Does anyone else think Nirvana were over rated???

Question

These days i hear so much about bands etc that i think are over rated.nirvana is one that sticks out with me.dont get me wrong i dont think they were crap.i love their early stuff in particular but nevermind i think is an unbelievably over rated album.smells like teen spirit gets to me now when i hear it.why does everyone hold that above anything else they did.i think it was one of their poorest songs.and it has the exact same chord progression as rape me.talk about squeezing a song out.i dont think cobain was the genius everyone made out he was.he did have a fantastic taste in music and literature.i notice a lot of "his quotes" werent even his.he was a master at stealing quotes and everyone has come to believe they were his own words.anyone else feel the same.i am not taking a dig here at them.just making a few observations.thanks everyone

Answer 1

I think it really depends on how old you are. I'm 26 and was in my early teens when Nirvana was huge so for me no, I don't think they were overrated. Now do I think that 'Smells Like Tenn Spirit' is an overrated song? Yes, to a certain extent. It's not the best song they ever did, but it is the song that launched them into the mainstream consciousness. But you know, I think the Beatles are overrated. Not because they aren't good, but I think because I have no frame of reference for when they were HUGE. And Elvis;
Elvis is waaay overrated, especially considering that there were black artists doing what he did 10-15 years before he ever came on the scene, and he stole a lot of what they did and never acknowledged it.

Answer 2

NO!!!!!!!! Nirvana isn't overrated. Bleach was a good album, it's one of my favorites, but I don't think Nevermind was overrated. Smells Like Teen Spirit is though. Everyone over-played that song, and all the posers say that it is Nirvana's best song ever. Nevermind DID have good songs, like Come As You Are and Drain You (my favorites on the album). I think most of the people that know nothing about them and just try to be cool idolize that album. I think that true Nirvana fans like other songs way better (at least for me it's that way). I'm not sure about the whole genius thing. Kurt Cobain was an amazing songwriter and a decent guitarist, but I don't think that he meant to steal quotes from other people. Maybe he did, or maybe those words helped him express what he was trying to say. But as a whole, Nirvana isn't overrated, it's just "Teen Spirit" that makes people say that.

Personally, I think their Unplugged album is awesome, and better than Nevermind.

Answer 3

Absolutely. The funny thing is, the band members themselves thought they were overrated too!

I can't believe how people just go along with whatever history VH-1 and Rolling Stone has since fabricated. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" did NOT change history. Anybody who thinks everything was hair metal and then everything went to grunge overnight, are either deluded or were not alive in 1989-1992. Just look at the annual billboard charts from that period, and you'll be lucky if you find more than 3 metal bands.

Even metal shows like "Headbangers' Ball" were including bands like Primus and The Black Crowes. So music and the lines that define genres were already changing. Never mind other factors working against the metal of the day: bad reviews for new albums, famous bands suddenly breaking up or firing key members, bad economy in general during the Gulf War, the signing and over-playing of way too many sound-alike bands (which later happened with grunge), bands getting absolutely no airplay for new albums once "alternative" was rising, and so on. This was all well before Nirvana hit the top 40.

Why IS Nirvana famous then? Because 1) they were just promoted at the right place at the right time for the public to like their music, 2) their songs had hooks, 3) Mtv loved them (and simultaneously dropped any older rock band from their roster), and 4) they had a member die before turning 30. But to me they sound no better than most of the other "Seattle" bands that had already been on the scene for several years (just look at the names on the sountrack for the movie "Singles" for some examples). And sorry, but Cobain was one sloppy guitar player.

Answer 4

This is a tough question, I think they were a good band that knocked down the Glam metal of the 80's, Kurt was a very good songwriter but over the years I wonder if his songwriting would have progressed at all? So yeah and No is my answer, to an extent they were overrated but they did have some very well made music.

Answer 5

They had some good songs, however, they were a bit overrated. Their lyrics were nonsense produced by too much heroine. Then again, many of the popular bands like the Doors and the Beatles had drug induced lyrics that were meaningless.

Answer 6

No nirvana was is not overated! I mean everyone else steals tunes to everyelses songs. i mean most of the music today is ripped off of old songs! it really pistes me off when they do that because they can't even write songs! and maybe nirvana did it to 1 or 2 but still where do you think everyone gets their music today? they rip it off of old songs. I mean look at the song Crazy by Gnarles Barkley he didn't write that song. When it first came out i played it on my computer for the first time and my mom knew every single word to that song. and she doesn't even listen to music anymore only the old stuff. she said he ripped it off. So everyone does it once and a while!

Answer 7

When it comes down to it music is about making people feel what you feel, and Kurt Cobain definitely had a talent of doing that.

Answer 8

They were different for ther time and lead the way for other "grunge" bands, and dumb A#$ Kurt killed himself, allegly, so that just make them even more popular. Overall, they really werent anything to special!

Answer 9

Thank you! I DO think Nirvana is overrated.

Answer 10

i agree, overrated. they didnt suck, but they were overrated and a little too emo.

atleast the foo fighters were born from them.