Hendrix...

Lewy

poopot said:

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

The common thread between this and the Clapton thread is your mind. I think maybe that's what needs further exploration, not the relative merits of famous guitarists.

Now tell us, do you like films about gladiators?

thegummy

Lewy said:

poopot said:

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

The common thread between this and the Clapton thread is your mind. I think maybe that's what needs further exploration, not the relative merits of famous guitarists.

Now tell us, do you like films about gladiators?

Wolf was over rated

richardhomer

Yep - absolutely agree - most of what he did was a dismal racket....

brooom

Wow, Rory is overrated... now that's a new one for me.

fretfinder

Lewy said:

poopot said:

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

The common thread between this and the Clapton thread is your mind. I think maybe that's what needs further exploration, not the relative merits of famous guitarists.

Ouch. But wis’d! 

relic245

What was so great about Einstein? Any Bsc physicist knows more about the universe, matter and relativity than he ever did. (that is true)

What was so great about Roger Banister? Any decent club runner can run a mile in 4 minutes. 

Are we going to devalue these people as well?

What was great about Hendrix was that he did something that no one had ever done before.  In fact, he was doing things that other people didn't think were possible. 

When you judge it against the players of today then sure, he would be nothing special but that (IMHO) is totally missing the point. 

Boromedic

munckee said:

Boromedic said:

My god I despair of this place sometimes....

Seriously though, even if you don't like the guitarists/bands in question theres no way Hendrix or Zep are over rated. Stone Roses and Joy Division were genre defining in their time and paved the way for many others. Not to mention Squire is amazing. Rory was a massive influence on others especially Irish players. I'm not a huge fan of Rorys albums but he was a great guitarist. Obviously all of that is IMHO.

Depends what you are rating on, I can't listen to Led Zep because of Plant's voice.  I love Stone Roses but Ian Brown could barely sing at best.  The masses know Joy Division for one song.

You sum it up in the word influence I think. My favourite ever band is the pixies for the influence they had on me and on other bands I loved.  Most people seem totally indifferent or oblivious to them.

I think vocals and if you can stand them make a massive difference to how you view that artist definitely, I love Pages vocals but even so you can see the influence they had on pretty much every rock and metal band since their first album. Anyone who doubts why they are so rated should listen to How The West Was Won and you can hear how powerful they were.

Ian Brown is poor vocally especially live, but was the perfect frontman for them. Joy Division sit along the same lines as the Pixies, if you're into that genre their influence is huge. The Pixies were another band that paved the way for so much after them. Most alternative bands of the early 90's would say the Pixies were huge for them. I think they're great too, but I only discovered them after listening to others who rated them.

Boromedic

soma1975 said:

I regret nothing.

Joy Division are okay. A couple of good songs but yes, quite influential. 

Roses are okay. A couple of good songs. 

Speak to any fan an you'd think they were the greatest bands of all time. 

Rory could play but not my taste at all. And while lots of people love him who has he influenced that isn't Irish? Who sounds like Rory in the way that, say, SRV inspired? 

Nobody had a problem with Denzel though.... Racists!

Johnny Marr states Rory was a big influence for him, not that you can tell from his Smiths stuff obvs!

lukedlb

soma1975 said:

I should add, I named my son Hendrix so am probably a bit of a fan. 

I got to name my son James as he was born on Jimi's birthday.

roberty

On today's episode of dismissing genius for attention

Philly_Q

Once upon a time there were three billy goats, who were to go up to the hillside to make themselves fat, and the name of all three was "Gruff".

On the way up was a bridge over a cascading stream they had to cross; and under the bridge lived a great ugly troll, with eyes as big as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker.

So first of all came the youngest Billy Goat Gruff to cross the bridge.

"Trip, trap, trip, trap!" went the bridge.

"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the troll....

not_the_dj

lukedlb said:

soma1975 said:

I should add, I named my son Hendrix so am probably a bit of a fan. 

I got to name my son James as he was born on Jimi's birthday.

My 10 year old is a Jimi 

ESBlonde

Context is eveything. Judging 50 years after the event means you need to understand the immediate impact of a black, long haired guitarist, wearing unseen fashionable clothing, playing a 100w marshall at full chat, and controlling it all like no one had ever done. I doubt most people reading this have ever heard a 100w marshall all the way up, it's an increasingly rare experience and not to be confused with a stadium concert sound system (which didn't exist then). There are plenty of yootoob vids of people doing it for the first time if you want to get some idea.  Watch this near the end, the guys eye lids show him whincing!

go to 42:35

Or this one

So this young fella was revolutionary in small venues (by todays standards), at a period in history when way out was cutting edge and most teenagers still wore what their parents did (ignore the headlines, that was in fact the reality). Kings road was very very elite.

Everybody, but everybody else came after. They may be technically better, having had the interveening years to develop thier chops COPYING the man that did it all first. There were better guitarists like Chet Atkins and Les Paul way before Hendrix, but the whole flower power revolution defined the man.

Over rated? You had to be there (I'm told).

longjaw

poopot said:

why is he considered one of the greats?.

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

You must be desperate for attention with this and the Clapton thread - it's a bit pathetic to be honest.

DaevidJ

Next up on "Overrated Guitarists" Prince  

soma1975

lukedlb said:

soma1975 said:

I should add, I named my son Hendrix so am probably a bit of a fan. 

I got to name my son James as he was born on Jimi's birthday.

Internet High Five. 

bacchanalian

Did we not already cover this stuff on a Top Trumps thread?

Danielsguitars

he's ok some good bits but hate some of his tones, let's see how many pages this gets to

poopot

longjaw said:

poopot said:

why is he considered one of the greats?.

To my mind he is vastly overrated...

You must be desperate for attention with this and the Clapton thread - it's a bit pathetic to be honest.

Totally... it’s lonely here in the basement!

steven70

Personally I think I am vastly underrated and deserve a thread. No one else does, but...

Serious comment...

The great thing with Hendrix is his rhythm playing. The lead playing, yeah it's pretty good, especially in the context of time. But his rhythm playing is what distinguishes him. And he was singing half the time as well.

And his song writing. Flipping widdly bar imitators, stamping on a wossname and setting fire to their trousers with their teeth are missing the point - Hendrix wrote superb songs.