Four ridiculously overrated musical artists from the 1990s

These performers are not worthy of your love.
Paul Natkin/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

The headline of this article is a bit of a shame. The term "musical artist" might imply some kind of art. Most of the following four performers mentioned likely would not know the meaning of the word "art."

Each reached a level of success they were not worthy of. One even somewhat tried to run for political office later in life (OK, that was Kid Rock but his campaign was likely as phony as his music). In two cases, the band members were decent guys but could not sustain putting out decent music.

You might even have some albums by the four that follow. Don't worry. You don't need to burn them. That could hurt the environment. It would be better to dispose of them responsibly.

Four "musical artists" from the 1990s not worthy of your attention

Kid Rock

How, one might ask, is Kid Rock still selling tickets to any concert he performs? He is the epitome of a wanna-be. He wanted to be a rock star - or was it a country star; who can keep track? - and he embodied every cliche he could find. He lacked any originality and yet he sold quite a few records. I am not sure if that is more damning about the record-buying public or Kid Rock.

When people purchase tickets to see him because they have not bought his records in many years (his 2022 release, Bad Reputation, only reached 124 on the Billboard Top 200), what are they hoping to hear? He has had only six singles chart in the U.S. Only one of those was higher than 19. The one that was, "Picture," probably had more to do with Sheryl Crow being on the song than Kid Rock.

Spin Doctors

Having this group on this list is tough. Sure, they had zero long-lasting effect and limited talent, but they seemed to be a bunch of nice guys who played really long concerts. They wanted to entertain their fans, at least, they just kind of misled everyone who bought their debut record, Pocket Full of Kryptonite, into thinking the group was actually good and would be around for a while.

That album sold five million copies so you or someone you loved likely owned it. That was probably the last Spin Doctors record they would own as well. Their second album, Turn It Upside Down, had nothing close to the catchiness of "Two Princes." Any group whose career gets sunk after one album is not very good. Again, seemingly nice guys, but not great musicians.

Bush

Bush was a bit like the Spin Doctors in that they were not bad guys but did not have enough talent to create nice singles that the band's popularity could last for a long time. The debut album, Sixteen Stone, had a bunch of notable songs such as "Everything Zen" and "Machinehead" but how many Bush singles can you name that were not on their first record? Likely fewer than you can name from Sixteen Stone.

Vocalist Gavin Rossdale appeared to be an amiable guy. He was willing to play the music industry's game in 1994 as well. As opposed to many grunge acts, he was OK with selling himself to sell records, appearing on magazine covers sans shirt and with a wry smile. But then when Bush could not rinse and repeat with hot tracks, the music industry moved on and so did many of Bush's fans. The last two albums (from 2020 and 2022, respectively) failed to chart in the UK or the U.S.

Creed

Creed must have been a symptom of a common ailment in the 1990s. Many people seemingly went undiagnosed and tragically lost their ability to hear something called a "melody." Because of this uncurable disease, bands such as Creed were sadly able to make a living, likely laughing on their way to the bank as they had not yet been exposed to be the frauds they were.

And make no mistake, Scott Stapp, "vocalist" for Creed, was a fraud. He tried to sell himself as a person of religious faith and yet he was caught on video in a sexual act while standing next to Kid Rock (that is not a joke). Stapp stole millions of people's money as he pretended to be something he was not and pretended to sing when he actually just kind of grunted without any vocal range. Sad when bands such as Creed take attention away from bands that are more worthy of a music fan's love.

More music news and analysis

manual