Overrated/Underrated Songs

Mosh

Mosh

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This has been something on my mind lately. I've noticed the words "Overrated" and "underrated" used a lot around here, especially with all those countdowns going on lately. And I've wondered,  how do you define something as overrated/underrated? I think an underrated song is one that might not be liked by a majority of the board, and an overrated song would be one adored by many fans, but I personally don't like it as much. I'll do an example of naming 2 underrated songs, and 2 overrated songs. I'd like to see others do the same, as well as give their definition of what makes a song overrated/underrated.

Underrated Songs
Hooks in You:
Nobody seems to like this song, I think it's catchy and fun, and it's also fun to play on guitar.

Fear is the Key:
This to me is one of the best songs on Fear of the Dark. Besides the Lies part I think it's a very good song, and lyrics that were true to what was going on at the time.

Overrated Songs
Fear of the Dark:
Everyone seems to love this song but me. It's fun live but besides that it is really weak.

Run to the Hills:
I think other people might agree with me on this one. But it is obviously one of their most famous songs, but I don't think it is that great. Easily the weakest on Beast.
 
A definition isn't easy. I'll try to shine my light on underrated.

I think that -unfortunately- a lot of hardly or never played songs are underrated.
There's a big subjective aspect involved. But I think that a lot of people tend to act like sheep and follow the band's setlist picks and naturally, they feel the energy of the live performance. I remember how since 2008, Rime became one of the most popular songs, while before that, mostly the talk was about Paschendale only.

The less or never played songs lack these advantages and thus, they are harder to appreciate.

I think that the context of these terms are important. We need to know where these songs are underrated or overrated.
Mostly, we mean this forum.

Examples of underrated songs: Mother Russia and The Unbeliever come to mind. Epic, complex but adventurous and atmospherical songs with great depth and melody. For some strange reason these songs are hardly discussed, or wished in a live set.

Another example: I have always thought The Duellists was criminally underrated on this forum, but the current Night Prowler poll shows some hope again. ;)
 
I agree with Forostar, definitions are meaningless. Don't listen to opinions, if the music makes you move, fine. Too many are too judgemental and that gets in the way of actual enjoyment (en-join-ment). Sure some stuff isn't gonna work for you, but that's the way it is, your psychology. There's no objective way of defining what makes a song or piece of music great. Some of my personal favourites are from the very basic to the very complex, but when I'm listening I'm not comparing, not thinking about it, it's just the sound, the rhythm.
 
edclear said:
There's no objective way of defining what makes a song or piece of music great.
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Hey I just did my best when I mentioned these two songs.  (I always do)  :D
Seriously, I think lots of aspects (lyrics, musical aspects) can be mentioned to show what's going on in a song. It might influence people or not, but still these aspects themselves can be objective. It's up to the listener of the song to do something with it or not.
 
The Duellists is criminally underrated. Only bad thing about the song is the chorus, the mid-section is perfect, also the bass performance is one of the best of Steve.

Die With Your Boots On is also underrated. I wasn't a fan of this song either but a lot of water flowed beneath the bridge. This song is the best example of Piece of Mind's incredible guitar tone. And that riff starts just after the first solo, one of my favorite Maiden moments of all time.

Childhood's End is often passed by. The album Fear of the Dark is my least favorite of the catalogue but Childhood's End is one of the shiners. Great atmosphere.

----

I don't know if it's because of overplaying, The Trooper and Aces High sound overrated to my ears. But saying they're overrated doesn't make them bad songs in my case, though. They just lost their thrill on me. Both are higher than Childhood's End in my book, which I added into the underrated section. They're very good, but not that good for me.
 
The Flash said:
The Duellists is criminally underrated. Only bad thing about the song is the chorus,
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Coincidentally, today I explained why I don't think the chorus is bad, read here if you want.

The Flash said:
Die With Your Boots On is also underrated. I wasn't a fan of this song either but a lot of water flowed beneath the bridge. This song is the best example of Piece of Mind's incredible guitar tone. And that riff starts just after the first solo, one of my favorite Maiden moments of all time.
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It isn't. Maiden gave it more regular attention than other POM songs (bar the Trooper and Revelations) and the ratings on this forum are pretty good, too. Hardly have seen anything bad about it.

The Flash said:
Childhood's End is often passed by. The album Fear of the Dark is my least favorite of the catalogue but Childhood's End is one of the shiners. Great atmosphere.
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The Fugitive is at least as good, perhaps even more underestimated. It's in many ways special. The build-up and the instrumental part lift the song high above many other songs. See here the rest of my explanation.

People could notice it, but often they are focused on other matters. Sometimes I almost can't believe how people overlook such a work.
 
Hi there, lonely companion! :)

Now overrated:
I think Revelations is overrated. So much attention for a song with the least variation of all Maiden/w Dickinson songs from the eighties. The progression is very predictable, monotone (constantly the same chords) and repetitive.

The "ta da da" theme runs though the whole instrumental mid section. The thing just "happens" and doesn't go through any interesting direction.

It isn't bad, but so much applause for such a work? I call that truly overrated. There are way more songs such energy could be spent on.
 
Just a high note. Difficult to sing, showing Bruce's capabilities (range) of those days.
Can't see what's difficult about hearing it though. I find it perfectly fitting to the lyrics (every note can be seen as a metaphor for each sudden stab with the sword). Perhaps an octave too high for some people's tastes. An octave lower might have sounded duller, who knows.
 
Forostar said:
Just a high note. Difficult to sing, showing Bruce's capabilities (range) of those days.
Can't see what's difficult about hearing it though. I find it perfectly fitting to the lyrics (every note can be seen as a metaphor for each sudden stab with the sword). Perhaps an octave too high for some people's tastes. An octave lower might have sounded duller, who knows.
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It fits the lyrics and shows Bruce's capabilities. Those are true statements.

But to my musical pleasure, I don't like hearing that. Maybe if he did that just one time on the chorus, that would be fine, but he does that four times. I like "Fight for the pleasure" and "Fight for your life", the lines without the high note.
 
Most overrated Maiden song: ROTAM. Yes there are some great moments here, but the accolades heaped upon the tune in this forum continues to leave me scratching my head. I've never considered it to be among Maiden's finest. Powerslave would be a close runner up in the overrated department for me.

I seem to be somewhat of an anomaly in ranking The Thin Line Between Love and Hate as my personal 3rd favorite Maiden tune, bettered only by Starblind and Paschendale. This song spins my head around with it''s fucking brilliance, but not many place it on the pedestal that I do... it gets my nod as most underrated.
 
taker64 said:
I seem to be somewhat of an anomaly in ranking The Thin Line Between Love and Hate as my personal 3rd favorite Maiden tune,
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Though I disagree vehemently with your comments about Rime and Powerslave, I agree with you that Thin Line is an underrated masterpiece.  It is one of my favorites too.  Brave New World has three legitimate classics:  Wicker Man, Ghost of the Navigator and Thin Line.  However, I'd put Blood Brothers in the overrated category.  It's been performed on 3 tours for some reason (though the Dio tribute was a nice touch) and I think it's comparatively repetitive and boring. 
 
taker64 said:
Most overrated Maiden song: ROTAM. Yes there are some great moments here, but the accolades heaped upon the tune in this forum continues to leave me scratching my head. I've never considered it to be among Maiden's finest. Powerslave would be a close runner up in the overrated department for me.
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Taker64, I always had the idea that you are underrating that album. Let me try explain.

You told us you went through some very hard times from 1984-1992.
Perhaps not the most tactical thing to say at this point, but I seriously doubt if one can be able to get into such complex content -especially a song like Rime- when you were in a stateyou told us here.

For me it's hard to imagine that it's a coincidence that the albums from that period are so relatively low in your ranks, compared to the albums before (and the Bruce albums after) that era. Were you really able to get into those albums with the same energy as when you plunged into Brave New World for the first time? After you sobered up I can imagine that you didn't want to look back but ahead. So the music from that era might not have the most positive vibe for you, no matter the quality.

I wanted to ask this since you posted your story, but never dared to ask before. Hope you don't mind. Thanks.

Cornfed Hick said:
I agree with you that Thin Line is an underrated masterpiece.  
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Not on this forum. I am the only one (maybe one or two others) who don't find it the greatest. The rest is raving about it, and the scores are very good.
 
Y'know Forostar, I`ve never thought about it from that angle before... that`s very insightful, and perhaps correct. While in the depths of my addictions the thought processes certainly weren`t what they are while sober. I`m a bit of an armchair psychologist when it comes to my own personal fucked-upedness (it`s a word now), and you have now given me some food for thought... I`ll get back to you once I ruminate on this a bit...
 
Hope it's not too confronting what I wrote.

Even though you said that Pink Floyd was also connected with that period, perhaps, at some point you might return to these Maiden works and who knows the music will be lifted above anything else that happened in that era....
Some lyrics are really powerful (even the ones from The Apparition!) and may be (re-)appreciated (again).

Respect to you sir for being so open and honest.
 
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