Bonamassa. Remind me again why we all hate him?

axisus

Is it about the music? the marketing? His look? Did he shag someone's mother?

I have a couple of his albums, and I have to say that for me they lack 'spark'. I played one song the other day and it went on for over 6 minutes. I think he'd said everything in about 3 max, and after that I was just thinking 'how long is this gonna go on for!?!?!" It's not really my cup of tea in terms of blues, but I don't actually hate the guy. Just another artist that's a bit Meh for me personally.

joeyowen

Jealousy? 

Or his daily endorsement deals 

FelineGuitars

I likea lot of his stuff - the ballad of John Henry album is great and i love his version of Tim Curry's Sloe Gin

I think it's the OTT "everything is a branded or signature model" approach to marketing that would make even Gene Simmons blush that seems to stick in some people's craw

......either that or the large amount of blues success he had without ever being thrown in jail for a crime he didn't commit, or having his woman (and even his dawg) gone up and leave him on the midnight train

octatonic

I don't- I think he's a great guitarist and a good songwriter.
About half his catalogue is exactly my thing, the rest is listenable and there are very few clangers.
He is much, much more consistent than Clapton, for instance.

ourmaninthenorth

I don't own a single piece of work by him.

I just enjoy hating the haters back. 

RocknRollDave

Oh Jesus, do we really need to do this AGAIN?!

ourmaninthenorth

RocknRollDave said:

Oh Jesus, do we really need to do this AGAIN?!

It's a slow month...Hee Hee

Sassafras

I make fun of him but deep down he's quite a likeable chap.
Especially like his Kermit like speaking voice. How can you not like Kermit?

richardhomer

RocknRollDave said:

Oh Jesus, do we really need to do this AGAIN?!

No (and I say that as someone who's not a fan).

That said a friend shared a clip on Facebook in the last couple of days and I was surprised how much better his singing has become.

JezWynd

How can you dislike him, he's so cute.

Axe_meister

He is somebody who clearly loves his craft, is sober and a likeable chap, so clearly not rock'N'roll ;0)
I personally think he needs to take a very long break and write something epic rather than the rapid fire stuff he turns out.

dindude

Sometimes I listen to planet rock on the way home from work, a Bonamassa song comes on and in the first 30 seconds I'm thinking "I really should listen to some JB, this is pretty good". By a minute and half in I've completely switched off and am instead thinking about how nice those alloys are on the car in the lane next me. 

I think he's got a lot going for him, I understand why he's popular, but he just can't keep my interest for some reason. 

BigBearKris

I don't mind him. I've seen him live and he was great. I don't really follow his signature gear so it doesn't bother me one bit.

proggy

I saw him play at High Voltage a few years ago and thought he was excellent.

I couldn't give a toss about marketing. 

Sporky

Not a big fan of his music, but his signature food processor is excellent, as are the garden tools and dog toys.

mixolyd

I think it comes down to his unusual path to stardom.

He wasn't the sideman to a superstar or the guitarist in a world class rock band for a decade or whatever and he didn't work his way up by gigging and selling incrementally more albums over a period the way songwriters used to.  Likewise he hasn't been PR'd and moulded by a team of A&R guys and producers.

The result is a rough diamond: he's great at some things, mediocre at others and below par at a few.  Usually these things are knocked out of artists over time or deliberately smoothed out by the professionals but Joe is mega successful now so he doesn't have to listen to anyone and isn't forced to descend from local maximas and learn new ways of doing things.  

Hootsmon

Sporky said:

Not a big fan of his music, but his signature food processor is excellent, as are the garden tools and dog toys.

muhaaaaa.

monquixote

I don't hate him, but I find his music deathly dull, his singing poor and thus his success a bit mystifying.

Axe_meister

He has got to where his is though hard bloody graft, you have to hand that to him.

axisus

Axe_meister said:

He has got to where his is though hard bloody graft, you have to hand that to him.

So it was ..... handed to him??

Bucket

Fantastic player.


EDIT: Those are just my thoughts on him, but could serve as an answer to the thread title as well.