# Why is Kenny G so hated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883 "2003-11-12T19:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/81 "2013-02-03T16:52:24Z")
> [@campp](#): > > I came in here to say Kenny G is the Ned Flanders of jazz. Ned Flanders singing Be-Bop would be hilarious. It would also be cool to hear a Flanders beatnik poem to some jazz, seeing how he has crazy, lazy beatnik parents. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/82 "2013-02-03T18:14:40Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > We have some jazz enthusiasts here. > > So recommend some jazz to me. . . This probably deserves its own thread (maybe you should start one). Jazz is a huge field, with many performers and styles. I could recommend some things, but I don’t know whether you would like them. Fortunately, the internet makes it easy to explore musicians, genres and eras. One way to start would be to listen to the big names on Youtube. You could start with: Duke Ellington Thelonious Monk Charlie Parker Miles Davis John Coltrane Louis Armstrong (especially the early stuff - his Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings) Django Reinhardt Ella Fitzgerald (not everything she did was jazzy - try her scat singing) Sonny Rollins McCoy Tyner Billie Holiday Charles Mingus Art Tatum Oscar Peterson Benny Goodman And if you want to hear how good soprano sax can be, try listening to Sidney Bechet. BTW, this list is by no means comprehensive. I’m leaving out a _ **lot** _. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/83 "2013-02-03T20:07:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > So does fiberglass insulation. Doesn’t mean it’s not irritating when you come in contact with it. Bravo! I have no opinion on Kenny G - to me, _all_ jazz sounds like passionless tootling, even the “serious” jazz musicians I hear reviewed on _Fresh Air_; I’m just not a fan - but I do enjoy a well-crafted insult. Well played, **Chefguy** , well played indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/84 "2013-02-03T20:17:35Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Bravo! I have no opinion on Kenny G - to me, _all_ jazz sounds like passionless tootling, even the “serious” jazz musicians I hear reviewed on _Fresh Air_; I’m just not a fan - but I do enjoy a well-crafted insult. Well played, **Chefguy** , well played indeed. Jazz, like a hot bath, is something you need to ease into. There is a lot of jazz that I don’t like, even after all these years. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/85 "2013-02-04T00:57:49Z")
I had a Kenny G CD back when he was popular. I remember thinking I only needed the one, because I couldn’t tell the songs apart. I knew, intellectually, that they each had different melodic lines, probably different keys and time signatures, even different moods. But, I couldn’t ever recall the melody of a particular song, let alone hum or whistle it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/86 "2013-02-04T01:40:57Z")
The man is pissing on Jazz. He just plain turns people off from a terrific kind of music. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/87 "2013-02-04T02:04:36Z")
> [@Tiuriso](#): > > … > That move showed incredible arrogance and pretentiousness on his part - not only because of its musical **necrophiliac** character… Appropriate term to be used in the post which revived a zombie thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/88 "2013-02-05T06:08:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I don’t much like Kenny G, but I grant him this: I’ve been to one of his live shows, and while I wasn’t impressed by his music or technique, I saw about 5,000 women screaming as if they were watching the Beatles in 1964! His music isn’t my cup of tea at all, but there’s no denying, the man has SOMETHING that drives women wild. They have a soft spot for him. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/89 "2013-02-05T14:40:07Z")
Maybe he’s hoping to get some sympathy tail after they hear him play. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883/90 "2013-02-05T19:13:44Z")
> [@Colinmarshall](#): > > (Side note: Why is Yanni so hated, for that matter?) What? People hate Yanni? But I love Yanni! Ok, not love, but I like that Yanni Live at the Acropolis CD and almost all the tracks on it [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-kenny-g-so-hated/212883.md?page=4)