just to be genuine with my reply, I have not read any posts other than the intital one that started the thread.
here I go:
I LOVE the Blues. I have since I was 10 when I saw the R Rated Blues Brothers in the theater with my oldest and dearest friend Clark. I was exposed to Cab, Caloway, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, John Lee Hooker, the Booker T rhythum section, and heard the name Elmore James for the 1st time, and of course the awesomely funny Jake and Elwood themselves...That was just the beginning, which was great, because the great thing about the blues, is that is a template...its a starting point. Its the 1st step in a journey of a million musical notes. Its the canvas where an impassioned artist can flourish and shine from a place depth within. A true and honest place where emotion is born...where you can connect your heart to anothers heart years away. Thats why I love the blues...I love it for what it can do to a person, what it has done for people, and what it will do for people. The blues is alive. It breathes, it seethes, it has been everything to "anyone with hearts and ears".
The blues make me laugh.
The blues make me cry.
The blues connect you to me, and help us to identify.
-random poem about the blues, I just wrote, inspired by the blues.
Its true. The blues make me laugh, cuz, I empathaize with the lyrics sometimes. They make me cry sometimes, cuz sometimes things get to real, and the emotion of a good solo takes you to places lyrics cannot describe.
That said...there is also alot of fake blues, bad blues, redundant blues, jazzy uptown-style blues that is just crap. I don't care for the happy-poppy uptown horn driven blues...happy blues is an oxymoron....the blues you dress up for like its Easter Sunday is not my kind of blues...
I dig: Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James...they're my favs...The Wolf's voice is that of the blues...that growl, that howl. He's the man (and he was cool...a head on family man with a good sense of right and wrong).
Elmore...I love the manic style in which he played and sang...his lyrics are awesome, and are driven home by that wicked slide.
Led Zeppelin's music was largely influential in the formation of my musical landscape and tastes...I LOVE Zep, and their early shows, their "blues" shows in the beginning were perfect examples of how the blues provided a springboard for talent to rise from...they were great, and didn't just play 12 bar blues...they explored the universe from a simple blues pattern...no redundacy...they moved forward, keeping the blues alive.
No content with only listening to Zep, I went to their sources of inspiration, and found Muddy and the Wolf, and Elomore, and Robert, and Minnie, and Leadbelly...that music resonated true inside me. It still does.
That honest and true music is great.
So Julian doesn't like blues...that could be the title to a good blues song.
Maybe Julian just doesn't feel kinship to it the way I do.
Thats ok. He's entitled. I just hope its not the adopted attitude of a child of the punk era. If he hates the blues, I hope its for a good reason, and not just a cool thing to say amongst the punks. Maybe he doesn't like it cuz he isn't able to whip out a good solo...He's always down on his guitar playing, but I believe a visionary musician such as himself surely has that ability within...he just needs to feel it. And in the moment I'm sure he could rock it out!! I think it stems from his "lyrically proficient, musically defecient" mindset...His lyrics don't need the blues background, and only knowing a few chords can result in the bland blues I despise. So, maybe if Julian cannot play a style of music well enough himself, then perhaps he doesn't like the style of music.
(
There...enough analyzing Julian. We all got opinions...
Lastly, The state of blues may have reached its end. Electronic blues, rap blues, disco blues, rock blues, jazz blues...what else is there? There is only the imagination of the inspired player to express his soul in the form of song...I look forward to that more than a pacifier at a rave.
...now to read the posts.
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