Seasick Steve made up his hobo past shock

Iamnobody

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

... but surely... the bit about him feeling a bit queasy when he's on a channel ferry... surely that's still true?

No he regularly takes the helm of his private yacht that his duped fans have financed...

I'm not interested in his backstory I bought the first album and went to the first tour. Always saw him as a bit of a novelty act and enjoyed it at the time. I haven't listened to the album in years.

Fretwired

HAL9000 said:

Fretwired said:

Who cares .. it's none of our business anyway. Last time I checked the music industry was a branch of the entertainment industry so myth makining is OK.

I take your point, but with most artists you know it's all a bit tongue in cheek. I think the problem in his case is the claim to some sort of authenticity.

I bet that he thought it a good idea when he was playing small festivals. Never thought he'd hit the big time. Once you start you can't go back.

I have more of a problem with white middle class English dudes trying to play authentic blues - they should have been singing 'woke up this morning in my nice warm semi in Surrey - mum brought me breakfast in bed as I ain't in no hurry .. got a job that pays loads of dough .. I'm really rather loaded .... etc"

robinbowes

I've had a bit of an argument on FB with some terribly earnest local musician who finds it "depressing" because of the "cultural appropriation". He's deadly serious and doesn't get the irony (white men, blues, cultural appropriation). I have remained polite, but he comes across as a totally humourous wanker!

Take this, for example:

some wanker on Facebook said:

Not sure there has been indignation, but, as you ask. Firstly in this case it is cultural appropriation, which I realise is a concept that is often meaningless, however he is pretending to be homeless and music playing rover that acquired his music in the Deep South. Both designed to gather sympathy and create a marketable story. Secondly, his whole thing was being a real artist playing real music in contrast to the manufactured artists being thrust upon us by the 'industry' when in reality he is another manufactured act to placed in a specific market position. It bloody worked, too as XXX has shown digging up the reviews. So if you bought in, you were cheated, whether that matters or you care was actually the question, which seems to have been missed, bizarrely. What is distasteful is pretending to be homeless to gain sympathy for a product, that is morally questionable.

Jesus Christ - I bet he's a a fucking riot at parties!

R.

guitarfishbay

Don't tell that person about the X Factor

mudslide73

I've always thought he lacked authenticity, it doesn't matter where/when you come from but it's gotta feel right. When he was discussed here a while ago (may have been in the MR days) I remember saying something about being content with my Freddie King albums.

Bucket

Fretwired said:

I have more of a problem with white middle class English dudes trying to play authentic blues - they should have been singing 'woke up this morning in my nice warm semi in Surrey - mum brought me breakfast in bed as I ain't in no hurry .. got a job that pays loads of dough .. I'm really rather loaded .... etc"

I don't think there's any shame in being a white guy and playing the blues. Doesn't matter if you're middle class or not, everyone has problems, and if blues is some kind of outlet for it that you enjoy and feel a connection with, then good luck to you.

freakboy1610

"By 1982 he was a member of the splendidly named Clean Athletic and Talented (or CAT for short), writing and singing on their Woman and Sports album and their awkwardly titled single I Love to Touch Young Girls." 

hugbot

Fuck authenticity 

Gagaryn

freakboy1610 said:

"By 1982 he was a member of the splendidly named Clean Athletic and Talented (or CAT for short), writing and singing on their Woman and Sports album and their awkwardly titled single I Love to Touch Young Girls." 

That's the part where my jaw dropped too. That and the bit where he as described as looking more like Keith Lemon than one of The Band. I seem to be in a minority here; I've always that he was a bit of an arsewipe.

robinbowes

I never had any problem with him, I just didn't find him all that exciting, and a bit of a one-trick pony.

TheBlueWolf

Pretty sure I've heard this elsewhere but I'm not surprised anyway. In the scheme of things it's not a big deal.

Evilmags

Good on him. Like none of us would give our livers to do a major Festival with John Paul Jones. 

Norwegian_Blue

I love the reference to people buying his albums being unhappy due to this... didn't they buy it because of the music on them?

merlin

Can I play the Blues, Jazz, Country, Chingdon, Klezmer, Fasil, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms?

You best your sweet ass I can, if I study hard, learn and really get inside the Music I'm playing. We live in a post-modern world and as Duke Ellington was renowned to have said, "there are only two kinds of Music.  Good Music and the other kind". 

impmann

So what?

He lied about his past.

The music is good and he is a captivating entertainer.

HAL9000

Yup, I'll get rid of his albums and cut him out of my life after sending him a John Deere letter...

pintspiller

He may be a one trick pony, but he blew my fucking mind the first time I saw him on Jules Holland. I only have two of his albums though.

ICBM

I quite liked him initially but the novelty quickly wore off and I then found him annoying.

Went off him in a big way when I saw him on the TV at Glastonbury with a large collection of obviously specially-made "dumpster find" guitars which were being passed to him by a roadie. Just too fake.

Cirrus

I was a big fan, but when he raped me and murdered my wife I stopped listening to his albums as often.

jellyroll

Says more about our society than about him.