Overrated.....Underrated....

Seeker of Rock said:
Pete Townsend would be another in my overrated category of guitarists (don’t get me started on singers, drummers, bass players, keyboardists, etc.) The man could play no doubt, he could write and carried the movement with his songs along with the band. He was good, he wasn’t God
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Actually, would love to hear you "get started" on singers, drummers, bassists, keyboardists, etc.
 
Seeker of Rock said:
Pete Townsend would be another in my overrated category of guitarists....The man could play no doubt, he could write and carried the movement with his songs along with the band. He was good, he wasn’t God
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Pete Townshend is a really interesting one for me.
I like his guitar playing. I really love the extremes of say, "My Generation" backed against something like "Magic Bus."
But rarely do I think of Pete as a guitarist. I think he's not a million miles removed from maudlin {in a purely guitar sense} on "Live at Leeds." He's less exciting and imaginative than Mark Farner on "Live Album". Which is saying something.
Townshend for me is a total package. I think he's one of the greatest songwriters in an era of exceptional writers, his songs always overshadow Roger's vocals to me, and it needed an Entwistle pioneering on bass and a Moon cavorting on drums to keep up ~ in retrospect though, his writing ages better.
 
grimtraveller said:
John Paul Jones. Underrated as a bassist, totally underrated as a keyboardist. In my opinion, he was such a truly valuable asset in Led Zeppelin. He gave so many of their songs a lasting colour that they would not otherwise have had.
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Totally agree. And especially because he was kind of hired help to complete the lineup and fulfill the contract obligations from Yardbirds implosion and Page’s vision and being primarily a studio session organist. Bass tracks he wrote/played were never over played, never underplayed…he was always in the pocket at the right time with the right vibe 👍
 
Serendipity Records said:
Actually, would love to hear you "get started" on singers, drummers, bassists, keyboardists, etc.
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Oh shit…well a short list to start, all IMO caveat of course

Singers (and I’m judging this on voice only which gets into singer songwriters but I’ll try to keep it focused on voice):
Roger Daltrey (just saw him live last month and excellent)…based on voice and vocal parts, he had some great moments, but still would consider him overrated as a vocal legend. Won’t Get Fooled Again scream and the genuine emotion in that, that kind of performance and feel is hard to match. But overall, not every vocal he tracked captured that energy and emotion and raw in the pocket feel, especially early stuff
 
Axl Rose: in my opinion he is one of the more diverse and skilled singers of the last 40 years, not to mention his on stage presence, but I’ll stick to vocals only. He developed and learned to use that signature “chainsaw voice” (as Don Henley called it). He sang in school choir for years and has a natural ear for music as well. Spaghetti Incident was cool hearing him put some Axl flavor into classic and oldie rock tunes and I’m sure corporate had a lot to do with “more chainsaw in your voice on this one buddy.” I would absolutely LOVE to hear him sing some classic Sinatra, Tony Bennett, any of the great crooners sans a profit seeking lurcher over his shoulders, both with Axl ownership of the tunes and without, giving a vocal more in style with the time and era. Clean non-gritty singing, we found out he could do that starting with Patience in ‘88. As a talented and controlled intonated singer, I don’t feel he gets near the appreciation he deserves, mainly because of rumors about his arrogance and temper and self absorption and personal life. That aside, as a vocalist he is top shelf.
 
John Lennon and Paul McCartney: separately but especially as a harmonizing duo…they get the high rating they are worthy of, especially when it includes the vocal melodies they wrote. One of my absolute favs
 
Geoff Tate: trained singer, can’t hit a bad note, fantastic range but still never put down on tape anything that completely impressed me and I think it was his overexaggeeation of phrasing. He just couldn’t find the right pocket to be one of the greats. Fantastic singer but IMO overrated
 
Roy Orbison: underrated IMO. I don’t like his tone or delivery on some songs but it’s just right on others. As a vocalist he had great control of his intonation and delivery, and (I still believe) was able to blur the line between falsetto and push voice into a cohesive instrument. Either that or he was a castratto. But I don’t think he gets enough credit as a vocalist
 
Freddie: acknowledged and deserved so, but maybe because of a generation gap of today’s youngsters, maybe something different, he is usually credited with being a flamboyant show man, queer as a $3 bill (not always but flaunting at the end), but beyond that…he was an incredibly talented singer (and musician) based on his vocal ability only…underrated
 
Trying to stick to pre ‘80s but overrated, at least over employed as a singer…Taime Down. I LOVE Faster Pussycat’s first record and some of the second, and this man “lself proclaimed Mayor of Hollywood” has and had everything it took in social skills, confidence, charisma, endurance (and survival literally) to keep doing what he does still to this day and that ain’t easy. Let him track or sing live Unchained Melody and I now where it would go. Think they covered You’re So Vain and there’s a good prelude. As a frontman and social leader of a band, excellent. Based on vocals alone, overrated
 
Oh yeah, Michael Jackson, that’s who I was thinking of: IMO overrated. Quincy Jones said he had a pitch perfect voice and was easy to record. I can hear that, but he was limited to a specific style with his airy natural tone. Great for the songs he sang and recorded but as an overall vocalist I’m just don’t think he was as good as the hype he got/gets (Billie Jean is STILL a favorite song in any style and he does perfectly on that…for that song and that style). May have to play that on Spotify now for real
 
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