Bonamassa. Remind me again why we all hate him?

Sassafras

crunchman said:

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.

Miss Piggy on vocals?

xSkarloey

The music I can take or leave, but that's purely my personal taste, and if people want to listen to it then that is their perogative, same as with everything in life: live and let live.

However, I have seen a couple of interview vids with him and I think he comes across very, very well. Seriously, if I was a producer at CITV or CBBC I would be seriously tempted to get him to front some sort of older child/ teen focussed show on playing in a band, sort of a Rock School for those of school age.


edit: as long as he agreed to have his barnet cut in an 80s stylee.

crunchman

Skarloey said:

The music I can take or leave, but that's purely my personal taste, and if people want to listen to it then that is their perogative, same as with everything in life: live and let live.

However, I have seen a couple of interview vids with him and I think he comes across very, very well. Seriously, if I was a producer at CITV or CBBC I would be seriously tempted to get him to front some sort of older child/ teen focussed show on playing in a band, sort of a Rock School for those of school age.

Just think of all the extra merchandise he could sell off the back of that!

RocknRollDave

He did at one time, maybe still does, do a "Blues in Schools" thing (in the US at least) where he visits kids in classrooms and introduces them to his take on Blues Guitar. Either a cynical way to get your fanbase early on or a great way to keep guitar music alive with a younger generation...you decide.

RocknRollDave

...oh and I still maintain that he is somewhere on the spectrum, and I don't mean that in a nasty way, I genuinely do think there is something about him that suggests Asperger's or the like.

EricTheWeary

He did some stuff in US schools, google says 2007, about blues.

Skarloey said:

The music I can take or leave, but that's purely my personal taste, and if people want to listen to it then that is their perogative, same as with everything in life: live and let live.

However, I have seen a couple of interview vids with him and I think he comes across very, very well. Seriously, if I was a producer at CITV or CBBC I would be seriously tempted to get him to front some sort of older child/ teen focussed show on playing in a band, sort of a Rock School for those of school age.


edit: as long as he agreed to have his barnet cut in an 80s stylee.

I might have to watch the Deidre clip. Sigh   

RocknRollDave

"Hi, I am Deirdre Cartwright, and even if I was a better songwriter than the Beatles, better looking than the face of God itself and more talented than Hendrix, Vai and Bonamassa put together....I was never going to hit the big time using my birth name"

xSkarloey

Well there you go. I knew nothing about his school visits, but it just goes to show. I think someone like that who talks very enthusiastically and with good natured authority about his skill has got a place when it comes to keeping instrument learning alive.

Good for him.

randella

I think it's easy to get caught up in an internet hive-mind sneerathon, taking cheap pops at someone to get laughs.  I've done it myself.  Bonamassa, Michael MacIntyre, Rob Chapman, these buggers have worked their fingers to the bone to get where they are and whether or not they're to my taste, they're clearly doing something right.  You'd think Bonamassa would be more popular here, after all he's the embodiment of the dream - start out playing a pub and go on to sell out the Albert Hall.  He's popularising guitar music, and god-knows how many thousands are picking up the guitar because of him.

I like his videos too - the more I see of him the more I like him.  At first I avoided the "look while I play a '54 Strat through Leo Fender's personal prototype Deluxe Reverb" type vids but even then I relented when I realised that's *exactly* what I'd be doing in his position.

RandallFlagg

No hate here, this is excellent:

goldtop

randella said:

I think it's easy to get caught up in an internet hive-mind sneerathon, taking cheap pops at someone to get laughs.  .

Too true. It's a lot easier to dislike people who start threads like this in lieu of doing something positive with their time.

ourmaninthenorth

RandallFlagg said:

No hate here, this is excellent:

Now that's what I call playing with authority...bloody fantastic. 

How good does that V sound? No wonder he ran out and bought his own. 

Clarky

RandallFlagg said:

No hate here, this is excellent:

lovely stuff..

awesome snare drum tone too

Jez6345789

I worked with someone back in his early days and got so tired of her and her boyfriend stalking him round the country on like half his tours and raving about him every 5 minutes when she spoke.

when I listened I thought he was very generic 

that said I find him finding his own playing style in the last few years so if I listen I don't hear snippets of everyone else.

i admire his work ethic and frankly he is at best no more gifted than the average good player but what he lacks in not being the next Satriani Vai or Pettruci he has more than made up for through hard work and sheer dogged determination.

not a fanboy but certainly not a hater

RandallFlagg

ourmaninthenorth said:

RandallFlagg said:

No hate here, this is excellent:

Now that's what I call playing with authority...bloody fantastic. 

How good does that V sound? No wonder he ran out and bought his own. 

Wis'd my man

RandallFlagg

He wrings the neck of that V to within an inch of it's life! Superb tone

Great backing band, beautiful backing singers, and he sings very well with more feeling than I've heard him give before.

What's not to like?

sweepy

He always will remind me of Agent Smith with a Les Paul, his album with Beth Hart was a belter and yes, he does do "white-boy blues" very well but on his own he is as tedious as The One Show

RandallFlagg

axisus said:

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.

I think his latest album, Blues of Desperation is pretty good and is his best, do you have that?

RandallFlagg

sweepy said:

He always will remind me of Agent Smith with a Les Paul, his album with Beth Hart was a belter and yes, he does do "white-boy blues" very well but on his own he is as tedious as The One Show

Well that's a better look than Clapton, who spent most his career looking like a kiddy fiddler with a Strat

ourmaninthenorth

Jez6345789 said:

I worked with someone back in his early days and got so tired of her and her boyfriend stalking him round the country on like half his tours and raving about him every 5 minutes when she spoke.

when I listened I thought he was very generic 

that said I find him finding his own playing style in the last few years so if I listen I don't hear snippets of everyone else.

i admire his work ethic and frankly he is at best no more gifted than the average good player but what he lacks in not being the next Satriani Vai or Pettruci he has more than made up for through hard work and sheer dogged determination.

not a fanboy but certainly not a hater

A good post. 

But do you think he's really trying to be the next Satriani or Vai? If indeed they are to be held to be the bar to hit.

I saw the G3 thing a few years ago, only really wanting to see Fripp again. I genuinely wish I hadn't bothered...for me the most interesting thing about the gig was Vai throwing a plectrum that landed at my feet, and I was able to give it to the young fan next to me...made his day I reckon. All I could think about was getting home and having a cup of tea. 

Whilst understanding and appreciating their technical prowess...they are obviously master craftsmen,  the music they make belongs to a genre that I find uninteresting and generic in equal measure. Like yourself, not a hater of the genre, but not a fan either. 

I guess it really is horses for courses.