I was on Glen Weiser's Website(it's in Adam's links page) and stumbled on his Y-T links page. This video got me thinking about 2 things: 1) that I forgot what a monster Charlie McCoy is,he's got his own distinctive style.2)even though I know its pure Hollywood that video bothered me a little. Perhaps because I know it's Charlie McCoy,but it was -inauthentic- for lack of a better term. What do you think?
oh no I totally agree and understand. Thats how I feel about most mainstream broadcast type stuff. Somehow most mainstream stuff comes off to me as being fake or hokey, even if the actual artist is performing it. Even if it were an artist I semi-liked, I will not watch the super bowl half time show for fear of killing myself. Even when Paul performed a few years back, I had to turn it off. This is right here is one of the worst displays of this type of "inauthenticism" as you so aptly put. Not quite the same usage of the word though.I'm a HUGE Stevie fan and I wanted to puke the first time I saw this:
Sorry, I don't really follow your argument. Why is it 'inauthentic' for Stevie to be playing on a pop record? Musically it might not be a great song, and yes the suits are horrible! but within the genre, I can't see anything staged or false about it. Please explain where you're coming from on this. btw I'm not trying to pick a fight or split hairs, just a bit confused :-)
Hmmm... Elvis clip: Seemed fine to me, if you like Elvis. Stevie Wonder clip: I felt the best part was the singing before the harp. The puke part was the background singers. Yikes! Perhaps its a sin to say here, but the harp playing in that clip would be great...with other music in the background.
good music is good music.it shouldn't matter one iota who's singing,playing it.it should be totally irrelevant who's performing. i guess it all comes down to your starting point. i've heard white people say that there can't be any good white blues singers.i couldn't,at that time,be bothered to argue the point. for me,the best female blues singer of the lot was janis joplin.not because of anything other than her voice.she had shedloads of misery(relative)growing up in port arthur,so what isn't authentic about that? of the blues harp players i've heard and appreciated so far,sonny terry stands out for me,not because of anything other than what he does with the harp. i saw mark knopfler do a stint with bb king.was the bb king part not authentic because mark knopfler was with him? for me,no one owns anything.it's either good,bad or indifferent.nothing else matters.
@ Mr.VLUN: When I say inauthentic, I'm mean the feel I get from the performance. It's not fake from the standpoint thats Stevie is there and doing it, but it is in my opinion because its like forced. He's up there following a really bad song with lesser musicians, you can tell the whole situation is just totally throwing his whole aura off. And EVERYBODY just eats it up. Its hard for me to explain, I revert back to super bowl half-time shows I've seen where everybody on the field is waving on cue and smiling and dancing and looking like they are having the times of their lives, and then they all bring out glow sticks on cue...all the while HORRIBLE music is playing. Its just my reflection on mainstream music in general I guess. Everything is so shallow and showy and is not about the music. It is therefore "inauthentic" because it should be about the music. When people back in the day saw the elvis clip, do you think they were thinking "man I like how that song was constructed and the feel of the performance"? I think they were thinking "OH MY GOD ELVIS WOOOOOOO! Do that thing with your hips! WOOOOOO!" He could have started farting in tune and they would have ate it up because he had been ordained a "star." Maybe my use of the word isn't correct but it seems right in my mind. Does that sort of clarify what I was trying to get at, after having reread what I wrote originally, it is kind of muddled.
Yeah, thanks - I think I see where you're coming from, I've never been a fan of the Eurythmics, but I do recall that Stevie's contribution to the studio version of this tune had more 'sparkle' than this live performance. BUT... I don't really think he was there for the "Look WOW! it's Stevie Wonder factor", but because he played on the original recording (without much fanfare if I recall). Still not his best performance I agree.
I don't think Elvis was authentic. He started out being so, but he sold out. I've read the same sentiments from Jerry Lee Lewis, who called him a "traitor." He started out playing heart-felt rock & roll and gospel, but then the record companies decided that he shouldn't be playing "race music" to all the white kids...So he started imitating Bing Crosby. Not my idea of a "Rock & Roll King."
"verybody on the field is waving on cue and smiling and dancing and looking like they are having the times of their lives, and then they all bring out glow sticks on cue...all the while HORRIBLE music is playing."
Lol .... When you put it that way, it sounds kind of scary. Sounds like the Chinese performances during the Olympics.
Last Edited by on Dec 17, 2009 2:21 AM
EXACTLY! THATS what I was trying to say...that performances like this are made to look good and be presented on television, not be appreciated for what they are worth musically. Its all based on marketing value and shallow perception of appearance, not musical performance. I would have never thought of the olympics though haha, that is like a whole different level of scary.
