Iconic Musical Performers (MJ inspired thoughts)

Maytals, Barnes. You forgot the Maytals.


(re: Pearl Jam, that wasn't an impassioned defense of them as underloved geniuses. I think they made a great first record. Then they made some more unremarkable stuff, fought TicketBastard for a while, and disappeared.)

How could I leave out Toots? Jeez.

I wonder that genres becoming more distinct hasn't hurt music more than helped it.

That's something that DEFINITELY happened in the 80s, a very pronounced splitting off of the rock diaspora (sorry to use them kolledge terms). "Genrification" had a good effect in that it created all these sphere where artists could explore a lot more depth and scope than rock and pop music previously allowed and it resulted in a much broader, expansive pallete. But yes, it did sort of create a dispersal that's resulted in cannibalism and and almost paradoxical homogenity.

Yeah, look at what is called punk music these days and when the term punk was first coined: Blondie, Patti Smith, Talking Heads and The Ramones on the same bill.

I would count Johnny Cash as an icon that straddled genres, especially with his resurgence in the 90s.

Hank Williams Jr. would be considered in the same league by some (not myself though).

Add me to the list of those that fucking despise Jimmy Fallon.

Space Ghost wrote:

Hank Williams Jr. would be considered in the same league by some (not myself though).

Can we remove the Jr. part. Because then I will fight to the death for that and more. Otherwise fuck'em.

JonJacob wrote:

Space Ghost wrote:

Hank Williams Jr. would be considered in the same league by some (not myself though).

Can we remove the Jr. part. Because then I will fight to the death for that and more. Otherwise fuck'em.

I definitely put Senior in the iconic class -- thought it might be too much of the country genre though for the discussion here.

1970s - Led Zeppelin
early 80s - The Police
late 80s - Depeche Mode
90s - Nirvana
late 90s - Eminem, The Prodigy
00s - ???? okay, Rammstein

i am more interested in my friends than icons. i have no special reverence or respect for anyone who ever picked up a microphone or played a guitar. they are just people. like you and me. they might make more money, but that doesn't make them any more relevant or interesting.

Ska_baron wrote:

Not Sure wrote:

I think for the 90s your best guesses are Kurt Cobain/Nirvana (who fall down a lot on the theatrics/all-round entertainer part), or Nine Inch Nails, (who don't as much). Nirvana sure sold a lot more records, and I think they had a bigger effect on the culture.

However, I can't describe the number of insufferable obsessed NIN fans I met back then.

And neither had anything like the levels of saturation of even Stevie Wonder, much less the other 3 big examples.

00s ? Good luck. Britney? Beyonce? Somebody like that.

Hmmm, I think I like your suggestion of Cobain/Nirvana. It's not perfect at all, but does check off a lot of the tick marks I'd set up. Hmmm.

I did a stint as a stringer music critic for Milwaukee's AM newspaper between '88 and '94. 'round the newsroom, we referred to the early 90s as "The Summer of Garth and Grunge." Frankly, Garth Brooks may well top Seattle as the defining sound of the 1990s as he was one of the first to drive C&W into arena-sized venues, where it has stayed ever since. I'd also throw NWA out there...

As for the 70s, I think you need to split the vote between the top of the singer/songwriter pile with Elton John and Billy Joel likely on top and the Glam Rock pile with Alice Cooper and David Bowie [themselves, the opposite ends of the same showboating spectrum] topping the other.

I don't know if it makes sense to break things down by decade... they're just arbitrary numbers, really. Of course, some artists will fit just perfectly into a particular decade (The Beatles = 60's), but others can cross different thresholds (Bruce Springsteen = 70's and 80's, U2 = 80's, 90's, 00's). It also depends on the genre... The Sex Pistols would be very iconic for punk, Nirvana for grunge and Metallica for metal, but none of them necessarily iconic in a general sense. But I would think, love him or hate him, MJ is definitely one of the top musical icons of all time. I would put Elvis and The Beatles on par or above him as being that iconic, but nobody else, really, in our lifetime.

Here's my two cents.

1970's -- David Bowie -- The very definition of icon.

1980's -- Michael Jackson -- Super talented. It was his talent that doomed him from living a normal life.

-- Madonna -- Immortal? I guess it pays off to dabble in mysticism. She reinvents herself every two years. Some incarnations are more interesting than others.

1990's -- Nirvana -- Pearl Jam has been officially destroyed. Nirvana carries the 90s.

-- Weezer -- This is just my own personal bias developed from hours and hours spent listening to Weezer's debut album in college.

2000's -- Daft Punk! -- Oh, wait, we're talking about icons. Nope, icons don't exist anymore. Just minor kings within genres.