Amy Winehouse vs Jaco Pastorius vs The Rest of Us

[thecount1]

I don't think she is a bassist, but my point is this:

Amy Winehouse
- I listen to all types of music, but this one came out of nowhere. Ok I don't listen to much radio anyways. Actually none, because no matter in which state you live (in the US). The "new rock" or the "classic rock", they always play the same songs over and over all year round. Anyways...
- She might be a good songwriter, but I don't think she is a prodigy. She is just a product of the media.
- She is for sure a junky
- She is all over the media.
- The more crazy stuff she does, the more she is in the media, the more records she sells, the more she is known, famous, successful, whatever.
- Am I sorry for her...not really

Jaco
- Everybody know who he is, at least in this bass forum. I mean, you know who he is right?
- He would have been known not only by bassists if he lived in a media frenzy decade.
- He did his share of...junkyness. A big share of it.
- He made it while he was young, and died young too. Mmm, how old is Amy Winehouse?
- He sure gave us a different way of playing the bass. What has Amy given me? Just an excuse to read the gossip news.
- Am I sorry for him...yes, master why did you die?

The Rest of Us (musicians by heart)
- Is tough out there. I wasn't born a Jaco. Thats why they always told me to have 2 majors, music and something else. So that something else is what pay the bills now. Music ended up becoming a dream.
- I haven't done my share and I am not planning on doing it.
- I am not all over the media. Am I going to be...don't think so.

For all of you full time drug-free musicians, trying to make it out there I salute you.

[Matt R.]

[Eric Perry]

Ummmm, what??? I'm confused.

[Dogbertday]

sorry think i'm missing the point here...

are you saying that Jaco = Amy Winehouse except from a different time and giving more to music?... and the rest of us are just going to praise them (at least jaco) because we were not born Jaco?...

and why salute all the drug-free musicians when you just basically saluted a druggy one (jaco)?

i just don't get it i don't think

[Visirale]

Originally Posted by thecount1

I don't think she is a bassist, but my point is this:

Amy Winehouse
- I listen to all types of music, but this one came out of nowhere. Ok I don't listen to much radio anyways. Actually none, because no matter in which state you live (in the US). The "new rock" or the "classic rock", they always play the same songs over and over all year round. Anyways...
- She might be a good songwriter, but I don't think she is a prodigy. She is just a product of the media.
- She is for sure a junky
- She is all over the media.
- The more crazy stuff she does, the more she is in the media, the more records she sells, the more she is known, famous, successful, whatever.
- Am I sorry for her...not really

Jaco
- Everybody know who he is, at least in this bass forum. I mean, you know who he is right?
- He would have been known not only by bassists if he lived in a media frenzy decade.
- He did his share of...junkyness. A big share of it.
- He made it while he was young, and died young too. Mmm, how old is Amy Winehouse?
- He sure gave us a different way of playing the bass. What has Amy given me? Just an excuse to read the gossip news.
- Am I sorry for him...yes, master why did you die?

The Rest of Us (musicians by heart)
- Is tough out there. I wasn't born a Jaco. Thats why they always told me to have 2 majors, music and something else. So that something else is what pay the bills now. Music ended up becoming a dream.
- I haven't done my share and I am not planning on doing it.
- I am not all over the media. Am I going to be...don't think so.

For all of you full time drug-free musicians, trying to make it out there I salute you.

Amy Winehouse is making more money than Jaco ever did. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Jaco. But his style of music would never warrant him to be a media figure. He could have been 10 times worse, but really, what media outlet is going to cover jazz or fusion? NPR, maybe. Amy plays pop music in the vein of what's hot right now. She and her music are relevant to the current culture.

Sadly, I don't think that many OUTSIDE of bass forums know Jaco. All my instructors through music schooling have, but only because they've followed jazz/fusion. Even if Jaco was still alive today, he wouldn't be that popular. Not any more popular than Wooten, Miller, or Clarke (and don't kid yourselves, compared to pop musicians, they're NOBODY).

And as far as drugs go, they're a personal choice that really don't have all that much to do with music. Once one becomes a an addict or a junky, it affects their entire life... the affect it has on their music is nothing when compared to the havoc it has in their personal life and relationships.

So far from your post I have derived:
-Jazz musicians who do drugs die young and unfamous.
-Amy Winehouse is currently a musician with a drug problem, but doing very well for herself.
-You don't do drugs, and have no real musical accomplishments either. So what credentials are you speaking from?

Sorry, I didn't get much from your post.

[Pacman]

Another incomprehensible post by the count....

Please make a point.

[Parabolic Box]

Visirale has a point. Jaco isn't well known outside of bass circles. Even if he was chronologically transposed to the present, he wouldn't have some large media frenzy surrounding him. If you consume massive amounts of drugs, but you're not mainstream, you're just a person who consumes massive amounts of drugs. If you're mainstream, and you do it, you become a sort of sensation. I don't believe Jaco was ever in the mainstream of music.

[RED5]

2cents time! I see it mentioned on occaision that Jaco had a "drug problem" But rarely in the same post do i see any mention of the fact that he was Bi-Polar. I'm not a big fan of the man, I do respect what he did, but I'm just not a fan. My point is that I think his mental condition and it's sometimes lack of maintenance makes any drug use pale by comparison. I know a woman who is bi-polar, and her family would be relieved to find it was simply a drug habit. As far as this Winehouse/Pastorius comparo? What are you thinking? Next let's see a Miley Cyrus/Jeff Berlin face off?

[69nites]

I believe this was a rant about how those lucky enough to have the talent and circumstances to really make it in the music industry seem to throw it away for drugs.

I could be wrong.

[Insanity^2]

Uhuh...



*leaves thread*

[CraigG]

Originally Posted by 69nites

I believe this was a rant about how those lucky enough to have the talent and circumstances to really make it in the music industry seem to throw it away for drugs.

I could be wrong.

Hmm. I read it as more that it seems those who live more on the edge, having the more flambouyant lifestyles, even though those lifestyles might be questionable being the ones who get the most acclaim.

I could be wrong, too!

[69nites]

Originally Posted by CraigG

Hmm. I read it as more that it seems those who live more on the edge, having the more flambouyant lifestyles, even though those lifestyles might be questionable being the ones who get the most acclaim.

I could be wrong, too!

I caught a lot of that too but the end of it with all the "For all of you full time drug-free musicians, trying to make it out there I salute you." really made it seem more like a rant about the drugs to me.

i think the only one who really knows is thecount

[sevenyearsdown]

This thread should be enough to convince anyone that drugs are bad, ok.

[kayakbass]

Originally Posted by Visirale

Amy Winehouse is making more money than Jaco ever did. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Jaco. But his style of music would never warrant him to be a media figure. He could have been 10 times worse, but really, what media outlet is going to cover jazz or fusion? NPR, maybe. Amy plays pop music in the vein of what's hot right now. She and her music are relevant to the current culture.

Sadly, I don't think that many OUTSIDE of bass forums know Jaco. All my instructors through music schooling have, but only because they've followed jazz/fusion. Even if Jaco was still alive today, he wouldn't be that popular. Not any more popular than Wooten, Miller, or Clarke (and don't kid yourselves, compared to pop musicians, they're NOBODY).

And as far as drugs go, they're a personal choice that really don't have all that much to do with music. Once one becomes a an addict or a junky, it affects their entire life... the affect it has on their music is nothing when compared to the havoc it has in their personal life and relationships.

So far from your post I have derived:
-Jazz musicians who do drugs die young and unfamous.
-Amy Winehouse is currently a musician with a drug problem, but doing very well for herself.
-You don't do drugs, and have no real musical accomplishments either. So what credentials are you speaking from?

Sorry, I didn't get much from your post.

Please don't bring up $$$$ and how much SHE makes.... If it's about $$$ let's use Bill Gates as the measuring stick. Art should NOT be about who's making more money.

[lefty007]

I agree 100% with all of you, including the OP. Mmmkay? Mmmkay. . .

[Visirale]

Originally Posted by kayakbass

Please don't bring up $$$$ and how much SHE makes.... If it's about $$$ let's use Bill Gates as the measuring stick. Art should NOT be about who's making more money.

Why not bring up money? I'm going into music business and I can appreciate pop music for the profit it brings in. If labels didn't have pop musicians making the BIG money to pay the bills, we wouldn't have smaller subsidiary labels to put out the "good" music a lot of us enjoy... Big money making artists pave the way for smaller and more artistic artists with less mainstream appeal to get heard.

[unbasslichkeit]

"If you compare yourself with others you may become vain and bitter....for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself." Desiderata.

Is it appropriate to mix non sequiturs?

[EBMatt]

Uh...what the hell?

[baba]

Some people like cupcakes exclusively, while myself, I say there is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of gods grey Earth as that prince of foods... the muffin!

[barebones]

Originally Posted by baba

Some people like cupcakes exclusively, while myself, I say there is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of gods grey Earth as that prince of foods... the muffin!

Exactly what I was thinking!

My five-year-old daughter loves that song, by the way.

Matt