Name the most average band you've ever heard

[Nighthawk 0]

Second rate Massive Attack. And you know, what's with all the bands names that are (Something)head. There's too fucking many, unoriginal pricks. If a band has a name like that it's already a handicap, but it can be overcome... I do like a few of them. In fact, (Something)head would be a good name for a band.

[cbacon 0]

U2

[Steviekick 0]

Second rate Massive Attack. And you know, what's with all the bands names that are (Something)head. There's too fucking many, unoriginal pricks. If a band has a name like that it's already a handicap, but it can be overcome... I do like a few of them. In fact, (Something)head would be a good name for a band.

I do see the Massive Attack comparisons that Portishead gets, but they still are completely different. Portishead is more into jazz arrangements.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I hesitate to call the use of trumpets and Billie Holiday-sounding vocals as "jazz arrangements," but they are a good bit different from Massive Attack nonetheless. Different vocal styles, and a much more vinyl-sounding production method. As far as career goes, they're more consistent too, but it's a lot easier to be more consistent over just two albums. Massive Attack's 100th Window is so lame.

[Nighthawk 0]

I don't really like either of them. The problem with Portishead is that I consistantly have to differentiate them in my mind from the Propellerheads, based solely on the name. If either of those groups were better I might be able to remember the difference. Propellerheads are a second rate Chemical Brothers themselves... and the Chemical Brothers aren't that good either. Those arena techno groups really do get kind of samey, come to think of it.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I just find it funny how someone can put the Who in the same group quality wise as Bush, declaring them both to be just average.

 

The Cure.

[Guest Quik]

Modest Mouse

Nope. Please tell me you at least listened to all of GNFPWLBN before making that distinction. In fact, have you heard "The Ocean Breathes Salty"? How is that average? I would label them as weird, but the new album isn't quite as out there and spacey (lots of delay effects) as previous albums. I thought they were a nice change of pace in mainstream rock. They're not really a band you can judge by the singles, though. Lots of depth within the album itself.

 

I'll nominate Hoobastank as an average sounding rock band. The only thing they have going for them is a pseudo-Asian lead singer, but that's trumped by 3 Doors Down and their inbred lead singer. 3 Doors Down is pretty fucking average too.

[Mole 0]

The Hives

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I just find it funny how someone can put the Who in the same group quality wise as Bush, declaring them both to be just average.

 

The Cure.

I actually kind of agree with the Who as average. Obviously they're wonderfully technically proficient and have a very good catalog, but I never want to listen to the Who. And I own a bunch of their albums, to boot. The only one I can really get up for on a semi-regular basis is Live at Leeds. Maybe I'm just in a non-classic rock mode of late.

 

To me the Cure aren't average. Most of their output over the last decade is, but they're one of the best singles bands in history, and they have a can't miss run of mid-80s stuff that sounds way different from everything else on the market.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Wow. NM was the first person to mention Shadows Fall. I'm surprised Agent didn't do it to start off the thread. And, certainly, I'll agree to an extent. Of One Blood shows a shitload of promise...but The Art of Balance sorta dropped down, and The War Within is pretty fucking boring. All of the energy from Of One Blood seems to have disappeared, and now Jonathan Donais and Matthew Bachand just sort of do standard metal riffs while Brian Fair screams wannabe Hatebreed lyrics.

 

Speaking of which...Hatebreed is the single most painfully average band I've ever heard. There's no energy to the music, no true hooks, and the riffs are just slapped together. It's insulting to hardcore and metal, and, most of all, insulting to music in general for this band to have as many fans as they do.

 

I can also make an argument for Nile, about how all of their songs sort of blend together without any true distinction, and they're mostly surviving off of a gimmick (using Egyptian history and mythology as a lyrical source, for the few of you not in the know) and an insane drummer.

 

And fuck Led Zeppelin while I'm at it. Write a song that isn't filled with the same riff over and over again, Jimmy.

 

Re: Van Halen vs. Nirvana

Van Halen's song structures are, basically, all the same. Eddie is overrated as fuck as a guitarist, and the band wouldn't have gotten big if David Lee Roth wasn't a charismatic-as-fuck frontman.

[Henry Spencer 0]

Now that I think about it, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden are both very average bands. Since I like them a little bit better than Van Halen, they're the new winners.

[Precious Roy 0]

I can buy the "PJ is average" argument. I think they're a great band, but I also think they're greater than the sum of their parts and for the most part carried by Vedder's vocals.

 

Soundgarden is fucking awesome though, awesome across the board, to call them average tells me you're not very familiar with their catalogue.

 

And I'll co-sign on Hoobastank, Creed, Staind and most of the popular post-Grunge stuff. Most of it is listenable, but very average, and no progression from the music of their influences.

[Guest SP-1]

I'll throw in with Hoobastank too. Mostly because I got it back from a friend tonight and realized, while listening to it on the way home, that it's pretty flat and generic. I wish I'd have rooted out a Dream Theater CD or something instead of buying "The Reason" now.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Since people were questioning my Mars Volta judgment, I detailed it moreso in the "Recent Purchases" thread. Prog rock's one of those things where it does matter how good your chops are, and they seriously fall short in that regard. The vocals reminded me of Geddy Lee having a nervous breakdown as a younger gentleman. The biggest flaw I found was how forced the album sounded. Like "Ok, guys, we've got to play this riff five more times to artificially create a feeling here, let's hope it doesn't bore them" but it did.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

I'll second Hope of the States as having a case too. I'm sick of this 'token violinist' movement. It's no good having one if you've got some Johnny Greenwood wannabe twatting the shit out of a Gibson next to him, folks!

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Van Halen is better than average. They did catchy 80's pointy guitar and glossy penis music better than any other band in that genre.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

^ Aye. It's naive to say Van Halen were average. You can hate the music, but they were doing it better than their peers.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

311 is painfully overrated and mediocre.

 

Altho that hasn't stopped me from seeing them twice, owning all their CDs, and just getting their giant DVD.

 

I dunno...I like their stuff.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

311 is painfully overrated and mediocre.

No, they're the worst band in the history of the world.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

I just find it funny how someone can put the Who in the same group quality wise as Bush, declaring them both to be just average.

All right. Point me to any song by The Who that's above average, because I have yet to hear one.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

What are you talking about?

 

My Generation was the song of the mid 60s and I'm not even a big Who fan.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Oh, right, "My Generation." I keep forgetting about "My Generation," which IS good even if I don't think it's that great. So there's one.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

If you're not a fan, fine, but the stuff they did put out, in the 60s especially was so influential it cannot be categorized as average.

 

My favourite Who song is Substitute, not to mention I Can See For Miles.

[Henry Spencer 0]

All right. Point me to any song by The Who that's above average, because I have yet to hear one.

 

Magic Bus and Pictures Of Lily are both quite good.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

"Won't Get Fooled Again"

[MrRant 0]

Pinball Wizard

[EricMM 0]

I think some people's definition of average = some people's definition of crappy.

 

To me, the average band will put out music that I'll like. They're not so good that I have to follow them, and buy everything they've made, but they're good. But they're not so bad that I ever get really annoyed with their music.

 

Case in point, these nickelback, HOOBASTANK, et al mentions are ummm not so good?

[Guest Neuro]

I'd say Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, & Nickleback as the most bland, and average bands in the history of music.

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

All right. Point me to any song by The Who that's above average, because I have yet to hear one.

"Baba O' Riley"

"Pictures of Lily"

"The Substitue"

"The Real me"

"Overture"

 

There's four.

[Guest Neuro]

"Mary Anne With The Shaky Hands (?)"

 

That's not average, in my opinion. :-\