While his music is great, I’m not so sure he would be a great mind of rock and roll. Gotta have a mind first. 
40 replies and no Elvis Costello?
Phil Collins? Phil Collins hasn’t done anything musically adventurous, urgent or inventive since probably Abacab, or maybe Genesis. I certainly wouldn’t credit him with the inventiveness or depth of Trick of the Tail; look at the writing credits for the album:
[pre]
- Dance on a Volcano (Banks/Collins/Hackett/Rutherford)
- Entangled (Banks/Hackett)
- Squonk (Banks/Rutherford)
- Mad Man Moon (Banks)
- Robbery, Assault & Battery (Banks/Collins)
- Ripples (Banks/Rutherford)
- A Trick of the Tail (Banks)
- Los Endos (Banks/Collins/Hackett/Rutherford)
[/pre]
His creative input on the album was pretty minimal, and the best songs on the record (“Squonk” and “Entangled”) do not credit him as a writer. The first Genesis album in which a large portion of the songwriting came from Collins was Duke, and the only two songs on that record that are credited solely to Collins are “Please Don’t Ask” and “Misunderstanding,” both of which solidified the band’s transition from art rock to straight pop rock. Just as on Abacab the only song credited solely to Collins is “Man on the Corner.”
Left to his own devices, Phil Collins not only is not a great mind, he’s not a very good one. He’s unadventurous and purely pedestrian. And don’t even bring up the Oscar. When they start recollecting Oscars that were given out by mistake, he’ll be at the front of the line.
I guess it isn’t fair to trash someone else’s choice without offering some of my own. :smack:
*In no particular order . . . *
Lennon and McCartney
Todd Rundgren
Andy Partridge
Alan Parsons
Glen Tilbrook
Prince
Aimee Mann
Brian Wilson
Tom Scholz
Jimmy Page
I agree whole-heartedly.
Well, OK. But only if I can add Geddy Lee, for being one of the most influencial bass players in the world.
I’ll toss in Les Claypool for good measure.
Wayne Coyne - Flamming Lips
It will take some time before his influence on rock and roll becomes more obvious as few people are familiar with early Flamming Lips, but that could also have been said of the Velvet Underground which was a model for most of the experimental rock music of the nineties. Occasionally, these experimental bands stumble on a sound that popular culture can relate to. Then another band picks it up and takes credit for it. Wheezer is clearly influenced by the Flamming Lips in both sound and lyrical style. The difference is that while I have a pretty good idea what the next Wheezer album is going to sound like, I am utterly clueless as to what the Flamming Lips are going to do.
Listen to the Soft Bulletin(sp?), Transmission froma Satellite, Hit to Death in the Future Head, and Zaireka (The concept alone is at once both insane and brilliant). Then try to predict what the new album sounds like.
Now they are comming out with a movie, and a sound-track to a different movie. They have done concerts using car stereos in parking garages (I can’t adequately explain in one post.)
It is true that not all of these expiriments are for everyone to enjoy, but isn’t that true of the work of all the best artists? Ozzy Osbourne definitely belongs near the top of that list, but I would be crazy to say that everyone should listen to Ozzy Osbourne.
Any of you ever hear of Sergio and Armando Dias and Rita Lee, aka “Os Mutantes”? They were making music in Brazil that almost rivaled what the Beatles were doing at the same time.
Certainly Os Mutantes are the leaders in the “non-English language rock” category. Considering they basically made all their own equipment (such as wah wah pedals) and pretty much made homemade records in the beginning too, they were brilliant.
Os Mutantes were indeed brilliant.
Here are my tips:
Nick Cave
Kristin Hersh (rather than Tanya Donnelly)
Brian Wilson
John McEntire
James Brown?
Ian Crause (career too shortlived, but utterly brilliant engineer, arranger and lyricist)
Jeff Buckley, because anyone who can combine torch song vocalizing with Zepplinesque crunch is a genius in my book.
Seconds on Richard Thompson, Otis Redding and Os Mutantes! I’ll also second John McEntire with or without Tortoise, just for his work with Tom Ze.
In terms of reworking what was possible in a studio, ya gotta go with the Beatles. That’s one of those cases where the technology had to catch up with their creativity on the fly. No one else comes close, whether you like the music or not.
Bruce Cockburn, for illustrating that poetry and pretension are not automatically bedfellows. Key piece of evidence: 1999’s Breakfast In New Orleans, Dinner In Timbuktu, especially “Use Me While You Can,” “Isn’t That What Friends Are For?” and “Mango,” in roughly that order.
NRBQ, the best bar band on the planet, bar none.
XTC are quite possibly the most melodic band on the planet, at least since 1984’s The Big Express, when Andy Partridge really got a grip on his vocal gift. Prior to that, the albums could be a little too erratic for me.
Current fave: Rufus Wainwright. Poses was the best album I heard last year.
Very impressed (but I reckon that Thompson only shines live).
I’d also recommend
Brian Wilson (What’s left of it)
Bob Dylan
Ian Brown/John Squire/The other Roses
Tom Waits
Shane MacGowan (Again the dry bits of it)
Page & Plant (Pre 1997)
Prince (Although it went a bit pear=shaped after he becane the thimble)
The Sex Pistols had great Rock N Roll minds too
Frank Zappa
John Lennon
Roger Waters
I second Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Sting, Joe Jackson, Brian Eno, and I’ll throw in:
David Sylvian
Loved that album Sylvian did with Robert Fripp in 1993.
Dragon Phoenix, speaking of David Sylvian…saw that they’ve finally seen fit to do a two-disc anthology of his stuff sometime recently, covering Japan, Rain Tree Crow, solo, Ryuchi Sakamoto…has it been issued in Singapore yet? I was curious as to whether to recommend it as a good starting point for someone…
Dear God. Fifty-four posts and no mention of Adam Duritz. I don’t know whether to be appalled or just happy that I get to make an original nomination this deep in the thread.
The man graduated from Berkley, I believe, and won all kinds of poetry awards as an undergrad. As far as being a great “mind” goes, he’s one of the few popular musicians who I would actually say incorporates poetic forms into his music. The man’s a genius.
I forgot someone very big.
Don van Vliet - aka Captain Beefheart.
I’ll agree with Christopher on the Flaming Lips.
In response to Todd33rpm:
As a starter for David Sylvian, I would not recommend the 2CD anthology. It is an interesting addition to the collection, though, because it includes some alternative versions (I actually picked it up in China). Start with Secret of the beehive, but make sure to get the version that includes Forbidden colours. Then a taste of Japan with Tin drum. After that, I would go for Brilliant trees and Dead bees on a cake. By then you are probably hooked and want to get all his material…
As God is my witness, I will never understand why People think Kurt Kobain was a genius. Everything after Bleach was only good.
I will also never understand why I capitalized the word “people” in that last paragraph.
This man was a genius? Don’t get me wrong, I really liked Nirvana, and he had his moments of genius (the lyrics to Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle come to mind), but I really don’t understand the “genius” label.
But I’ve said this before, probably too many times.
I agree with a lot of previous posts. But many listed are just great musicians with a great mind in music. They don’t, to me, expand outside of the realm of music too much.
What about Henry Rollins?
And a big second to Adam Duritz- Massive Crows fan!.