We have a misunderstanding of premise, for which I am partly at fault. I did correct my premise quite early on, but you ignored the main point I was trying to make.
I was simply arguing that Jeff Beck was considerably more important in terms of impact (a fact, you can't change history!) and musical interest (subjective to the listener) than Beck Hanson, and (seemingly) you were refuting this, inferring that Beck Hanson was on the same level in every way as Jeff Beck, or at least refusing to agree how important Jeff Beck's work has been (and is) compared to Beck Hanson's. To me, the argument was never about who
personally liked one artist more than another... you will always get die hard fans of both artists. It was about who was more important/innovative musically - hence worth listening to, kinda in an educational way.
For instance I don't personally get off on John McLaughlin's stuff, but I still study him and analyse his tunes because it is intellectually interesting and important for its time - ie worth listening to. This is why I got a bit flustered (and perhaps overstated my own opinion of Jeff's body of work to make a point... yes BBA is weak, 'Flash' was totally dire 80's crap... No artist has a 100% success rate!).
At no point (after my 'joking' first post) did I SERIOUSLY judge Beck Hanson (other than saying Jeff Beck is more important than him - a fact, regardless of personal opinion of either artist). Again, who will be remembered as the more important figure in 100, 200 years? Of course you know it would be Jeff Beck. That is all I was really arguing.
My very first post was intentionally 'sweeping' for maximum impact, I wanted to create debate and it worked. I meant it to test the water - see who knew who Jeff Beck was! The smiley was meant to imply I didn't really have
quite that hardcore an attitude... Only to say that Hanson's work isn't as important/innovative as Jeff's was, which frankly, not many of today's artists are. That shouldn't reflect too badly on Hanson, as it's incredibly hard to come up with interesting new directions and genres today - everything has seemingly been done!
Duke
And you're complaining that I am the one being sweepingly dismissive? Lets compare my words:
Hopefully I've covered this above. Yes, I apologise for appearing a bit hypocrytical. Just trying to get people to wonder who this Jeff Beck guy might be! (most GTPlanet members probably wouldn't know who he is, though some evidently do...)
Where exactly did I dismiss Jeff Beck as "not worth listening to"? Where exactly did I even claim that Beck Hansen was better than Jeff Beck?
I never said you did (on both counts). I do wonder what you WERE arguing for, if you did't think Beck Hanson is better or equal to Jeff (in a very general sense) then why dissagree so fully? It just seemed strange to me.
My first post...
Now I DID say Hanson was not worth listening to... with a smiley to soften the stance a bit... let me explain my take on music and its relative worth (to me). Life is only so long, and there is SOO much really great music that exists the world over that I'll never hear it all... I'd rather fill my head with the very best (starting with all the recognised important stuff), the most innovative (for its time), the most interesting musically, the stuff with most feeling/soul, music from all different cultures etc etc. Music that you'd take to an alien to show him the history and diversity of what music is... the stuff that best expresses the human soul... I see it as a really educational thing. To me, Beck Hanson doesn't stack up well enough to fit in my head permanently, is not worth listening to. This is a totally personal opinion. My apologies for not being clear from the start (or even that serious) but I didn't know this would get into such a long argument, mainly based upon misunderstanding.
Right. Nowhere. I merely countered your claim that Beck Hansen was "not worth listening to". This of course offended you since I clearly couldn't possibly know anything about rock and roll or musical history. You assumed this despite the fact that Jeff Beck was still in the Yardbirds when I was born, I can remember the actual release of Blow By Blow, Wired and other Jeff Beck albums, I love and have spent hours listening to the two Jeff Beck Group (first version) albums with the very young Rod Stewart singing for him, among other albums, and that I know who Terry Bozio is and how he relates to both Jeff Beck and Frank Zappa. Also you assume that I know nothing about music even though I could sing entire Mothers of Invention albums by heart by the time I was 10, I play the guitar and piano myself (admittedly not well), and I've got 600+ vinyl albums and 250+ CDs ranging from Prokofiev through Elmore James (not to mention John Mayall's Blues Breakers) and Merle Haggard to Nine Inch Nails.
I never got offended... I'm not like that. My opinion is just different. I never assumed you didn't know anything about rock and roll, I was just trying to get you to USE that knowledge (assuming you had it) to help you realise that it was impossible to conclude that Beck Hanson is an equally (or even more) important figure in music compared to Jeff Beck. As I now know thats NOT what you were really arguing, cool. Agreeing with me DOESN'T mean that you think Beck Hanson is automatically without ANY merit, or that you're not allowed to personally like his stuff - that was never what I meant. Fair Enough?
Btw, being passionate about music has very little to do with personally being alive at the 'right' time. I'm not doubting you're own interest (and you don't have to prove it), I'm just saying being older than me hardly means anything in this case (I'm 23). I can still listen to all the old stuff, apart from releases that were discontinued... Possibly with DVDs the access to a lot of the older live performances etc is even better nowadays!
I would've loved to have been there, to see Hendrix live etc etc, but that is just the luck of when you're born. How does that translate to whether someone connects with music any better or worse? Good music lasts. Its universal, its not age or culture specific...
For someone who claims to be passionate about music you don't seem to be very open-minded about it. Go listen to BBA again and tell me that everything Jeff Beck does is phenomenal and no other Beck is worth listening to.
I never said EVERYTHING he does is phenomenal (see above - somewhere!). If you're going to criticise me word for word, I can do the same to you. The closest thing I said along those lines was that "Every album pretty much tackles and masters a new direction." I stand by this. "Masters" IS a subjective word. I don't mean it has to be the best album EVER in that genre, but that Beck would work that genre until he felt there was nowhere else to go with it before moving on. Looking at his career as a whole, of course there are high and low points! BBA was a live album, not really a carefully considered thing... There are no excuses for "Flash" however. Maybe just saying "but it was the 80s" might be enough!
But of course, I dared to contradict your sweeping generalization that Beck Hansen wasn't worth listening to. So I'm the one who's told I'm dismissive, not gracious and respectful.
Hmm. I've explained my point multiple times. I've explained my initial post reasonably well now I think (yes it took the argument in the wrong direction, but you also failed to read what I WAS arguing after that...). You were only ever dismissive and disrespectful on the grounds that you seemed to be arguing that Beck Hanson is more or equally IMPORTANT/INNOVATIVE as a musician when compared to Jeff Beck. An absurd proposition you would agree (given your knowledge about rock and roll etc...).
Some people's children... sheesh.
Duke, thats not very nice. Do grow up.
