Rules dumps are the worst, man. My cousin tried to explain Terraforming Mars with a 45 minute lecture once. We all just stared at the board like it was in another language. Now I just deal out some cards, point at the cool art, and say "alright, let's make some dumb moves and figure it out." People learn way faster when they're actually playing and messing up.
But come on, is it really that bad? Some games are just complicated. If you don't explain anything, you spend the whole first hour stopping every two seconds to look up a rule. A little structure up front saves a lot of headache later. It's about finding a balance, not just winging it completely.