Not a band as such, but after years of hearing people go on and on about Van Dyke Parks's Song Cycle, I bought a used copy. Insufferable CRAP. (And this is coming from someone fond of Smile!)

Pavement- NOT CRAP
Sonic Youth- NOT CRAP(most of the time)
Eno- NOT CRAP(as long it's rock)
Can-NOT CRAP

syd barrett
throbbing gristle
homosexuals
einstürzende neubauten
smegma

You guys realize you're all pretty much nit-picking different factions of indie rock?

Skip James
Elizabeth Cotton
Son House

Bands are for suckers.

-n

n.c. wrote:You guys realize you're all pretty much nit-picking different factions of indie rock?

Oh yeah, well...
Alexander "Skip" Spence- The 'real' first member of Sebadoh
Bob Dylan- Gave us the bastard man-child known as Conor Oberst
John Coltrane,Miles Davis,Ornette Coleman- Lots and lots of bad indie jazz has happened because of these three artists plus Tortoise and their 8 million and counting side projects.
The point i'm trying to make is that it's all the same. we are mostly geeks who like to listen to music made by geeks for geeks so that us geeks can copy said geeks when we make our own geeky music. Stuff that in your headphones and tell me that Blind Lemon Jefferson is better than the Pixies. I dare ya.

You guys realize you're all pretty much nit-picking different factions of indie rock?

Skip James
Elizabeth Cotton
Son House

Bands are for suckers.

Skip James- 3 songs I couldn't live without each recorded as at least 5 other forgettable tracks. Any good musician should be able to create 3 great songs in the course of a lifetime. It’s coming up w/ more than that earns someone deservedly legendary status.

Elizabeth Cotton - - Go back to Berkeley in 69’ you fucking hippie.

Son House - - Yeah sure, I guess. But for all his smack-tack about Charlie Patton he never recorded a single track that beats old Alfred E Neuman ears.

Meanwhile:

Every band mentioned here is overrated, but the worst offenders have got to be: Cheap Trick and the Pixies (as the Beatles go w/o saying). I guess you had to be there for Cheap Trick, and the pixies- they were great, and one of those bands that everyone can agree to tolerate in a treeplanting crummy or on-campus party - but give it a rest already.

Zeppelin's greatness is almost canceled out by the presence of Mr. Plant.

Jehu - I liked them. Haven't listened in a long while.

Meanwhile: whatever. [/quote]

some of these bands are not "legendary," whether I like them or not.

Marquee Moon (the album) was always in everyone's top-10-of-all-time lists, but I never got around to buying or listening to it. Then one night I was driving around town, & I turned on the radio and Marquee Moon (the song) was playing. I didn't know this, of course; I'd never heard it. I'd missed the first two verses, so I started listening at the start of the guitar solo. It was one of the more revelatory music-listening experiences ever: first I thought it sounded strange but interesting, then it sounded interesting and good, and it sounded better and better and eventually it sounded monolithically fabulous. When I finally heard the lyric "I stand 'neath the Marquee Moon" and realized who I was listening to, I was shocked and thrilled, and raced to the record store to buy this record I'd spent so much time not listening to.

Blind Lemon Jefferson is better than the Pixies.

yes. yes, he is. i will say this. the pixies are not very special. blind lemon is not as good as some of the other blind bluesmen, but he's pretty good.

do the zombies count? the zombies are pretty incredible. and i never knew, until a year or so ago.

I agree, the Zombies were so so great BUT do not be fooled into seeing the Colin Blunston/Rod Argent 'Zombies' reunion. Colin still has an amzingly great voice and delivery but only when the large headed Argent let's him get a word through. A must miss. I am still limping from that show.

Instead spend you money on the Zombies box set 'Zombie Heaven' that came out a few years ago instead. Their version of 'The Look Of Love' is worth the price alone.