Quote:
Originally Posted by MBTC
So, how can anyone compare these modern artists with someone like Buckingham who not only directly contributed to the "engineering" aspect of Fleetwood Mac's success, but also played and wrote many of the tunes? How many of these producers that you feel are solely responsible for "good" sound can just walk out on a stage with a guitar and do this?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdd_fv0xrSo |
Ok, sort of on-topic, I watched this video about 4 times after I posted that (which was the first time I had searched for it in years). One of the things that makes Lindsey Buckingham great was that his playing style was so recognizable, that even if he was playing a song you had never heard before, you would probably recognize the sound and say "that sounds like Buckingham", yet simultaneously no two tracks ever sounded too similar (as they often do from today's popular stars). In terms of his playing style, since he almost never used a guitar pick and played with his bare fingers, it seems you need to have the exact same fingerprints hitting the strings of a guitar that was tuned with the exact same wrists to truly achieve or imitate the Buckingham sound.
There are certain musical elements that are just not reproducible by an imposter, and his playing style is one of them. That is the pinnacle of what an artist should be -- original and creative.
Electronic dance music and modern pop will probably never be able compare to this, because given a certain combination of MIDI, samples (if we allow that cheat factor in at all), and synth parameters, technically anything electronic is reproducible. I'm as much a synth head as anyone reading this, but I know when to pay respect to the masters versus identifying those with delusions of grandeur. I never intended this thread to be about Fleetwood Mac, and maybe I will morph it into discussions of other bands as needed over time, but when I watch the talent of people like Buckingham, I'm just fucking humbled.
If you've never seen him describe some of the mixing and audio engineering techniques he used on some of the old Fleetwood Mac LPs, it is an amazing journey into the history of audio production, and somewhat staggering/ humbling to gain insight into the level of talent it takes to achieve record sales that keep on going 30 or 40 years later, even when those came after struggle to sell a single crappy MP3 on iTunes or whatever.
It's amazing that after all these decades, Fleetwood Mac's record sales still stay on the charts. There's a reason for that. Do you really think anyone will be talking about Katy Perry or Justin Bieber in 30 years, much less remember who they are, or buying their recordings?
What's worse, do you think the current generation of musical noobs even cares that anyone would recognize their work in 30 years? Many of them will change their own music genre as fast as many change underwear in order to sell records, stay in the limelight, and be able to continue to feed their addiction for attention. That's why they are there, they want attention, to be loved by the public (and if they can't be loved, they will take negative attention as a supplement). Longevity is not even a thought in their mind, they care about right now and today.
Screw actual musicianship, it's not needed with computers right? Screw using your brain when you can Google something and look it up later. Screw learning something from someone more knowledgeable on a topic when you can just be a douche and argue it because you're bored and need some sport in your life. Why bother?