I've been started on this train of thought by listening to I couple of songs I downloaded by Minnie Riperton. I really liked her track on the Jackie Brown soundtrack. But then I listened to this song "Lovin You", and it's just painfully awful. I mean it's kinda sweet and all, but she's just all over the place. The first three lines of the verse go "loving you, something something something", and then the last one is like "everything that I do is out of loving you". THen it's all like "La la la la la" and "do do do" and this ridiculous screeching. I'm sure there are people who really like this song, and I'm sorry, but I find it infuriating.
Anyway, my point is that she's got an amazing voice that can hit notes through the stratosphere. So why write this bland lazy pap? Jeff Buckley had an amazing voice, and he did something great with it. Just seems like a waste. And Diamanda Galas. She has an earth-shakingly amazing voice, but what's with all this child-of-Satan shit?
Other examples of wasted or abused talent for me are:
Method Man - "Yeah word up, the Ticallion Stallion, back with another Wu Banger etc". I know he's got his hands full smoking an ounce and everything but goddam! He could at least pretend to be trying! He's got such a cool voice, why does he refuse to say anything with it?
Radiohead - "oh look at me, oh I'm so alienated, oh isn't life depressing..." They can write really powerful music, so why not do something a bit more uplifting? Loads of people I've spoken to associate a Radiohead album with a phase of their life they'd like to leave behind, and find it hard to listen to now. Shame. Please understand, it's BECAUSE I think they're so talented that this pisses me off.
Kurt Cobain - need I say more?
OK, I'm starting to run dry here. Help me out. And remember, the above examples, which I admit are not brilliant, are not the basis of the discussion, but just examples to get things started. |
