10 Bands Other People Made You Feel Bad About Loving

WatchMojo

We're diving into the world of bands that were cool to hate but impossible not to love. From Coldplay to Nickelback, these artists faced criticism but still managed to capture our hearts with their unique sounds and undeniable hits.

Transcript

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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