<i>you're dead after 35, regardless of talent.</i> The Rolling Stones Paul McCartney Brian Wilson Madonna Michael Jackson Prince U2 REM Sting ... Need I go on?
What are you worried about - reviewers or fans? The fact is: all of those people/groups still have thousands of fans and are still selling records. They don't need to make "come-backs". They never left.
Look at CHER! She's been coming back since she was dead for years. Then there's ELVIS , it's like he never died at all!
The single biggest millenium party was held by Trey Anastasio - then 36. And hey, I'm no expert - but aren't Phish still pretty popular? I mean, they are the single biggest touring act in the world, eh?
Red Hot Chilli Peppers Radiohead AC/DC still huge Garth Brooks Springsteen Elton John Santana is massive Johnny Cash is still strong I seem to remember Sinatra being huge Paul Simon Bob Dylan George Harrison was big Lennon was probably the most listened to artist in the world when he died Metallica Clapton
Dead at 35? Not only is Brian Wilson going strong (as JamesR noted), but I'm telling you all ... and I will keep hammering this point until the day comes ... Smile will shame all of pop music. The people who have heard the bootlegs already know. Music press outside the US has covered Wilson's return more closely than the domestic contingent, and it's emerging now that just about everybody who wasn't a one-hit wonder has a closet affection for the Beach Boys because nobody can do what they did. Smile is the album that scared The Beatles. That's how incredible it is. I listen to the bootleg I have of it today and I think of it as a 1997 album (when the bootleg was being assembled) and not a 1967 album. It sounds too freaking good. Seriously ... I still hold Peter Gabriel as a pop maestro, but the man's got nothing on what Brian's bringing us next year. Pop music will live again; Smile will raise pop from the dead. It's not my fault that nobody in the US likes The Rheostatics. It's not my fault that nobody's buying Rufus Wainwright's album. If my local pop radio played Rufus Wainwright, Rheostatics, Aziz Ibrahim, Peter Gabriel, and other pop musics ignored by the payola schemes ... well, pop music would be worth listening to. How many people ever heard the Seattle band Goodness? Dearprudence: The problem with pop music as you're explaining it is called payola. There are a number of astoundingly good bands that just can't afford to hand out tens of thousands of dollars in promotional considerations to each radio station they want airplay on. The problem is the record companies and the consumers who depend on those companies to tell them what's good. I saw Key Arena in Seattle filled to greet Peter Gabriel. I saw Brian Wilson and Paul Simon fill The Gorge Amphitheatre. I also thank Tyler for noting Metallica as a pop band ... somebody had to say it. But remember also that pop music is popular because it give the impression that anybody can do it. Just like Dr. Charles Emerson Winchester (MASH) would hum classical music, most people hum the "pop" of their acculturation, be it country or folk or whatever. And if you listen closely, most people hum Brian Wilson's part of "Good Vibrations"--the difficult high part. Here ... just to make my point ... (1) AfroCelt Sound System - choose "Video", "Vol. 3 Further in Time", "When You're Falling" ... this is an MPG of the video for the ACSS song "When You're Falling", featuring Peter Gabriel. (2) Peter Gabriel & AfroCelt Sound System - "When You're Falling" MP3 format (7.1 mb) The video's cool. It's also a video edit, so you'll notice that the "FM fade-out" cuts off part of the song. But if you choose to download the mp3 (I'll pull it in a couple weeks), listen to the end of the song. For years, Peter Gabriel has been known to rely on African vocalists to add a certain dimension to his music. In "When You're Falling" he puts on a small vocal performance which is, in Peter's Universe, his interpretation of that dimension. (High, almost keening, non-lyrical but ultimately musical vocalizations.) Almost everybody I know who likes the song will hum that last part of Peter's. And what sucks about that is that it's really hard to hit pitches correctly. But everybody thinks they can. Not everybody I know thinks they can play Kim Thayil or Matt Cameron's parts. Not everybody I know thinks they can sing Chris Cornell's parts from Soundgarden. Yet a whole mess of people I know can be heard to hum or sing Eddie Vedder melodies from time to time because they think they can. And frankly, how hard is it to sing, "Mmm-Bop" and think that you're in key, or chant, "Oops, I did it again!" Why else do talentless young white boys in junior high school like the gangsta persona? Because anybody can say "Bee-otch!" Pop music is, unfortunately, about accessibility. And really, I was just looking for a way to point people toward decent pop music. Check out the video, download the song. Really ... I can get damn close to the pitches if I don't project much, so I can actually put my daughter to sleep humming very quietly in her ear. If I could sing the aria Kenny sang on South Park while Stan's grandpa banged the quintuplets' grandmother to death ... I would. But like all people in the Pop universe, I can get close enough to the Rheostatics or Peter Gabriel to con myself into believing it's not grating my daughter's young nerves. I'll stop now. I promise.
Actually, I agree with Tiassa on this one - Brian Wilson is very talented (for a pop artist). All music is the same - pop however as ART is less mature than classical, and certain fringe forms, and thus generally I avoid it. But when one listens, why not pick something with melodic literacy like the Beach Boys? One friend of mine argues the second half of the Beatles' career was basically them cloning what the Beach Boys were doing. Funny how I now detest later Beatles stuff, and only like the singalong vapid earlier work.
'In "When You're Falling" he puts on a small vocal performance which is, in Peter's Universe, his interpretation of that dimension. (High, almost keening, non-lyrical but ultimately musical vocalizations.)' In our guilt-ridden west, we tend to ascribe all sorts of things to Africa that are in fact very basic versions of universal ideas. Try some of Lisa Gerrard's solo stuff (or soundtracks). She likes to get beyond language and just make sounds. I think that must be quite difficult, actually... shaping pure sound to resemble meaning. And in that: to convey meaning. Gas the jews/christians and separate the races.
(Insert Title Here) Yes, whatever, but I've watched him perform beside the African vocalists he seems to wish to imitate. They're hilarious live because I still don't think they get the idea of 20,000 people there just for ... this. When you hear Smile ... well, you can tell where Sgt. Pepper came from. And people thought Pet Sounds was cool ... I'm telling you ... Smile will set a new standard .... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Dead at 35? Brian Wilson and Elton John, in the studio together. Brian's 2004 tour dates for Europe have been announced: Smile Tour 2004
Prehaps a mention of Tina Turner should go in here too. Jimi Hendrix? You mean the fellow that Rolling Stone acclaimed to be the best guitar player in the world this month?
Sexy .... Dearprudence The nagging aspect of age seems to be marketing. Everything pop is aimed at youth. And, frankly, despite my own reservations against value judgments based on aesthetics, it's fair to say that Elton and Brian as pictured above aren't particularly sexy .... Er ... I don't know. "How can we still be dancing"? Indeed. But I, for one, am glad they are.
The biggest problem with Pop nowadays, IMHO, is that there is mostly no real talent. They can't write their own music, play their own instruments, nothing really memorable about the music. Even the ones that do write their own music and play their instruments, are basically mediocre, though, I think there are some exceptions. Can you imagine a classic rap station, it would be called crap Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I use to work with some local bands that had great music, knew how to play, and had talent. But mostly the labels want big one hit wonders they can crank out cheaply. A good rock album is not cheap to make. The reason these older bands like Motley Crue, Poison, AC/DC, Page/Plant, the Stones, etc. are still playing is that they are not making a comeback, they have fans and quite often are making new ones. A lot these bands do not have deep lyrics, but the music is fun, they put on a great show, and some of the musicians are worth seen playing. I went to a Poison concert a couple of years ago, and there were kids there who were wearing diapers in Poison's heyday. BTW, I am a major Poison fan, and definitely do not forget RUSH!!! I just don't forsee people saying, hey let's go see P. Diddy kicking it 10-15 years from now. Don't even talk about the Britney, J. Lo later. Ehhh! I remember seeing something about the Lilith Fair tour and the musicians complaining about the sexist music industry. It has to do with the fans and the type of music. I really like Sarah McLaughlin, but it just does not have that same appeal as a KISS concert.
Bootlegs! Smile is only available in various unofficial bootlegs. I have two versions of the same bootleg production process that clock in at 65 and 105 mb respectively. Strangely, the smaller file is ten seconds longer (it's only like a 128, as compared to a 320 bitrate mp3). Neither file is cut into individual tracks, which has been fine with me since part of the point of Smile was to produce a coherent 45-minute album that wasn't cut into definitive singles. All available versions of Smile at present are speculative. Material from the album was cut down to Smiley Smile after Brian ceased production. I'm not about to clutter up my iDisk with that big a file, and I'm sure Apple wouldn't appreciate me serving it ... if it comes down to that, I'll do it. But I see you have an AIM handle; that file-transfer can fly. Well ... let me look into my iDisk. But what time zone are you in? I didn't look it up ...we can figure out a time to AIM it, or I'll drop it into my shared folder for a p2p transfer via Gnutella. RIAA dares not touch this one at this time, so all's cool.
Is Smile going to be released as an album or will it only show its head at that concert in London next year? I also wonder whether or not he is attempting to complete it, or just keep in fragments.
Should be the finished album I'm under the impression that Smile should be the finished album. When Brian returned to the concert scene a couple years ago, a note was posted on his website essentially asking fans to stop bugging him about Smile insofar as he officially promised to give it to us before he left the planet. Shortly thereafter I saw him perform at The Gorge Amphitheatre, and I'm told that we heard the first performances of some songs by Brian Wilson in 30 years, and in a couple of cases, the first time ever. (see Brian Wilson Tour 2001). I was looking in on the forum at Wilson's website, and there's not much talk about it; some theorizing, presumptuous waxing philosophical, and a general feeling that the SMiLE release has not been cancelled, shelved, or otherwise. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Smile! "A teenage symphony to God". I've been in this town so long that back in the city I've been taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long, long time. (Brian Wilson) - CabinEssence - "Smile" lyrics At three-score and five, I'm very much alive. I've still got the jive to survive with the heroes and villains. (Brian Wilson) (He's reached three-score and one as of June 20, 2003 ....) A 2002 tribute album was called Making God Smile. I don't think Brian has any way out of finishing the album ... there is much expectation, but this time it's different. Instead of a label yelling, "Where's the album?", the best pop musicians in the world are essentially looking to Brian and saying, "Whenever you're ready, man ... instruct us." Brian is the only thing that can stop Smile, by the look of it. And he's already done that once. And it nearly killed him.
