bigm wrote:
Bring on the discussions about really infuential musicians ( 40 year careers and vast catalogue eg. Dylan, Young, Cooder... ) and let's give up trying to debate the pros and cons of a sad but talented icon of pop culture.
Dylan was only influential for 5 or 6 years out of the 40 odd. I struggle with his new album - it's pleasant enough, with some good playing and a nice "retro" production. But there's none of the "I didn't know that you could do that" thrill of his 60s stuff. And he's co-writing the lyrics for heaven's sake. So 40-something years by now, but a lot of the time he's been coasting and cashing in on his reputation. But then how many barriers can one man break down?
Cooder, as far as I can see, hasn't influenced anybody really - which takes nothing away from what he's done. Richard Thompson and Bruce Cockburn are in the same category - great players with a substantial, high quality catalog who have not been notably influential. The late John Martyn may, actually, have been influential - there are some who argue that the whole "trip hop" thing can be traced back to him and his experiments with echo machines and ambience.
It may be all over. The reason that so many influential artists came out of the 60s was because there was green field to be plowed. These days it's hard, perhaps impossible, to create similar quantum leaps forward. Rap may have been the last great leap. The best we can hope for now is a new guitar technique, but I'm not sure that they appear that often. Maybe it's all been done and said?
Not that I think that MJ did and said much that was original and innovative. Even if you accept the Times' argument that Thriller was a massively influential record, how much of the credit should attach to Jackson? He didn't write the bulk of the songs, and Quincy Jones was primarily responsible for the sound of the record and the arrangements.
Not that fame = influential, or that excellence necessarily amounts to influential. Fame doesn't necessarily amount to excellence either - no more than amateurism does.
Besides, most people don't want music for the sake of music (even if they say they do), they want a soundtrack to their lives. There's no doubt that MJ features in the soundtrack of a large number of lives.
