modern day musical heroes??

jdmufc

Roboheart
Joined
Apr 23, 2007
Messages
15,833
Location
River cool's where I belong, In my moysey paradise
ok, most people can agree on the majority of musical heroes, you know the ones, bob dylan,the beatles,rory gallagher,neil young,........etc,etc,etc.

anyway, the other day i was thinking about music and i was trying to think of some modern day heroes, as all of the above musicians are from an older era, the thing is, i was really struggling to think of some names to add to a modern day list.

who in your opinion would belong on a modern day musical hero list??
 
Not right now but Alex Turner is on his way. Great song writer, and not afraid to experiment with his music.
 
There aren't any who compare to the ones you mentioned in addition to the likes of Jim Morrison, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and the like.

Which is pretty depressing. I very rarely listen to modern music, I'm constantly listening to stuff from the 60's, 70's and 80's and I love it.

Edit - Aside from Radiohead, they're probably my favourite band at the moment. Thanks Nomers :)
 
what is a musical hero?

is it purely someone whose music will still be played in 20 years time?

can someone who has only had a couple of hits ever be considered a genius or does someone have to consistently give us great music over a long period?
 
At the drive in
Refused

Both bands way ahead of their time. Refused in particular managed to reinvent punk/hardcore whatever way you want to classify it.
More so than them id say Fugazi should be considered musical heroes, inspired a whole generation of bands and started the whole DIY scene. Legends.
 
Thom Yorke (Radiohead)
Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)
Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Silver Jews)
Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel)
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)
David Sitek (TV on the Radio)
Andre 3000 (OutKast)
Noah Lennox (Panda Bear, Animal Collective)


It's more difficult nowadays, with the state of the music industry. Most companies are forced to market only the most accessible acts, leaving little room for the more adventurous and indie acts to get exposure. Meaning a lot of the most talented songwriters and musicians are almost unheard of to the general public.
 
Easy V said:
Thom Yorke (Radiohead)
Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)
Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Silver Jews)
Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel)
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)
David Sitek (TV on the Radio)
Andre 3000 (OutKast)
Noah Lennox (Panda Bear, Animal Collective)


It's more difficult nowadays, with the state of the music industry. Most companies are forced to market only the most accessible acts, leaving litle room for the more adventurous and indie acts to get exposure. Meaning a lot of the most talented songwriters and musicians are almost unheard of to the general public.
Click to expand...

Two good shouts. David Sitek is good aswell. I'd say Johnny Greenwood gets a lot of recognition at the minute anyways?
 
Easy V said:
Thom Yorke (Radiohead)
Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)
Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Silver Jews)
Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel)
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)
David Sitek (TV on the Radio)
Andre 3000 (OutKast)
Noah Lennox (Panda Bear, Animal Collective)


It's more difficult nowadays, with the state of the music industry. Most companies are forced to market only the most accessible acts, leaving litle room for the more adventurous and indie acts to get exposure. Meaning a lot of the most talented songwriters and musicians are almost unheard of to the general public.
Click to expand...

:drool: Great shout
 
Easy V said:
Thom Yorke (Radiohead)
Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)
Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Silver Jews)
Jeff Mangum (Neutral Milk Hotel)
Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes)
David Sitek (TV on the Radio)
Andre 3000 (OutKast)
Noah Lennox (Panda Bear, Animal Collective)


It's more difficult nowadays, with the state of the music industry. Most companies are forced to market only the most accessible acts, leaving litle room for the more adventurous and indie acts to get exposure. Meaning a lot of the most talented songwriters and musicians are almost unheard of to the general public.
Click to expand...

is it not also easier in some ways, what with youtube and myspace to get your music heard?
 
Björk
Beck
Sufjan Stevens
Richard James (Aphex Twin)
Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons)
Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown, Frog Eyes, Swan Lake)
James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem)
 
jdmufc said:
is it not also easier in some ways, what with youtube and myspace to get your music heard?
Click to expand...

Possibly in a way, yes. The difference however, is that the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix etc. were the main acts for big record labels, and got lots of exposure from this. They headlined major festivals and amounted huge sums of money (....and women, drugs, basically anything else they wanted). They were all immensely talented musicians and songwriters, full of skill and craft, but also found their way into public consciousness. Just about everybody knew who they were, which can't be said about many of the current crop.

The indie acts especially, who you could perhaps say are the ones responsible for the online distribution of music (and in turn, piracy, meaning they're fecked over), are never going to become the major icons that their predecessors were.
 
When it comes to describing a musician as a hero I want a lot more than someone who can knock out a good tune. I would nominate the likes of Jello Biafra and Efrim Menuck simply because of the integrity they've always showed. No major label sell-outs, no keeping a band going when it's past it's sell by date. Class.
 
Easy V said:
Possibly in a way, yes. The difference however, is that the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix etc. were the main acts for big record labels, and got lots of exposure from this. They headlined major festivals and amounted huge sums of money (....and women, drugs, basically anything else they wanted). They were all immensely talented musicians and songwriters, full of skill and craft, but also found their way into public consciousness. Just about everybody knew who they were, which can't be said about many of the current crop.

The indie acts especially, who you could perhaps say are the ones responsible for the online distribution of music (and in turn, piracy, meaning they're fecked over), are never going to become the major icons thats their predecessors were.
Click to expand...

i cant disagree with any of that, but the cream will always rise, and if these people are truely talented then surely the labels will pick them up?
 
jdmufc said:
are people just blurting out names of bands that are cool right now (cos i´ve not heard of most of em) or do you genuinely think that these bands/singers will be remembered in 20 years time??
Click to expand...

Well Pavement and Neutral Milk Hotel are both bands from the '90s. Pavement were arguably the most impressive American band of the decade, in terms of consistently brilliant output. Here's their albums, with the ratings at the side;

Slanted and Enchanted
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Wowee Zowee
Brighten the Corners
Terror Twilight


Neutral Milk Hotel, I listed mainly for In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, which is widely considered to be the greatest Indie album of all-time.
 
Sufjan Stevens has been making superb music for a very long time now, and has done some very interesting things arrangement-wise as well. Music genius.

Beck is another one who belongs in that company.

Easy V is spot on.
 
Nobody as of right now can compare with the likes of MJ, Elvis, The Beatles and so on...obviously add Prince to the list
 
One name springs to mind: Richard D. James

Edit: Just noticed that someone else has already mentioned him - well done that man !
 
Tibs said:
Nobody as of right now can compare with the likes of MJ, Elvis, The Beatles and so on...obviously add Prince to the list
Click to expand...

Elvis didn't even write his own songs. Some fecking hero.
 
esmufc09 said:
There aren't any who compare to the ones you mentioned in addition to the likes of Jim Morrison, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and the like.

Which is pretty depressing. I very rarely listen to modern music, I'm constantly listening to stuff from the 60's, 70's and 80's and I love it.

Edit - Aside from Radiohead, they're probably my favourite band at the moment. Thanks Nomers :)
Click to expand...

I really find it hard to go along with the 'they don't make make music like they used to' cynicism. 90% of people I know think like that and it frustrates me because I know they're only depriving themselves.

Just in the last couple of years the likes of Sufjan Stevens (Illinois), Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes), Bon Iver (For Emma, Forever Ago), Arcade Fire (Neon Bible) and Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend) have made albums that I count among my absolute favourites. It's harder to find these days, but there's still lots of great music.
 
Melbourne Red said:
I really find it hard to go along with the 'they don't make make music like they used to' cynicism. 90% of people I know think like that and it frustrates me because I know they're only depriving themselves.

Just in the last couple of years the likes of Sufjan Stevens (Illinois), Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes), Bon Iver (For Emma, Forever Ago), Arcade Fire (Neon Bible) and Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend) have made albums that I count among my absolute favourites. It's harder to find these days, but there's still lots of great music.
Click to expand...

I'd agree with most of those, very good albums, although I'm still waiting to see what those bands have to offer with their next few releases before I would put them in my list. A common problem with many recent bands has been the tendency to cram all of their best ideas into their debut album, then follow it up with a solid second album (which usually just aims to imitate the original, with less success), but by the third they've run dry of inspiration.

For instance;

Bloc Party (Silent Alarm)
Franz Ferdinand (Franz Ferdinand)
The Strokes (Is This It)
The Libertines (Up the Bracket)
Interpol (Turn On the Bright Lights)

They all made excellent albums at the first time of asking, and promised great things. Then they made good follow-up albums, and then lost it by the third (apart from The Libertines, who couldn't even make it that far without capitulating to the pressures of fame and drugs). That's my worry with Arcade Fire. Their first album was sensational, and their second (the one you mention) was very good too. But it followed the same pattern as those other bands' second albums, in that some of the tracks are even better than on the first album, and definitely make better singles, but as a whole, the album doesn't hold together quite as successfully for me. I'm just hoping their third album, whenever that eventually arrives, makes the grade.

Same with Vampire Weekend, they've come out of the Indie scene with a very strong and distinctive sound, exactly like those bands mentioned above, but will they have more to them after that? Can they really progress their sound and continue to impress once the initial buzz of discovering their quirky sound wears off? Clap Your Hands Say Yeah fall into exactly the same category.


That's my only major complaint with music nowadays, a lot of the bands don't have staying power. I think the likes of YouTube and Myspace give them a chance to sell their sound to millions and they catch on like a fad. They have enough good ideas to ride on that wave of hype for a few years, then they disappear completely.

That's what seperates the truly great acts.
 
gaffs said:
Jack White.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, how did I forget him? Probably the best rocker of his generation. Great choice. Just remembered another name I somehow forgot to mention before;

Elliott Smith
 
DJ Shadow

The guy's a legend in my eyes, not only an amazing solo artist and live performer in his own right but also for his production and collaborations with other artists. I mean this guy is responsible for two legendary albums already, his own album 'Entroducing' and also with his little jaunt with James Lavelle on the brilliant UNKLE album Psyence Fiction, both highly critically acclaimed.
 
Melbourne Red said:
I really find it hard to go along with the 'they don't make make music like they used to' cynicism. 90% of people I know think like that and it frustrates me because I know they're only depriving themselves.

Just in the last couple of years the likes of Sufjan Stevens (Illinois), Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes), Bon Iver (For Emma, Forever Ago), Arcade Fire (Neon Bible) and Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend) have made albums that I count among my absolute favourites. It's harder to find these days, but there's still lots of great music.
Click to expand...

Thing is, I've heard of not one of those bands. The commercialised stuff nowadays is utter wank and is targeted at teens who wouldn't know good music if it smacked them in the face.

There are a few good bands/artists about of course, but there isn't one stand out one, if you know what I mean. In the past we've had Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, all giants in the world of music and with sales that will probably never be beaten now we're in the digital age.
 
esmufc09 said:
Thing is, I've heard of not one of those bands. The commercialised stuff nowadays is utter wank and is targeted at teens who wouldn't know good music if it smacked them in the face.

There are a few good bands/artists about of course, but there isn't one stand out one, if you know what I mean. In the past we've had Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, all giants in the world of music and with sales that will probably never be beaten now we're in the digital age.
Click to expand...

I don't know why Elvis keeps cropping up here, it's like a knee jerk reaction. Of course his sales were good, no one had anything else to spend their money on in those days.
 
Nearco said:
I don't know why Elvis keeps cropping up here, it's like a knee jerk reaction. Of course his sales were good, no one had anything else to spend their money on in those days.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can deny the musical influence Elvis had, regardless of whether or not you like his music.

He was the biggest artist in the world despite never touring outside of the US, I think that says enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.