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Who's your musical hero?

zachoff

zachoff

Apr 16, 2003
4,373
581
Boulder Suburbia, Colorado
soundslikewords.bandcamp.com
#1
Same question in a different forum... Who's your musical hero?

My bass hero is Mike Watt, but my musical hero is J Mascis. His guitar playing and his drumming with early Dinosaur and Witch are sick and even though he claims no input to the guitar parts for Witch, any self loathing Mascis fan can hear it, easily.

Second would be Dave Grohl because that dude has pop rock wrapped up in his little pinky, made the greatest pop rock song of my generation (Everlong), and apart from bass has destroyed every type of rock instrument there is. Cummon Dave... Play a little bass... Show us what you got!! :D
 
#2
Kevin Fowler. I can identify with his songs more often than with anybody else's. Gets a ton of airplay on Texas radio and with good reason - he can be funny ("Lord Loves The Drinking Man"), emotional ("All The Tequila In Tijuana"), and has the rare ability to sing about being badass without coming off like he's boasting or trying to impress ("Long Line Of Losers" or "Bring It On"). Finally had a minor national country hit with "Pound Sign" after all these years.
 
#3
Well, I do admire Watt, Mascis and Grohl.

Have to check out Kevin Fowler. Name sounds familiar...

If you asked me tomorrow I'd probably come up with a completely different answer, but the first name that popped into my head when I saw the thread title was "Brian Eno."

I just have a lot of respect for the man. He is often credited with "inventing" ambient music (rightly or wrongly, for better or worse) and he has recorded some of the only ambient stuff that, to me, bears repeated listening.

Roxy Music did my fave stuff of theirs while he was in the band.

He's been involved in some very cool collaborations with people as diverse as Bowie, Jah Wobble, John Cale, Harmonia and Robert Fripp.

He's produced Devo and Talking Heads and scores of others, as well as being an early champion of techno music and punk/no wave.

He's very DIY, independent and A Thing Of His Own in many regards.

He's also a very interesting visual artist.

Most of all, while much of his ambient work and later albums, including different experiments, process music, commissions and film soundtracks, can be hit and miss, his four early "vocal pop" albums released between 1973-1977 (Here Come the Warm Jets, Taking Tiger Mountain, Another Green World, Before and After Science) contain some of the most unique, interesting, compelling pop music ever laid down. Especially those first two albums.

Just incredible stuff. Catchy and melodic as all get-out, but so much bizarre quirk going on in the layers just below the surface. Lyrics at once surreal, absurd and--for lack of a better/less lofty-sounding term--profound with shots of humor.

Those two albums--Warm Jets and Tiger Mountain--could be released tomorrow and they would still sound fresh and ahead of their time, but they are nearing 40 years old.

I have so many other influences it seems that to name one excludes scores of others, but he's the first that sprung to mind.
 
#7
Musical heroes?

Neil Young, Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce all share a devotion to following their muse without particular regard to whether the audience is following them. And it's generally led to great music from each of them. Plus they've inspired me with the passion their music has always had at its core. I'd MUCH rather hear Neil destroying Old Black's strings as he's trying to wring out the anger and anguish of "Keep On Rockin' In The Free World" (as on the famous SNL performance with Charley Drayton on bass) than hear a more tidy and appealing guitarist nimbly dance around without taking chances. Beck falls on his face by tripping over his own laces, but that's because he's going for it. Rather than think "that might not work, so I'll pull back now" he seem to be thinking "if this works, it'll be awesome, but if it doesn't what am I going to do to get out of it?".

Jack has always been pushing the constraints of what others expect. Post-Cream people expected all three of them to form mini-Cream. Jack goes with Tony Williams and plays stuff that no one expected. Afro-Cuban jams with Clapton on "White Room" was deemed sacrilege by people who wanted Cream to live on forever frozen in 1967. Not Jack (nor Eric nor Ginger). Even the Cream reunion (well at least Albert Hall, the stuff I've seen of MSG shows that the personalities weren't on the same page) was all about three old friends playing music for each other the same way they did when they were in their twenties- expressing what was in them NOW, challenging each other to play better, and bouncing ideas off each other- ideas grown from forty additional years of live, loss, learning, and striving. It wasn't at all about trying to recreate the aura of the late '60s and regurgitate what those 20-something kids were. Too bad so many people missed the essential point of Cream...

I also gotta talk about Joni Mitchell. Her whole life is her art as she sees it. If the rest of the world wants to come along great, if not, she's not concerned. Reinventing herself at so many stages, and holding true to her vision is what makes her a hero.

John
 
#8
I don' care about crap I'll get from this . . . John Mayer is my hero! I always used to joke I wanted to come back as Hugh Heffner (not only for the obvious reason :D, but he's done some amazing things, and seems like an amazing guy in general) but JM gets my vote. He gets the girl(s) AND gets to be a rock star who pretty much does what he damn well wants in an industry that likes to control everything, in a time where money is scarce and no one will dare take a chance.
 
#9
pasta4lnch said:
I don' care about crap I'll get from this . . . John Mayer is my hero! I always used to joke I wanted to come back as Hugh Heffner (not only for the obvious reason :D, but he's done some amazing things, and seems like an amazing guy in general) but JM gets my vote. He gets the girl(s) AND gets to be a rock star who pretty much does what he damn well wants in an industry that likes to control everything, in a time where money is scarce and no one will dare take a chance.
Click to expand...

CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP.... :hiding:

Good call- he's a very good guitar player, he's earned the musical respect of other notable guitarists, and he's got a wide range of tastes. I like him, other than the guitar-face- you ain't gonna come back with those looks are ya?

John
 
#13
Cliiff Burton because any bassist that forces an semi-established band to move to him and gets a 4:20 bass solo on their debut album is pretty awesome to me, then taking into account of how quickly Metallica degenerated after he died. I believe Metallica would still be viewed with the same sort of respect that a band like Slayer still affords from their fans if he had not died leaving Lars and James to their own devices. Plus I love his playing.:bassist:
 
#15
musical/bass heroes the same for me--Gene Simmons, Geezer Butler, Phil Lynott, and Steve Harris. Dave Mustaine in the early days, and old Mercyful Fate guitarists were to a lesser degree. Clifford Burton as well!
 
#16
I have always considered Pete Townshend to be my Musical Guru...He influenced me the most as a teenager/young adult growing up - what adolescent can't relate to Quadrophenia? That being said...my favorite musician is Joe Jackson...from his groundbreaking New Wave pop to his "I don't care who buys this album" -"Rain", Joe has always played what he wanted regardless of who listened...Exceptional piano player and writer...
 

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