who do you think are the musical geniuses?

Reverend

tony99 said:

stimpsonslostson said:

Taking the definition of Genius literally:

Bruce Dickinson
Singer of Iron Maiden
Professional airline pilot
Highly ranked fencer
His reported IQ is apparently 167. 

and yet not the best singer of Iron Maiden, only the second best

which is what crushes his soul when he's sitting at home watching TV, wearing his little pilot hat, holding his samurai sword and getting all the questions right on The Chase

Easily the best of the 5.

Killers is my favourite album but Dianno was not able to last a tour.
 

WiresDreamDisasters

"genius" is a quantification of intellect.

Music is not about the intellect. It's about the soul.

guitargeek62

ESBlonde said:

There are many great composers and musicians, many who were shooting stars and a very few who remaine(d) prolific throughout thier long lives. In recent times that has to include but not restricted to:

Macca

Nile Rogers

Prince

Elton John

I can’t believe it took that long for someone to put Prince forwards! He’s probably the best all-round musician, writer and performer of our time, IMO/YMMV.

Budgie

blobb said:

Budgie said:

I don’t think I saw Richard Thompson mentioned above. So -

Richard Thompson

Indeed the Boy Genius himself. If we are having Thomo then Carthy, Swarb and Tyger and probably Jansch / Renbourne.

All of them!

Davy Graham should be on the list too!

amarok1971

Mike Oldfield

equalsql

Current youngish people who are certainly prodigies:

Jacob Collier
Cory Henry
Joey Alexander
Alma Deutschar

Others..

Prince
Hiromi Uehara
Esperanza Spalding
Allan Holdsworth
Jaco Pastorius
Todd Rundgren
Kate Bush

Philly_Q

I'm not going to delve into the worlds of jazz or classical because I know nowt about them.  I'd say Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, the young Jimmy Page.  I can see why people are saying Kate Bush, she's clearly a very special talent although I'm not that familiar with a lot of her music.

Anybody said Stevie Ray Vaughan?  He's sort of gone out of fashion and been tarnished by the countless imitators, but I think there was something truly remarkable about him.

Somebody said earlier that Hendrix seemed to be "channelling" something... I've always thought that about John Frusciante, he's so prolific and his output is so diverse, it seems to come from some mysterious place.  Maybe he's a genius.

And just to be self-indulgent I'm going to say Kerry Livgren.

richardhomer

Budgie said:

I don’t think I saw Richard Thompson mentioned above. So -

Richard Thompson

Good call. 

John Martyn too for me....

littlegreenman

octatonic said:

PolarityMan said:

RobDavies said:

Townshend.   

Which one?

He means Pete, I think.
I'd argue that Devin is more deserving.

Agreed. I was vaguely aware of Devy from his stint in Vai's band so bought a ticket to his Transcendence tour on a whim. Thought it'd be an excuse to get out the house and have a few beers. Fook me!!! Easily one of the best shows I've ever seen. Since then I've been investigating his back catalogue and it's really really impressive, and immensely entertaining. Funny fucker too.

One thing that really impressed me was an interview where he basically said "yeah, I play all the guitar parts on the records. But then I hire talented fuckers for the tours so I can just go on stage, play "chugga-chugga" and prance about like a rock star!"

Oh, and he hired Anneke van Giersberge, deserves the monicker for that alone

Certainly takes an amount of what I'd label genius to get to a point in your career where you're able to pull this off...

earwighoney

Budgie said:

Davy Graham should be on the list too!

  Davy Graham seems to go under the radar. A very unique sense of timing, IMO one of the greatest English guitarists.

Budgie

earwighoney said:

Budgie said:

Davy Graham should be on the list too!

  Davy Graham seems to go under the radar. A very unique sense of timing, IMO one of the greatest English guitarists.

Agreed. He also gave lessons to Bert Jansch and ‘invented’ DADGAD too... 

YellowLedBetterMan

I've thought of one.

If music is an expressive artform, then surely the ultimate musical genius is the best musical storyteller of all time.

No not Jack Black.



Name one more instantly recognisable musical accompaniment. You can't. Ladies and Gentlemen, John Williams.

MagicPigDetective

I’ve been pondering whether Chris Cornell was a genius. He certainly could write incredible songs, the chords and structure of Black Hole Sun for example. He was an incredible singer and lyricist. Most of all, he was channelling a lot of things, soul, cynicism, anger, depression, wonder, beauty.... etc. As @WiresDreamDisasters said above, if it’s about expressing the soul more than intellect, yeah I think he was a genius..... a troubled genius? 

Springywheel

WiresDreamDisasters said:

"genius" is a quantification of intellect.

Music is not about the intellect. It's about the soul.

Or taking what is abstract (‘soul’) and giving it form ... through intellect. Being able to effortlessly jump between right brain creative thinking and left brain organisation of abstract ideas in a capacity greater than the average musician can be defined as genius. That’s why some musicians wrote their best stuff high as a kite, because those boundaries are often blurred as a result. 

Budgie

Joanna Newsom
joni Mitchell

PolarityMan

Vintage-T said:

Josh Homme

Both real creators in my opinion.

I dont know if he falls in my "genius" definition. He surrounds himself with excellent musicians that complement him, he has a great work ethic, he's produce some excellent music *but* it doesnt feel like he has that unmatchable lightning in a bottle thing if you know what I mean.

I'd liken him more to a successful CEO type in a way, talented, an excellent team player and ridiculous work ethic but not necesarily raw genius. He kind of sums up the 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration adage for me....and I dont mean that in any way to belittle his achievements. 

PolarityMan

littlegreenman said:

octatonic said:

PolarityMan said:

RobDavies said:

Townshend.   

Which one?

He means Pete, I think.
I'd argue that Devin is more deserving.

Agreed. I was vaguely aware of Devy from his stint in Vai's band so bought a ticket to his Transcendence tour on a whim. Thought it'd be an excuse to get out the house and have a few beers. Fook me!!! Easily one of the best shows I've ever seen. Since then I've been investigating his back catalogue and it's really really impressive, and immensely entertaining. Funny fucker too.

One thing that really impressed me was an interview where he basically said "yeah, I play all the guitar parts on the records. But then I hire talented fuckers for the tours so I can just go on stage, play "chugga-chugga" and prance about like a rock star!"

Oh, and he hired Anneke van Giersberge, deserves the monicker for that alone

Certainly takes an amount of what I'd label genius to get to a point in your career where you're able to pull this off...

He's definiely got the eccentric thing down thats for sure. Thing is he's not one of my favourite artists from a recording perspective but Ive seen him 3 times, 2 full band gigs and 1 acoustic tour and he is just such an engaging person it's ridiculous. His gigs rank up there in my top list for sure for that reason.

He definitely qualifies as a genius in my mind. 

WiresDreamDisasters

Springywheel said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

"genius" is a quantification of intellect.

Music is not about the intellect. It's about the soul.

Or taking what is abstract (‘soul’) and giving it form ... through intellect. Being able to effortlessly jump between right brain creative thinking and left brain organisation of abstract ideas in a capacity greater than the average musician can be defined as genius. That’s why some musicians wrote their best stuff high as a kite, because those boundaries are often blurred as a result. 

Or maybe they wrote that music because drugs reduce the intellect and make you a moron? ANYTHING GOES!! Dun dun daaa dun dun, da dun dun DA!!

PolarityMan

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Springywheel said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

"genius" is a quantification of intellect.

Music is not about the intellect. It's about the soul.

Or taking what is abstract (‘soul’) and giving it form ... through intellect. Being able to effortlessly jump between right brain creative thinking and left brain organisation of abstract ideas in a capacity greater than the average musician can be defined as genius. That’s why some musicians wrote their best stuff high as a kite, because those boundaries are often blurred as a result. 

Or maybe they wrote that music because drugs reduce the intellect and make you a moron? ANYTHING GOES!! Dun dun daaa dun dun, da dun dun DA!!

Back in the day some kosher scientists used to do their best work off their tits.

fob

I'm stunned that there's only been one mention of Bach - it's hard to see past him for true greatness.

Duke Ellington

Art Tatum

Django Reinhardt