10 Much-Mocked Artists It’s Time We Forgave

Kurt Cobain famously said “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I’m not”. Fortunately his pre-Twitter existence meant that he was never around to witness angry hashtags being hurled at him. We’ve all bad-mouthed musicians, but maybe we should rein in our rage, so that we can all avoid years of anger management classes sat next to Jeremy Kyle.


10Nickelback
Chad Kroeger’s mob are officially the most hated band in the world. Nobody informed them that greasy hair and a penchant for standing on rooftops were all wrong. But although the band get scorn lobbed at them in bucket loads they can at least dish it back. On Twitter the band replied to a tweet that said “Nickelback makes me want to chop my ears off,” by saying “Did you do it yet?” You’ve got to respect that.

9Journey

After Glee screwed Journey over by choiring the heck out of ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, the power ballad became as fashionable as… well, glee club. The result? No-one can hear the original without thinking of jazz-handing berks. And that’s a shame. but don’t let those associations blind you from the fact that it’s still one of the most anthemic rock tracks ever.

Advertisement

8Phil Collins
Phil Collins retired because of all the mockery he received – but was the bile really justified? The subject of endless lampooning on South Park, and famously accused of dumping his wife by fax, Collins was made out to be the villain who took himself too seriously. But come on, admit it. You’ve air drummed to ‘In The Air Tonight’, and loved it.

7Duran Duran

Duran Duran received an onslaught of venom on Twitter when they were announced to headline the Olympics concert, with Al Murray tweeting: “Duran Duran to headline 2012 Olympics gig. Far more worrying than rooftop missiles”. One critic said he’d hated them for 30 years. What about ‘Rio’? ‘Hungry Like The Wolf’? ‘Girls On Film’? Quit bitching, start dancing.

6Coldplay
Which came first? Did we hate Coldplay because of Chris Martin or Chris Martin because of Coldplay? The Tumblr Chris Martin Sucks might answer that question. But the fact remains that Coldplay are as inoffensive as kittens, and you can’t hate kittens.

5 Razorlight

Even Borrell’s mum probably wanted to slap him for saying he was the “greatest songwriter of our generation”. And, yes, the ‘Wire To Wire’ video was howlingly awful. None of that should cancel out the sheer exhilaration of early tracks like ‘Vice’. You never know, they might still get good again.

4 Kings Of Leon
When they’re not wailing about their sex being on fire, KOL are generally being abused for selling out, with Facebook hate groups declaring things like: “They definitely deserve to have bottles of piss and nail bombs thrown at them” and “even Pixie Lott’s version of ‘Use Somebody’ kicks theirs in the arse!” (yes, really). But let’s not forget ‘A-ha Shake Heartbreak’, a classic album that won over the likes of Dylan and Eddie Vedder. I suggest that we avoid throwing bombs, and listening to Pixie Lott, and forgive the band for losing the Cousin Itt look and playing stadiums.

3 U2

Tax evasion, the pomposity of a million Piers Morgans and those ridiculous sunglasses are all great reasons for hating Bono, but even U2 hated living with the self-righteous do-gooder. Adam Clayton said: “I think Bono drove us mad. It’s very hard to live with Bono.” And yet they still managed to write deathless tunes such as ‘With Or Without You’, ‘The Fly’ and ‘Bad’. Anyone who claims they’ve never been moved by a U2 song is surely fibbing.

Advertisement

2Guns N’Roses
Rewind back through time, back before Axl Rose started basing his look on Newton Faulkner. Back before Urban Dictionary defined Gn’R as “the shittiest most overrated fucking band in the history of the world”. Remember ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’. Remember ‘Welcome To The Jungle’. They were a phenomenally exciting band. They just couldn’t sustain it.

1Lana Del Rey

OK we’re all familiar with her massive lips, her unflattering live performances and how she infuriatingly spells her stage name as ‘Rey’ but does she really deserve all the backlash? Her gorgeous Live Lounge cover of Kasabian’s ‘Goodbye Kiss’ suggests that we should give the Ivor Novello nominated; BRIT Award winning songstress a break.

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories