I don't think it's really underrated...the musicians I've worked with don't make things too complicated and people pretty much respect punk....and I don't think it's overrated.

well think about this: pink floyd, gentle giant,genesis, et al. those guys make very flowery music, music with dense instrumentation, long songs. i dont like them yet its not simple music. thy've read books, you know. they have something to say i think, even if im not impressed.

bob dylan makes songs with just himself. i dont like them. not simple either. hes defintely read books and done some for real synthesizing of his life experiences, his country, and again, although im not altogether impressed by his music, i can see that hes no fool.

johnny thunders makes songs with a fourpiece band. i like em (ok, not always and ill be damned if anyone claims that his material is consistent). not simple, but certainly debatable, and at times hes downright pathetic. hes no rhodes scholar, but there are the vestiges of a street poet about him.

the point is (im not sure if that cam through at all with what i just wrote), i think that simplicity does not mean economy or directness, as i suggested in my last post. i think it means that there is a lack of depth inherent. some people maintain that the beatles' songs are deceptive, because they seem lyrically simple, but actually deep. so no matter how simple their thoughts might seem (at first glance or otherwise) you cant convince rockistas that their music is simple. similarly, the velvet underground (who - not that its your jobs to keep tabs on my listening habits, but in case your aware of my opinion of the beatles - are MY beatles) might seem primitive and naive, but their music is very adult, and often startlingly complex (yes, startling. 'there she goes again' has alot more going on than it seems but thats neither here nor there).

the music of t rex, for all its violins and special effects, was never deep. it was always simple. somehow, it still succeeds in spite of its simplicity. elvis supremely succeeds in spite of the intellectual penuriance of his music. so i think my thoughts fall into line with whiteskittlez, because really simplicity falls pretty evenly in all musical camps. i think that there are just as many ambitious art rockers who dont produce any good ideas as there are punks who dont know their own intellectual strength. when i hear kate bush, i run for cover. when i hear iggy pop, my listening brain shifts into the same analytical gear as the one used for carl orff, because its deep, man. every genre has its dunces and smartypants and especially in rock music, you can make great music without too many brilliant ideas.

so really success at rock music does not hinge on simplicity or complexity. we can love em both. there are overrated simpletons and underrated eggheads, and vice versa. that my very longwinded thoughts on that anyway

Complexity and simplicity, when used with reference to music, are both relative and subjective terms. The confusion that results from the subjectivity of these terms is apparent in the replies to this thread-post.
A peice of music may appear complex to a listener with a relatively untrained ear and little knowledge of music theory, yet the same peice may appear simple to a more knowledgable listener. Similarly, an individual with relatively poor spatial reasoning skills is unlkely to find much of the turnout of, say, Robert Fripp, to be particularly approachable. What one finds difficult to understand, one is rather unlikely to enjoy.
Few composers and even fewer rock musicians write music that is deliberately complex; it is more often the case that a complex musical idea demands complex technique, in order to accurately convey the idea to the listener.
Is simplicity underrated? Nope.

Kate.

Excellent thread, by the way.

i totally agree with the author of this thread!

I have long been of the opinion that music has somehow lost it's entertainment factor. It's taken way to seriously and artist writing simple, upbeat music are label as lacking talent and being bad musicians. I'm referring particularly to music and not lyrics.

I'm getting sick and tired of the fact that depressing, cut-my-wrists-and-hope-to-die, minor-diminished chord progressions songs are regarded as musically superior to the rest.