Coltrane and Cannonball are great, but are we really ignoring Charlie Parker? As someone who likes trad jazz it seems absurd to overlook Armstrong or my hipster fave, Bix Beiderbecke.
First of all, it was women, not blacks that he described as not being "articulate enough on this intellectual level." Blacks, he said, were not in his 'zeitgeist.' Pretty weird for him to think that. Pretty stupid to say it. But I guess he gets credit for honesty. Beyond that, it's not a list of who he or Rolling Stone consider the best or most important people in the last 70 years or more of music. It's seven people that he likes and that he's interviewed. The Springsteen interview was new for the book, the rest were taken from interviews he did over the years. Obviously he's staying in rock, which is what interests him the most. And with the people who interest him the most. After all, it's his book. And he certainly seems to be focusing on not just musicians or singers, but those who wrong their own songs and fully created their own music, their own catalog. Here's the full interview, if you have access to the NYT. It's really well done and certainly doesn't hold back from challenging him. BTW, Wenner acknowledges that he let the subjects edit their own interviews before he published them, which I don't think is generally accepted in credible journalism. Jann Wenner Defends His Legacy, and His Generation’s
Huge meh on Clapton. He didn’t write a lot of “his” most famous songs (Cocaine, After Midnight, I Shot the Sheriff, crossroads, before you accuse me, Little Wing, Badge; hell even a lot of the Layla album was co-written). He’s just not original enough to make any sort of list like this for me. Plus he’s a massive shit head and raging bigot/racist. When Eric Clapton's Bigoted 1976 Rant Sparked Rock Against Racism
Yeah, he’s far from a good person. I never found his guitar playing to be all that inspirational. Easy for me to move on from his songs without a thought.
agree on Clapton. Very clean and on another level than most that way. But never particularly interesting, antiseptic even. I saw him in Jacksonville with Derek Trucks in the band. Clapton was not the best guitar player on the stage, IMO.
OT but I think that's the same article where I read that Marvin Gaye, according to some publication, had the best record album of all time. Wow. I remember Marvin Gaye but don't even remember any of his songs specifically. The best album ever? That's how much I know about popular music.
IMHO, Clapton's guitar playing doesn't rise to the level of folks like Hendrix, SRV etc. b/c he is not as rhythmically good as them. Hendrix & esp SRV are frequently choking all 6 strings & playing 4 or 5 muted while they pick out single notes. It's a very muscular effect & it accentuates their rhythm playing. Good funk guys are good at this too. I can't do it. Here's a good example.
I remember Santo and Johnny. Their records were just steel guitar. One of mankind's greatest inventions, though for some reason its use seemed largely confined to country music.
Amen! My list of 7 would include Ralph Mooney - he really brought steel into country music. He made 1 as a kid outta coat hangers, etc. Fender studied his home made 1 for design ideas. Love that ins.
Three years ago, Rolling Stone came out with its 500 best albums of all time, in order. Gaye's What's Going On was No. 1. It's never been something I'd listen to much, but it's generally gotten a ton of respect from critics. Anyone could obviously take exception to a whole bunch of things in any list like that.
In the 50s you could just make an instrumental track and make the equivalent of $10 million dollars today on a hit. One of the best needle drops in the movie The Irishman is Sleep Walk IMO.
Sleep Walk! I played that a thousand times. I wrote a song ("Jabal, Jubal, and Tubalcain") about three great inventors in Genesis. Jubal wrote a fine melody Said “I’m gonna be a star” But he had nothing to play it on So he built the first guitar
It’s a great album. A different sound, and I believe it was the first that a Motown artist made themselves. Gaye had to fight a huge battle with Motown to even let him release it. I would also say it’s a “message” album, perhaps also among the first of those. I think a black man breaking a mold to make a message album really aligns with the current moment, perhaps explaining its rise to the pinnacle. I love the album, and I’m not trying to say it doesn’t deserve its spot. The album has been in Rolling Stone’s top 10 forever, I think, so it’s probably as good as any for #1, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it back at #5 or something in 20-30 years.
