An underrated Skynyrd classic.

25. Gimmie Three Steps
As a long time honky tonk singer myself, I must have performed this song a million times, but the fans and party crowd never get tired of hearing it. A true bar band classic, the original is still a redneck anthem beyond compare.

And also there was a reluctance to play their music because of song lengths. Also, Four Walls of Raeford should be on any Skynyrd list.

 

[Myles]

And also there was a reluctance to play their music because of song lengths. Also, Four Walls of Raeford should be on any Skynyrd list.

I figure there are a few others that should be on the list. I was just too lazy to compare.