Bonamassa. Remind me again why we all hate him?

Heartfeltdawn

I find it very hard to distinguish between JB and Olly Murs. 

stickyfiddle

monquixote said:

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

This is exactly it for me. He's a hard worker and seems a nice chap, so I don't begrudge him anything, I just find his music dull to listen to. 

mellowsun

Having listened to mostly blues and blues rock during my late teens and early 20s I can't really stand the genre now, so I avoid artists such as JB.

Can't fault his playing though, just not my thing.

peteri

Seems like a really nice guy, loves guitars, and when you see him noodling around - an amazing player.

Unfortunately, ceaseless merchandising, really not amazing songs on his own (great with Beth Hart tho) - and he keeps letting Kevin Shirley produce him undoes that

What is it with Kevin Shirley? Can't stand his production

RocknRollDave

Whaddya know, it's all the same reasons as it was on all the other Bonamassa threads.

Col_Decker

I heard he likes Michael Mcintyre

crunchman

Sassafras said:

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?

It's the Kermit singing voice that's the problem.

He needs to be in a band with a good vocalist.

mikeyrob73

im not a huge fan, but i am pretty sure most of us on here wish we could play as well as him, or had half the collection he has. Jealousy 

english_bob

mixolyd said:

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.  

What was his "unusual path to stardom"? I thought he had worked his way up by gigging and selling incrementally more albums over a period the way songwriters used to. Wikipedia reckons he's been gigging since he was 12.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Bonamassa

I've never had a great deal of interest in the guy, so there may be more to the story that I'm not aware of.

FWIW, what I've heard of him has been pretty average. Blooze rock is generally a little by-numbers, guitar-centric and long winded, so it's no surprise that JB's stuff is. I've certainly heard it done worse, but I've never heard anything of his that's sent me running to the record shop with a fistful of banknotes.

english_bob

crunchman said:

It's the Kermit singing voice that's the problem.

He needs to be in a band with a good vocalist.

Check out his albums with Beth Hart.

Or Black Country Communion. 

boogieman

I bought a couple of his early albums and thought he was ok, if a bit generic. Nothing he's done since has persuaded me otherwise.  What finally put me off him completely though was all the incessant superstar-grade merchandising and endorsements. His ticket pricing for the last U.K. tour was completely ludicrous too. 

fields5069

I don't hate Mr B, but for me he sounds best when he's just noodling and chatting. I don't really appreciate guitar virtuosity in a band context unless I also like the music. And what I've heard hasn't really been to my taste. Same goes for someone like Phillip Sayce.

TheBlueWolf

Because he's a flat earth, science denying anti vaccinations creationist who denies that we went to the moon? Oh wait, wrong guy lol 

I quite like him. I don't follow endorsements anyway but that probably explains some of the hate.

Jalapeno

mikeyrob73 said:

im not a huge fan, but i am pretty sure most of us on here wish we could play as well as him, or had half the collection he has. Jealousy 

This.

I don't care for Black Country Communion, or his white boy blues schtick (been done before and better).

Main irritation for me is his endorso-whore behaviour.

Clarky

octatonic said:

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.

he is the Micheal Buble of blues.. lol

seriously though.. I think he's a great player
personally though [a taste thing] I prefer my blues to be a little rougher around the edges

Bidley

I like BCC and I actually really like his voice.

EricTheWeary

JB is pretty much the text book example of working your way up by constant gigging and selling incrementally more stuff. Ten years ago he was playing my local club to 50 people and now he plays my local arena to 5000 and has hit most points inbetween. I know his dad got him a foot in a few doors, he ran a guitar shop, but he's not exactly a manufactured pop star.

One of the things I like about JB as a person is he is pretty self aware, there's probably no criticism on here he isn't aware of. Even the made up ones.

mixolyd said:

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.  

english_bob

Clarky said:

he is the Micheal Buble of blues.. lol

Heh. I think I once described John Mayer that way.

snakemanStoo

I don't hate him or like him.  I've heard a few of his songs on the radio and they're just stuff that's not bad to listen to but wouldn't be my go-to music.  

english_bob

EricTheWeary said:

JB is pretty much the text book example of working your way up by constant gigging and selling incrementally more stuff. Ten years ago he was playing my local club to 50 people and now he plays my local arena to 5000 and has hit most points inbetween. I know his dad got him a foot in a few doors, he ran a guitar shop, but he's not exactly a manufactured pop star.

Everybody famous had somebody help them get a foot in a few doors. 

...and ten years ago when he was playing to that crowd of 50 people, Joe was already six years on from his first solo album.