I was a teen of the 80’s and into metal. I was aware of Prince and liked some of his songs, Sign of the Times and Kiss come immediately to mind but never really cared enough to look past the hits I saw on MTV etc.
A few years ago I clicked on a link to a performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the George Harrison Hall of Fame enrollment. My God did Prince blow me away. The performance is stunningly good and fun as well. He is a guitar god in this clip. Style, flair and effortless skill. The story behind it is good. Rehearsals didn’t go well and there was confusion over what Prince would do and even what solo he’d play. Nobody heard his performance until he did it. I’ve never seen someone so own a performance before. He moves through styles of playing and you can see him looking at Petty et all smiling and nodding as if to say "Yea Motherfucker I doing this and you’re going to have to loop again
It fills me with joy and is a clip I return back to a lot to cheer myself up.
Here is Prince killing it and making me rethink everything about him.
Funny that your example is Prince. I have always respected him, knew he was a great musician capable of playing in many styles and genres. Then a friend sent me a Youtube link to him sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar singing a couple of his songs at a show. His command of that situation made me respect him even more.
I have been aware of Ed Sheeran for a while because my wife listens to a SiriusXM channel that plays his stuff. Nice pop, nothing that really grabbed my attention. Then I saw him on Austin City Limits recently. Holy moly! He’s a one man show! I’ve seen plenty of loopers, on TV and in person, and Sheeran is the best I’ve seen. The process of building the loops does not seem gimicky or preliminary, it seems like a natural part of the song. Whether he’s looping or just playing live, he’s a very engaging performer who is absolutely top-knotch at what he does.
Funny how different folk experience the same artist. I went to see Prince in 79 or 80. Blew me away. And the solo on Bambi was my alltime fave for some time.
I was a huge Elvis Costello fan around the same time. Then I saw him play solo with an acoustic guitar (in a college gym). Maybe around 81-82. For whatever reason I had never appreciated his amazing voice before then. Too caught up in the hooks and wordsmithing, I imagine.
When the Beastie Boys came out with Paul’s Boutique I realized they were more than a novelty.
When Jeff Beck came out with Blow By Blow, the George Martin produced, seminal fusion jazz/rock album, it was a big shift in perception about him. I came to it later, but still coming from loving his Jeff Beck Group hard rock albums. Blow By Blow is some sophisticated shit!
Hearing Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On after loving his pop Motown stuff.
I don’t have a link, but I never cared for Nikki Minaj until I saw her on a TV special. She had on a modest black dress, no extreme makeup, and sang a familiar song very well. I didn’t have a clue it was her until the show’s host thanked her. I still don’t care for her usual stuff, but she can sing.
Mine is Lady Gaga, as well, but it was her recording of The Lady Is A Tramp with Tony Bennett that made me go from “overblown publicity whore” to “Wow! She’s got pipes!”
Bon Jovi… was never a fan. until one time on some long long ago MTV award type show he and ritchie just came out with acoustics and blew the house down… It was amazing… I never forgot that … I think their performance is was began the Acoustic show on MTV…
On the other hand… she has one of the greatest albums ever front to back… but Lauryn Hill’s performance on MTV Acoustic was so bad… it was painful. I bought the cd unheard for my then wife… she said it made her depressed…
I’m a middle-aged guy, and only knew of One Direction and its members from passing news stories and such. But then I saw this performance from Harry Styles. I think it’s awesome!
Nice one Made in Macau I had a similar experience when listening to the Howard Stern Show a few years ago.
Here she is with just a piano singing Edge of Glory. Great stuff.
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I thought that she was just another no-talent singer who was outrageous just to get noticed until I saw her on a daytime TV show. I learned the big difference was she could actually write songs. Then she sat at the piano and started to play a first-class blues song. I’ve respected her ever since.
She’s still outrageous, but she has the talent to back it up.
There was a long Elton John special on TV back in the 80s, and I thought, wow, this guy really did a lot of great songs, and he’s been on my short list of favorite artists ever since.
I didn’t “discover” David Bowie until I heard one of his songs on a TV commercial track (Electric blue)… Ive discovered a few other artists when their songs were on TV ads, or in films, but no others worth mentioning.
I pretty much had Annie Lennox pegged as an 80s gimmick until 1990’s Red Hot + Blue album, when she did wonderful things with Every Time We Say Goodbye. Turns out Eurythmics was holding her back. How strange, the change from the major to the minor.
I hate to admit this but when I was much younger, like back in the 70’s, and really, REALLY just not in the mood for a concert that evening, my then boyfriend dragged me, quite literally dragged me, to see BBKing perform.
I could not shut up about it for months afterward. I was absolutely blown away. And back then, when I was dating that boy, we went to concerts all the freaking time, I’d seen dozens of really great performers.
But there can only, will only, ever ever, be one King!
A long time ago my girl and I spent New Years Eve in Las Vegas and for the midnight show, decided on Doc Severinsen’s performance. His opener was Tony Orlando (no Dawn, though) and I settled in my seat, prepared to suffer though his act to get to the one I came to see. Instead, he was really, really good, working the audience and getting the energy up. He didn’t do his pop songs, except Tie a Yellow Ribbon – he kind of had to. Instead it was all standards, appropriate for the older crowd at a New Years show. He impressed me with the range and emotion he put into them and easily won me over, and from the sound of it the rest of the crowd too.
Doc on the other hand, was flat (in the non-musical sense) pretty much going through the motions. He didn’t look well and I suspect it was a “the show must go on” performance.
I could have written this OP word for word. This performance - along with the story behind it - is absolutely legendary. And the guitar toss at the end…PERFECTION.
