I guess you could name any artist of your choosing who has a cult following. Basically, a cult artist is anyone whose talent is over-rated by their fans and under-rated by the rest of the world.


Mick Taylor?

The Pretty Things?

Virtually unknown in the United States. Never placed a single record on the U.S. charts.

The Verve although Bitter Sweet Time was good and a talented cover.

Tatters, please.. Ya better not start this prairie fire..

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LA FORUM
The Verve although Bitter Sweet Time was good and a talented cover.

You mean Bittersweet Symphony? IMO, that was about the 6th or 7th best song on that album, which is in my top 5 of the '90s.

what means succes ?

when it's a commercial succes,

or when the song/album is great by any standards ?

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Tell me... Sister M...
what means succes ?

when it's a commercial succes,

or when the song/album is great by any standards ?

If someone's got "the most talent", then, obviously, their music is "great by any standards". I'm talking about artists who make great music, but don't sell a lot of records or concert tickets. The Velvet Underground, for instance, who made enormously influential music, but sold only a few thousand records during the years (1966-1970) when they were still together.

Tinsley Ellis - a great blues player

"No Anchovies, Please"

5 string

Lukester, that is the correct answer!

"No Anchovies, Please"

.....by the way Elmo, "No Anchovies Please" is a great song....

Frankie Miller

Better add the great Brian Setzer to this list.

"No Anchovies, Please"

JJ Cale?

Danny Gatton

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Lukester
JJ Cale?

Not to mention JOHN Cale. At least you can find JJ Cale CDs in record stores. No one carries John Cale CDs.

well ... if we've heard of 'em, there's someone hugely gifted who's had less success.
to be heard to the extent that one has any following at all,
one needs a very peculiar combination of different gifts in addition to musical talent.

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with sssoul
well ... if we've heard of 'em, there's someone hugely gifted who's had less success.
to be heard to the extent that one has any following at all,
one needs a very peculiar combination of different gifts in addition to musical talent.

I don't know. Is it possible to be HUGELY talented and still be COMPLETELY unknown? Is there really anyone like that? Wouldn't they have to be pathologically shy? Or maybe their talent really isn't all that huge?

After reading the recent article in Record Collector, maybe Brian Jones should be listed here?

He never seemed to fully make use of his many talents for one reason or another ;-)

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mofur
After reading the recent article in Record Collector, maybe Brian Jones should be listed here?

He never seemed to fully make use of his many talents for one reason or another ;-)

Who knows? He only got to be a former Rolling Stone for 25 days, whereas Mick Taylor has had 34 YEARS in which to get his solo career off the ground. Maybe Brian DID have a great solo album in him at the time of his death. More likely, though, he may have gone on to be the star attraction of a great new BAND.

>> I don't know. Is it possible to be HUGELY talented and still be COMPLETELY unknown? <<

sure! musical talent doesn't go hand in hand with the ability or desire to perform in public,
and/or with the ability or desire to put up with the degree of crap one needs to put up with to survive in show business.
those are three totally different gifts. and of course it doesn't mean you're "pathological" or untalented
if you lack what it takes to deal with the showbiz end of things.

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Who knows? He only got to be a former Rolling Stone for 25 days, whereas Mick Taylor has had 34 YEARS in which to get his solo career off the ground. Maybe Brian DID have a great solo album in him at the time of his death. More likely, though, he may have gone on to be the star attraction of a great new BAND.

I did not mean those 25 days only - and it seems he was "shopping around" before that time? If this is true he must either have known that he was being fired - or perhaps contemplating leaving himself?

But, in general, when reading articles and books about BJ, everybody seems to agree that he was very gifted ... but also very easily bored and very unsecure about putting his ideas forward? This combination seems to have him stalling in the finishing stages.

The director of "A Degree of Murder" tells of two different BJ's. The very enthusiastic BJ at the start of writing the score for the movie, who is very much together and forward-moving, but later "the director was disappointed to find Jones' original energy and inspiration turning to quasi-paralysis" (Record Collector,no.345, page 66).

These are hard words from a man who is mostly full of praise for BJ.

Perhaps ALO comes closest when he said that BJ "wanted both the fame and the adulation but he wanted to be authentic" (ibid, page 64) He did not want to stoop down to this "pop-thing" in order to be famous - yet he still craved fame. That is a very serious conflict and one he never seemed to have reconciled.

Like George Harrison said, "There was nothing wrong with Brian, that a little love could not have cured" (quoted from memory so bear with me )

--------------------

But maybe this is an answer to "least accomplished with the most talent"-thread?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-12 20:37 by mofur.

what about beethoven

Paddy McAloon.

me.

what about miles of gifted artists living in times/places where success was not allowed to anyone of their skintone?

Terry Reid

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with sssoul
what about miles of gifted artists living in times/places where success was not allowed to anyone of their skintone?

.....of course, sssoul, great answer (also those artists oppressed by their governments for reasons other than "skintone")



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-12 21:20 by Lukester.

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with sssoul
>> I don't know. Is it possible to be HUGELY talented and still be COMPLETELY unknown? <<

sure! musical talent doesn't go hand in hand with the ability or desire to perform in public,
and/or with the ability or desire to put up with the degree of crap one needs to put up with to survive in show business.
those are three totally different gifts. and of course it doesn't mean you're "pathological" or untalented
if you lack what it takes to deal with the showbiz end of things.

Yes, but creativity DOES seem to go hand in hand with the desire to be noticed. There is no such thing as undiscovered genius. If, in some alternate universe, there was a guy tinkering around in a basement studio who was writing music that matched the genius of, say, Peter Townshend, he COULD NOT remain undiscovered. If there was even one other person in his life, his mother, his friend, the guy who fixed his toilet, whatever, then SOMEONE would hear his music and say "This stuff is GREAT, man! You're a @#$%& genius! You've got to send someone a demo!" And they would be persuaded to do it, because people who write something great want to share it with other human beings and receive praise for it. That's just human nature. And even if he didn't, someone who heard his stuff would have done it for him. They would have stolen a tape and mailed it to a record company.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-01-12 21:32 by tatters.

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mofur

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Who knows? He only got to be a former Rolling Stone for 25 days, whereas Mick Taylor has had 34 YEARS in which to get his solo career off the ground. Maybe Brian DID have a great solo album in him at the time of his death. More likely, though, he may have gone on to be the star attraction of a great new BAND.

I did not mean those 25 days only - and it seems he was "shopping around" before that time? If this is true he must either have known that he was being fired - or perhaps contemplating leaving himself?

But, in general, when reading articles and books about BJ, everybody seems to agree that he was very gifted ... but also very easily bored and very unsecure about putting his ideas forward? This combination seems to have him stalling in the finishing stages.

The director of "A Degree of Murder" tells of two different BJ's. The very enthusiastic BJ at the start of writing the score for the movie, who is very much together and forward-moving, but later "the director was disappointed to find Jones' original energy and inspiration turning to quasi-paralysis" (Record Collector,no.345, page 66).

These are hard words from a man who is mostly full of praise for BJ.

Perhaps ALO comes closest when he said that BJ "wanted both the fame and the adulation but he wanted to be authentic" (ibid, page 64) He did not want to stoop down to this "pop-thing" in order to be famous - yet he still craved fame. That is a very serious conflict and one he never seemed to have reconciled.

Like George Harrison said, "There was nothing wrong with Brian, that a little love could not have cured" (quoted from memory so bear with me )

--------------------

But maybe this is an answer to "least accomplished with the most talent"-thread?

The thing we'll never know about Brian is Would he have developed the ability to write songs or not? It's difficult to believe that this is a talent he would suddenly aquire at the age of 27, or later, if it hadn't been there before. I think the best he could have hoped for was to play lead guitar in another band, and if that band was going to be anything other than a covers band, they would have had to have had songwriters, and those would have to have been guys other than Brian. So the whole scenario that developed with the Stones might well have played itself out again with Brian's next band, too.