These days, Cash has an appeal far beyond the Country charts.
Indeed. Cash is cross-over appeal these days, and I doubt you’d find a lot of modern rock fans who don’t like at the very least his cover of “Hurt”, if not more. It’s sad it only happened in his very last years.
Anyway, as per the OP, The Beatles score the highest, in terms of fame, musical talent, and popularity, even taking into account the anti-Beatles people. They are, objectively, at the top of the heap on those combined metrics, or at least as objective as one can be about these things.
Whether I hate his work depends on how much input he had into his music. I like the music on his first few albums until he starts singing. Those songs would be better with the same music but another person singing, so if that was his primary input then I’d say I hate his work (especially since I see nothing great about his post-thriller stuff.)
And if we’re talking about literally anyone hating a musician, I know I’m not the only one who hates Sinatra. Back in college, the manager at my work-study job insisted on playing all Sinatra, all day. I can guarantee that all of us who were forced to listen to that for a whole shift couldn’t stand Sinatra by the end of a semester.
Granted, listening to any one artist’s music all day is a tough bill to fill for anyone, but I think the Beatles just might be able to pull it off, as might some of the classical composers.
When he swept the MTV Awards with the video for “Hurt”, message boards all over the Internet said, over and over again, “He should do ‘Head Like a Hole’ next!” Unfortunately, he didn’t get his chance because he died shortly afterwards.
Prince for me. I think he was the most talented of the bunch because of his broad range. John Lennon would be dead last behind basically everyone on Earth besides Kim Jong Un because he was such an arrogant asshole and hypocrite. In fairness, Lennon had a broad range of his own. It encompassed everything from spousal abuse to child neglect. “Imagine” is one of the most hypocritical songs ever written when you realize that it was created by a multi-millionaire living in a luxury apartment in Manhattan. I think Mark Chapman should have just punched him really hard rather than shoot him but I can understand the sentiment.
Ouch. What a hit job. I don’t disagree with the facts, but it is smarmy. They don’t even mention that John got Magic Alex to have an affair with Cynthia so he could sue her for adultery!
But do these things matter in the score? I don’t literally hate him because of this. How could I hate my favorite songwriter? I feel very bad for Julian though.
Popularity - 5 (most people only know just a few songs if any).
Musical ability/talent - 9 (on par with somebody like Justin Timberlake today; Prince and Louis Armstrong are 10’s).
Lowest percentage of people who hate their work - 6.
He was a talented person with huge baggage that happened to hook up with some other really talented people and rode the wave of the British Invasion. I don’t hear his work played very frequently except “Imagine” which is hopelessly tainted for the reasons I gave. I like the Beatles just fine but they would have been just as good with any semi-talented replacement for John Lennon and probably would have lasted longer as a band. What do I know though? Ringo is my favorite Beatle.
I never met John Lennon (although I do happen to know Mark Chapman). So while I won’t dispute any of the bad things he did on a personal level, I have to say it didn’t directly affect me. My relationship to Lennon was solely through his music so I judge him by that.
I just realized that we are leaving out Jimmy Buffet in this thread. Granted, he is not the best singer in the world but he has his own style and is a great songwriter. He can still more than sell out very large arenas well past middle-age. He is also an extremely good businessman but I am told that it is out of bounds for this thread. There is no other person that could turn a one-hit wonder (Margaritaville) into a business empire that spans decades. He also has a dedicated channel on XM radio and a chain of restaurants. That isn’t bad for someone that sings like a drunk uncle at a wedding reception (that isn’t a criticism - Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan can’t sing very well either).
Popularity - 9
Musical ability/talent - 8 (because of his songwriting and live performance experience)
Lowest percentage of people who hate their work - 10
In the current pantheon I would guess Adele. I seem to be part of only a teeny tiny group who can’t stand her, everyone else seems to completely adore her.
For other eras, I’d say The Beatles or Elvis. Their fans outweigh their detractors by a high ratio.
I fucking hate it. And I know that puts me in a club of 1 (even Reznor is excluded from said club) but I don’t care - I have no need to hear what sounds like a dying hobo doing NIN karaoke. And I like a lot of Cash’s own stuff.
Beatles gets my vote, BTW, much as I don’t personally care for them all that much.
I agree with #!, but musical ability/talent an 8? Is Buffet’s talent regarded that highly? I personally think he is an average-to-below-average songwriter (but I only know the songs from his Greatest Hits CD).
As for #3, I know he has created his own industry; even his fans have a name for themselves. But I think he has plenty of loathers too, me among them. His whole deal feels so (skillfully) manufactured to me.
mmm