10 respected artists who became a joke
No musician should go into the studio thinking about their audience wants. It’s always about making something that you want to hear before anyone else, and even if it sells only a few copies, it’s better to stay true to the muse rather than the commercial side of things. While many artists like Muse started out being known as the best their genres had to offer, it didn’t take long for them to create as many eye-rolls among rock fans as they did listeners.
Granted, it’s not like many of these artists didn’t have promise when they started. The beginning of their careers all came from being some of the greatest names in popular music, but once everyone collectively came out of their musical formula and realised what they were listening to, their once-favourite bands became dirty little secrets that no one wanted to acknowledge even happened.
It doesn’t have to be through the music, either. Even though many artists on this list ended up turning in their worst music after the fact, their attitude is usually what trashes them, either becoming some of the worst human beings on the face of Earth or the kind of person that is too self-absorbed to realise that many people are laughing at them.
They might still have the fans, and they might show up in droves to cheer them on, but in terms of influence, many of these acts pissed away their integrity a long time ago. It’s hard for any band to get the ear of the public for a few seconds, but these big names had a distinct shift where things started to go off the rails.
10 respected artists that became laughing-stocks:
10. Rick Astley
Part of the reason why artists become laughing-stocks is their inability to not take themselves seriously. As much people like the idea of playing up their rockstar credentials and being one of the best artists in the world, it’s not a life or death situation, and some of the biggest names have known when to cool it a little bit throughout their career. In the case of Rick Astley, though, it’s nice to find one person who is actively involved in their own joke.
While Astley’s voice has been permanently etched into everyone’s brain thanks to the Internet, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ was once a decent little pop tune. Even though Astley does have a decent range and the dance moves of a shy uncle at a wedding reception, he still has great chops and has never once been embarrassed by the fact that he’s become a meme since, even collaborating with Foo Fighters by playing that to the riff of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.
And especially in a world where people take every single breath they take seriously, we need more Rick Astleys in the world. Sure, he can be a laughing stock to some people, but there’s a good chance he’s laughing right along with us whenever those processed drums come in during any Rick Roll.
9. Dave Matthews Band
The fact that an artist appears on this list doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t perform well. Say what you want about Dave Matthews, but his ability to play the guitar like an extension of his body is still one of the more impressive feats to come out of the adult alternative sphere in some time. Then again, there’s hardly any way to feel cool when listening to a single Dave Matthews Band song if you tried.
Despite being a great little jam band to throw on in the background, their music seems to be tailormade to fade into background music half the time. While everyone could probably hum a little bit of ‘Ants Marching’, it’s hard to look at them thinking of what it spawned in the 2000s, especially when everyone from James Blunt to John Mayer got on the bandwagon of mellow white guys brandishing acoustic guitars.
Mayer may have taken things in a bluesy direction later in his career, but when listening to Dave Matthews, one can’t help but draw comparisons to a less psychedelic version of the Grateful Dead. They still have their place in the world, but when the most iconic thing about the band is Matthews’s sick goofy dance moves, it’s not like they will be giving pop stars a run for their money or anything.
8. Ted Nugent
Okay, so we might be stretching a little bit here. As much as Ted Nugent could play the guitar back in the day, he was always bound to be an acquired taste with virtually any artist he came across because of what he had to say onstage. If you choose to ignore his advocation for gun rights and hunting, though, it’s still not enough for him not to be seen as one of the most backwards individuals in the rock sphere.
Although it’s great that Nugent advocates for a clean living lifestyle without drugs and alcohol, his history of being insanely critical of political figures can get to be too much for some. Couple that with the fact that he legally adopted one of his girlfriends when she was underage, and it’s not really a wonder why he isn’t considered one of the most upstanding citizens in the world of rock.
And what has he done to show for it? Doubled down, usually, especially when he decided to make songs about how the whole world should kiss his ass and that he’s not backing down from anyone. In any other rocker’s hands, those themes would work wonders, but with the Motor City Madman, it seems like everyone’s crazy uncle who showed up at the family reunion despite no one inviting him.
7. Michael Bolton
Everyone collectively needed a breather once Nirvana exploded into the mainstream. The entire hair metal movement had become far too overblown, and when Kurt Cobain started crying out in pain, it felt like the first authentic thing that rock and roll had to offer in over a decade. Michael Bolton already existed on the fringes of rock when he started, but in his own soft rock bubble, even he wasn’t safe from being looked at as someone people would rather leave in the late 1980s.
Because almost concurrently with Nevermind, REM’s ‘Losing My Religion’ made everyone look at what kind of soft rock was out there, which left songs like ‘How Am I Supposed To Live Without You’ look incredibly passe. Even when it came back around for divas like Celine Dion, Bolton seemed to have too much hair-metal grandiosity left over for anyone to care anymore.
That said, he is still one of the few who understands their own joke, managing to flex his incredible pipes with The Lonely Island and keep his voice in shape all these years. Compared to every other artist who seems to become bitter over the style people know them for, seeing Bolton take his vocal strength and run with it is enough to give him a medal of honour, among other musical jokes.
6. Coldplay
In the early 2000s, Coldplay was everything the world had been asking for since Radiohead went away. After Kid A, it was clear that the band had no interest in going back to sounding like OK Computer, so the next best thing was to have a sheepish Chris Martin make songs that were a lot more earnest than what Thom Yorke could offer. Once they entered the 2010s, though, things started to turn a corner without anyone noticing.
Despite Viva La Vida standing as one of the better albums of the late 2000s, every subsequent album has seen Coldplay become a manufactured version of themselves. Even though there would occasionally be a return to earnest songwriting on albums like Ghost Stories, fans would still have to sit through ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ to get to something that sounded a bit more authentic.
And considering their status now working with acts like The Chainsmokers and becoming one of the biggest stadium draws in the world, Coldplay seems to approach their craft in the same way clothing brands approach their business model. The music is still good in places, but the problem with being the band for everyone also means you’re the band for no one anymore.
5. Muse
And while we are on the Radiohead comparisons, Muse didn’t have a prayer in avoiding Thom Yorke’s looming shadow. As much as people liked the idea of having new Radiohead music out in the world, Matt Bellamy’s falsetto was so on-the-nose in places that it practically felt like a parody of what the Oxford cyborgs were trying to sound like. Once Muse did find an identity of their own, though, it didn’t take them long to start going too far in the other direction as well.
While their creative sweet spot is probably Black Holes and Revelations, their move towards poppy textures as of late has felt like the textbook version of pandering. The bands they were stealing from were at least interesting back in the day, like Queen and Radiohead, but once we get to Will of the People, copying riffs from Marilyn Manson and using synth textures feel like listening to a more theatrical version of Imagine Dragons half the time.
Of all the bands on this list, this one is the most painful because it’s clear that there is some genuine talent in Muse waiting to get out. But it’s also clear now that they are more concerned with messing about with pop formulas than trying to put together something that has at least an inkling of a creative spark behind it.
4. Bono – U2
U2 was built on the idea that rock and roll could change the world. Even if it seemed like people took the genre too seriously, Bono knew that there was some spiritual power that came from his favourite records, and if he could make that kind of musical miracle happen when they took to the stage, it would be one of the greatest feelings on Earth. While the Irish legends have matched that energy on more than a few occasions, that also makes it incredibly funny when they strike out.
Because, looking at how Bono presents himself, it’s hard not to look at him as someone with a massive God complex. Even though his heart is in the right place sometimes, the frontman has been guilty of being more than a little bit pompous, especially when approaching the stage, like every move he makes has the power to make the Earth shake and for all wars to end.
Despite still being one of the more inventive voices in dad rock, it’s hard to look at Bono’s track record and not see something like the iTunes fiasco to balance out the good he’s done for the world. U2 still have their diehard fans and at least deserve a healthy fanbase, but anyone outside of the truly devoted will need a strong stomach to make it through more than 20 minutes of Rattle and Hum.
3. Gene Simmons – Kiss
There’s usually a certain facade with anyone putting on a show. Even though Paul McCartney is no doubt tired of playing some of his classics, he’s still able to make sure that everyone who goes to his show feels like they’re watching him with the same energy he did during his Beatles days. But it’s still a job, and no one is better at reminding us about the business side than Gene Simmons.
As much as he is known for the blood-spitting Demon of Kiss, Simmons has seemed to have lost that human gene that makes someone realise whether something is in poor taste or not. From the shameless self-promotion that he’s done throughout the years to his indecent behaviour and casual misogyny in his lyrics, Simmons has absolutely no problem saying what’s on his mind and coming off like an absolute asshole.
While Paul Stanley has tried everything he can to keep Kiss moving as a viable entity, even he has admitted over the years that he and Simmons are far from the best of friends when they are offstage. Because while some artists are looking to make their fans’ dreams come true, it’s clear that Simmons is far more concerned with the dollar sign at the end of the check when he plays. It might still be technically music, but for Simmons, it’s all business, and don’t any of you forget that.
2. Jared Leto – 30 Seconds to Mars
Balancing an acting career alongside a musical career is a very delicate tightrope to walk. While there’s the age-old joke that all actors want to be rockstars and vice versa, the art of doing both means getting performances like Justin Timberlake’s in Trolls or Pierce Brosnan trying his best in Mamma Mia! For a while, Jared Leto seemed like one of the few who could balance things out, but as soon as the awards started rolling in, it felt like he took all of his good ideas for music and buried them up his own ass.
While 30 Seconds to Mars is far from the most groundbreaking band in the world, hearing Leto try his best to turn in the sounds of late 2010s pop music with America was already enough to destroy his career. But since he found it good enough to do it for a whole new album in 2023, it didn’t seem to stop his drive, especially when he had a cult of people following him and forming some bizarre religious coalition on an island.
It’s clear that Leto wanted to have the kind of larger-than-life persona that someone like Jay-Z might have, but looking through his pedigree, what he’s done goes a bit further than simply being the next incarnation of Bono. When the doors are closed, Leto still comes off like the guy who genuinely thinks that he is Jesus, and while it’s hard to argue with the faithful that he has next to him, it has gone from silly to downright creepy now.
1. Kid Rock
Most people who listened to Kid Rock weren’t concerned with thinking hard about his music. Even though people don’t need to be challenged when listening to music, many tunes from his early albums, like Devil Without A Cause, were decent enough to appeal to the lizard-brain side of rock and roll. When he decided to come out of his shell and start getting on his soapbox, though, he became one of the kings of contradiction overnight.
Despite having some decent songwriting chops or the ability to get something decent out of a sample, hearing him go down the rabbit of right-wing politics on tunes like ‘Don’t Tell Me How to Live’ is one of the least self-aware moves anyone has ever made. Compared to the great tunes that he had back in the day, it’s hard to look at some of his recent material and see that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, especially when he talks about coming together in brotherhood and then threatening to shoot anyone who might disagree with what he has to say.
And considering that the man himself has admitted that Donald Trump had asked him about how to solve the greater problems with the world, it’s hard to see the future looking bleak when the man behind ‘Bawitdaba’ is calling the shots. Everyone has the right to say what’s on their minds, but when people start taking Kid Rock as gospel, it starts going past funny and goes into genuinely concerning.
