# Most Misunderstood Artists? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000 "2020-04-03T20:53:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/1 "2020-04-03T20:53:49Z")
I would choose Jim Morrison. Some people confuse some silly movie, or a bad source, and then pass it along as fact, and when many people accept it, its hard for them to break that pattern of thinking, especially if someone has a reputation for bashing some guy for whatever reason. It’s rare to see people do a 180, admit they were wrong. I would always tell people to take first-hand accounts first. Find interviews - video, audio, and text, and then with that foundation, you can read second-hand sources and decide for yourself. And even then, I would start with the best sources - family, band-mates, etc. He was a lot more than just some drunk who did crazy things. I’d also name Roger Waters. If you read back to interviews in the 1970s, you can read Gilmour saying he was lazy, and how Rick wasn’t pulling his weight. I think people misunderstand Roger’s personality, too. I guess someone has to drive, but some might confuse a character from “The Wall” as being Roger, just because there are a few similar traits, which is very common among artists, who use many inspirations to create. And then you have these idiots who’ll say “Why doesn’t he just stick to what he did best in the 1970s” - not knowing he’s been so consistent with his political beliefs, but that its THEM who have the problems, and can only attack because of ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/2 "2020-04-03T23:14:15Z")
Ahhhhhhh, Pink Floyd were no damn good after **Syd Barrett** left. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/3 "2020-04-04T01:26:29Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Ahhhhhhh, Pink Floyd were no damn good after **Syd Barrett** left. Don’t you mean “before”? d&r ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/4 "2020-04-04T07:20:21Z")
Nobody really knew Big Daddy Roth. Rat Fink was the inevitable result. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/5 "2020-04-04T12:20:51Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Ahhhhhhh, Pink Floyd were no damn good after **Syd Barrett** left. I think Pink Floyd became the greatest after he left… Their 70s stuff is 2nd to none… After Roger Waters left, they became a joke unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/6 "2020-04-04T15:18:45Z")
What is to misunderstand about Waters? The man is an ass. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/7 "2020-04-04T15:23:09Z")
Lennon, too. That comment about the Beatles being more popular than God still pisses people off. But Jackson Pollock should probably be the jumping-off point for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/8 "2020-04-04T17:05:41Z")
Eric Burdon of The Animals. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/9 "2020-04-04T17:24:41Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > I think Pink Floyd became the greatest after he left… Their 70s stuff is 2nd to none… After Roger Waters left, they became a joke unfortunately. I’m inclined to agree. Syd has this “unimpeachable genius” label that’s an accepted truth in many circles, but I don’t think it’s borne out by objective listening, really. He may have been innovative and influential in his day, but that really only means he’s partly responsible for how good other people sound, not \* necessarily\* that his output is especially listenable now. Early man’s discovery of cooking may be hugely important in the story of how food evolved, but it doesn’t mean burnt mammoth would win any Michelin stars today. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/10 "2020-04-04T17:26:47Z")
Duplicate post… ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/11 "2020-04-04T18:57:20Z")
Agreed regarding Jim Morrison. He certainly wasn’t the master poet so many of us young adults thought he was at the time, nor was he the world’s finest human being, but the amount of exaggerated hype that now surrounds him is irritating. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/12 "2020-04-04T19:20:39Z")
Mick Jagger. I can hardly understand a word that man sings. He really needs to articulate better. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/13 "2020-04-04T19:56:47Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Agreed regarding Jim Morrison. He certainly wasn’t the master poet so many of us young adults thought he was at the time, nor was he the world’s finest human being, but the amount of exaggerated hype that now surrounds him is irritating. I actually never cared for any type of poetry… I love the music, and I love his individualism, and especially his disdain for authority, and he actually lived it, instead of just saying it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/14 "2020-04-04T20:46:29Z")
> [@MortSahlFan](#): > > He was a lot more than just some drunk who did crazy things. True. But he wasn’t a lot more than a popular singer. Let’s not go too far the other way and pretend Jim Morrison was some artistic genius. He was the sixties equivalent of Pharrell Williams. Except with a serious substance abuse problem. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/15 "2020-04-04T21:28:05Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Eric Burdon of The Animals. Oh Lord, please don’t let him… ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/16 "2020-04-04T21:49:21Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Oh Lord, please don’t let him… I’m stupid. I’m ignorant. I admit it. WTF is with Eric Burdon you know that this ignoramus doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/17 "2020-04-04T22:04:50Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’m stupid. I’m ignorant. I admit it. WTF is with Eric Burdon you know that this ignoramus doesn’t? …be misunderstood (doodle-oot doodle-oo, doodle-oo-dooooooo). ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/18 "2020-04-04T22:44:39Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Oh Lord, please don’t let him… I saw Burdon at the Camden Roundhouse in 1976. He was off his face that night too and couldn’t remember the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/19 "2020-04-04T23:05:39Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > True. But he wasn’t a lot more than a popular singer. > > Let’s not go too far the other way and pretend Jim Morrison was some artistic genius. As someone who loved Jim with the Doors and saw them four times (Oct 67, June 68, Dec 68, Aug 70), I couldn’t agree with you more. He wasn’t an especially good singer, much less an artistic genius. Didn’t stop me from enjoying watching and listening to him though. He had impressive stage presence. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > He was the sixties equivalent of Pharrell Williams. Except with a serious substance abuse problem. I don’t know who Pharrell Williams is, but as I see it Jim’s problem (besides his horrific overuse of psychedlics followed by alcoholism) was that he was more or less playing a character onstage and off, mistakenly assuming that people knew this. He later told an interviewer that he’d seen “Jim Morrison” as a theatrical persona but “I guess they thought I was crazy.” Then of course his alcoholism took over and he became an obnoxious slobbering drunk. Such a waste. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000/20 "2020-04-04T23:32:37Z")
Jim Morrison - One of a thankfully exremely small number of people to fuck up a great Hendrix track: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf5pFAJwlZc) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-misunderstood-artists/851000.md?page=2)