Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2012 10:43:16 GMT -8
I love you, HG but I think you’re getting caught up in the gears. Or as my mother would say, “You are stuck in the mustard and you can’t ketchup!” (Seriously.) A classic artist like The Stones relevancy is not dependent on the amount or even the quality of their most recent albums. All of the greatest, most recognizable artists of that time (commercially successful in the 1960s) are “passed their prime” but something that those artists generally had are: talent, dynamic stage performance and the ability to make you feel like you are a part of something bigger than yourself. I can’t think have many artists that have been pinpointed in modern music for have those same qualities. To see a musician of that time doing what they are known for in the way that made them famous is special.
FD and I got to see Stevie Wonder in August and it was incredible. There is no doubt about the fact that Stevie Wonder is past his prime. He’s not the thin, fresh faced savant that he was when he started. He wasn’t razor sharp on all of his cues. But he played what he wanted to play and it was amazing because it was a great artist being authentic to himself. He hasn’t put out an album since 2005, before that it was 1997 and neither of those could be considered classics (The Stones discography looks similar, by the way), but the point for me was that we were seeing a modern master at work. And surprising – he STILL has all of the dynamics and excitement that most anyone from that generation of artists likely will – just in an older body.
The songs he wrote mean something to each of us that were there together. And isn’t that really what it is about anyway? It’s not about an artist like that continually being prolific into old age but the fact that the songs they have already written have inspired people, or were your parents “first dance song” and are classics and have a deeper meaning? Tell me that hearing those songs right out of the original person’s mouth doesn’t make the experience more profound. For me, seeing any artist that has been a favorite for family generations (and these kinds of artists often are) is special and significant.
Trust me, I have a whole host of problems with the Rolling Stones and my all time favorite song by them is a cover of “Down Home Girl” by The Coasters, but that doesn’t make me any less excited to be transported into another time where rock n’ roll theatrics were small but effective. That doesn’t make me any less excited to sing along with Stamper and scream with Womp. Or to see Mick Jagger do his signature Mick Jagger moves and get sentimental to “Midnight Mile” live with FD after having heard it pump out of his car speakers over and over. I think an artist is only “past their prime” if the music loses complete meaning and I don’t think that’s the case for most people regarding most songs of The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, or The Stones.
This is just lazy and uninformed. You're better than that.
And lastly, I’m going to have to agree. I know I have been in over-the-top support of Coachella and the Coachella experience for the better portion of a year but you won’t get it until you go and since you haven’t gone, it comes off “lazy, uninformed” and also a little like petty jealousy. And you are better than that.
FD and I got to see Stevie Wonder in August and it was incredible. There is no doubt about the fact that Stevie Wonder is past his prime. He’s not the thin, fresh faced savant that he was when he started. He wasn’t razor sharp on all of his cues. But he played what he wanted to play and it was amazing because it was a great artist being authentic to himself. He hasn’t put out an album since 2005, before that it was 1997 and neither of those could be considered classics (The Stones discography looks similar, by the way), but the point for me was that we were seeing a modern master at work. And surprising – he STILL has all of the dynamics and excitement that most anyone from that generation of artists likely will – just in an older body.
The songs he wrote mean something to each of us that were there together. And isn’t that really what it is about anyway? It’s not about an artist like that continually being prolific into old age but the fact that the songs they have already written have inspired people, or were your parents “first dance song” and are classics and have a deeper meaning? Tell me that hearing those songs right out of the original person’s mouth doesn’t make the experience more profound. For me, seeing any artist that has been a favorite for family generations (and these kinds of artists often are) is special and significant.
Trust me, I have a whole host of problems with the Rolling Stones and my all time favorite song by them is a cover of “Down Home Girl” by The Coasters, but that doesn’t make me any less excited to be transported into another time where rock n’ roll theatrics were small but effective. That doesn’t make me any less excited to sing along with Stamper and scream with Womp. Or to see Mick Jagger do his signature Mick Jagger moves and get sentimental to “Midnight Mile” live with FD after having heard it pump out of his car speakers over and over. I think an artist is only “past their prime” if the music loses complete meaning and I don’t think that’s the case for most people regarding most songs of The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, or The Stones.
Which I guess makes them a perfect fit for Coachella, the world's premiere fashion show/beer garden/food court/open air drug market/status symbol that also happens to feature musical performances.
This is just lazy and uninformed. You're better than that.
And lastly, I’m going to have to agree. I know I have been in over-the-top support of Coachella and the Coachella experience for the better portion of a year but you won’t get it until you go and since you haven’t gone, it comes off “lazy, uninformed” and also a little like petty jealousy. And you are better than that.