The King Of Blues:











I saw him right before he died.

The man sat down playing Lucille.

Everyone else was standing up, shouting, hooting, clapping, and hollering.

One of the best concerts I ever went to and it was in a small amphitheater not a large stadium.

Quote: (02-13-2018 12:21 PM)Zep Wrote:  

This is just plain scary:

That's a tough one. I will defer to your knowledge of music, but I just want to punch that face.

And even if I try to listen to it without looking at it, it sounds dated to me, like an old school group singing Christmas songs.






I connect more with this guy singing all the parts, instruments too. But that's just the reaction from the cheap seats. I like his understated Korean swagger.






I guess that is the difference between musicians and fans. Fans don't know the music so connect with the personality maybe even more than the music.

I just love this guy though. He's got soul.

Quote: (02-13-2018 12:17 PM)Zelcorpion Wrote:  

Quote: (02-11-2018 03:08 AM)RoastBeefCurtains4Me Wrote:  

Katy Perry

I love this song

Please don't ban me

Reported you for a severe warning.

Greatest musician alive is a tough thing in our times.

Is it the one who sells the most after having been promoted by the globalist machine before?

In terms of skills and abilities I would wager that the greatest musicians are barely known by the masses. But that is my guess - maybe some excellent ones are in the background as composers and I am sure that they partly hate their job creating bullshit.

I do think a number of Katy Perry songs are catchy, but I was trolling when I said she was the greatest living musician.

To address your point here, I do think popularity matters when assessing the best musician. I like some esoteric virtuoso performers, but these usually reach a very small number of people, and the majority don't really even enjoy their music.

When Michael Jackson's thriller came out, I didn't like it, or at most thought a few of the songs were catchy. I remember having arguments that nobody would remember this music in 20 years the way the Beatles had been remembered for 20 years at that time. In fact, Michael Jackson really did stand the test of time, and was fairly innovative. Was he a musical genius? Some people watching him perform Billie Jean at the 1984 Grammies might say so.

I think the best music is very accessible to the majority of the population, and yet has elements of true originality and virtuosity. I would also say that any nominee for best living musician should have a long and prolific career, that is still active.

Let me put out a more serious nominee:

James Hetfield

Chubby Checker. When you're settling penis measuring lawsuits you know you're in a league of your own.

Jimmy Page

Quote: (02-13-2018 01:35 PM)edlefou Wrote:  

Jimmy Page

Jimmy (and Brian Wilson) are two examples of living legends that have blown too much of their lives through inactivity. For different reasons, of course, but they both could have accomplished a lot more if they were healthier / had more fire in the belly.

That's why McCartney is #1 because however you might feel about his solo albums, he's continued to make new musical statements rather than settling into a long drawn-out nostalgia act.

Rolling Stones have amazing longevity but have gone long stretches without albums/touring in the past. I think U2 is probably the single most successful band as far as staying "relevant" through different eras. Foo Fighters and Green Day have also both had very long runs as A-listers.

The real heavyweights out there are pop producers/writers- guys like Max Martin and Dr. Luke (before his career was pretty much sank by the whole Kesha thing) and film composers like Hanz Zimmer or Marco Beltrami. These pop guys are packing hooks into tracks to capture your attention much in the same way facebook and the like are keeping you hooked with constant hits of dopamine from new shit.

The film guys are doing shit with live orchestras, sampling, and weird ethnic instruments to make fresh new sounds. Beltrami at one point had a piano situated outdoors in the hollywood hills with cables hooked up to it that stretched down the mountain to create a natural reverb from the piano notes the wind hitting.
Then there's hybrid guys like Jon Brion. Among other things, I've heard he takes requests at his residency at this L.A. club where he'll play every instrument within a song and loop shit. I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds fucking cool.

Quote: (02-13-2018 03:38 PM)questor70 Wrote:  

Quote: (02-13-2018 01:35 PM)edlefou Wrote:  

Jimmy Page

Jimmy (and Brian Wilson) are two examples of living legends that have blown too much of their lives through inactivity. For different reasons, of course, but they both could have accomplished a lot more if they were healthier / had more fire in the belly.

That's why McCartney is #1 because however you might feel about his solo albums, he's continued to make new musical statements rather than settling into a long drawn-out nostalgia act.

Rolling Stones have amazing longevity but have gone long stretches without albums/touring in the past. I think U2 is probably the single most successful band as far as staying "relevant" through different eras. Foo Fighters and Green Day have also both had very long runs as A-listers.

If you wanted to go by greatest living British or American pop/rock figure, I'd go with Roger Waters. Pink Floyd had a lot more depth than The Beatles and had far greater longevity. They were excellent in the 60s but went on and changed the whole paradigm of album rock, progressive rock, and album production values. The Dark Side of the Moon changed the music industry, as the first concept album, in its advanced production values combining musique concrete, electronic samplings and melodic pop.











But for the most influential, most consistently brilliant and groundbreaking, with the greatest longevity, it will have to be Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider from Kraftwerk. They've literally invented electronic music and spawned all electronic pop genres that have been a mainstay of the music and dance industry for the last four decades plus: new wave, synth pop, house music, techno, EDM, electro,... they opened that whole branch up.





Most of their work has a timeless perfection and clean German aesthetic of a J-S Bach ...or a vintage Porsche. In fact their first major success, Autobahn, was an album about a long drive. They've dug into the roots of 19th and 20th century German culture to create a whole new, timeless yet ultramodern musical genre.






complete documentary playlist here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqlx_8Mt...3F9E42D365

Quote: (02-13-2018 05:51 PM)911 Wrote:  

But for the most influential, most consistently brilliant and groundbreaking, with the greatest longevity, it will have to be Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider from Kraftwerk. They've literally invented electronic music and spawned all electronic pop genres that have been a mainstay of the music and dance industry for the last four decades plus: new wave, synth pop, house music, techno, EDM, electro,... they opened that whole branch up.

Close, but not quite for me: I think Tangerine Dream beat out Kraftwerk for being electronic pioneers. Where Kraftwerk became more of an influence in pop/alt electronic music, TD expanded the realm of atmospheric/environmental/film theme sounds.

As for 'Greatest Musician Alive", I would have to go with Vangelis.

Quote: (02-13-2018 07:12 PM)ed pluribus unum Wrote:  

Quote: (02-13-2018 05:51 PM)911 Wrote:  

But for the most influential, most consistently brilliant and groundbreaking, with the greatest longevity, it will have to be Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider from Kraftwerk. They've literally invented electronic music and spawned all electronic pop genres that have been a mainstay of the music and dance industry for the last four decades plus: new wave, synth pop, house music, techno, EDM, electro,... they opened that whole branch up.

Close, but not quite for me: I think Tangerine Dream beat out Kraftwerk for being electronic pioneers. Where Kraftwerk became more of an influence in pop/alt electronic music, TD expanded the realm of atmospheric/environmental/film theme sounds.

As for 'Greatest Musician Alive", I would have to go with Vangelis.

Some of the 80s TD still sounds very fresh today.

Quote: (02-13-2018 07:12 PM)ed pluribus unum Wrote:  

Quote: (02-13-2018 05:51 PM)911 Wrote:  

But for the most influential, most consistently brilliant and groundbreaking, with the greatest longevity, it will have to be Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider from Kraftwerk. They've literally invented electronic music and spawned all electronic pop genres that have been a mainstay of the music and dance industry for the last four decades plus: new wave, synth pop, house music, techno, EDM, electro,... they opened that whole branch up.

Close, but not quite for me: I think Tangerine Dream beat out Kraftwerk for being electronic pioneers. Where Kraftwerk became more of an influence in pop/alt electronic music, TD expanded the realm of atmospheric/environmental/film theme sounds.

As for 'Greatest Musician Alive", I would have to go with Vangelis.

Tangerine Dream were part of a rich musical current, Krautrock,
with other acts like Neu!, Can, Kluster etc, and they were
somewhat linked to Kraftwerk through Conny Plank, who
produced the album Autobahn.

But Kraftwerk was very unique, and groundbreaking. They were
the first group to break away from the hippie ethos and to adopt
a completely different, clean aesthetic that took its inspiration
from 1900-1950 Germany, and packaged that into a
future-forward complex yet streamlined industrial sound.

While Tangerine Dream looked like this in the 1970s,



...Kraftwerk looked like that:







30 years ahead of their time, playing to an audience of hippies in 1970:





"I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet...but your kids are gonna love it!"

They were also very influential in the house, funk and
hip hop genres. The argument that they are the most influential
band in history, across a very wide array of genres, has been
made:











http://www.laweekly.com/music/the-best-h...rk-4521125

Kraftwerk: the most influential group in pop history?

The heritage of Kraftwerk on funk and techno - NYT

https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2...on-display

OTR, I have pondered a response for a couple days, and the best one I can come up with that meets the criteria is:

T Bone Burnett.

He is a solo artist, and has been producing albums for close to 40 years, and is still alive, but has also had a direct hand in memorable musical composition and production for iconic films and shows of his genre:

O Brother Where Art Thou
True Detective
Walk the Line
Crazy Heart
The Hunger Games
The Big Lebowski
Nashville

As well as launching or revitalizing the careers of others:

Counting Crows
Roy Orbison
Los Lobos
Gregg Allman

Probably not a winner, but it’s someone we should know about and what they’ve done.

Dylan is the king! He strides over the second half of the 20th century like an artistic colossus. The best writer in music, and it's not that close.

Quote: (02-13-2018 03:38 PM)questor70 Wrote:  

Quote: (02-13-2018 01:35 PM)edlefou Wrote:  

Jimmy Page

Jimmy (and Brian Wilson) are two examples of living legends that have blown too much of their lives through inactivity. For different reasons, of course, but they both could have accomplished a lot more if they were healthier / had more fire in the belly.

That's why McCartney is #1 because however you might feel about his solo albums, he's continued to make new musical statements rather than settling into a long drawn-out nostalgia act.

Rolling Stones have amazing longevity but have gone long stretches without albums/touring in the past. I think U2 is probably the single most successful band as far as staying "relevant" through different eras. Foo Fighters and Green Day have also both had very long runs as A-listers.

Jimmy Page has never been able to let go of the past. All he does is Led Zeppelin reissues. I guess the problem is he was never really a songwriter when it came to lyrics, so he needs a band to be around him. He could be the world's greatest session player, but I guess he's too busy reissuing Led Zeppelin stuff. He should do an album with Jeff Beck instead.

Foo Fighters are good, but they play it too safe. I thought their last album was pretty terrible.

U2 is pretty much a boomer act at this point and might be the most overrated band in existence. You can barely hear their nstruments over Bono's pretentiousness.

Green Day was never more than a pop punk band with catchy songs.

That is a fucking hard question especially cause of losing people like Prince not so long ago but the first person that sprang to my mind was this guy just because he pretty much is the complete package and the sheer amount of ground he has covered.

Sang for Steve Vai at 19yrs of age
Countless studio albums jumping across multiple genres
Insane vocal range
Pretty damn amazing guitar player also








This is worth watching for any musician just how effective and efficient he is at laying down one of his tracks (I don't like the song but holy fuck)








https://www.popmatters.com/180761-omnisc...69211.html

These days, the term “genius” is thrown around too often. Watch any documentary or interview regarding any other form of entertainment and you’ll no doubt hear actors, directors, musicians, producers, programmers, and writers remark that someone else is an “absolutely genius”. Of course, labeling someone as such is always a subjective choice, but the tendency to apply it to too many people exists nonetheless.

To me, a creative genius is someone who manages to expand upon his or her field in ways that no one else ever has. Geniuses implement techniques, ideas, and general experimentation in a way that reveals something new and influential about the medium. In essence, their processes and concepts are wholly idiosyncratic and haven’t really been done before, yet they astound nearly everyone who experiences them.

When it comes to progressive and avant-garde music, a few obvious names come to mind, such as Ian Anderson, Kate Bush, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, and Frank Zappa. Each one of these performers has [to varying degrees] taken established forms to new, dauntingly unique, sundry, and daring places. However, there is likely no modern musician in the genre whose various approaches, innovations, and reinventions are as multifaceted, brave, intricate, and original as those of Devin Townsend. Granted, his music only appeals to a selective (yet endearingly devoted) audience, but there’s no denying that he operates in a world all his own.

Born in 1972, Townsend is a Canadian jack-of-all-trades musically, as he is capable of writing, singing, arranging, and performing everything on his releases

Eric Clapton.

Being a Van Halen fan from way back, I’m going to nominate Sir Edward.

I'm obsessed with Frank Zappa's work. He died in 1993, but his alumni are very, very active covering his music to this day. (His son Dweezil heads Zappa Plays Zappa, which isn't nearly as good as Project/Object, I think.)

Project/Object I saw in October 2016. One of the greatest nights of my entire life. (I also got to talk to Ike Willis for about 20 seconds, although the conversation sadly revolved round his lost luggage...)

His alumni are really second to none, and have to be some of the most talented musicians alive today. Zappa's body of work is what got me obsessively into music.

Quote: (02-11-2018 04:59 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  

Two of Captain Beefheart's guitarists are still playing: Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) and Gary Lucas. Both are extremely inventive and original. Here's Lucas with a solo guitar piece from the final Beefheart album in '82:

I always looked at Don Van Vliet as Frank Zappa's far more difficult protege. Man, though, when he was good, he was incredible. Shiny Beast is my personal favorite of his. (Can anyone really listen to Trout Mask Replica the whole way through? In one sitting?)

Someone mentioned Ennio Morricone a page back. I also like Mike Patton and his groups (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle) quite a bit - so here he is covering a Morricone tune.

Quote: (02-14-2018 10:52 PM)stugatz Wrote:  

I'm obsessed with Frank Zappa's work. He died in 1993, but his alumni are very, very active covering his music to this day. (His son Dweezil heads Zappa Plays Zappa, which isn't nearly as good as Project/Object, I think.)

Project/Object I saw in October 2016. One of the greatest nights of my entire life. (I also got to talk to Ike Willis for about 20 seconds, although the conversation sadly revolved round his lost luggage...)

His alumni are really second to none, and have to be some of the most talented musicians alive today. Zappa's body of work is what got me obsessively into music.

Quote: (02-11-2018 04:59 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  

Two of Captain Beefheart's guitarists are still playing: Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) and Gary Lucas. Both are extremely inventive and original. Here's Lucas with a solo guitar piece from the final Beefheart album in '82:

I always looked at Don Van Vliet as Frank Zappa's far more difficult protege. Man, though, when he was good, he was incredible. Shiny Beast is my personal favorite of his. (Can anyone really listen to Trout Mask Replica the whole way through? In one sitting?)

Yes, many times. Not only do I listen all the way through, but I pretty much have the whole thing memorized. It's not random noise -- it's actually well-planned out rock songs, but played with dissonance and with fractured melodies. When I first bought it, I relegated myself to one side at a time. The songs are short and punchy and have hooks -- although they're skewed and twisted. It's classic rock bands with long, improvised pieces I can't easily grasp, like King Crimson.

"Shiny Beast" is pretty great -- you get no argument from me there.

All that said, I want to change my pick to Stevie Wonder. No need to explain that, really.

Springsteen
Still rocking at nearly 70 with 3 to 4 hour non stop gigs...Dudes got to be be on TRT
...I don't give a fuck about his politics Rock'n Roll is Rock'n Roll.

As long as nobody mentions John ”Benetton heart, white supremacist dick” Mayer, I’m cool with McCartney being the greatest living musician.

Quote: (02-14-2018 10:01 PM)TheSergeant Wrote:  

Being a Van Halen fan from way back, I’m going to nominate Sir Edward.

EVH has the same problem as Jimmy Page, though: He ain’t doin’ shit.
Worse still, he’s more interested in selling amps and guitars than releasing new music or even the stuff rotting away in his vault.

from 3:00 onward

I'm putting this out there as sort of tongue-in-cheek, but I think Max Martin deserves an honorable mention.

Quote:Quote:

He rose to prominence in the second half of the 1990s after making a string of major hits for artists such as the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and NSYNC. Some of his earlier hits include "...Baby One More Time" (1998), "I Want It That Way" (1999) and "It's My Life" (2000).

Martin has written or co-written 22 Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits, most of which he has also produced or co-produced, including Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" (2008), Maroon 5's "One More Night" (2012), Taylor Swift's "Blank Space" (2014), and The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face" (2015). Martin is the songwriter with the third-most number one singles on the chart, behind only Paul McCartney (32) and John Lennon. In addition, he has had the second most Hot 100 number-one singles as a producer, behind George Martin, who had achieved 23 by the time of his death.

In early 2013, his single sales were tallied by The Hollywood Reporter to be at over 135 million.

Martin has won the ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award a record ten times.

I think these are pretty incredible achievements, despite the fact that most of the stuff he wrote is considered cheesy bubblegum-pop.

Quote: (02-14-2018 11:05 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  

Quote: (02-14-2018 10:52 PM)stugatz Wrote:  

I'm obsessed with Frank Zappa's work. He died in 1993, but his alumni are very, very active covering his music to this day. (His son Dweezil heads Zappa Plays Zappa, which isn't nearly as good as Project/Object, I think.)

Project/Object I saw in October 2016. One of the greatest nights of my entire life. (I also got to talk to Ike Willis for about 20 seconds, although the conversation sadly revolved round his lost luggage...)

His alumni are really second to none, and have to be some of the most talented musicians alive today. Zappa's body of work is what got me obsessively into music.

Quote: (02-11-2018 04:59 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  

Two of Captain Beefheart's guitarists are still playing: Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) and Gary Lucas. Both are extremely inventive and original. Here's Lucas with a solo guitar piece from the final Beefheart album in '82:

I always looked at Don Van Vliet as Frank Zappa's far more difficult protege. Man, though, when he was good, he was incredible. Shiny Beast is my personal favorite of his. (Can anyone really listen to Trout Mask Replica the whole way through? In one sitting?)

Yes, many times. Not only do I listen all the way through, but I pretty much have the whole thing memorized. It's not random noise -- it's actually well-planned out rock songs, but played with dissonance and with fractured melodies. When I first bought it, I relegated myself to one side at a time. The songs are short and punchy and have hooks -- although they're skewed and twisted. It's classic rock bands with long, improvised pieces I can't easily grasp, like King Crimson.

"Shiny Beast" is pretty great -- you get no argument from me there.

All that said, I want to change my pick to Stevie Wonder. No need to explain that, really.

I definitely have grown to appreciate TMR over time, but I still find it exhausting to listen to all in one go. There's just so much going on, and you can tell Van Vliet didn't just throw it all together.

Lick My Decals Off Baby is almost as good, but compared to Trout Mask it just comes across as a junior version. I always liked Safe as Milk very strongly, too. (Sadly, I haven't heard Ice Cream for Crow, Strictly Personal, or any of his in-between albums that tend to get forgotten about. I've heard good things about Clear Spot. I think his combo LP with Zappa, Bongo Fury, is overrated, and the two guys don't mix well together.)

Man, I need to re-listen to much of his discography...brings me back to high school, when I listened to him just so I could feel all superior to the other kids listening to Panic at the Disco.

Quote: (02-14-2018 08:23 PM)renotime Wrote:  

Foo Fighters are good, but they play it too safe. I thought their last album was pretty terrible. U2 is pretty much a boomer act at this point and might be the most overrated band in existence. You can barely hear their nstruments over Bono's pretentiousness. Green Day was never more than a pop punk band with catchy songs.

Prince, despite being a great and adventurous musician, was pretty much irrelevant at the time of his death outside of people going to see him as a live act. Over time I've begun to appreciate the skill (and luck) that comes from being able to maintain popular success. There's art and there's commerce and the trick is to balance both.

There is a problem of pretentiousness and inaccessibility to music that is considered "high art". (Revolution #9 anyone?) But the inverse is also true, mainstream music that gets a lot of airplay and has hooks is looked down-upon by music critics. Well-crafted pop songs (aka silly love songs) shouldn't be so denigrated.






BTW, a bit of red-pill wisom from Green Day.