'70s Rock Songs That Are Painfully Overrated

Hot takes and unpopular opinions abound in the world of '70s rock music. Fans of every band in the catalog will tell you there's a song that stands out as the best of the best. But few fans take the opposite approach and admit that maybe a few of the so-called best songs are overrated — not because they're necessarily '70s songs that aged terribly, but because there are better songs from the era that are more deserving of acclaim.

What makes a song overrated is obviously a matter of opinion. For the sake of this article, we've determined that overrated songs show up far too often on playlists, in best-of compilations, and during conversations about amazing '70s rock tunes — all without fully representing the best works of the bands they belong to. You can probably see how squishy this subject is. This is a good time to reiterate how much opinion factors into the decision-making process.

Having plenty of tunes to choose from given the depth and breadth of '70s rock music on record (pun intended), the following five songs are what we've determined to be highly overrated, despite their quality. You'll find a little Zeppelin, a touch of Skynyrd, and an entire American Pie in the mix. See how many you agree with.

Oh, those literate scamps in Led Zeppelin and their zany tendency to craft poetic dreamscapes in the guise of hard rock songs! "Stairway to Heaven" was so mystical it took a prime role in the Satanic Panic in the '80s due to purported evil messages that could only be heard by playing the music backward. Parents who wondered if Led Zeppelin sold their souls to the devil likely got that idea from the televangelist who dissected the imagery in the lyrics. It only added to the mystique.

It also didn't stop the song from becoming massively popular. If you were a teenager with a guitar in the '70s or '80s, you undoubtedly gave learning the classical style intro a try. As recognizable as it was, it was too tempting not to, especially if you had friends to impress. It was also haunting and lovely, but after hearing it repeatedly for more than 50 years and having it held up as a seminal piece of modern music, the charm has worn off.

In our view, "Whole Lotta Love" or "Kashmir" are much better representation of the raw energy and exceptional musicianship Led Zeppelin was capable of. Maybe "Stairway" became so popular because it countered the more aggressive songs in the band's trove. There's still a bit more love shown to it than it warrants. Or maybe they're too edgy and provocative to inspire the same starry-eyed glow. But we'd much rather listen to those instead.

Anyone who remembers trying to decrypt the mysteries planted by the Eagles in "Hotel California" can probably tell you the mythology they cobbled together as they interpreted the lyrics. Spooky vibes abound in this eerie tale, which is really about darkness and light, according to band members. The haunting minor-key chords and Spanish-style guitar evoke an undeniable atmosphere, too. But after almost 50 years of creeping out rock fans, this mid-tempo haunted house story should give up the ghost.

The song was a high point for The Eagles, becoming a bona fide No. 1 hit in 1977 and proving the band could pull big numbers. Also, the namesake No. 1 album has sold a staggering 26 million copies in the U.S. But you can only hear a song like this so many times before you start wondering why everyone has gone gaga for it for so long.

As expected, the song bounced up the charts again following the 2016 death of member Glenn Frey, and it will forever be a part of '70s rock culture. But when you listen to it now, it has the dated feel of a tune you'd hear in a movie that's trying to sell a '70s vibe. The musicianship and songwriting are a bit repetitive, and the scares have worn thin in the post-Satanic Panic era. We think "Life in the Fast Lane" is a far better choice for prime Eagles rocking.

You can stop trying to make sense of the imagery in the lyrics of "American Pie" now. Singer-songwriter Don McLean has explained that it's about the figurative death of innocence sparked by the literal plane crash death of '50s rock and roll icons Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper. As deftly as the chorus echoes Holly's own "That'll Be the Day" with an existential tearjerking twist, the rest confounds the listener with a mish-mash of encoded images; references to James Dean, Lenin, and Marx swirl about in a description of the narrator's fall from innocence. It feels like one of those "you had to be there" moments — and plenty of boomers actually were there when it all happened. 

Not that it wasn't a smash; it hit number one on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1972, and at almost nine minutes long, it set a record for the longest runtime for a chart-topping hit. "American Pie" was stripped of that 50-year record in 2021 by Taylor Swift and her 10-minute epic "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)." But this song has worn a groove in our memory and been stripped of its vitality. Who wants to slog through a cryptic poem about figures from the past, hoping to figure out what the writer was trying to say? That's too much work for too little payoff, even if old-timers are still attached to it. We'll take McClean's stunning cover of Roy Orbison's "Crying" any day.

Even if it didn't deserve the comeback, in 1992, "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen's ponderous, genre-shifting rock aria, became a sensation for a new generation when it was boosted back into the collective consciousness of rock fans in "Wayne's World." In the movie, it was used it in a memorable pre-Carpool Karaoke lip sync session that gave the arena rockers a splash of visibility, reminding everyone how powerful they were. In 2018, it was also named the most streamed song from the 20th century. It's a head-scratcher to those of us from that century.

There's no arguing that it's an imaginative piece of work, telling the story of a murderer in a tune that mixes piano balladry with theatrical opera and solid guitar work. And, of course, the vocals from Freddie Mercury and his backing crew are spectacular. For those who heard the song when it was first released in 1975, it took a while to figure out what was going on. And in those middle decades where it became goofy soundtrack material, it was a throwback that you felt overjoyed to recognize and even sing along with.

But now it sounds like an ego trip that merged the strangest musical elements into one overly-long tune. When the Muppets' cover is more fun than the original, you know your rock aria has jumped the shark. There may never be another band like Queen, but "Killer Queen" is much better for all-out rock drama.

It was all fun and games when rock crowds raised lighters and yelled "Free Bird!" as an encore at Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts (and it's still the band's encore tune). Of course, the band wasn't going to skip one of its best-known songs. But when people started shouting it out at concerts by other bands, we knew the tune had overstayed its welcome.

The song, which began as a jam of sorts, wasn't even loved by the band initially. "Ronnie thought there were too many chord changes," says guitarist Gary Rossington (via Ultimate Classic Rock) of lead singer Ronnie Van Zant. Eventually, Van Zant came around and wrote the lyrics. But the song kept getting longer and longer until it seemed like it was too long to be a hit. Audiences thought differently when it was released in November 1974 and a Southern-fried rock favorite was born; it would come back as a Billboard top 10 tune yet again in 2025 on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart.

With several band members having passed on through the years, Skynyrd fans have found deeper meaning in the song. But who wants to hear the same old song about someone flying the coop who won't change their ways? The blandness is more than obvious by now, and the band had better works for fans to latch onto. After more than 50 years, it's time to let this bird fly. We choose "Sweet Home Alabama" to replace it.