Posted on 08/28/2006 10:40:29 AM PDT by qam1
When Syd Barrett died earlier this summer, you would've thought I was a personal friend or relative. My wife called. Co-workers asked if it was going to inspire a column. Old friends sent e-mails. If you don't know - which is no crime, trust me - Barrett was a founder of the classic rock band Pink Floyd in the mid-1960s.
He only stuck around for one full album before a drug addiction made him an impossible creative partner for a group that went on to do tremendous things in his stead. Some of Pink Floyd's best work - songs like Wish You Were Here and Shine On You Crazy Diamond - were inspired by Barrett's purported deep psychosis spurred by excessive LSD use. All you have to do is hear the song See Emily Play to know Barrett had potential, but he sold himself - and many others - short.
They say he somehow influenced other rockers with musical gibberish released on a pair of hurried solo albums, but that's a major reach born out of the mystique of his unfulfilled potential. It's kind of like when a bunch of ersatz art experts go to see some modern art that stinks and everyone says it's great because they either feel compelled or don't want to break ranks and risk sounding dumb.
While I was flattered to have been the immediate classic-rock go-to guy when Barrett's tortured existence came to an end this July, I could barely manage a shoulder shrug. I try to pride myself on not being easily cast under unworthy spells. I see the undeserved mystique we attach to people who have not upheld their ends of the unspoken contract they sign with those who help put them in the driver's seat of life's Rolls Royce and, well, it makes me want to vomit.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the collective works of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Tim Hardin, Phil Ochs and countless others. But each loses points on my scorecard for depriving us of their magical skills for the long haul.
Another example for the generation more or less after mine would be Kurt Cobain, the front man for the grunge band Nirvana. Once upon a time, I had a good ear for emerging talent. The first time I heard U2, I knew they were special. Ditto for REM. I have obviously since lost my touch, as I can't understand why this Pete Yorn kid isn't a deity and why hip-hop is considered music, but I digress.
The first time I heard Nirvana, I heard great potential. Nothing more, nothing less. Greatness was years away. And that potential for greatness went through the 27-year-old Cobain's brain in the form of a self-inflicted gunshot in 1994. Calling Cobain a tortured artist is giving him too much credit. He was just a heroin addict who took his life, leaving behind a growing following starved for a lead voice that was not borrowed from the record collection of their older siblings or even their parents.
The reaction to Cobain's deadly action was for music critics and assorted others to attach a ridiculous mystique to his memory. He has been called the John Lennon of Generation X. If true, I truly pity that generation. Actually, I pity the dimwit who tagged him as such. Because it's not true.
He was, at best, the Syd Barrett of his generation. Some of you older folks - assuming you made it this far into a column strewn with names you don't know - are not immune.
The wife and I recently dialed up the movie about Johnny Cash, Walk The Line, on Pay-Per-View. It was a little too long, but a good flick. I give it three Stars of David out of a possible four. It included outstanding performances - particularly by the darling Reese Witherspoon, who deservedly won the Oscar for her portrayal of June Carter Cash.
But it only confirmed my belief that the myth and legend that swirls around Johnny Cash are largely unwarranted. Many ardent admirers of Cash may not realize that he didn't even write a lot of his most noteworthy songs and, considering how drugged up he was most of the time, it's no wonder.
But since he dressed in all-black outfits and played concerts at prisons - thus, adding to the overall mystique the falsehood that he was some hardened ex-con - there is a disproportionate aura. I'm not saying Johnny Cash was a bad guy. His heart was in the right place, but give me a break. A lot of younger people have oddly fallen under his spell, too.
There was a former editor here - an exceedingly bright young lady - who would go on and on about how Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young are old and tired and should never write or sing another word.
I may be blinded by the light when it comes to Springsteen, but he steered clear of drugs for the stated reason he didn't want to risk losing everything he had worked so hard to achieve. Guys who were in some of his early bands have recounted how they would be in one room partying while he'd be in another writing songs.
Young's song The Needle and the Damage Done is one of the best anti-drug anthems ever written and was inspired by the drug-induced deaths of a band member and a roadie. Young, whose lyrics were quoted in Cobain's suicide note, also eulogized Cobain in the song Sleeps With Angels. But Springsteen and Young should hang up their guitars and go home to their rocking chairs?
"OK, what about Johnny Cash?" I asked.
No hesitation.
"Oh yeah, he's cool," she said.
True story.
I'm not saying we should start a bonfire with works of art from those who compromised their abilities through fatal addictions. But understand that they broke a bond with society because they could have and should have given us more.
Elvis Preley DID NOT write any of his hits. I don't think he even wrote his own album cuts.
As far as I'm concerned Nirvana was the least of the Big 4 of Grunge and largely a product of MTV. Chris Cornell wrote much better songs and Kurt Cobain shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence in the singing dept.
He died at age 29
In the back seat of his caddy with a needle in his arm.
I agree that Joel did a few good songs, but it ain't RNR. Perhaps they should have named it "Pop Music Hall of Fame."
Thanks for the additional information regarding Clapton. There was nothing wrong with your writing in the earlier post; it just seemed that nobody could be that much of a scumbag.
Along the same lines, I just finished a book by Geoff Emerick, who was the recording engineer for most of the Beatles albums. He said Ringo was a real jerk and was the Beatle he liked the least. He said when the camera was on Ringo was the happy-go-lucky, bumbling Ringo we all remember, but once the camera was off he reverted to his jerk status. It sounds like Clapton may be the same way. I do know that Clapton has spent millions of his own money to create a drug and alcohol treatment center in the Carribean, though, so that has to count for something.
Brucie can't hold Cash's jockstrap. So Springsteen wrote a lot of crappy songs. Big deal. Thirty years from now, Cash will remain an iconic legend, and Brucie will be in the bargain bin with Bananarama.
I guess Sinatra doesn't make the grade, either.
I would bet that Cash wrote more of his songs than Presley did.
> That said, Springsteen isn't worthy to be mentioned in the same paragraph with Cash.
Disagree. Springsteen "The Boss" speaks right to the gut-wrenching heart of all of us who grew up Blue Collar and are unashamedly so.
His private, lunatic-Lefty side of his life is a separate matter, which I ignore. Otherwise I'd have to destroy all his CDs in my collection, and I'd rather not do that!
Johnny Cash, the same. He will always be the Man in Black: aspects of his private life are best kept separate, to one side and ignored.
Never confuse the Legend with the Man. You will be surely disappointed if you do.
> No, not the Knack, it was MTV that destroyed disco.
The Knack were great, for one song. Problem is, "Baby Talks Dirty" sounded too much like "My Sharona" and so they failed.
The Knack never destroyed Disco. Neither did the Cars or the Steve Miller Band or the Alan Parsons Project or Asia or Styx or Yes or even Def Leppard. Or the Sex Pistols or Devo or the Clash.
Disco was never destroyed. Just temporarily crippled.
Now, go get some Buddy Holly!
> Thirty years from now, Cash will remain an iconic legend, and Brucie will be in the bargain bin with Bananarama.
Ummmmm... no. I was listening to Springsteen in the late 70's / early 80's and he was a legend. His best album "Born in the USA" had yet to be released.
I was listening to Johnny Cash in the late 60's / early 70's. Very much a legend.
Don't take from Springsteen what is due to him: he's a fine musician who has written some very good Blue Collar music. He has earned his nickname "The Boss" the same way Presley earned "The King" and Jerry Lee Lewis earned "The Killer" and JP Richardson earned "The Big Bopper". By doing the hard yards for many years in concert, in front of the crowds.
He's not a one-hit-wonder like Bananarama, and that you could even compare him with them tells me you might not be old enough to shave. I mean no offense by this, but clearly you need to listen to more of The Boss to have a balanced viewpoint.
(Funny how modern artists don't seem to earn labels like this: Madonna "The Material Girl" being a possible exception, tho' that label is 20 years old at least...)
I've probably seriously dated myself with this post...
*DieHard*
I let my personal preferences get in the way of my judgement.
I have been watching Springsteen since the mid 70s when he was hailed as the "new Dylan." A more insufferable bore cannot be imagined.
His trite songs and over arching, straining to show everybody how hard he's working performances may appeal to some, but he does nothing for me and he never has.
He's like Madonna--an utter mystery why anyone could listen to such inane drivel.
You like him? Fine. I cannot stomach him.
And I'm 46, by the way. Been shaving a looooooooong time. :)
I disagree.
Disco was destroyed by New Wave.
New Wave wiped the stench of Disco from the airwaves in 1979-1980. By late 1980, Disco was a relic.
> And I'm 46, by the way. Been shaving a looooooooong time. :)
Touche!
> Disco was destroyed by New Wave.
Nope. Not even the combined forces of Duran Duran and ABC and Blondie could kill this beast. I know this for a fact: there's a secretary in our offices who merrily listens to Disco on her i-Pod: young enough to be my daughter. Donna Summer, Bee-Gees, Village People, Leo Sayer -- the whole nine yards, mate.
Disco ain't dead.
Long Live Rock, be it dead or alive!
Wow, these music threads are just the best. I think we can all agree that everyone has their own tastes, and that's that. But to say Springsteen only had 2 or 3 good songs is crazy. Now I love Cash also, but people on FR hate Springsteen because he's a Liberal. I for one don't really care about a singer's politics. Does the music sound good? That's it for me.
As far as Bruce goes, his old stuff is the best, and there was plenty of it:
The River, Nebraska, Born to Run, The Wild The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle....All great albums, Jungleland, Incident on 57th Street, Backstreets, New York City Serenade, Independence Day, Rosalita, Wild Bill's Circus Story...the list is almost endless. But we can agree to disagree.
I have perhaps the most eclectic music taste of anyone I know. One thing that doesn't enter in to my choices is politics.
Currently on my Ipod: U2, Tupac, Springsteen, Neil Diamond, Cash, John Denver, Andrea Boccelli, 10,000 Maniacs, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, NWA, Annie Lennox, JayZ, Pearl Jam, Bill Withers, Elton John, Dwight Yokam, Elvis, BB King, Al Green, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Bach, Brahms, Chopin (every other composer of note), ACDC, Cake, The Who, The Killers, The Clash...That's just a tiny portion
My external hard drive currently holds 70,000 songs.
I bet most of the above artist are flamin' Liberals. Who cares. The music is great.
Just my $.02
Having seen Springsteen live at least 15 times (first in 1978 Darkness Tour), and having been to 100+ other concerts, I have never seen anyone that had the energy and the magic of Springsteen in a live setting. And his pre-1985 stamina and show length was and is legendary.
But, his liberal spouting off has somewhat spoiled my ability to enjoy his music-- that might seem nuts but I feel that way. I still listen to his albums occasionally because I know I won't get preached to, but I will NEVER give him my money again to attend a concert.
I was on the front row, against the stage for two shows during The Rising tour and the others around me were all hoping the same thing I was hoping, that Bruce wouldn't make some asinine anti-American comment that we'd have to Boo him for. To his credit, he didn't, and the 9-11 events gave him a brief moment of clarity, which has since been reclaimed by his liberal worldview.
Why do these people get claimed by the liberal disease?
I think it is because they are used to snapping their fingers and things happen on command. They think the world works that way. They also think it makes them sound better to have grandiose plans and ideas that they will never be required to produce. And they probably feel some level of guilt about how much money they are able to produce and see the inherent randomness that creates many stars, leaving others with equal talent to "starve" (relatively speaking).
> I often listen to Benny Goodman and Big Band swing music of the 40s. Also lately am indulging in long-beloved Bob Wills Texas cowboy stuff, Asleep at the Wheel and whatnot. That stuff infuses the spirit with goodness. I listen to Big Band and especially some hard-core boogie-woogie, and think to myself, "No wonder the U.S. won World War II."
Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Gene Krupa. Righteous!
It doesn't mean a thing if it ain't got Swing!
Particularly like the long, long, long, l-o-n-g version of "Sing Sing Sing" with Gene Krupa on drums (naturally), recorded live. Can't remember where it was recorded, but the drum solo goes on for at least 20 minutes or more nonstop while the band gyrates in behind as a rhythmic afterthought.
Everytime you think the tune's gonna finish, Krupa gives it CPR and revives its pulse. Drumming at its finest: there has never been an equal to Gene Krupa.
Krupa must have been *thoroughly shagged* after that performance: yet he never ran out of gas until the tune was complete. And the crowd went wild!
I'd almost give my left nut for a copy of that performance. Can't find it anywhere. There are many shorter versions, tho'.
*DieHard*
Those Yankovich lyrics are priceless!
Jaco Pastorius ping. I thought I was the only person on earth who had heard him. btw, your description of his abilities was spot on.
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