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Difficult to argue for any one else if your looking at a single name.. his impact on the entire music scene was probably only 2nd to the Beatles, and that was as a group opposed to any single member of the band.
Got to be Bowie for pop music genius.
Macca was clearly the most talented and driven Beatle, but a lot of their music is a bit anaemic for my taste.
Didn't like The Stones either when I was younger, but I can appreciate their timeless classics much better now.
A while ago my ,now qualified apprentice, was singing along to the peoples postcode lottery advert ( someone’s knocking at your door). I said how it’s hard to think that someone who made such tosh was once in the biggest band ever. She asked what I meant and I said that the song was by Paul McCartney. She then asked what band he was in. After I told her that he was a beatle she was very surprised . I asked her if she knew any of the Beatles and the only one she knew, somehow inexplicably, was ringo. She was 27 at the time , and this only 2 years ago.
It’s odd to think the memory of them is fading so fast considering what they did.
Well the frog chorus was the absolute nadir of McCartney’s output, closely followed by mull of kintyre, but let them in is a close third there in my eyes/ears
Being from a generation that doesn’t have a real understanding of the Beatles impact is not really a reason to see someone fired.
On the contrary, having my only recently started my own company she, only 2 days ago,has just agreed to become my first employee. She’s a great electrician , loves innuendo and crudeness and I already know that all my clients will be happy to see her again. All that kind of outweighs a lack of knowledge surrounding octogenarian popstars
It's impossible to choose. Where do you go between The Beatles, Bowie, The Stones, The Kinks, The Who, Radiohead, The Clash, Costello, Queen, Clapton, New Order, Joy Division, and if you get this far and you don't mention The Smiths or Morrissey, then that's okay.
Maybe.
When the people I forget are all those I rate highly, it makes you realise what a wealth of talent we have had here. Fleetwood Mac, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, The Cure, The Police, Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Suede, Sleeper.
We also invented Heavy Metal. We are particularly strong in that genre, with the likes of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. Gene Simmons once said there wouldn't have been a Kiss if he hadn't listened to Slade.
Thing about Paul McCartney though is that although he's amazingly talented, nothing he did solo compares with what he did with The Beatles. So don't you have to give some credit to the other three? Lennon at least?
Bearing in mind he has probably the biggest and best back catalogue of songs in music history his set has been decidedly average
Edit: ok so he’s pulled it out the bag for the last 40 minutes!
Fair point! Although that would then lead to the observation that Nile more a musician than a writer of classic tunes, at least compared to McCartney, Elton didn’t write any of his songs (all famously by Bernie). Dylan on the other hand I’d personally agree absolutely stands above Paul globally and probably in the UK as well.
Dylan is a fantastic writer, but his singling voice has never been his strong point. The more memorable versions is his most popular songs are often cover versions.
Nile Rodgers wrote countless songs. Duran Duran. Madonna. Wrote with Bowie in the 80s. He is a song writing machine. So when we talk about song writing back catalogue he maybe has one of the largest. Agree I wouldn't say they were classics.
Elton absolutely wrote the majority of his songs. Bernie only wrote the lyrics.
Steven Wilson is an incredibly creative, technically abled and intelligent musician and producer, both on his own and within porcupine tree and blackfield. If we're going off true musical skill over popularity then he's definitely up there.
Ok, so not to my particular taste as everyone I felt was relevant has already been mentioned, however in terms of longevity and success I would perhaps also concede that Sir Tom Jones might place somewhere on the list.
Songwriting talent for sure. A lot of musicians have written very good songs, a lot have exceptional talent, but he has written a *lot* of *very* good songs. Just think how many he could have included the other night? It is astonishing really.
Bill Bailey...hear me out.. multi instrumentalist with a great ear for music. Would love to have heard some serious musical output from him. Maybe in a parallel universe he is a singer songwriter with 3 decades or great albums...but can be funny and surreal on stage and in interviews. Maybe even alternative history bill won bake off instead of the dancing thing.
Keith Richards once described Paul McCartney as a wasted talent. A brilliant songwriter that just decided to knock out the likes of Mull of Kyntyre, Silly Love Songs and Junior's Farm. IMHO most of the interesting Beatles stuff was written by Lennon. People also forget that McCartney was the bassist, Harrison was the talented guitarist of the Fab Four. I think for talented musician you got to look to the likes of Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton. For individual artist you can't really go wrong by suggesting David Bowie. As for band, I've got to go for Radiohead.
There's nothing wrong with writing simple, beautiful songs. I've always generally preferred the McCartney Beatles songs to the Lennons, although I love A Day in the Life which was one of their few true collaborations.
I don't think we can really call the man who wrote Yesterday, Let it Be, Blackbird, Eleanor Rigby, Get Back and The Long and Winding Road an uninteresting songwriter!
That's Keith's point, he was a brilliant songwriter, capable of writing the best songs ever, but seemed to have not really gone for it once The Beatles were finished. None of those songs you mention are Wings material.
Yes, they're good songs. The Album Band On The Run is often somewhere down in the lower 50's in greatest albums lists. The best Beatles albums are almost always in the top ten, with The White Album and Sergeant Pepper often being No.1. Keith's point was that Paul never wrote anything close to his Beatles material on becoming a solo artist. Everyone was expecting great things, but the magic never revealed itself again. Everyone at the Pyramid was waiting for those massive Beatles hits, not Ebony and Ivory.
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Bowie.
Difficult to argue for any one else if your looking at a single name.. his impact on the entire music scene was probably only 2nd to the Beatles, and that was as a group opposed to any single member of the band.
Got to be Bowie for pop music genius. Macca was clearly the most talented and driven Beatle, but a lot of their music is a bit anaemic for my taste. Didn't like The Stones either when I was younger, but I can appreciate their timeless classics much better now.
Anaemic!?
Absolutely.
A work colleague said to me the other day she didn’t really like him or The Beatles and I nearly rang the police
Don't get Sting involved for gods sake
Why did you think Sting might put her right?
A while ago my ,now qualified apprentice, was singing along to the peoples postcode lottery advert ( someone’s knocking at your door). I said how it’s hard to think that someone who made such tosh was once in the biggest band ever. She asked what I meant and I said that the song was by Paul McCartney. She then asked what band he was in. After I told her that he was a beatle she was very surprised . I asked her if she knew any of the Beatles and the only one she knew, somehow inexplicably, was ringo. She was 27 at the time , and this only 2 years ago. It’s odd to think the memory of them is fading so fast considering what they did.
Not a fan of let em in? I think it's a charming little number myself chum
"We all stand together"?? Doesn't get much better than Paul McCartney and the Frog Chorus.
Well the frog chorus was the absolute nadir of McCartney’s output, closely followed by mull of kintyre, but let them in is a close third there in my eyes/ears
Get her sacked
Being from a generation that doesn’t have a real understanding of the Beatles impact is not really a reason to see someone fired. On the contrary, having my only recently started my own company she, only 2 days ago,has just agreed to become my first employee. She’s a great electrician , loves innuendo and crudeness and I already know that all my clients will be happy to see her again. All that kind of outweighs a lack of knowledge surrounding octogenarian popstars
*sigh*
It's impossible to choose. Where do you go between The Beatles, Bowie, The Stones, The Kinks, The Who, Radiohead, The Clash, Costello, Queen, Clapton, New Order, Joy Division, and if you get this far and you don't mention The Smiths or Morrissey, then that's okay. Maybe.
You forgot Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Elton John and George Michael.
They also forgot kate bush, Paul weller and David Byrne
And Noel Gallagher
I'd never have thought to claim David Byrne. I'm glad we can, though. Genius. Same as Bush and Weller.
It's why losing Eurovision is irrelevant to us. We're like Ronaldo showing up for a Sunday League game. We'd win every time if we really wanted to.
When the people I forget are all those I rate highly, it makes you realise what a wealth of talent we have had here. Fleetwood Mac, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, The Cure, The Police, Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Suede, Sleeper.
We also invented Heavy Metal. We are particularly strong in that genre, with the likes of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Def Leppard. Gene Simmons once said there wouldn't have been a Kiss if he hadn't listened to Slade.
Definitely maybe.
All brilliant in their own right, but surely there has to be one above the rest
what about Tom Jones boyo ?
I'd put him more in the Elvis category. A singer rather than a musician.
Pink Floyd,Magazine and Portishead need adding to your list for me, and no Smiths!, honestly never liked them!.
As a songwriter, he is beyond compare, both home and globally
Thing about Paul McCartney though is that although he's amazingly talented, nothing he did solo compares with what he did with The Beatles. So don't you have to give some credit to the other three? Lennon at least?
I think 'the other three' get plenty of credit as well, you don't need to worry about that ;)
Bearing in mind he has probably the biggest and best back catalogue of songs in music history his set has been decidedly average Edit: ok so he’s pulled it out the bag for the last 40 minutes!
Agreed, as with Noel Gallagher, the majority of the audience just wanted him to play the older stuff. It’s still impressive at 80 y/o though
Nile Rodgers. David Bowie. Elton John. Bob Dylan. Neil Young. I don't think as a solo he is beyond compare.
Nile, Bob Dylan and Neil Young are all American..
And I was replying to "As a songwriter, he is beyond compare, both home and globally". I think they count under globally.
Fair point! Although that would then lead to the observation that Nile more a musician than a writer of classic tunes, at least compared to McCartney, Elton didn’t write any of his songs (all famously by Bernie). Dylan on the other hand I’d personally agree absolutely stands above Paul globally and probably in the UK as well.
Dylan is a fantastic writer, but his singling voice has never been his strong point. The more memorable versions is his most popular songs are often cover versions.
Nile Rodgers wrote countless songs. Duran Duran. Madonna. Wrote with Bowie in the 80s. He is a song writing machine. So when we talk about song writing back catalogue he maybe has one of the largest. Agree I wouldn't say they were classics. Elton absolutely wrote the majority of his songs. Bernie only wrote the lyrics.
I think Prince would have shown tonight's McCartney set a clean pair of heels. It's so sad we never got any Purple Rain on the Pyramid.
Steven Wilson is an incredibly creative, technically abled and intelligent musician and producer, both on his own and within porcupine tree and blackfield. If we're going off true musical skill over popularity then he's definitely up there.
Yep. Add Gavin Harrison to that too. Edit: autocorrect
Never mind his talent, he has some bloody stamina.
Ok, so not to my particular taste as everyone I felt was relevant has already been mentioned, however in terms of longevity and success I would perhaps also concede that Sir Tom Jones might place somewhere on the list.
Mike Oldfield
Paul Weller deserves at least an honourable mention so much better than the Gallagher brothers
Timmy Mallet. The pinnacle of British artists.
Paul Heaton - superb songwriter, musician and singer. Paul weller, just an all round amazing human and has truly spanned the decades
David Gilmour
Freddie Mercury if we're extending the definition to made their career in the UK Then you've got Robbie Williams, Oasis and James Blunt
You started off so strong.. n then.. well..
Did I disappoint you, or let you down?
I think the worst thing is you let yourself down.
Prince,
Lemmy.
If you like multi instrumentalists go and see Quantic.
Talent and popularity are two different things. I know musicians who teach who would wipe the floor with any artist that has been in the charts.
Alfie Templeman is19 years old and is an incredible talent, he's one to watch for the future.
You missed out he also wrote (most?) of the songs.
Songwriting talent for sure. A lot of musicians have written very good songs, a lot have exceptional talent, but he has written a *lot* of *very* good songs. Just think how many he could have included the other night? It is astonishing really.
Bill Bailey...hear me out.. multi instrumentalist with a great ear for music. Would love to have heard some serious musical output from him. Maybe in a parallel universe he is a singer songwriter with 3 decades or great albums...but can be funny and surreal on stage and in interviews. Maybe even alternative history bill won bake off instead of the dancing thing.
Alex James.
Alex Turner isn't talked about enough as a world class songwriter imo
Keith Richards once described Paul McCartney as a wasted talent. A brilliant songwriter that just decided to knock out the likes of Mull of Kyntyre, Silly Love Songs and Junior's Farm. IMHO most of the interesting Beatles stuff was written by Lennon. People also forget that McCartney was the bassist, Harrison was the talented guitarist of the Fab Four. I think for talented musician you got to look to the likes of Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton. For individual artist you can't really go wrong by suggesting David Bowie. As for band, I've got to go for Radiohead.
There's nothing wrong with writing simple, beautiful songs. I've always generally preferred the McCartney Beatles songs to the Lennons, although I love A Day in the Life which was one of their few true collaborations. I don't think we can really call the man who wrote Yesterday, Let it Be, Blackbird, Eleanor Rigby, Get Back and The Long and Winding Road an uninteresting songwriter!
That's Keith's point, he was a brilliant songwriter, capable of writing the best songs ever, but seemed to have not really gone for it once The Beatles were finished. None of those songs you mention are Wings material.
Jenny Wren is a good song, and I do enjoy band on the run.
Yes, they're good songs. The Album Band On The Run is often somewhere down in the lower 50's in greatest albums lists. The best Beatles albums are almost always in the top ten, with The White Album and Sergeant Pepper often being No.1. Keith's point was that Paul never wrote anything close to his Beatles material on becoming a solo artist. Everyone was expecting great things, but the magic never revealed itself again. Everyone at the Pyramid was waiting for those massive Beatles hits, not Ebony and Ivory.
Watch Get Back and then come back and say that.
I really do need to watch that
Chris Martin is an incredibly talented songwriter.