First Impressions And Thoughts About 'The Man'

[SharksDontSleep]

SteveB;
First Impressions - That of happiness.
The feel good factor on this forum is inspirational. Everyone has been welcoming.
Some/Most of the talent on display is better than that of anything you could hear on mainstream radio.

So to sum up
Stick It To The Man

[SteveB]

So to sum up
Stick It To The Man

GJK - With you on that one. 

[Greeny]

If you are a guitar player, you simply cannot walk past a guitar without stopping and wanting to either look or play the instrument, and that will apply to all musicians' and their respective instruments.

This is SO true. In fact, the greatest truth of creativity (for me) is that it's something you're compelled to do by strange, unknown forces. The minute you create purely for fame, for money or for ego, then you're doomed as an artist. Now, it's good to be recognized for your talent, but a true artist will have the same passion for what they do even if nobody ever sees / hears it.

Creativity, for me, is a personal, constantly-evolving battle of self-improvement. Every song has the potential to be better than my previous favourite, whether that's lyrically or musically or both.

This is in stark contrast to the 'X-Factor' generation, who seem motivated by quickly-acquired fame, with no care for the craft and talent of a 'real' musician. Talent is secondary. Looks and ambition are everything. I could go on and on (and on) on this point.

I know someone who is a very good singer and a pretty good guitarist. He is totally motivated by fame, however. And it's eating him up. He's completely out of control in his desperation to make it big. I knew he wasn't in it for the music a long time ago, because he only has a handful of songs that he plays over and over. I could tell he wasn't songwriting for the joy of music - they were just vehicles to propel him upwards. He literally whores himself here there and everywhere, p*issing people off and using them. He goes through lots of band members because they end up realising he's a user. And the worst thing is that he's 43 years old. He can see that it's probably too late, but he lies about his age. And then, the big one. He dumps his wife and kid and goes off with a 16 year old barbie doll. It's all going to end in tears. I've never seen anyone have so many photos and videos of themself. Vanity and ego... what a horrible thing.

'The Man' is anyone who doesn't love music. Because if you love something - I mean REALLY love something - it's nothing to do with fame, money, ego or what you can get from it. It's about unconditional love and understanding, through good times and bad times.

[SteveB]

GNY - Perception beyond belief, well done. Thank God I found this Forum. 

[Bluesberry]

I like the whole story about how Wilco stuck it to the man.  They were getting more experimental with each album, they put out Summerteeth (great album by the way, the production on this one is staggering, my favorite Wilco album), and were working on their masterpiece Yankee-Hotel-Foxtrot.  The damn record company thought they were getting too out there and dropped them.  They had to come up with the money to buy their almost completed album.  What did they do? They finished it themselves, went on tour to promote it and began giving it away it through their web-site.  The rest is history.  They were picked up by a small label, and YHF ended up becoming their biggest seller, album of the year, rave reviews, the whole shebang.  The man was wrong, Wilco was right, and they proved it and stuck it to the man.  Thats the story I like about The Man.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is the fourth album by Chicago-based rock band Wilco. The album was completed in 2001, but Reprise Records believed that it would not have crossover pop success and refused to release it. Wilco acquired the rights to the album when they were released from the label.

After their dismissal from Reprise, Wilco offered the entire album for free on their official website. In November 2001, Wilco signed with Nonesuch Records, and the album was officially released on April 23, 2002. It was the first Wilco album with drummer Glenn Kotche, and the last with multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jay Bennett and drummer Ken Coomer. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was a critical and commercial success, and is their best selling album, with over 500,000 copies sold in the U.S. and topping the Pazz and Jop critics' poll for 2002.

[Flash Harry]

The 'Man' should be sitting up and listening to the music that is being aired here, the creativity and tallent that the music industry fettered with golden handcuffs was the tip of the iceberg. Artists everywhere have been given space to perform and the 'Man' ain't listening. I hope he never does.

Music is changing, it's becoming more like it used to be, where friends met in pubs and sang and played, but the pubs are now online communities and the audiences are wider.

I like this new order. I like the idea that the fat cats cannot make money off the back of this way of delivering music. If music production and disemination fell back into the hands of the musicians and songwriters, it would not be a bad thing at all.

[Geir]

You said it Mike. My thoughts exactly!  ..... and I think "The Man" is dying .. at least he's not quite well ...

[Greeny]

The 'Man' should be sitting up and listening to the music that is being aired here, the creativity and tallent that the music industry fettered with golden handcuffs was the tip of the iceberg. Artists everywhere have been given space to perform and the 'Man' ain't listening. I hope he never does.

Music is changing, it's becoming more like it used to be, where friends met in pubs and sang and played, but the pubs are now online communities and the audiences are wider.

I like this new order. I like the idea that the fat cats cannot make money off the back of this way of delivering music. If music production and disemination fell back into the hands of the musicians and songwriters, it would not be a bad thing at all.

Nicely put.

And tomorrow night there will hopefully be part of this online community meeting in a pub - which kind of joins the two things together. And I'll be trying to record the event on the BR to post back on this forum.

Pity I'll be driving though. It'll be a sober performance, lol.

[guitarron]

interesting topic
every time we make cd's or download stuff to listen to, or listen to satellite radio is sort of giving the finger to the man too

[Flash Harry]

We need two MBR's to get the stereo track - any going spare?