00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking back at the bands that were cool to hate,
00:11but that we loved all the same.
00:17Coldplay
00:18The most successful band of the post-Britpop wave that started in the late 90s, Coldplay
00:23arrived sounding like a version of Radiohead that cared more about chart success than artistic
00:29innovation.
00:38But even if some turned their noses up at Chris Martin and company for making what they
00:41perceived as watered-down alt-rock, you don't get this many hits unless you're doing something
00:47right.
00:51Songs like Yellow and Clock still endure because they're unapologetically earnest and gorgeously
00:57composed.
01:06And though they're more of a commercial darling than a critical one, they've still
01:09shown admirable willingness to try new things.
01:18Hootie and the Blowfish
01:20Being popular and being cool aren't necessarily the same thing.
01:28Case in point, Hootie and the Blowfish, whose debut album Cracked Rear View sold more than
01:3420 million copies, making it one of the all-time bestsellers.
01:43But this was the 90s, and when compared to the boundary-pushing genre movements like
01:48Grunge and Gangsta Rap, Hootie's rustic-yet-polished heartland rock sounded rather milquetoast.
02:01But while the group is undeniably corny, their sincerity was an asset, particularly in an
02:06era full of irony.
02:08And Darius Rucker's iconic twangy voice is one we're always happy to try and harmonize
02:14with.
02:23Baby Metal Some metal fans can be rather rigid in terms
02:27of what they consider real metal.
02:29So if ever there was a group to rattle uptight purists, it's Baby Metal.
02:42Considered the founders of kawaii metal, this Tokyo group fuses two distinctly opposing
02:47sounds, J-pop and heavy metal.
02:56And if you're a fan, you might have had to endure a diatribe or ten from self-proclaimed
03:01metal experts about how they were ruining the genre.
03:05But just watch five seconds of any Baby Metal live video, and any gatekeeping goes right
03:10out the window.
03:18Among those who have championed the group are Judas Priest's Rob Halford and Rob Zombie.
03:23And they both definitely know a thing or two about metal.
03:33Muse Some bands thrive on subtlety.
03:37That does not include Muse.
03:46The British rock band is one that pushes everything to the nth degree.
03:51This is particularly true for vocalist Matt Bellamy, who projects like he's in a Broadway
03:56show and whose lyrics can, at times, be described as painfully on the nose.
04:10But when so many other bands were content to fade into the background, Muse sounded
04:14like a breath of fresh air.
04:22Overwrought?
04:23Sure.
04:25We'd rather listen to something pompous and unique than something low-key and forgettable.
04:29And while it might seem like a bit much when you're listening at home, anyone who's
04:34been to a Muse concert can likely tell you about what a transcendent experience it is.
04:45Imagine Dragons Compared to previous decades, the 2010s weren't
04:50exactly the most promising time for newer rock bands breaking through commercially.
05:02But one act managed to produce numerous hits as well as draw endless scorn.
05:06Imagine Dragons have self-identified as genre-less.
05:18And that's fair.
05:19Because they sound like a bunch of different genres blended together to make songs that
05:23sound like they were manufactured by an algorithm for chart success.
05:28But even if they were, and still are, rather unhip, their most famous songs are the kind
05:34that you only need to hear once to get stuck in your head forever.
05:42And you can admit that Radioactive and Believer still get you pumped up to this day.
05:53Maroon 5 You can pretty clearly draw the line between
05:57when Maroon 5 were a rock band with pop appeal and just a straight-up pop act.
06:07And we're here to vouch for the band that was, not the band that currently is.
06:11While the group's mix of blue-eyed soul and lightly funky alt-rock wasn't anything
06:16groundbreaking, it had a vibe that other 2000s-era acts weren't providing.
06:26Like how many choruses had the must-sing-along energy of This Love?
06:35And Adam Levine was clearly giving it his all in a way you had to respect.
06:39Though recent releases have fallen flat, you can still make a case for Maroon 5 being,
06:44for a time, unfairly maligned.
06:52U2 This one might be controversial.
06:55There are very few bands who have managed to stay relevant for five consecutive decades.
07:05U2 have multiple albums and songs that anyone with a decent grasp on rock history know are
07:11absolute classics.
07:13That being said, there's plenty about the Irish foursome to rub people the wrong way.
07:23From Bono's didactic lyrics and singing style so strained it occasionally borders
07:27on self-parody, to that time their new album was put on our iPhones without our knowledge,
07:33they've historically been a group easy to mock.
07:39But if you go through their catalogue or catch a live show, you'll find a band firing on
07:44all cylinders and making some of the most powerful and life-affirming rock music ever
07:49created.
07:55Creed The mainstream breakthrough of grunge, led
08:04by Nirvana, took rock radio into uncharted territory in the 90s.
08:09But what was once underground and counter-cultural eventually became the norm and got sanded
08:14down into post-grunge.
08:17And no band better represented the decline in grunge's credibility than Creed.
08:26Though they sold tens of millions of albums and had numerous top ten hits, including the
08:30chart-topping with Arms Wide Open, they did not receive much in the way of critical respect.
08:43Singer Scott Stapp earned the bulk of the ire, with his guttural voice and self-serious
08:47rock star posturing.
08:49But even if many found Stapp and Creed to be overbearing, they were also just so unabashedly
08:55wholehearted in their efforts, and we have to give them some respect.
09:05Limp Bizkit Many of the bands on this list are ones who
09:08could be negatively described as bland.
09:11Limp Bizkit, meanwhile, were many things, but bland was not one of them.
09:22Rather they were the epitome of boorish.
09:25As ambassadors of the then-new movement known as Nu Metal, the band epitomized every criticism
09:31of both hip-hop and metal, especially with a frontman like Fred Durst.
09:39Their songs were incredibly crass and stupid, and not in a particularly clever way either.
09:50But even if we knew that tracks like Nookie and Break Stuff weren't exactly enriching
09:55our minds, we couldn't resist the urge to headbang and fist-pump along.
09:59And let's be honest, neither could you.
10:25Nickelback While every band on this list has received
10:35some amount of hate for some amount of time, arguably none has received as much for as
10:42long as Nickelback.
10:44The Canadian band is also part of the post-grunge wave, mainly thanks to lead singer Chad Krueger's
10:49hoarse voice that sounds like he has a consistently sore throat.
10:59During the 2000s, when rock's impact on commercial radio was waning, Nickelback were
11:04thriving.
11:11And thus, the backlash took full effect, with jokes about them being bad being as cliched
11:16as ones about airline food.
11:19But even if they were easy to ridicule during a time when they dominated the airwaves, looking
11:24back, we can confidently say that Nickelback has numerous songs that just plain rock.
11:38What band do you think is unjustly jeered?
11:41Let us know in the comments.
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