# Quincy Jones has zero fucks to give: his Interview; shades Michael, Jimi, Ringo, Cyndi, etc **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2018, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505 "2018-02-09T10:40:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/21 "2018-02-09T15:53:11Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Acknowledging Paul’s HUGE influence as a rock bassist, to put some context on it, would have been nice. Telling the story about fooling Ringo is simply bitchy. The people who slag Ringo off are the people who think a “good” drummer needs to sound like the dude from Whiplash or fucking Neal Peart. Ringo locked in perfectly with the Beatles, played tastefully, didn’t overshadow the melody, and always knew when to come in with the right fills and dynamic variations. Anyone who can listen to _Cry Baby Cry_ and not think Ringo is the man, can take their ears and jam them right up their ass. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/22 "2018-02-09T15:58:24Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > Alright, the guy has some chops. And he’s still young. Maybe he can mature to a new and unique style someday. > > FWIW, I really am not into the “sensitive guy crooning love songs with guitar” genre. Does Ed Sheeran have tracks where he collaborates with a good drummer and bassist and locks into a real groove with them through some interesting chord progressions? Is he capable of playing that way? I’m not asking this rhetorically like to try to just shit all over his style; it’s his style; he’s admittedly good at it; but aside from that one thing you shared (which seems to be mostly a pastiche of rap and Estuary-English half-singing, accompanied by admittedly decent guitar chops), everything else I’ve seen of him gives off vibes of early-2000s John Mayer. Except even John Mayer’s breakout hit, _No Such Thing,_ was an upbeat number that grabbed hold of your ears with a gripping tension-and-release Maj7-Major guitar strum before you even heard Mayer’s voice come in, joined by a hard-hitting drummer and bassist who immediately lock into a solid groove. Those, to me, are the elements of a good pop song. > > I’m willing to look at Sheeran again in ~5 years when hopefully he’s matured into a harder-hitting style. Here is an article in Billboard about all of the artists Ed Sheeran has written songs for: [Ed Sheeran: Songs He Wrote for Other People (That He Also Sang On) | Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7709294/ed-sheeran-songs-wrote-collaborations-justin-bieber-taylor-swift) He is at the same level of hitmaker as folks like Pharrell and Max Martin. Again, the littlest amount of Googling will point this out. I am not saying that to be snarky - I am saying that because Sheeran has built a fascinating and incredibly diverse career that happens to be packaged in the form of a Ginger Hobbit Boy Singer. He is far more formidable. To be clear, I find his stuff okay for the most part. But I get where he is on the music landscape. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/23 "2018-02-09T16:04:27Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > The people who slag Ringo off are the people who think a “good” drummer needs to sound like the dude from Whiplash or fucking Neal Peart. Ringo locked in perfectly with the Beatles, played tastefully, didn’t overshadow the melody, and always knew when to come in with the right fills and dynamic variations. Anyone who can listen to _Cry Baby Cry_ and not think Ringo is the man, can take their ears and jam them right up their ass. I have shared my love of Ringo on the SDMB before: [A Tip of the Hat - to Ringo Starr's drumming - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=697153) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/24 "2018-02-09T16:12:07Z")
He wasn’t insulting Hendix’s playing abilities, it was about his confidence to play alongside scary talent. I think we should all remember that while there’s some “crazy old dude don’t give a fuck” in there the article does note > [@](#): > > This interview has been edited and condensed from two conversations. So there’s every possibility that Jones softened some of his criticism but that didn’t make the cut. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/25 "2018-02-09T16:24:01Z")
He is a music snob which you would expect of a serious musician. He was asked about the Beatles, Hendrix, and Micheal Jackson, he did not bring them up to slag them. When he first heard the Beatles McCartney had only been playing bass three years or so. Ronnie Verrell who he said was so much better than Ringo had been playing professionally in big bands for almost 20 years at that point. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/26 "2018-02-09T18:16:08Z")
Stephen Colbert riffed on the interview last night on his show: [Colbert Can’t Pick the Biggest Quincy Jones Bombshell](http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/colbert-cant-pick-the-biggest-quincy-jones-bombshell.html) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/27 "2018-02-09T18:17:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > He says that Richard Pryor slept with Marlon Brando and Pryor’s widow confirmed that. I had no idea that Pryor was bi. Me neither, but the opening of Pryor’s infamous set during the Star Spangled Night for Rights at the Hollywood Bowl in 1977, concerned a sexual relationship he supposedly had with a young man in 1952. [This 2015 article from the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/11/richard-pryor-great-meltdown-racist-hollywood-bowl) goes into more detail. Neat story, and I’d never heard of it til it was mentioned in the wake of the Jones interview brouhaha. The bit on Smith and Sheeran makes me wonder whether they’re affiliated with any projects or companies that Jones is affiliated with. But jeez, who am I to tell Quincy Jones that his opinion on modern music is flawed? EDIT: Especially when I had never heard of “Giant Steps” until reading about it in the interview. Though I’m glad that I did. Albeit listening to it, I feel a lot like an ape reading Nietzsche; I’m amazed, but I certainly don’t understand why. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/28 "2018-02-09T18:26:52Z")
He met the beatles in 1964 and he thought they couldn’t play. Not news to me. He was right, for QJs perspective. He knows they got better. He was just telling anecdotes about the early days. He said this about modern music: “Hell no. It’s just loops, beats, rhymes and hooks. What is there for me to learn from that? There ain’t no fucking songs. The song is the power; the singer is the messenger. The greatest singer in the world cannot save a bad song. I learned that 50 years ago, and it’s the single greatest lesson I ever learned as a producer. If you don’t have a great song, it doesn’t matter what else you put around it.” Sounds sharp as a tack to me. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/29 "2018-02-09T18:59:45Z")
I never liked Quincy Jones’ work; everything he does sounds horribly over-produced to me. Compare early blues and R&B recordings of Dinah Washington, backed by smokin’ hot jazz combos, with the toned-down, sedate crap she did under the Jones baton. Yeah, maybe he knew Bird and Diz, but THEY probably thought he was a dork, too. Fuck his opinions; he greatest talent was outliving all the better musicians. ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/30 "2018-02-09T19:20:38Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Quincy saying Paul and Ringo couldn’t cut it from a jazz cat’s perspective is rude but not unreasonable. Acknowledging Paul’s HUGE influence as a rock bassist, to put some context on it, would have been nice. Telling the story about fooling Ringo is simply bitchy. He did say Ringo was a great guy though. I thought it was a fun story, Quincy dgaf. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/31 "2018-02-09T19:39:15Z")
> [@mr.jp](#): > > Fun interview, but he seems senile. Likely most things are not reliable. No, Quincy’s always been like that. He’s not senile at all. You can go back and look at other things he’s done over the years and while he has not always been THIS candid, he’s always talked like that. And yes, it’s because he can fucking back it up. Just before his interview with Vulture, he spoke to GQ, more of the same. > **[Quincy Jones Has a Story About That](https://www.gq.com/story/quincy-jones-has-a-story)** > > Quincy Jones has run with Frank Sinatra. Michael Jackson. Malcolm X. Prince. Even Tupac. And the 84-year-old music legend has a tale to go with every famous name. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/32 "2018-02-09T19:39:46Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > - Cyndi Lauper tried to influence We Are the World and Q had none of it Saying that Lauper tried to change the direction of that terrible maudlin shitheap song sounds like it should be a gold star in her book. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/33 "2018-02-09T19:49:51Z")
> [@jaycat](#): > > I’m not surprised, having read his autobiography. He has a pretty high opinion of himself. > > He really seems to think that Michael Jackson was a serious musician. This from a guy who hung out with Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, etc. > > The thing about Hendrix might be true. He was really a pretty shy guy. Mostly he seems to think that Michael was a master appropriator … he only stole from the best! There’s not a unique thing Michael Jackson did, he just stole great bits from everyone else and packaged them all together and performed them VERY WELL. But not original to him, no. My teacher hung with Jimi Hendrix when the Gil Evans Orchestra prepared to do an album of Jimi Hendrix compositions … Jimi was also supposed to participate but he died before it could all be worked out. The Gil Evans Orchestra STILL plays a lot of those arrangements today. Anyway, he says Jimi was on the shy side … he was definitely impressed with the high caliber of musicians he was going to be working with and yeah, I could see how he would be a little intimidated. But Gil and the rest of the Orchestra all dug what he was doing and wanted to work with him. My teacher says Jimi told him about being a baritone horn player in his high school band, among other things … he knew from brass. In a way, Jimi Hendrix presaged the coming of Hiram Bullock, who was Gil’s gonzo guitar player for a lot of years. Like this … probably the greatest guiltar/tuba duel ever. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Mmcv29CPe3s/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGH8gNCg9MA8=&rs=AOn4CLA9qeP-SyEfFCNqZZbVxpNCZglnHQ "Voodoo Chile - Gil Evans & the Monday Night Orchestra, Live @ Sweet Basil") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmcv29CPe3s) ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/34 "2018-02-09T19:55:54Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That makes sense; Jimi Hendrix is long dead, while Bill Cosby’s crimes are currently the subject of litigation. Most of the people Q talks about are dead and cannot sue him. Cosby can. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/35 "2018-02-09T20:17:49Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > He says that Richard Pryor slept with Marlon Brando and Pryor’s widow confirmed that. I had no idea that Pryor was bi. I thought he joked about incidents similar to this in one of those older Friars Club Roasts. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/36 "2018-02-09T20:19:09Z")
So, Quince… you say Michael Jackson ripped off songs from other musicians? That’s AWFUL! So, what did you do about it? Did you order Michael to give them credit and pay them for their work? Or did you help those musicians get then royalties they deserved? You didn’t? Why not? Doesn’t that make you an enabler? Doesn’t that make YOU a conniving piece of crap, too? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/37 "2018-02-09T20:20:52Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Me neither, but the opening of Pryor’s infamous set during the Star Spangled Night for Rights at the Hollywood Bowl in 1977, concerned a sexual relationship he supposedly had with a young man in 1952. [This 2015 article from the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/11/richard-pryor-great-meltdown-racist-hollywood-bowl) goes into more detail. > > Neat story, and I’d never heard of it til it was mentioned in the wake of the Jones interview brouhaha… That was a really interesting story that I’m still thinking about a couple of hours later. Thanks for sharing it. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/38 "2018-02-09T20:38:57Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > So, Quince… you say Michael Jackson ripped off songs from other musicians? That’s AWFUL! > > So, what did you do about it? Did you order Michael to give them credit and pay them for their work? Or did you help those musicians get then royalties they deserved? > > You didn’t? Why not? > > Doesn’t that make you an enabler? Doesn’t that make YOU a conniving piece of crap, too? I do note Quincy Jones sued the Michael Jackson estate for credit not listed and for unpaid royalties. And won, nearly 10 millions dollars worth of win. So he can speak to at least one other instance where the business wasn’t right. So at some point in this he couldn’t even do right for himself. Should he have fought harder for himself, for other people? Yeah. Why didn’t he do it? I would guess most of all he wanted to work with Michael Jackson again. If Q had made waves that door would have slammed pretty hard. Does not speak well of the man but most anyone can see how it might have happened. I’m saying this as a reason, not as an excuse. You’d like to think that people would do better in this world – you’d like to think that people would look out for one another, especially fellow musicians. I’m here to tell you that’s not always the case. FWIW, the truly great people/musicians are not like this at all, they treat the artists that work and collaborate with them fairly and give credit where credit is due. (One example that comes to mind: I’ve heard Stevie Ray Vaughn shared credit and royalties with everyone he worked with.) But not everyone does that. (Looking at YOU, Robbie Robertson.) There’s venal people in every walk of life and maybe even more so in the arts because it’s so easy to take advantage of others. ---
**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:** [February 9, 2018, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/39 "2018-02-09T21:16:03Z")
It seems a particularly funny refutation of a couple of Jones’s opinions that, when Miles Davis and Tony Williams were planning to record with Hendrix, they tried to get Paul McCartney to play bass. [Jimi Hendrix Sought Paul McCartney for Supergroup with Miles Davis](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jimi-hendrix-sought-paul-mccartney-for-supergroup-with-miles-davis-20130510). I wonder how he felt about Hendrix being voted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1970? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505/40 "2018-02-09T22:23:47Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > It seems a particularly funny refutation of a couple of Jones’s opinions that, when Miles Davis and Tony Williams were planning to record with Hendrix, they tried to get Paul McCartney to play bass. [Jimi Hendrix Sought Paul McCartney for Supergroup with Miles Davis](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jimi-hendrix-sought-paul-mccartney-for-supergroup-with-miles-davis-20130510). I wonder how he felt about Hendrix being voted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1970? Miles wasn’t above putting people on his records to sell some more of them. He had sting on a record. He was covetous of rock stardom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quincy-jones-has-zero-fucks-to-give-his-interview-shades-michael-jimi-ringo-cyndi-etc/808505.md?page=3)