They're a MEGA musician?!! (Page 2 of 3)

Very nice Deezer. 

I can't let this Bruce dissing go by.

It's certainly not a 'back east' thing because he's always been HUGE in Europe. As there's no arguing with people's different tastes, I'm not going to try. Just a couple of points though.

I saw last year's tour, and as someone who has loved and admired Bruce (and the E. St. Band) since the early 70's, I was disappointed - not in the performance, but in the selection of songs. Nevertheless, there can surely be no doubt that Bruce (together with Dylan) are the two most important and influential American songwriters/poets/musical artists of the last four decades. Both have produced a catalog of songs that will remain classics forever. But there is one big difference between them - Bruce just oozes charisma, energy and stage presence.

Bruce and Bonnie, my boss and bossess.

i think you are missing the point.  those were fads, not mega musicians

Of course, it is the sum total. But if we are to pick out the most important thing, the thing that I think stands out the most, it is the song. Because how many brilliant musicians have come and gone without a hit, while people who maybe couldn't play or sing as well (Dylan) have the timeless stuff. Because the songs that people like him write hit so many people on a personal level.

And then of course, you have guys like Hendrix, who not only wrote great songs, but put brilliant playing behind them. When you think about a top ten list of guitarists, it's usually guys who have some pretty stout material behind them. Page, Hendrix, Clapton, Gilmour, and Van Halen are all usually on some magazine's top 10 list. All brilliant players, but we could all come up with players who we thought deserve to stand alongside them. So what makes them stand out? The hits that they or their bands have.

And I believe that Joe has the potential to be in this league. And in my opinion, he has written things and performed songs that are indeed timeless, if put in front of the right audience. But Joe is playing an unfair game in today's mainstream music scene. It's just going to take and has taken longer.

A lot of times it has to do with how they get whatever they're trying to get across. One thing about Bruce, you cannot dig him all you want, but when he hits the stage, he gives it everything he has. I've seen videos of him performing when Born To Run came out all the way up through recently. He still gives it his all. And by his all, I mean jumping and running around, and singing Dancing In The Dark as if he wrote it yesterday. And his songs really do resonate with people because usually he's writing about things we can all relate with. There was a line I read about Hendrix's vocals, something along the lines of it wasn't a pretty voice, but instead it was a voice that had learned the lessons that the blues and Bob Dylan have to teach. It's like Howlin' Wolf, Howlin' Wolf by all technical standards was not a good singer, yet he is one of the greatest bluesmen of all time. It's about the heart you're trying to put out. If we only worried about good singers, then we might as well throw out guys like Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker (who half the time just talked) and Jimmy Reed.

I choose not to look at this as a competition. By taking this viewpoint of, "How is so and so popular when this guy is not," that is essentially putting music into a competitive context. Music is not competitive. There is no mathematical formula that says that this music is better than this formula. Why is it that a guy like B.B. King is revered as a guitarist when he does not have near the range as say Steve Vai? If we were going by technical prowess, then yes, Vai is the better guitarist. But when the heart gets involved, there is no clear cut reason on why this guy should be better than this guy, or this guy should be a star.

And plenty of talented musicians over the years have gotten loads of accolades. Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Hendrix, Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Prince, heck, even Carol King, have reached the top of their profession both critically and in popularity. I think where you are having a problem, is in today's music scene, where guys like Joe and Robert Randolph are taking a back seat to these bands on MTV and VH1. Although some extremely talented musicians like Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, and John Mayer have cracked through, many are not, and probably will not. This is more the product of how the record companies have taken over and are treating this more as a business. I guarantee you that today Stevie Wonder would not be anywhere near as popular as he was/is because his music and he himself cannot be pigeonholed into a neat little package to sell to corporate radio, VH1, and MTV. I'd say you probably need to take your quarrel about talented musicians being on the sideline up with these guys. In fact, there is a great documentary on the music industry called Before The Music Dies. It features musicians like Doyle Bramhall II and Erykah Badu. Very interesting and eye-opening look at the music industry, and it makes me glad that Joe has taken the path he has taken.

And you can disagree on the greatness of the songs written by Dylan and the Stones. What is impossible to disagree on is the impact that those songs have had. It goes beyond simple record sales. Those two bands/artists, combined with a few other bands, helped to define an era. You cannot like the music all you want, that's America in a heartbeat. But it is impossible to deny their impact on American and world music. That is true greatness that just cannot be touched.

3 Dog Night a Mega group? Not in my neck of the woods. I think we need to be careful about what/who we label as 'mega'.

I absolutely missed the point!  I know some people who still think that these bands are "mega" though, does that count?

Libby,
Thanks for the info on Laurie Morvan.  I've never heard of her before. 

I honestly hope she never gives the unnamed magazine the satisfaction of letting her be on the cover.  A woman of her caliber could start her own magazine and be on every cover!