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Name your lame duck artist........

What artist do you put above all others in terms of lack of talent but somehow has achieved success?

For me Madonna has to be the queen of mediocrity (mediocre being a compliment in this case) - can't sing or act and what's with the fake english accent after living there a whole two years.
And don't get me going with all these new female jazz "singers" with that vomit inducing vibratoless whisper that seems to have become mandatory in that genre today......Jones clones.
thomastrouble

Showing 4 responses by loomisjohnson

loomisjohnson
1,907 posts
 
conceptually, i'd divide the foregoing into specific categories:

1. artists of no discernible musical ability who nonetheless have value as image makers, trendsetters etc. (madonna,bon jovi, cher)
2. especially annoying ass clowns who nonetheless have musical ability (rod stewart, sting, u2)
3. artists who don't have much musical ability but aren't especially annoying ass clowns and have some visceral nice-guy appeal to their misguided, though harmless fans (jimmy buffet, phil collins)
4. artists who play execrably bad music skillfully (norah jones, dave matthews, john mayer)
5. completely worthless "artists" who have neither charisma or visual appeal and whose derivative, addle-brained product is wholly unlistenable (nickelback)

ergo, by careful analysis you must arrive at the conclusion that the single most worthless performer extant is, in fact, nickleback. who, according to billboard, have sold 30 million records, most of anyone in this decade. consider the karmic implications...
loomisjohnson
1,907 posts
 
just a word in defense of sheryl crow. i'm not gonna claim she's godlike, but i think she gets unfairly maligned, probably because she's milfy and pops up a lot in people magazine. she's actually a good musician, with a knack for melody--like steve miller or bryan adams, she can knock out a catchy, dumb radio single. i'm all for artists who have actual songs, as opposed to simply a sound.
loomisjohnson
1,907 posts
 
iheard about that austin show--reportedly, she was all agitated about lance armstrong having only one testicle....
loomisjohnson
1,907 posts
 
tt, bong et. al. i love buckley, but i can see where he can be offputting on vinyl--he's very theatrical and emotive; like rufus wainwright or antony/johnsons there's a showtuney aspect to this music which can sound a bit fey if you're a rockhead or in the wrong mood. however, i saw buckly play live a the green mill in chgo and he really, really kicked it--great voice, real power and, at least when unembellished by a lot of studio sheen, really good material. you might check out the live at sine disc, which is closer to what he was about.
how does someone drown in three inches of water, anyway?
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