Fumbler's Café

One of the Pink Floyd's said a few years ago about "Bike," that if you ever wanted to hear the sound of someone going completely mad, then that was it. I loved it. Give me the tortured artist any day, to the bland over hyped Bruce Springsteen type superstar. Peter Green's "Green Manalishi," for me, equals anything punk could produce at its best. For sheer edge it can rip out your throat with the best of them. It also contains one of my favourite lines of all time "The night is so black that the darkness cooks." It was about the last thing of serious innovative note he ever did - but what a corker. LSD and manic depression just don't mix very well.

Napoleon X1V's "They're Coming To Take Me Away," was quite prophetic; they did. I found it irresistably funny when I first heard it and I still like it. Insanity, deep depression, misery, self destruction, and yes, even happiness and fun, as long as it's honest are what makes me want to listen. The male members of Abba said they lived the dream when they got to dress up in all those shiney sequined clothes. That's what they had always wanted to do. Good for them. I loved em.

Give me passion, even if it's hate, fear, and loathing. I hate dishonesty, humbug, and hype. I love tortured and/or passionate artists. I suppose Sarah McLachlan fits neatly into that category. Quite a few of the new singer songwriters do. It's trying to discern the honest from the genuinely well crafted but vacuous. Even if something is dishonest, but sounds good there's nothing wrong with that. If someone just writes a great song for money, I am not saying that is wrong. All I am saying is that personally I far prefer those passionate artists creating on the edge, from sheer love of the art. It's rare, but it is still out there.

Poor Sandy Denny sounded as though she lived a miserable life but her music was so beautiful. Hendrix lived in fear of being killed if he should ever break free from the people who controlled him. He never did until he was dead. Janis Joplin burned bright and died as did others in the 60's. You don't have to be miserable or mad to be a great artist, but does it help? Are the new wave of solo songwriters tuning into the passion but keeping self destruction under control. Or are they so self interested and egocentric, they could never write anything truly passionate?

If anyone is interested, what would be your list of the honest and dishonest? Who is a fake and who is for real? The ones that mainly do it for the love of the art, and the ones that do it mainly for the love of the money. As Elvis once sang, "It's a one for the money, a two for the money, a three for the money...

TheSquirrel wrote:You don't have to be miserable or mad to be a great artist, but does it help?

I think it does help imho. Artists with perfect lives generally make some rather dull and uninteresting music. Of course, I'm not saying that the end product is always mediocre. I do enjoy listening to ABBA and Mamas and The Papas and it's a lot of fun. Both groups are made up of geniuses. But most of the time, it's the "tormented artist on the brink of madness" who usually creates compelling stuff, the kind which makes you stop whatever you're doing at the moment and focus on the music. Some may argue that music is supposed to be fun but to me, music is simply one way of expressing a wide spectrum of emotions and listening to depressing tunes is part and parcel of its enjoyment. Frankly, I'd rather watch a Jack Black film during my "upbeat" moments than listen to a lot of fun club music on the radio.

Now to my "honest" list... well, you mentioned some of them: Joplin, Hendrix, Denny, McLachlan, Floyd. John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) is another though I'd be lying if I say I like him both as an artist and as a person, but it's the music and passion that matters right? Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, & Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) pushed the boundaries of music and constantly defied expectations. Coldplay, Muse, and Snow Patrol are among the few bands of note who came out in the after-90s and I think they're really good, though they sometimes make me . Sorry I'm not really into bands anymore and I'm simply of one of those insufferable bas****s who believes that rock music died with Kurt Cobain lol!

Regarding my "dishonest' list, just turn the radio on and and bingo! they're everywhere: especially those who rely heavily on Auto-Tune. Topping my hate list at the moment is Ke$ha.