KevShmev's FAVORITE 25 MUSICIANS (#1 now featured!!)

[Prog Snob]

Nice choice, Kev. Another prog great. Another great of rock and music in general.

[Cool Chris]

To be fair to TAC, I wouldn't have heard of Anneke if it wasn't for Ayreon. That first gif is pretty random, and " Full Monty guy" isn't very helpful as the Full Month isn't a movie everyone is going to know, and that second gif isn't very representative of Goodfellas either.

I got your back TAC, my fellow Genesis-hater!

And yeah, Keith, play a fewer note or a million. 

[TAC]

Thanks Chris! That's cool

Hey..Cool Chris..I get it!







What's Ayreon?
J/k

[LudwigVan]

We shouldn't be cutting TAC any SLACK.

[TAC]

We shouldn't be cutting TAC any SLACK.

[KevShmev]

To be fair to TAC, I wouldn't have heard of Anneke if it wasn't for Ayreon. That first gif is pretty random, and " Full Monty guy" isn't very helpful as the Full Month isn't a movie everyone is going to know, and that second gif isn't very representative of Goodfellas either.

Huh?  The shine box line is by far the most quoted line from Goodfellas.  I see and hear that quoted all the time.

[Prog Snob]

To be fair to TAC, I wouldn't have heard of Anneke if it wasn't for Ayreon. That first gif is pretty random, and " Full Monty guy" isn't very helpful as the Full Month isn't a movie everyone is going to know, and that second gif isn't very representative of Goodfellas either.

Huh?  The shine box line is by far the most quoted line from Goodfellas.  I see and hear that quoted all the time.

Seriously. There are few lines that are quoted more than that one. There's the "what do you mean I'm funny?" line.

[KevShmev]

Tommy's fear about Henry folding under questioning proved to be legit.

[Cool Chris]

That is bizarre! I've seen Goodfellas several times and never would have recalled that line, and have never heard it quoted either.

[Prog Snob]

Tommy's fear about Henry folding under questioning proved to be legit.

A little foreshadowing there.

That is bizarre! I've seen Goodfellas several times and never would have recalled that line, and have never heard it quoted either.

It's okay. Don't beat yourself up over it. 

[Samsara]

We shouldn't be cutting TAC any SLACK.

 

Agreed!

[KevShmev]

17. David Bowie



The term "musical genius" gets overused a lot, but in the case of David Bowie, it absolutely applies.  There is quite a bit of his material I either don't care for or don't "get," the material I do love is some of the best music I've ever heard, and you have to respect the artistic integrity he always had, till the very end earlier this year.  I strayed from Bowie for quite a while, and it's sad that it took his death for me to rediscover his greatness, but it is what it is.  Blackstar will go down as one of the best last albums anyone has ever done, and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is one of the best albums from the 70s, a decade loaded with greatness.  David Bowie, you were the man.

[TAC]

Well, I am in no way into David Bowie in the slightest, but I would never argue against him on anybody's list.

[KevShmev]

I thought for sure your post was going to read, "Who is David Bowie?"

 

[TAC]

  Yeah, right!


I came very close to going to see him and I really regret it. In 1994, I think, he played at Avalon in Boston. It was a club show, and Avalon was a great place to see a show. Not sure why I didn't follow through.

[Prog Snob]

I thought for sure your post was going to read, "Who is David Bowie?"

 

I was starting to think the only bands he has heard of are Dream Theater and Iron Maiden.

[Mladen]

I agree that Bowie is one of those artist where using the word "genius" isn't an exaggeration. He was the man. I'm extremely lucky that I got into his music over the last four years and got to really love him. His death really hit me hard.

[Cool Chris]

The term "musical genius" gets overused a lot....

Indeed, it is overused, and I don't think it applies Bowie.   I don't "get" his music at all. I will make a point to listen to some Bowie the next couple days.

[King Postwhore]

The term "musical genius" gets overused a lot....

Indeed, it is overused, and I don't think it applies Bowie.   I don't "get" his music at all. I will make a point to listen to some Bowie the next couple days.

Every decade Bowie evolved musically.  Always taking chances, always doing what he wanted and sometimes ahead of the curve.    I would say it applies.

[TAC]

I thought for sure your post was going to read, "Who is David Bowie?"

 

I was starting to think the only bands he has heard of are Dream Theater and Iron Maiden.

Hence my avatar!

Actually that's not true. I also have Bruce Dickinson solo albums!.

[Prog Snob]

I thought for sure your post was going to read, "Who is David Bowie?"

 

I was starting to think the only bands he has heard of are Dream Theater and Iron Maiden.

Hence my avatar!

Actually that's not true. I also have Bruce Dickinson solo albums!.

Who's that?

[TAC]

[Prog Snob]

[KevShmev]

I agree that Bowie is one of those artist where using the word "genius" isn't an exaggeration. He was the man. I'm extremely lucky that I got into his music over the last four years and got to really love him. His death really hit me hard.

I almost never get hit hard by the death of people I do not know, like musicians or celebrities, but Bowie was definitely one that made you think, "Damn."  The fact that it happened days after he released an album so good just added to his legend, quite frankly.

The term "musical genius" gets overused a lot....

Indeed, it is overused, and I don't think it applies Bowie.   I don't "get" his music at all. I will make a point to listen to some Bowie the next couple days.

Every decade Bowie evolved musically.  Always taking chances, always doing what he wanted and sometimes ahead of the curve.    I would say it applies.

Yep. 

[Cool Chris]

Every decade Bowie evolved musically.  Always taking chances, always doing what he wanted and sometimes ahead of the curve.    I would say it applies.

That in and of itself doesn't make someone a genius, it just means they evolved musically, took chances, did what they wanted and were ahead of the curve.

[King Postwhore]

To stay relevant for 5 decades says the opposite.  It may not be your cup of tea but the man is a musical genius.

[Mladen]

Every decade Bowie evolved musically.  Always taking chances, always doing what he wanted and sometimes ahead of the curve.    I would say it applies.

That in and of itself doesn't make someone a genius, it just means they evolved musically, took chances, did what they wanted and were ahead of the curve.

What also needs to be said, and I believe it's something kingshmegland would agree with, is that with every change and innovation he absolutely delivered in terms of quality of music. Pretty much every genre he dabbled with fit him like a glove, he always found a way to embrace new styles and different "colors" while still maintaining his own signature characteristic.

I'm about to throw in a bunch of tracks to illustrate how insanely diverse he was over the course of his five decade career and without exception managed to put out good stuff whichever style he pursued. Feel free to go through the following songs whenever you find time or will: Starman, Rebel rebel, Station to station, Ashes to ashes, Loving the alien, Miracle goodnight, Dead man walking, Something in the air, Valentine's day and Blackstar. Every single song is in its own universe. I know it's quite a list, though, sorry. 

[King Postwhore]

I completely agree.  Bowie Like Plant, Gabriel, Simon all pave their own path.

[KevShmev]

16. Kevin Moore



The magic of early Dream Theater was, of course, the combination of every talented member of the band, but Kevin Moore's keyboard playing added an extra layer of melody and mystique that has never really consistently been there since he departed.  He managed to be a melodic and technical player at the same time, without ever making you think that he was going overboard with the playing (and he had the chops to do so).  Dream Theater has long been one of my favorite bands, and Moore's keyboard playing was one of the things that grabbed me right away when I first heard them.  He has done some nice work with Chroma Key and OSI since, but the magic in his playing will likely never touch that heard on those first three Dream Theater albums again.

[TAC]

I must say that I find OSI nothing but a tease. And Chroma Key, well, not my thing.

His style was great on the first 3 DT albums. I remember him playing a little keyboard and he stood fairly close to the front of the stage. I always liked that. I didn't know he even left the band when they hit the stage on the first night of the tour and there was some short haired dude on keyboards who was definitely not Kevin Moore.

[KevShmev]

I still remember the moment I found out he was out.  We were at Schnucks to get tickets to out first ever DT show (back when Schnucks was a good place to get tickets), and I was flipping through a music magazine while we were waiting and stumbled across a blurb in it that Kevin Moore had left Dream Theater.  It was a like a punch to the gut.  It took a bit of the wind out of my sails of getting tickets to see a band that had quickly become a favorite.  I think they did a great job replacing him (and then replacing his replacement), but for me, the enigma that is Kevin Moore is an element they lost that they've never quite regained.

[SoundscapeMN]

he didn't write the parts, but I find some of his best work to be on the Fates Warning records he played on.

[LudwigVan]

I always got the impression that he became disillusioned with the "virtuoso" approach that Dream Theater took to their overall sound.  He seems much more interested in creating soundscapes with a much broader brush stroke rather than shredding it out on keys, as evidenced by his post-DT stuff with OSI and Chroma Key.

In a way it was kind of a mutual parting of the ways, because you can see what DT really wanted in a keyboard player when they put on the full court press to bring Rudess into the band.

[KevShmev]

15. Bono



I get why a lot of people dislike Bono; his perceived arrogance and larger than life persona can be a turnoff, but to me, his larger than life persona is a big reason why U2 is such a thrill to watch live.  He has a stage presence that is both commanding and hypnotizing; it's like you can't look away, and he puts on performances that literally gets audiences eating out of the palm of his hand.  Throw in what a passionate singer he is, along with him being one of my favorite lyricists, and putting him on this list was easy.  He was born to perform. 

[TAC]

Well, I am in no way into David Bowie U2/Bono in the slightest, but I would never argue against him on anybody's list.