Bowie +
I can't define 'greatest' so I suspect we will end up with 'favourite'.
I need to come back to the band.
Bowie +
I can't define 'greatest' so I suspect we will end up with 'favourite'.
I need to come back to the band.
I agree with basically everything said and just want to add Eddie Van Halen. Great music, virtuous playing, one of the best guitarists ever.
I think one measure of greatness is whether or not people continue to listen to their music years and decades after their prime time
Yes I agree and there are some artists who were largely unknown in their time but have gone on to have a huge influence in the years/decades afterwards.
It's possible it will be subsumed into another type of music...
Where 'musical greatnes' is concerned, I'd actually bring classical music in and then that might push all the modern stuff out the door!
You might be right there Debbie. We might need much longer than 70 years to determine true greatness. Another question which I have considered over the weekend is timelessness. There are certain pieces of music or artists who are not only still relevant after 50+ years but also their lyrics and SOUND combined, could have been written just yesterday.
It is! These are the questions which came up when I was discussing said topic IRL off the back of this thread.
Dark Side of the Moon definitely but also Wish You Were Here (about the former singer Syd Barrett who was kicked out of the band for unspecified mental health issues) and The Wall, which was kind of an autobiographical thing from the bass player about his social isolation and problems growing up without a father. Fascinating band, really
You just reminded me of one of my other favourite musicians who is autistic - David Byrne. I forgot to add Talking Heads to my list! Doh!
Here's a question then: are certain musicians more appealing to autistic people than others? David Bowie appears to have plenty of votes on here (and I would concur with those voting for him) and Pink Floyd are up there (no surprise given that they devoted entire albums to mental health conditions). I would also suggest that hyperfocus and an autistic worldview might be very useful tools for creative musicians. As with professional sports people, there is probably a higher percentage of neurodiverse people within popular music than within the general population. I'd be astonished if the members of some of my own favourite bands were to fail to register anything on an autism diagnostic assessment were they to take one.
Welcome to the forum.
That's a good question.
I noticed that in the link I posted from the Rolling Stone magazine, that Bowie is relatively low down.
I think you have something there.
Is the album you speak of Dark Side of the Moon?
Here's a question then: are certain musicians more appealing to autistic people than others? David Bowie appears to have plenty of votes on here (and I would concur with those voting for him) and Pink Floyd are up there (no surprise given that they devoted entire albums to mental health conditions). I would also suggest that hyperfocus and an autistic worldview might be very useful tools for creative musicians. As with professional sports people, there is probably a higher percentage of neurodiverse people within popular music than within the general population. I'd be astonished if the members of some of my own favourite bands were to fail to register anything on an autism diagnostic assessment were they to take one.
Interesting Rolling Stone magazine article on the subject:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-artists-147446/the-band-2-88489/
Then you should check out my entry in todays Music Quiz... Just sayin'....
( I hate that song)
I do too actually.
But they did also make ..... (insert classic Beatles songs here) ....
I'd also be interested in if anyone thinks we have passed the peak of musical greatness? Or does the future behold further greatness?
I found that question interesting in the context of the history of pop music.
If we bear in mind that popular music as we now know it started in the 50s, we are less than a century into it.
It's possible it will be subsumed into another type of music...
Where 'musical greatnes' is concerned, I'd actually bring classical music in and then that might push all the modern stuff out the door!
Whilst I can't deny the influence of either Elvis or The Beatles, I don't like them.
Pink FLoyd, Bowie, Elton John, brilliant, but also people like James Brown had a huge influence on Motown, soul and funk music, Stevie Wonder the same, but if I had to pick one person it would be Kate Bush, she's influenced so many different artistes, who's music is so different to hers, I think she's given a lot of people the courage to musically be where they want to be, rather than where record companies want them to be.
