Crg


I guess we could all be classified as wanna be blues players at some riff or another. When you factor in slow hand, alternate tuning, open tuning and the wolf, you can help but hit a blues vibe somewhere. If you're totally into the blues and that's where your brain is trained, no doubt you'll interpret an altered unison as a double stop. Which leads to the concept of listening as a common person or an engineer. The more you know, the more you form an interpretation based on what's in your mind at the time. That's why sets are so important for performers. You have to have a construct in mind to regulate the style, especially if you use many styles.
Since I've been learning more about sound and recording, I can't aviod analysing a song to death without a conscious effort not to or too many beers. I now hear things in songs I've heard hundreds of times that I never heard before. 

Bub

Danny Danzi

Rain

Why cheesy stuff can irk me...

Because it further propagates the notion that all that matters is to achieve public notoriety - at all cost. Preferably with no effort. And the cost associated with that is global lameness. Can you imagine how low a kid growing up watching Jersey Shores and listening to Rebecca Black will be ready to go to reach our social goals?

There are 2 types of artists. The one's that create art for the love only, and those that create art for love and the hope of financial security. If you're in it in hopes of financial security, public notoriety, at all cost, is going to move you up the ladder. You can't be mad at someone that finds a way to be successful at this if you are the guy that creates for the love of art that doesn't wish to go any further with it, ya know?

Did you guys see Rebbecca Black perform live on America's Got Talent a couple weeks ago? It was really rough. She really can't sing. She's not really anything without a lot of production behind her in the studio. The only reason her video was as popular as it was is, she's a pretty young woman and it connected with her age group. Could you hear Cher, or Cindy Lauper, or even Christina Aguilera singing that Friday song? I think Rebbecca Black was in the right place at the right time with the right people behind her, but I don't see her going anywhere. If I'm wrong, good for her.

Hockeyjx and I come from the same scene. We can sit here and tell you about numerous bands that sucked so bad, you could literally laugh at their sound. However, some of them lived the part and put on such a great show, you sort of allowed yourself to accept their musical flaws because they really were delivering the goods in other areas. Those areas were easy to spot and you quickly realized why some of them had such a great following that would take a bullet for them.

See, I'm gonna get hit for this again (HEHE), but I feel this way about some big name groups, one that came up in discussion a few days ago. I can listen to a song and if it sounds great, great, but I really don't 'respect' a group until I hear them live. Chuck Berry ... the man rarely played a note in tune live ... Jimmy Page ... sorry, but the live video's I've seen of LZ did not impress me. Their studio work speaks for itself, but judging by their live performances, I think they were overrated as musicians. Same with Rebbecca Black.

Here's how I see Miss Black. I picture her as my daughter that sings a little bit on the side for fun. She comes to me and says "dad, I found this place where I can make a video and they do everything for me...it looks pretty cool, can we check it out please?" So dear ole dad checks it out...it looks cool, I find out more info, I go for it. The next thing you know, my adorable little daughter has made something of herself at a young age. It matters not how great of a singer she is, but I leave that to her if she wishes to pursue it further to better her voice. She may not want to sing at all. She gets quite a bit of publicity out of this thing and other offers not related to music pour in. Wow, my little girl is something else...you better believe I'm going to be proud of her. Any of you that are parents should appreciate something like this. It made her happy...and she has the possibility of having a future because of it and can STILL go to college to where YOU may not have to pay for it!

Well yeah, she stumbled on to something by accident and she's reaping the rewards. But I wouldn't consider her a musician or artist by any stretch.

Not to mention, in a time where teens her age are having sex, doing drugs, getting tats and piercings as well as being labeled gay and bullied by people, this video to me, made a statement that it's ok to be carefree and happy. I'd rather my son or daughter listen to something like this over Disturbed, Marylyn Manson, death metal or gangsta rap. I thought it was brilliant all across the board with a hook to die for and a presentation that was totally pro that made a statement to teens that are pressured and feel horrible because they aren't "in the cool and hip" group.

I'll take a billion Miss Black's because they don't seem to have the "blacksheep" mentality to go astray and turn to the bad things in life. I read she has always gotten good grades in school. This is a plus...she's not only focused, she'll learn how to control her money at an early age as well as grow up into her own business. But I guess we're all better off watching these bogus reality TV shows where everyone is porking everyone...who's drunk, who's drugged up...yeah, we'll take our youth watching and emulating that stuff before we'll accept a cute lil girl that took a chance on a video that ended up really successful.

I just don't get it.

Part of it is frustration I think. There are those who can sing without auto-tune and can play without audio-snap and quantizing that have worked all their lives in this business, then you see someone come along with no ability to sing and has a hit like this. It's not so far fetched to see how people could be upset about it. Especially if you saw her live. She may be cute and sweet, but the girl cannot sing and looks like a fish out of water on stage.

I'm only chiming in on this because I saw her perform live on TV a couple weeks ago on America's Got Talent and I can tell you ... the girl can't sing. But that doesn't mean I don't like the song she put out either.