Hot Take/ Musical Confession Thread!

Ericj32 said:
And another thing, I feel like many of the artists that I find annoyingly bland more recently cite 70s music as their inspiration.

www.varsity.co.uk

James Blunt: ‘I am essentially a man known for one song’

Sam Brown sits down with national treasure, James Blunt, to discuss Elton John, Twitter zingers, and hungover Lebanese gigs after his visit to the Union
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“While Blunt did not have a clear idea about what music he was going to produce when young, he slowly gravitated towards the sound of the 70s as he matured. “From Elton John, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Cat Stevens, and bands like Fleetwood Mac – that was an amazing era of creativity, and a big source of inspiration for me.”
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I mean James Blunt is just terrible. He could could cite the most excitingly odd avant-garde music as an influence and he’s still be releasing musical beige.
 
Ericj32 said:
I mean, they’re no Beach Boys, Aretha Franklin, or Four Tops. And most of my favorite Stevie Wonder and Stones songs are from the 60s.
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My favourite stones stuff sorta straddles the two decades so I can appreciate that. But with Stevie in the 60s it’s a developing kid releasing average albums with the odd killer single over Stevie in the 70s having one of the strongest imperial phases in music history? That run of albums from music of my mind to hotter than July is mind blowing!
 
Joe Mac said:
My favourite stones stuff sorta straddles the two decades so I can appreciate that. But with Stevie in the 60s it’s a developing kid releasing average albums with the odd killer single over Stevie in the 70s having one of the strongest imperial phases in music history? That run of albums from music of my mind to hotter than July is mind blowing!
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We all know why the Stones have much more rhythmic interest is because their reliance on African-American music as their foundation. This can be said for Bowie as well as all the other African-American artists being mentioned.
 
Joe Mac said:
My favourite stones stuff sorta straddles the two decades so I can appreciate that. But with Stevie in the 60s it’s a developing kid releasing average albums with the odd killer single over Stevie in the 70s having one of the strongest imperial phases in music history? That run of albums from music of my mind to hotter than July is mind blowing!
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I mean, that “developing kid” put out 11 albums in the 60s. He was great in the 70s, too but he had definitely already arrived.
 
Dtknuckles said:
We all know why the Stones have much more rhythmic interest is because their reliance on African-American music as their foundation. This can be said for Bowie as well as all the other African-American artists being mentioned.
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That’s true. Also that their drummer and rhythm guitarist are their most interesting musicians. But also I think you’re responding to loads of replies to Eric’s hot take as replies to your own?
 
Ericj32 said:
I mean, that “developing kid” put out 11 albums in the 60s. He was great in the 70s, too but he had definitely already arrived.
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From the age of 12 to like 18 and a lot of them were very typical Motown label driven fare of killer singles being used to sell albums that had a fair chunk of filler.

As an adult artist with the space to develop and execute entirely his own artistic vision on record you’re really talking 1971/72 onwards.

It’s very similar with Marvin Gaye who, although older, wasn’t able to fully break free and execute his own vision and elevate himself to great until What’s Going On? in 1972.
 
Joe Mac said:
From the age of 12 to like 18 and a lot of them were very typical Motown label driven fare of killer singles being used to sell albums that had a fair chunk of filler.

As an adult artist with the space to develop and execute entirely his own artistic vision on record you’re really talking 1971/72 onwards.

It’s very similar with Marvin Gaye who, although older, wasn’t able to fully break free and execute his own vision and elevate himself to great until What’s Going On? in 1972.
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Oh no, not “typical Motown”! “Killer singles” are so awful - glad they put a stop to that golden era. Lol

I think you put your finger on one of the issue - a lot of artists were given greater artistic control in the 70s - I just don’t agree that that resulted in more interesting or exciting music.
 
Ericj32 said:
Oh no, not “typical Motown”! “Killer singles” are so awful - glad they put a stop to that golden era. Lol

I think you put your finger on one of the issue - a lot of artists were given greater artistic control in the 70s - I just don’t agree that that resulted in more interesting or exciting music.
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Well yeah that’s a massively disingenuous and selective reading of what I said but killer singles in soso albums is pretty crap. Unless you’re just collecting 7” and greatest hits collections? It’s not like his better albums weren’t loaded with killer hits either. I’d argue more so. Same for Marvin Gaye. The single didn’t die until the mid to late 90s!
 
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Joe Mac said:
Yeah for me vocals don’t have to be perfect and pure to draw me in. They need to conjure an emotion, convey attitude or tell a story. For me Dylan uses the key of his songs quite cleverly and also I’m there for the stories and emotions.
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You don’t use an angelic voice to tell the story about the devil.
 
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