Posted on 05/22/2017 11:28:23 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
Elton John told an audience at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday that the MTV generation had promoted many musicians who didn’t deserve the attention, but he also paid tribute to the positive role that music videos have played in the music business.
John, who was on-stage with his long-term song-writing partner Bernie Taupin, said: “We were before the MTV generation and I’m glad we were because we were real artists. The MTV generation brought along a lot of people who were great but a lot of people who just made videos. So a lot of the artistry went out of the music.”
The singer, who was answering questions from Spike Lee at the winners’ presentation for a new music-video competition, added: “Visuals — whether it is a painting, a drawing, a piece of film, a video — enhance music. You get to use your imagination; you get into it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at variety.com ...
I looked at some of the old videos on youtube, they were strange, the one that freaked me out the most was Michael Bolton. I mean a guy with long hair a tight suit jiggling his butt around is not what I want to look at when watching a music vid.
The others remind me a lot of those random flash cartoons Clock Crew and Star Syndicate on Newgrounds.
That was the first album that he did the lyrics himself, without Bernie Taupin.
It was then that I realized it was Taupin’s lyrics that I liked more than John’s melodies.................
It was like the early sixties, with all the Teen Idols, like Fabian, until, The Beatles came along.
Video killed the Radio Star.
The most hideous video ever was Billy Squier's "Rock Me Tonight". Pretty much ended his career because it was so gay.
I hate that song.
This may be what happened to Christopher Cross. I recall in 1980 when his song “Arthur’s Theme” came out with the Liza Minelli movie of the same name. Chris had one big hit right after another, Ride Like The Wind, Sailing, and others.
Then MTV became popular, and Chris didn’t look like the typical entertainer with his large, heavy frame. He looked closer to Meat Loaf, but Meat Loaf had a different stage persona, wild, raunchy and gutteral. Chris’s music alluded to opposite impressions. He didn’t make the leap into MTV appeal with all it’s TV rules and expectations.
Michael Jackson is still far more musically talented than any rap “artist” you could name, and rap hasn’t even come close to producing a talent like Stevie Wonder.
After that, I became a fan of the new piano player guy on the scene, Billy Joel...................
That's good. I'll have to remember that one.
no-talent . . . His fame was fired solely by the glamor of Evil.
I have to disagree. Elton John is a fine craftsman on the piano and was gifted with a good singing range. He was also lucky enough to hook up with Bernie Taupin. His fame was built upon a ton of well-produced pop songs bought by fans who had no idea at the time what a disgusting freak he was.
That’s actually a very good point.
Could you imagine that song charting today? I know it’s from a completely different era, but I couldn’t see him and the way he looked at age 25 recording a song like that, making a video, and raking in piles of cash the way he did during his Piano Man, Streetlife Serenade, Turnstiles, The Stranger, 52nd Street, and Glass Houses days. Never. He was cemented in pop culture by the time the video era began (The Nylon Curtain - River of Dreams).
(I’m bracing myself for an “I hate Billy Joel” quip :-) ).
Come on, guy. Where are you shopping? 😄
#1 Albums of 1976, available on Amazon:
Chicago IX: $7.99
Earth, Wind & Fire "Gratitude" $7.99
Bob Dylan "Desire" $6.99
Eagles Greatest Hits 71-75 $9.99
Peter Frampton "Frampton Comes Alive" $10.57
Wings "At the Speed of Sound" $14.33
Led Zeppelin "Presence" $10.99
Rolling Stones "Black and Blue" $10.99
George Benson "Breezin'" $4.99
Fleetwood Mac "Fleetwood Mac" $8.99
Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life" $11.88
I wasn’t particularly fond of “Piano Man” when it came out. But the first time I heard “Prelude/Angry Young Man”, I became a big fan.
To me, the biggest legacy of MTV is the attention-span-of-a-gnat so prevalent is literally everyone today.
Milli Vanilli for one...
BOOM! Kill shot!! I was going to say Dexies Midnight runners but I think Milli Vanilli tops them
The best modern (by modern I mean current to this decade) metal band I’ve heard is from France, of all places. Gojira. This song is entitled “Stranded.” They manage to somehow sound at least a little melodic, unlike most current metal that’s just yelling and guttural sounds over a beat with guitar riffs. Video’s a little creepy, though.
“This may be what happened to Christopher Cross.”
I was going to bring him up :-)! Unbelievable musical talent that wrote a few hits right at the dawn of the video era ... didn’t have “the look”.
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