The Weak In Review: Bands that are bad. But also good.

Not long ago my friend Walt approached me with the burning question: "Which bands are so bad that they're actually good?"

This would be akin to movies that are good because they're bad in a good way, right?
But I decided to refine the list to bands that aren't good because they are bad but bands that are bad but ALSO good. 

It's a paradox, I know. 

And of course music is a subjective and no matter which band you choose there's always someone who thinks they suck. There are divisive bands associated with very specific genres that people either love or hate like Phish and Widespread Panic. Then there are bands that *everyone* hates like Creed and Nickleback but millions of people bought those CDs, didn't they? Sure, there are bands with technically competent or even monstrous players but that doesn't always equate to good music. And I'm not counting bands that became bad or good due to a change in the lineup. 

Most of the bands on the list are 70s-80s era and that's probably because bands were self-consciously trying to be bad in a good way. Walt and I tried to come up with some Indie or other acts from the aughts through today but there were no clear cut choices although I might include Muse in there. I suppose if I were to name a band and you had to think about it for a second they might make the list.

Let's get to it. 

STYX. Styx was a huge theatrical band and it's hard to both like and not like their stuff. But in cheesy way they're good. Styx makes the list. 

FOREIGNER. This band was created by a lot of savvy players so they were automatically good on paper. Foreigner was good at what they set out to do although a lot of people don't like what they set out to do (making huge derivative hit records). If you want to hold them to purist Rock standards they are bad. Yet they are good.

BUSH. Bush is is bad. But not good. So Bush does not make the list.

THIRD EYE BLIND. This is a tricky one because Third Eye Blind is neither bad enough nor good enough to be called good or bad, and thus they make the list in a weird way.

KISS. Kiss is not a good band but if they wouldn't have been Kiss otherwise. You can't say Kiss is bad, though, so they clearly are a good/bad band. Kiss might well be the worst best band of all time but I could be wrong. 
 
BARENAKED LADIES. Beats the hell out of me. 

BAD COMPANY. Lead Singer Paul Rogers was one of the greats and highly influential (see: Foreigner). Classic meat & potatoes Rock, for sure. They're good. And they are also bad. Hence the topic of this blog. 

GOO GOO DOLLS. The Goo Goo Dolls are almost exempt because they fall into the category of Early Stuff: Good, Later Stuff, Bad. So pretty much bad but I needed filler material. 

DEF LEPPARD. What can I say? Not bad by some standards, not good by others. They're bad. But they're pretty good. 

THE DOOBIE BROTHERS. The Doobies sort of fall into the same category as a lot of other 70s-80s band like Chicago, REO Speedwagon, and The Eagles in that they have a buttload of huge classic songs and a lot of them have not aged well. But a lot of them groove and are well-produced and performed. Is China Grove a good song? No one knows anymore. 

WINGS. In many respects Wings was not even a real band and yet they still kinda were a real band and not just Macca's sidemen (although they were). Since Wings were utterly dependent on the highly unpredictable whims of McCartney they were bound to be both good and bad.

THE GIN BLOSSOMS. This band cooks up the sonic equivalent of warm oatmeal. If I heard Until I Fall Away I might even sing along and feel weird about it. Not necessarily a bad thing. Or a good thing.