musical genius

[M2d]

This morning, on Fox Sports Radio, Andrew Siciliano, Van Earl Wright and Crystal Fernandez were having a discussion about musical geniuses. Andrew said that Michael Jackson was a MG. Van Earl disagreed, but said that Quincy Jones was. Andrew agreed with Van Earl, but stuck to his guns about the gloved one. Crystal just sat there and looked pretty (tough to do on the radio), but threw in Elvis' name.

There was a short discussion, but they never really defined what they mean by "musical genius". to me, it means a muscian/performer who transcends the current trends in music through innovation, ability, or insight. as an example, John and Paul were MG's because they took elements of existing music forms and created a new, popular, lasting sound. Run DMC had some elements of this because they were the first rappers who were able to utilize other music genres in a form that was acceptible to the mainstream listener.

Pure ability, I think, is not a criteria. for this reason, I'd say that Shania Twain is more of a MG that Celine Dion (not that either qualifies) because Shania led the country crossover to pop, while Celine just does the same thing as others before her (admittedly, pretty well, but she just aint my cup of tea).

I'll throw out prince to start, and see what others here think.

[astroglide]

country was well on its way to the pop crossover with artists before shania. she just gave the movement tits.

[M2d]

I didn't say that I thought Shania was a MG. just that she reflected more MG qualities that Celine.

[ThaSaltCracka]

a brief list:
Johnny Cash
Charlie Parker
Bob Dylan
Andre 3000
Kurt Cobain

I think all of this musicians "transcended" their genres and made music better. I was trying to think of one for R&B(MJ doesn't cut it for me, all he did was make dance music listenable, hardly anything noteworthy [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]).

[astroglide]

you can thank johnny cash for getting bob dylan onto the map too

[ThaSaltCracka]

cool, Johnny was the man. I am just glad I got into his music before he died. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[tolbiny]

I think that Paul Simon at least deserves a nomination....
so Paul Simon.

[astroglide]

paul simon is underrated as a technical guitarist

[turnipmonster]

really? I never would have thought. you know who is an absolute burning guitarist? glen cambell.

everyone knows this, but george benson (who mostly sings r&b now) is probably the greatest living bebop guitarist.

--turnipmonster

[astroglide]

i can't tell where you're going with the "i never would have thought" line. but glen campbell has a lot of fingerpicking respect, as does jerry reed etc. chet atkins is beyond really mentioning in country circles. but people do seem to overlook paul simon BIG TIME when it comes to acoustic respect. a great example, i think, of some very complex work which wasn't done for complexity's sake (only the voices and songwriting are noticed). johnny marr only gets credit from smiths fans who happen to be guitarists too.