I am planning an illustrated history of “wimp rock.” By this, I mean the type of music epitomized by The Postal Service, Iron And Wine, Grandaddy, some of Wilco and Ben Folds Five, and similar bands. The qualifications I’m using are: a generally “soft” and gentle feel to the vocals; a high male voice; a typically lucid and tight arrangement of instrumentals (rather than the crashing and clashing of distorted guitar and bass,) …an overall “wussy” feel. The kind of music where you picture the singer being a boyish guy with glasses, slightly neurotic and posessing a nerdy charm. (Even though Grandaddy consists of a bunch of burly, bearded lumberjack-esque guys, I still always envision someone who looks like ME when I hear them.)
I (sort of) have a preliminary idea of the history. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young definitely belong in there towards the beginning (the high voices and sweet love songs,) James Taylor and Jackson Browne following (soft vocals, “sensitive-guy” charm,) Joe Jackson and definitely Todd Rundgren for the 80s, and then the bands that I’ve listed at the top for the present day.
I want other peoples’ input as to what other bands, or male singers, belong in here. This is just going to be a light-hearted comic, so I don’t need to cover every little thing or go into too much detail, but I’d like some reccommended listening beyond what I’ve just mentioned, to get an idea of other artists to include in my history of wimp rock. Thanks!
Must not forget Styx, Journey, and REO Speedwagon. REO Speedwagon especially. They fired their guitarist because he wouldn’t give up drinking and eating meat.
I’m going to mention Elvis Costello, but only in the context of his image and not his music (which I love, but it just rocks too hard to make it into this comic.)
I’d think Elliott Smith would qualify. Soft rock, really. High pitched voice, but with tight guitar playing. I’d further recommend the album Figure 8 as the starting point. Very catchy stuff.
I think I’ll have to check out some of the artists mentioned here, it sounds as though we have similar musical tastes.
[QUOTE=Snooooopy]
Joe Jackson? The man behind the spiteful “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” is too much of a crank for this category.
Joe Jackson is a pioneer of wuss rock. That song alone sounds like Ben Folds before there was a Ben Folds, every time I hear it. You better believe he’s included.
I’d disagree with the Stone Roses. While frail and British and delicate, their album “Second Coming” was full of absolutely crushing distorted blues guitar. If frail, British, and delicate were determinants, Radiohead would be way up there too.
I’d nominate, in a much more important seat in the pantheon (and I hate to say it, but some of their stuff was mightily twee,) Simon and Garfunkel.
Morrissey, with or without the Smiths, is pretty wussy. That doesn’t mean he couldn’t rock hard (the Smiths were an AMAZING band), but he’s a big mopey, melodramatic git.
