The Over/Under Game

Okay commenters, here’s a challenge for you. In any artistic medium, name an underrated work by an overrated performer or vice versa. For example, John Lennon is criminally overrated (don’t argue with me on this, it’s true), but Gimme Some Truth doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves. Or to switch things around, The Zombies are easily one of the greatest bands of the 60’s, but Time of the Season isn’t that great a song.

So, tell me what’s over/under for you.


posted by greg on August 18, 2006 @ 3:46 pm

9 comments »

  1. Run DMC is a seminal hip hop group, and yet “Pause” is one of the worst things I’ve ever had to listen to (and that includes the State of the Union speeches).

    Pause

    Comment by E-Rock — August 18, 2006 @ 5:29 pm

  2. Underrated: Joe Tex
    Overrated: Skinny Legs and All

    Maybe more as they occur

    Comment by Rojo — August 18, 2006 @ 5:40 pm

  3. Underrated: Mono
    Overrated: Life in Mono

    Comment by A. Reader — August 18, 2006 @ 6:36 pm

  4. Over: Spielberg
    Under: Jaws

    A resolutely above-average director (who makes resolutely trite, above-average pap that everyone seems to adore) invents the modern summer blockbuster. That film doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves.

    Over: Eric Clapton
    Under: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

    Everyone knows the title song, but the rest of it is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. Well, provided you like blues-rock, but this is the cream of the cream of blues-rock. Heh. “Cream”.

    Comment by Justin — August 18, 2006 @ 6:46 pm

  5. Justin, does that album include “If I Saw You In Heaven”? I was wondering because that’s my favorite all-time Eric Clapton song.

    Back on topic:

    Under - Alan Emrich
    Over - Master of Orion 3

    In 1992-1993, Alan Emrich was writing for a computer gaming magazine when he got his hands on an alpha version of the original Master of Orion (at the time, the game was known as Star Lords). It was his suggestions and comments that helped make Master of Orion (or MoO, as it is known to fans) the classic 4X conquer-the-galaxy game that it is today.

    So naturally, when it was announced that he’d be heading up development on the third game in the much-celebrated series, fans were overjoyed. Unfortunately, MoO 3 turned out to be such utter crap, and this was after several schedule slips and Emrich leaving the project mid-development, that there may never be a MoO 4.

    (Incidentally, one of the most notable bugs when the game was released was the fact that point defense beam weapons wouldn’t fire unless you had also equipped the ship with point-defense missiles. Because the A.I. took no notice of this bug, this lead to optimal ship designs being extremely missile-heavy, with some crap point-defense missile to compensate for the bug.)

    Comment by J. A. Baker — August 18, 2006 @ 10:54 pm

  6. Overrated: The Bee Gees’ disco era
    Underrated: The Bee Gees late 60’s incarnation

    Actually I like the entire span of the Bee Gees’ career, but I understand why people were sick of that nasally sounding trio’s disco tunes for about 20 years.

    The sixties stuff, however, evokes Love, Smile-era Beach Boys, Rubber Soul, the Zombies, and makes it sound easy to flitter from one to the other while still keeping an original Brothers Gibb twist. Their music goes from minimalism to orchestration, from raga to church, all in about the span of three songs on various parts of their first seven albums or so. I recommend starting with the Bee Gees’ “1st” (actually sort of their fourth) and then going forward from there.

    Comment by dAnimal — August 19, 2006 @ 3:35 pm

  7. overrated: Jennifer Lopez
    underrated: Out of Sight

    with all the tabloid attention, it’s easy to overlook that this was a really fantastic movie. it’s totally worth checking out, just to appreciate what might’ve been with her.

    Comment by liberalsouth — August 21, 2006 @ 12:15 pm

  8. I love “Out of Sight”! That movie is so good, it’s out of, er…it’s really excellent.

    Over: Beyonce
    Under: Crazy in Love

    Whoever composed it, that is. The horns, the whole thing…if that doesn’t get your booty shakin’ there’s something wrong with you.

    Comment by Ben in VA — August 21, 2006 @ 12:28 pm

  9. underrated : REM’s “Monster”
    overrated : Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side Of The Moon”, Spielberg’s “ET”

    Comment by mark-reed — August 21, 2006 @ 2:15 pm

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