This Is The Most Overrated '70s Rock Song
Any fan of Rock & Roll will tell you that the 1970s might possibly have been the genre's greatest decade. The period that began with the Nixon administration and ended with the Carter administration produced some of the genre's high-water marks, such as Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and the Eagles' "Hotel California." Other great names in this history of rock & roll, such as Ted Nugent, Kansas, Santana, and multiple others, were also huge in the 1970s.
However, every genre and every decade within that genre produces songs that don't represent their artists' best effort, but still manage to get heavy radio play. Or conversely, an artist may try something new and experimental, and though it becomes a hit, later reviewers and fans, looking at it through the lens of history, consider it a dud.
The 1970s rock scene produced more than its share of duds, and Grunge asked 600 U.S.-based readers what they believed was the most overrated single from that decade. Here are the "winners."
Our readers would prefer that you dream on and go your own way
Fleetwood Mac's 1977 hit "Go Your Own Way," with its catchy and singable "hook," makes for a great song, even though its subject matter is anything but fun. As American Songwriter reports, the song is about a breakup, and specifically, it's about a breakup within the band (Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham). All told, that makes for a rather awkward experience for the performers, singing about breaking up with each other while sharing the stage. However, Grunge readers generally seem to like the song, with only 11.17% calling it the most overrated rock song of the 1970s.
Aerosmith's "Dream On" is, in a way, the opposite of "Go Your Own Way," in that musically, it's rather dark, but its lyrics are uplifting. As Grammy.com noted, the song is about the band's desire to make it big (which, of course, they did).
Grunge readers seem to be fans of the song, as well. Only 13.83% considered it the most overrated.
You'll experience more than a feeling as you travel the highway to hell
Australian rockers AC/DC were, for a time, the target of some American Christians who believed that Rock & Roll generally, and AC/DC specifically, were at least partially responsible for Satanism and the occult perverting the minds of America's youth, as The L.A. Times reported in 1985. That the band had a popular song and eponymous album with the word "Hell" right there in the title didn't help.
However, "Highway to Hell" has nothing to do with Satanism or the devil. Rather, according to the book, "AC/DC: The Biography," the song is about the band's grueling tour schedule, which Angus Young described as a "highway to Hell." The song seems to resonate with Grunge readers, 17.5% of whom think the song is the most overrated song of the '70s.
Boston's "More Than A Feeling" is almost the opposite of "Highway to Hell," the latter being a gritty hard-rock tune, the former a radio-friendly ballad — albeit one with a classic guitar solo — about a childhood crush, according to I Love Classic Rock. Grunge readers don't generally find the song overrated, with only 16.83% considering it the most overrated rock song of its decade.
Layla doesn't bring our readers to their knees
When writers put pen to paper to produce a Rock & Roll hit, they generally don't have obscure 7th-century Arabian poetry on their minds. However, legendary guitarist Eric Clapton was given a copy of a book of poetry containing "The Story of Layla and Majnun," according to the book "Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay: an Anthology," and in it, he saw a narrative that works perfectly for a rock song. Specifically, the poem was about a man who fell so hopelessly in love with a girl that he went insane and was unable to marry her.
Clapton actually recorded the song twice, and you may hear either version or both on the rotation of your favorite classic rock station. There was the original version recorded with Clapton's band at the time, Derek and the Dominoes, then a later version recorded by Clapton as a solo artist. Grunge readers are clear that the song may be a tad overrated, with Clapton's version bringing in 18.5% of the votes for most overrated rock song of the 1970s.
Grunge fans would rather not rock and roll all nite and party every day
Some songs emerge organically from the songwriter's brain, get recorded by the writer or other performers, make their way up the charts, and become hits. KISS's 1975 anthem "Rock and Roll All Nite" did none of those things.
As All Music reported, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons basically wrote the song under duress. Specifically, the band was on tour to support their 1974 album "Hotter Than Hell" when it began to lag in sales. The band's management wanted a new album sooner rather than later, and pressured the group to come up with new material by day while performing by night. What's more, their record label's head, Neil Bogart, wanted a rock anthem, and told Simmons and Stanley to come up with something. Stanley came up with the hook, Simmons recycled some bits from previous songs, and soon enough, the band gave Bogart what he wanted.
The studio version went nowhere, but when it was recorded live, all hell broke loose. The song climbed to #12 on the charts, and almost instantly became the rock anthem that Bogart wanted. To this day it is KISS's most identifiable song. Grunge readers, however, aren't so impressed, with a plurality of our readers, 22.17%, calling it the most overrated rock song of the 1970s.