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I got into a vicious argument with a friend about this. My philosophy was that there are popular, legendary bands that I really hate, but to be truly overrated, the band has to be wrongly held up as culturally significant by a large number of fans, critics, etc. In other words, the band is nowhere near as influential as everyone says they are. This is still way subjective, but it's not like we're going to achieve anything like real objectivity on the issue anyway. Plus it's fun to argue about.
So with that in mind, I propose two:
* The Doors. Mediocre music, really bad lyrics. Jim Morrison's "wild" persona was already being done far more intensely by a young Iggy Pop. People have been influenced by Morrison's vocal style, I guess, e.g. Glenn Danzig, but Danzig made it a whole lot more fun (in the Misfits, at least).
* Pavement. Did they ever do anything that Sonic Youth didn't do earlier and better?
I would add the Grateful Dead to the above, but they influenced a lot of music and pop culture--for the worse, I would say (the Dead were soulless --> Phish are soulless --> most jam bands are soulless), but to each his own, etc.
Then there's Led Zeppelin. I loathe Led Zeppelin, but they've influenced a ton of bands I like.
Tool is pretty good.
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