sonicshoulder Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I was going to sit on the sidelines on this thread but we're several pages deep and I've yet to see Conner Oberst. He's been writing songs since he was about 12, literally. I know he can be polarizing in musical discussion but I personally think he's phenomenal. He plays any instrument,juggles numerous projects at once and is a lyrical genius. He may never have the commercial success of Neil and Dylan but then again very few do and in no way does a brilliant career require commercial success. He gets my vote. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Magnetized Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I was going to sit on the sidelines on this thread but we're several pages deep and I've yet to see Conner Oberst. He's been writing songs since he was about 12, literally. I know he can be polarizing in musical discussion but I personally think he's phenomenal. He plays any instrument,juggles numerous projects at once and is a lyrical genius. He may never have the commercial success of Neil and Dylan but then again very few do and in no way does a brilliant career require commercial success. He gets my vote.Agree! I've loved almost everything he's done, starting back with Fevers and Mirrors. I didn't think his latest (People's Key) was up there with the best of them (Wide Awake and Cassadega), but he can be great. I don't care if he is whiny and self-indulgent and if his voice is wavering. That's all true, but he can still be brilliant, and he can also be mesmerizing in concert. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lost highway Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 David Byrne these gentlemen have a way of evolving over time without giving up on quality. If it's a question of writing top notch songs, then David Byrne has a strong case. As do a ton of people named in this thread. But David Byrne as an entity is a very different machine than Dylan. The most quintessential Byrne stuff (to me) is this weird promotion for modern living which is always tilting on a knife's edge of sarcasm. The whole question of Byrne is: Does his love off shopping malls and highways come via irony, or not? Dylan had a much more earnest kind of vitriol. From his early "protest songs", to his early electric personal indictments, Dylan used metaphor and the image to attack whoever was in the wrong. He did it all with so much talent that his own lack of authenticity became irrelevant. Without Dylan there could be no Madonna. Dylan strikes me as the first post-modern pop star that not only made his persona part of the project (like Elvis, or Chuck Berry), but also actually changed that persona as served him, or his art. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tweedling Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I dont recall Dylan ever having a lack of authenticity at all.Ever Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lost highway Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Most of the autobiographical information he gave to people was fictitious. His entire persona around the time of being signed was based on Woody Guthrie. He made up a lot of stories about being a train hopper and a hobo, they just weren't true. Dylan stepped over a lot of people in the Dinkytown community of aspiring folk singers in MN. He seems to have been a compulsive liar. Which is exactly what makes him interesting: the fact that it doesn't matter. The dude is like batman. The symbol he constructed of himself was so apt, and became so important to the modern American psyche that someone like you would emphasize "Ever" as a complete separate sentence to defend him. Because it doesn't even matter if his motorcycle wreck really happened. It doesn't matter because he recorded great music with the Band at Big Pink. The story he told, and we tell is probably much better than the specifics of what really happened and who he really is. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Magnetized Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Great comments, lost highway! Dylan is a fascinating character, literally. If anyone hasn't seen the Scorsese documentary "No Direction Home," I can't recommend anything more highly. I'm sure it's been discussed on here before (maybe even by me) but in addition to all the great footage and history, it's got some of the most straightforward interviews with him that I've ever seen. I was really struck by the part where he says he's convinced that he was born to the wrong parents and in the wrong place--he never really was Robert Zimmerman from Hibbing, Minnesota. In a strange way, I believe that too. All the self-mythologizing and the way he plays with his audience like a cat with a mouse would be pretentious and ridiculous if he weren't such a genius. But he is, and so it all seems right somehow. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tweedling Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Eh, I was speaking to the authenticity of his music. But to your point, he truly believed his born name was wrong and took a name that inspired him. There is authenticity in that, kinda deep. HahahaBottom line is I believe we're speaking about different things. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kim Bodnia Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYDw25-RT5U Quote Link to post Share on other sites
parisisstale Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 McCauley was my first thought, just pray he's around long enough....I can't take take the dr dog guy seriously cuz he always looks like he's goin to a Dylan halloween party Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vacant Horizon Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Most of the autobiographical information he gave to people was fictitious. His entire persona around the time of being signed was based on Woody Guthrie. He made up a lot of stories about being a train hopper and a hobo, they just weren't true. Dylan stepped over a lot of people in the Dinkytown community of aspiring folk singers in MN. He seems to have been a compulsive liar. Which is exactly what makes him interesting: the fact that it doesn't matter. The dude is like batman. The symbol he constructed of himself was so apt, and became so important to the modern American psyche that someone like you would emphasize "Ever" as a complete separate sentence to defend him. Because it doesn't even matter if his motorcycle wreck really happened. It doesn't matter because he recorded great music with the Band at Big Pink. The story he told, and we tell is probably much better than the specifics of what really happened and who he really is. this is how religions get started. good points. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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