Number 4 Most Overrated Musical Act of All Time: Nirvana

Enough already. I was there. I was alive during this time. I remember the truth, not the hazy re-invention that MTV news and the subsequent generation of music “journalists” have foisted upon the world. Nirvana was a “meh” band at its best. Like all bands in the punk and neo-punk variety, they deliberately eschewed artistic excellence for volume, distortion, and the right dress code. As such, it's yet another example of "style" over "substance." It was a way of extending a middle finger to the culture at large, not creating something excellent. They barely played music at all, and the self-centered jerk who fronted the band should have been embarrassed to call himself a guitar player, which he was certainly not. Worse, only a small fraction of our generation truly cared about them—until Cobain offed himself, and Kurt Loder and the marketing machine ratcheted up the “dead genius” myth to 11. I remember sitting there watching Loder’s faux sadness on tv and thinking to myself, wow, they’re working overtime to make this guy something he’s not. I wonder who’s going to buy it. The answer: everyone who wasn’t alive then, and many who were but weren’t paying attention at the time. Again: 3 heavily distorted chords, mostly overshadowed by the type of clothes worn, the general angsty woe-is-me feel of the lyrics, and the love affair of (who else?) the media. That’s the very definition of "overrated. And the legacy of Nirvana.