This might be confusing. This is my Top 10 list of music “artists” whose fans constantly attempt to drive home the point that they are underrated, but whom I feel are vastly overrated. Get it? So, not only do I disagree that these “artists” are underrated, but in these particular cases, the noteable buzz these fans create, and in some cases the “artists” too, creates an atmosphere that actually makes these undesirables overrated. I’d have to say that in most cases, even for bands #11, #12, and so on - the ones that didn’t make the list - that the overriding reason these groups are overrated is due to the extreme shrill blast of their fans who sound like a bunch of disenfranchised step-children cut from their final will and testament. Or would that be disinherited? Anyway, blame the fans.

  1. The Kinks: Without reserve, the weirdest bunch of fans in the world. Check out this one guy who has been running this fan site since 1994 at some no-name college. I’m assuming he is an IT professor at the school, using the school’s domain to host his site (lame!), but maybe he is a lifelong student. Listening to the Kinks could explain why he hasn’t graduated. He hasn’t moved on in his music, and he hasn’t moved on with life. The website itself looks like it was made by 4th graders for a science-fair project. And this guy is in the IT department?
  2. The Red Hot Chili Peppers: I needn’t comment further here.
  3. John Lennon: Had he lived, he would have either become more “normal” (like Paul and Ringo) or else just faded into the background. Instead, by being tragically shot, he became a clarion call that vaulted himself and the Beatles to near-mythical heights of fame. These wackos actually want an international holiday named after John Lennon. What?Those of us who actually listen to music know that he wasn’t anything special as a songwriter or singer. On the internet, you can live forever.
  4. Crowded House: Not a big problem in the United States, but in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, I think you can be imprisoned for not liking this band. They’ve been disbanded for about 10 years.
  5. The Clash: Stay away from Clash fans.
  6. The Doors: The Doors always had a cult following, but when the Oliver Stone movie came out, it went crazy. Now, some Doors fans apparently think that the band was more Elvis than Elvis, more Beatlesque than the Beatles. Funny how a simple movie 20 years later can revise history. But Oliver Stone is good at that.
  7. The Smiths: Nice, little college band whose fans think they can fill stadiums 40 times a year. Right. Anyone else sick of the “Morrissey is the next James Dean” nonsense? I was over it in 1987.
  8. Sly and the Family Stone: I think you can get hurt by these fans. They throw bricks and glass shards - right at you. What is up with them? Some people seem to think they have a magic key to urban R&B and that they can become truly hip if they collaborate with them. I don’t get it.
  9. George Harrison: A Beatle who contributed little to nothing, but rides that broken pony — forever.
  10. The Dead Kennedys: Another so-called “underground” band that everyone knows about and just doesn’t like. They are not musically talented. It’s like watching someone pull the same prank over and over. It isn’t cute anymore. No maturity ever came from this band. But their fans don’t seem to realize this.
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