I was recently going through the top 200 songs and was surprised to see "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé so highly ranked. Having listened to it again a few times, I cannot fathom why it should be at 55... What's so outstanding about it? I'll grant that it's a good, catchy song, but to me it doesn't sound very remarkable in terms of contemporary R&B. There are plenty of better, more interesting R&B/Hip-hop songs in my view ("Tightrope" comes to mind immediately). What would you consider to be an overrated song in the top 200? Feel free to go beyond the top 200 if you'd like... The premise of this post is similar to that of the recent elimination game viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1169 except I thought it'd be interesting to make it more discussion-based.
Well I was going to answer "Walk This Way" by Run-D.M.C.
I don't think it is the best example of early mix of rock and rap, first because they did much better a few years earlier with Rock Box, then because half of the songs on Licensed to Ill do it better too (especially No Sleep Till Brooklyn and Rhymin & Stealin). I also think the rapping is fairly weak by Run-D.M.C. standards... That being said by listening to it now, it doesn't sound as bad as I remember so...
I don't really think many songs (including the awesome Crazy in Love) are really overrated in the top 200. I guess Hercules & Love Affair's Blind, as fantastic as it is, will fall a bit below sooner or later for lack of impact and influence, but it won't be for lack of qualities !
I really think though that Satisfaction should not be #2 and is, in my book, the most overrated song here. I have no doubt that based on impact, influence and I guess the innocuous riff, it should be top 100, maybe top 50, but I don't get any, well, Satisfaction, listening to it, ever. There are a lot of Rolling Stones songs I love much more.
I also think there are enough Beatles songs in the top 200 not to include In My Life !
I wouldn't complain either if The Boxer, The Sound of Silence or The Only Living Boy In New-York were the one Simon and Garfunkel song in the top 200 instead of Bridge Over Troubled Water
Can't say I really get Nuthing but a G Thang either now that I think about it
And well, I wouldn't mind switching Thunder Road, Rocket 88 and You Send Me's positions with some of the songs on the 200-250 spots but that's more a question of personal taste than the conviction that any of those is overrated.
Personally I do not have any major issues, but to me 3 stand out. "Maps" from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, great song, but one of the 200 greatest of all-time???? Not sure it fits with everything else around it in terms of greatness.
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" at #81... Maybe it is my personal taste, I do not care for this song one bit and it seems like the most overrated song of the group.
"Wichita Lineman" from Glen Campbell is such an average song. This is the one that puzzles me on how many all-time lists it made it's way on.
Satisfaction, In My Life, My Generation and Louie Louie would be some of my picks as well. Satisfaction probably wouldn't be in my top 50 of songs by The Rolling Stones, it's influence notwithstanding.
There are two categories to me, songs I think are rated too high and songs I flat-out dislike.
Songs that are too high to me are "River Deep Mountain High," "God Save the Queen," "Dancing in the Street", "Honky Tonk Women" (over "Gimme Shelter" -- really??), "Creep" (should be corrected relative to their other songs over time), "My Girls" (will almost certainly decline--almost every recent song above it had far more impact/influence).
I hate these songs: "Get Ur Freak On", "Maggie May", "Every Breath You Take", "99 Problems", "Umbrealla", "Hotel California".
But going through the T200 again, I was a little surprised at how few songs I have a genuine problem with.
slick wrote:Personally I do not have any major issues, but to me 3 stand out. "Maps" from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, great song, but one of the 200 greatest of all-time???? Not sure it fits with everything else around it in terms of greatness.
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" at #81... Maybe it is my personal taste, I do not care for this song one bit and it seems like the most overrated song of the group.
"Wichita Lineman" from Glen Campbell is such an average song. This is the one that puzzles me on how many all-time lists it made it's way on.
The soaring vocals of Bridge Over Troubled Water are always compelling for me.
When we did the elimination game, I actually liked way more songs on this part of the list than I disliked. I eliminated "Paper Planes" first, but I don't really think it's BAD, I just don't think it's one of the 200 best songs of all time. But here are the:
Songs I Dislike:
"Get Ur Freak On" (Though I can understand its appeal)
"I Feel Love" (A bit tedious at parts)
"Walk this Way" (NOT better than the original)
"Stop! In the name of Love" (They have much better songs)
"Da Doo Ron Ron"
Songs I Wouldn't put this High:
"Louie Louie"
"I want to Hold your Hand" (not even my top 50 Beatles songs, but I don't dislike it)
"Paper Planes"
"Crazy in Love"
"Be-Bop A Lula" (A song I think I respect more than I actually like)
"Midnight City" (Too new)
"My Girls" (wore off on me rather quickly)
"House of Jealous Lovers" (silly fun, but that's it)
Can't really complain about much, just looking over it, obviously I think we all have some that we haven't been able to fully enjoy on the level of the others (or at least not yet). I would definitely have to agree that Run-DMC's Walk this Way is not quite deserving at all, they have quite a few songs I think most could agree are much better than that, it has influence, but not a lot of "good" influence to me, anyway. I think that most of its inclusion on lists has to do with the culture smash what with MTV and the ultimate crossover of hip hop by mixing with Aerosmith. So that I would say is just quite overrated, really stuck out from the others. Personally think that "Satisfaction" holds up the least well as a listening experience today than the others in the top ten.
Sorry Smiths fans, most egregious flaw in this list is 3 Smiths songs in top 200 - No f---ing way...all three above The Velvet Underground's Heroin, double No F---ing way. How Soon Is Now is the only song in the Smith's Canon that belongs anywhere near the top 200.
Be My Baby is way to high.
Personally, I've never cared for When Doves Cry, but I've never cared much for Prince on album as a whole. Think he's one of the two or three greatest live performers ever, but I've never cared for his production sensibilities, and When Doves Cry is a classic example for me.
Not big on Blue Monday by New Order either...Age of Consent should be there in it's place.
My Girls - I'm a huge Animal Collective basher...think their music is utterly devoid of timeless qualities and few popular Aughts acts will more quickly drop from the collective musical consciousness in another decade, but outside of Banshee Beat, My Girls is probably the best song they've come up with, and I like it better than 2 out of 3 of those Smith songs on the list.
Satisfaction is a classic...Do I like other Stones songs better, yes, but I have no issues with its standing on this list.
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