Dead Singers/Songwriters; Were they REALLY that great? -

[ASoulMan]

Basically, were people like Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, and -insert deceased singer here- as good as people nowadays make them out to be? As in both talent and personality wise?

 

[nad7155]

I found out about Judee Sill some time ago. She was pretty obscure though.

I like her stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judee_Sill

 

[Sigyn]

Woody Guthrie was. He believed in the American dream, and was so good at singing it, that America took his work and ate it and shit out propaganda material. I don't think you can get more influential than that, at least by U.S. Standards.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

I don't know if Frank Zappa fits your criteria, but he was a singer/songwriter/composer/satirist/multi instrumentalist who could fucking shred on the guitar.

He also had the greatest quote ever in regards to the "Does music make you worship satan and kill people?" debate: "I wrote a song about dental floss, but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?"

 

[KingGeedorah]

I don't know if Frank Zappa fits your criteria, but he was a singer/songwriter/composer/satirist/multi instrumentalist who could fucking shred on the guitar.

He also had the greatest quote ever in regards to the "Does music make you worship satan and kill people?" debate: "I wrote a song about dental floss, but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?"

Aww man Zappa is great man. " Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe."

He knew about the old school lolcows like Tipper Gore and the Evangelists of the 80s. A true and honest hero.

 

[Marvin]

Their published work is probably very good, but mostly because they didn't get a chance to publish much shit before they died.

 

[Amo Bishop Roden]

Mark Linkous and Elliott Smith kicked ass

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

Mark Linkous and Elliott Smith kicked ass

Heatmiser is a really underrated band

 

[Dalish]

warren zevon and jeff buckley were genuinely really good songwriters and had unique voices, which is half the battle. buckley's live at sin-e is a treat, would recommend it for fall afternoons.

i second zappa.

 

[DrChristianTroy]

Biggie- Fresh as fuck
Pac- Amazing
Eazy E- Had his moments but wasn't the best.
The dead Beatles- Wack
Pimp C- Dope (But I prefer Bun B)
Cobain- Eh. Think most music was wack but there are some bangerz.
MCA- Fresh
Jam Master Jay- Fresh
DJ Screw- Eh. Never got the chopped & screwed sound but I also never got into purp.
ODB- Fresh as fuck

 

[AnOminous]

Nick Drake. His 28 minute long masterpiece Pink Moon is one of the most soul-crushingly depressing things ever put to vinyl
Nico's solo work (after Chelsea Girls which Nico detested) is much under-appreciated
GG Allin is one of the most monumentally untalented humans ever to exist, his corpus of work is a giant maggot-infested load of shit, and it is great for that reason
Jim Morrison is vastly overrated
Jimi Hendrix entirely deserves his popularity
So does Miles Davis

Also Leonard Cohen is God, so he gets on the list despite still being alive

 

[MACH-IV]

One reason why musicians who die young are regarded so highly is because many didn't get the chance to gradually fade into obscurity. Kurt Cobain, for example, died at the height of his popularity. Nobody had to watch him struggle to stay relevant as an aging, probably pretentious solo artist, or outspoken political activist.

 

[AnOminous]

Of course, sometimes they're just overrated almost out of sentimentality at their early deaths. Amy Winehouse would be a good example. It seemed for a brief period she had a lot of potential, and then she squandered it turning into a freakshow, to a rather similar extent as her similarly self-destructive beau Pete Doherty. Then there are those like Sid Vicious who are basically known almost entirely for their attitude despite a near total lack of actual talent.

 

[Bogs]

Then again, there are plenty of people still out there who have made excellent albums but don't get the recognition. I cite Randy Newman and The Replacements as examples. The Velvet Underground didn't get recognized as a good band until far after they broke up.

 

[Teddy]

Amy Winehouse was horrible. Mediocre voice and her serious and mental problems was too much for me. Can't believe that people genuinely worshiped her. Shows how sick some musicians were/are.

To answer the topic, there are deceased musicians who were overrated. Many of the hippie musicians, Michael Jackson and thug rappers comes to mind. However I could name many who were amazing. To name a few:

Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald
Nat King Cole
Dean Martin
Johnny Cash
Mamas and the Papas
Kinks

 

[NobodyInParticular]

Amy Winehouse was horrible. Mediocre voice and her serious and mental problems was too much for me. Can't believe that people genuinely worshiped her. Shows how sick some musicians were/are.

I enjoy Amy Winehouse. I own very few R&B albums, but I really enjoyed Back to Black because there was a transparent vulnerability and insight that she was in dark places but decided to make bad decisions anyway. She was the musical self-aware tragic protagonist.

 

[ZehnBoat]

Jim Morrison is vastly overrated

Jim was good WITH the doors
i doubt he would have been so good WITHOUT the doors.
without the music, he just comes off as a swooner (if i'm using the right word)
with the music, he blends in.
but then again, the music does well without him.
the only reason the doors couldn't be without jim was the jim was the face, and that's bullshit imo.

also mozart is terribly overrated.

 

[*Asterisk*]

Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan were both exactly as great as everyone always said they were. Hell, Hendrix especially was probably better. I've actually been studying and playing their guitar parts* and it's incredible what they come up with. I don't think they'd've ever stopped making great music had they lived unless they committed deliberate career sabotage like Rod Stewart.

* Still nowhere close to full tempo yet, but I'll get there one day.

 

[Bogs]

Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald
Dean Martin
Johnny Cash
Kinks

All of those had long and varied careers whose legacies where already cemented before they died.

 

[Megahertz]

I generally don't really care about any pop music released pre-80s so worrying about overhype doesn't approach being a problem. However, the baby boomer's (and tryhard millennial's) endless Beatles wanking is very, very annoying.

Classical music is wonderful though, but Bach and Mozart are pretty boring. Its all about dat Chopin and Rachmaninov.