Evil_Captor:
OK, most singers whose music we like, we have a positive response to the singer. Oh, yah, gimme some Delores O’ Riordan. Sweet as can be. Katy Perry … would she consider kissing a boy? Pink? Oh, yah, you know she will light up a party.
But there’s this one singer … I don’t even know her name … she’s the lead vocalist for Portishead. All of her songs seem to be sung on the edge of insanity, or at least neurosis. Sour Times , anyone? All Mine ? Hell, even a red-hot torch song has a ragged edge to it in her hands. And her silky soft romantic ballad seems to be about a batshit crazy woman contemplating love and being afraid even as she’s attracted to it.
Let me make it clear that I know nothing about the lead singer’s personal life, she could be the absolute ideal of the perfect woman, nay the perfect human being, and one of the other members of the band could be responsible for all the batshit craziness that oozes out of the songs … or maybe it’s my personal filters … but man, I would want NOTHING to do with the person represented in those songs, even though I enjoy them.
Are there others who feel this way about some vocalists based on the music they produce? Now I’m not talking about Britney Spears Real Life batshit craziness, that’s a whole 'nother animal. I think. I’m talking about the impression created by the music only.
Check out Out of Season . I’ve never heard Portishead, but it’s one of my “bands I have to check out at some point” list, because of this album. Lyrics are sort of surrealistic (as in “what the hell does that even mean?”) but very nice. Great album, very nice and mellow, though from what I understand it’s very different than Portishead.
I suppose if I hadn’t heard/read a number of interviews with Richard Thompson over the years, I’d assume he’s a real morbid and depressed man.