Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Creamtastic What's the BFD?
Posted by Sean Maloney on Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 3:39 PM
Stevie Ray Vaughan—why do people give a shit about this guy? Somebody posted tracks on YouTube from the unreleased album that Double Trouble recorded here in Nashville with Cowboy Jack Clement in '78. I watched 'em in hopes that maybe this would be the occasion where it "clicked" and I would finally understand why people get so excited about the Patron Saint of Boring Bar Bands. Wrong. After giving it a good earnest effort, I still don't see what the big fucking deal is. Sure, he can play guitar alright, but the songs are some of the most tepid, generic excuses for blues that were ever wrought to vinyl. There's no soul at all in the tunes, and even the involvement of one of my all time favorite record-biz crazies, Cowboy Jack, didn't seem to elevate them beyond the "Dad and his friends are drunk in the basement, again" vibe. Will Somebody please explain what the hell I'm missing here?
Comments (48)
Showing 1-48 of 48
Well, think about the standard amount of trouble.
Double it.
That's exactly how much trouble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRbuxshYvtg
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yea, i've never understood why people get down with this stuff. then again, im not huge into bb king either. i like my blues acoustic or extremely loud.
yea, i've never understood why people get down with this stuff. then again, im not huge into bb king either. i like my blues acoustic or extremely loud.
I'd rather that Sonny Sharrock were alive than either of those two, but that's splitting hairs...
Yeah... I never "got it" growing up, either, however, I saw a pbs special of some performance from 25-30 years back that caught my attention. He can certainly fucking play his guitar but... I dunno... def gets boring after a while. Add 80's production sound changes near the end of his career/life and it's even harder to get into.
I realized a few years ago that I can't be objective when it comes to my feelings towards anyone who would appear on the cover of Guitar World magazine.
When I first started playing, I felt like every douch I knew could play any SRV (along with Jeff Beck, Hendrix Clapton) lick in the world. All I wanted to do was be Grahm Coxon from Blur.
I think all those guys are great players, but I get bored really easily by all the guitarists who spend their time re-creating the licks of the legends and all the people who praise them. I think I let that boredom affect my opinion of the musicians themselves which isn't fair.
The "musically educated" thing to say would be that Texas Flood is what got me going when I was 10, but the truth is it was shit like "Song 2" and Fashion Nugget.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ, are you fucking serious??? What.The.Fuck???
SRV was and is an absolute legend. His tone, attack, phrasing, and raw emotion are proof of his legend. While you say that his blues music was generic, really are there any original blues artists out there since Robert Johnson, SunHouse, and BB King? Everything comes from something before it. Hell, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin are some of the biggest thieves of all time and it doesn't change my appreciation for what they've contributed to the music world.
Then again, SRV and the previous mentioned musical legends can't hold a candle to original (ie. talentless) acts like Meemaw and Hotpants Romance that you guys stroke on a regular basis.
I thought things were bad with this blog but this one takes the case. Holy fucking shit!
SRV is not lame. I don't get particularly excited about him, but he is far from lame, kids. If you were born too late or just don't dig the 1-4-5 thing, its understandable.
he's not lame. blues are just a bit hackneyed at this point. but he's not lame. black keys on the other hand...has anyone ever heard of blueshammer?
whoa burrito, you're getting over these kids' heads by mentioning the 1-4-5 thing.
i respect srv for the endless number of ideas he could spit out on a guitar at any given moment, and double trouble was a tight-ass power trio, but i agree he sounds wanky after a while. and his influence on boring white blues bands is regretable.
one thing i've noticed, i think your environment changes musical appreciation to some extent. i lived in austin, tx (his hometown) for a few years and during that time i found myself in many a dive bar drinking lone star and when srv came on the jukebox it somehow ruled. in nashville, not so much.
SRV is the patron saint of making black blues accessible to white people.That's the only reason people even mention him.He's like Elvis or Eminem or even Clapton.
"i respect srv for the endless number of ideas he could spit out on a guitar at any given moment, and double trouble was a tight-ass power trio, but i agree he sounds wanky after a while. and his influence on boring white blues bands is regretable."
David for the win.
"While you say that his blues music was generic... Everything comes from something before it."
Enraged and Burrito... if i'm not mistaken, weren't you two attacking ghostfinger (and possibly every other popular local band) on these same grounds a few weeks ago?
you come here every day to hate on local music, then it turns out you've been listening to Stevie Ray this whole time? it definitely all makes sense now.
Nope - You can go look it up. I like Ghostfinger and said so quite blatantly.
But thanks for playing... asshole.
I don't listen to SRV. I just don't think he sucks. So what makes sense exactly since both your points were incorrect?
i hate every last one of you. i didnt always feel this way. its just when the name calling starts it just ends up being a clusterfuck and noone goes home happy. you like what you like, you hate what you hate. just shut the fuck up. we have far more important things to worry about right now.
What do we have to worry about (in an SRV thread mind you) that is more important? I'd love to know. Sorry I'm name calling, I'm very crabby this morning because I'm all out of apple-cin oatmeal and I had to resort to the crappy Maple kind. hmmmm, you are not an asshole, my oatmeal is an asshole.
the name calling is a nice touch.
but i do apologize for my lack for any discrepancies.
it's not just the srv thread, its every single fucking thread. i don't know why i check this blog anymore, it used to be funny. now it's just a rehashing of casio v burrito v familiar sideman v enraged v whatever trolls are around that day. id really love to see this kinda shit happen in a public place, just to see how it plays out.
"its every single fucking thread"
No. The vast majority of threads on this thing get few comments, and certainly nothing resembling the JEFF thread.
"it used to be funny. now it's just a rehashing of casio v burrito v familiar sideman v enraged v whatever trolls are around that day"
So you have some familiar people discussing things as opposed to a bunch of sarcastic comments? (indeed some funny) You're against people actually having discourse? Not punk enough for you?
"id really love to see this kinda shit happen in a public place, just to see how it plays out"
I'd enjoy these guys' company. Prolly buy em all a beer. What's your point exactly?
"No. The vast majority of threads on this thing get few comments, and certainly nothing resembling the JEFF thread."
sorry i wasn't specific enough for you.
"So you have some familiar people discussing things as opposed to a bunch of sarcastic comments? (indeed some funny) You're against people actually having discourse? Not punk enough for you?"
no i'm just tired of the musicianship/showmanship argument, it's tired. actually it's not mod enough for me.
maybe the internet has ruined my ability to understand sarcasm.
blueshammer: creative spelling of cocknocker, thanks for adding something new to my vocabulary.
Thanks for correcting me on the spelling of "cock-knocker" you you...human paraquot.
SRV is absolutely the best at what he does. Or did. To get this, you have to watch live performance footage. He's unquestionably at the top of his game.
The question is, why does anyone give a shit about rich white men (or anyone, for that matter) playing the blues any more? I suppose it has value as an academic exercise, but if you want to hear blues, listen to a Howlin' Wolf record. What could Eric Clapton or Kenny Wayne Shepherd possibly have the blues about at this point? "Oh, my woman, she done left me. I've got those low-down, dirty, sipping cognac in my olympic-sized pool blues."
There's nothing new to be said here. Let's move on.
"Love will lead us, alright
Love will lead us, she will lead us
Can you hear the dolphin's cry?
See the road rise up to meet us
It's in the air we breathe tonight
Love will lead us, she will lead us"
-Live
I'd like to point out that saying somebody sucks because they're white is sort of a crappy substitute for actually discussing/criticizing their music. Some white bluesguys are as boring as Clapton/SRV, but on the other hand, some are not. What about, like, Captain Beefheart? Should he have been like "hey wait a minute I'm white, I guess I'll go make bubblegum pop"? NO HE SHOULD NOT.
It's not that they suck because they're "white",it's simply that they are a "white" imitation of black music.If you know anything about blues then you know that blues roots are very specific to African American culture.I don't think anyone classifies Beefheart as "blues",there is definetly some blues influence in some of his music but listen to "trout mask replica" and tell me thats similar to what Stevie Ray Vaughn did.
And "Simple Mike",if you think SRV was the best blues player,well the only advice to give would be to stop watching Mtv.
i always thought that when someone says SRV sucks that means they kind of like him. at least that's what i learned in college; that SRV is for rednecks. still true, kind of.
Blogging is the new white man's blues. Pardon me, I have to get back to Guitar Hero 2.
Ha ha ha ha!Don't you know my band,fabulous thunderbirds,and Stevie's band were the best blues bands you silly crackers.Lightnin Hopkins ain't got shit on us,and King Kong ain't got shit on me!
Played on my record (Let's Dance) and then stiffed me on me tour and video. Something about not wanting to be a poseur. Punk rock bollocks.
Stevie Ray SONGS = ehhhhhh
Stevie Ray "texas flood" in his early 80s prime = absolute GOOSEBUMP-GIVING. if you can't feel that, then you have no soul..continue listening to the rackontours. or perhaps my soul is just dog shit and yours in dog vomit. peace out!
"GOOSEBUMP-GIVING. if you can't feel that, then you have no soul.."
I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth?!
Those that don't "get" Stevie Ray obviously never saw the man perform live. His talent eclipsed nearly every guitarist since Hendrix, and his popularity helped kickstart a moribund '80s-era blues scene, launching 1,000 and 1 blues-rock guitarists.
Besides, listening to these bootlegged Nashville tracks, recorded in 1978 (several years before SRV's debut album was released, and with a largely different group of players) doesn't paint a clear picture of Vaughan in his prime.
Don't like the blues? Then don't listen to 'em - go back to your fey indie-rock singalongs and leave the houserockin' to the real men & women!
If not MTV, where am I to get my blues fix? WHERE?!
I stand by my statement that live, in 1986, SRV was the best there was when it came to people that play music that I don't particularly like.
As for who is the greatest blues guitarist ever, the answer is clearly George Swaney
Guys with chops get Stevie Ray and guys without chops don't get it! Simple! If you play out of key, sing out of key and don't have chops, then you probably won't get Stevie Ray. So just go back to your room and hit that "on" button on your "drum machine" and bask in your amazing talent...
Stevie Ray Vaughan... Texas Flood!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5tS5V9DIG0
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