Last Updated on July 24, 2026 by Christian Adams
If you’ve read anything on BSM, you know that I have more than a few strong opinions about rock music. However, if this is your first time reading my work, the distinction between “hated” and “overrated” might get lost in the narrative. Most reader comments are rebuttals to my lack of appreciation for this, that, and Eric Clapton. I must be very careful to let you know upfront that this is just my opinion, not fact.
The Distinction Between Hated vs. Overrated
Hated
Hated is a matter of sensibility and a visceral rejection of a sound that simply offends my ears, like squeaking balloons and Styrofoam, regardless of the artist’s “high ground” or “pedigree.” For example, I would be happy to wipe all forms of electronic dance music (EDM) from the face of the planet. I hate EDM. Nothing will ever change my opinion. Look at the following picture and tell me “that’s music.” It’s not. It’s synchronized noise for dancing and has NOTHING to do with music.
Meanwhile, in rock music, some people hate Rush, one of my favorite bands, especially Geddy Lee‘s voice. Fair enough. The band and Geddy’s voice are acquired tastes. Regardless of popularity, success, or musical ability, it’s a matter of aesthetics. Hated means: You really don’t like it. You’ll cross the room to change the radio station. You get angry when it gets played.
Overrated
Overrated is a form of cultural bamboozlement. It occurs when an artist or album represents a level of fraudulence that tricks the record-buying public into voting against their own best interests.
I know people who don’t like Led Zeppelin, but nobody with any credibility would say Zeppelin isn’t good at what they do. Or did. Are they overrated? It depends on who you’re asking. I don’t think so, but you might.
An artist’s career arc often determines a stance. Did they have a few great albums and a bunch of stinkers, or a specific period like Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen? Some bands like Boston have one good album and series of sad, lesser versions of the debut album. Not enough great material to put out a greatest hits collection.
Overrated means: Not that great. Another way to say “overrated” is “good at what they do.“
Rubrics for Overrated
We’re going to use Bob Dylan as a beacon of overrated: he had some solid jams in the ’60s and early ’70s and remains a massive influence on popular music. Dylan fans rejoice every time he puts out a new record, but the rest of us shouldn’t be forced to pretend that late-career slogs like Knocked Out Loaded (1987) or Time Out of Mind (1997) are anything other than a hard pass. Taken as whole, Bob Dylan is significantly overrated.
I recently published two posts about the most overrated rock albums and the most overrated rock artists and bands. Aside from the overall appeal of the music, I follow a system of rubrics that test the proposition.
Popularity
Popular and good are not mutually exclusive. Popular doesn’t mean good or bad. There’s a huge difference between selling 500,000 copies and 5 million copies. Sometimes, records that only sell 50,000 copies have a far greater influence on music than the best sellers. The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) is the touchstone for influence over popularity.
Most importantly, if an artist is almost unequivacably overrated if they made a drastic change to their sound to be more popular.
Influence
Nirvana’s success represents the tipping point when alternative rock became mainstream rock. Their influence spread to grunge fashion fashion and a pop punk revival, culminating with Green Day. However, aside from Nevermind (1991), Nirvana is arguably overrated.
Few artists were as influential as Bob Dylan, but was that a good thing? If you like Wilco and alternative country, then yes, it was. If you don’t, it wasn’t. I’m in the latter camp.
Critical Reception
| Review scores for Bob Dylan – Time Out of Mind (1997) | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | 4/5 stars |
| Blender | 5/5 stars |
| Entertainment Weekly | A+ |
| The Guardian | 4/5 stars |
| Los Angeles Times | 3.5/4 stars |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork | 9.4/10 |
| Rolling Stone | 4/5 stars |
| Spin | 9/10 |
| The Village Voice | A− |
Those ratings are delusional bootlicking. The album features a bunch of plodding 12-bar blues routines and revisions of country-ish outtakes from Blood on the Tracks (1975). At best, Time Out of Mind is good at what Bob Dylan does, and appeals strictly to the people who like it.
Content
I think a record needs to have 70% good and/or great songs. The album is probably overrated if 6 out of 12 tracks are mediocre. String together a series of lackluster records, and the artist is probably overrated.
Exceptions & Qualified Immunity
Bands like Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi could never be overrated. They were never critical darlings, and nobody took them seriously to begin with. In fact, I think they’re underrated because they lived up to a larger-than-life image that few could sustain. When I’m in the mood for “S.O.S.,” “Kickstart My Heart,” or “Looks That Kill,” they deliver exactly what they promised: stupid, good-time rock n’ roll.
Above all, I don’t begrudge anyone their taste. If Pearl Jam or Garth Brooks floats your boat, man, sail on. I can hate them with a clear conscience. What bothers me is the fact that Bob Dylan can release shitty album after shitty album, and he’s not going away. Most artists don’t get that mulligan. For most bands, you make one Saved (1980) and your career is fuckin’ over, man.
Overrated vs. Bad
Conditionally related to overrated is the concept of “the worst” or “bad” or “just plain awful.” An album or artist can’t be overrated or hated because they’re so fuckin’ bad that you feel sorry for everybody involved. Here are two examples:
Keith Moon – Two Sides of the Moon (1975)
“The most expensive karaoke album in history”, Keith Moon‘s lone solo album, Two Sides of the Moon (1975), is or “a cheeky parody of rock star solo album excess.” An uncomfortable mess of drunken self-indulgence with lowbrow cult status; a half-assed collection of surf rock covers, punctuated by strained ballads such as The Beatles’ “In My Life”. The albums starts off with a fairly innocuous Bowie knock-off, “Crazy Like a Fox” and goes quickly downhill. His cover of the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby” is sacrilegiously bad.
The U.S. album sleeve summed up the level of artistic integrity involved.
Chris Cornell – Scream (2009)
When Cornell released an album of super-slick, Timbaland-produced R&B ballads, Soundgarden fans thought it was a joke. I thought Trent Reznor summed up my feeling in one tweet:
You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell’s record? Jesus.
Conclusion
The difference between hated and overrated in rock music comes down to aesthetics and acknowledgement. We hate stuff because it offends our sensibilities. We think stuff is overrated because it’s just not all that great.
We welcome your comments!