The five most complete musicians

[Ron Jeremy]

1. John Lennon- Just a genius, his song writing, piano, guitar abilities, singing, personality everything!!!.

The guy was just a freak when it came to music and dare i say we'll probably never see a more talented musician ever again in every facet of music.

2. Brian Wilson- I know this may come as abit of a shock but i still reckon this guy is just a god when it comes to music. Half of his brain is just pure genius with music the other half well?? lets just say his demons are taking care of it, never the less, his singing, song writing, piano & guitar abilities and lets not forget his producing abilities are just astonishing.

3. Dave Gilmour- another genius when it comes to music, love most of his work, original & distinctive. Great guitarist & song writer together with a great voice, another complete package.

"Dark side of the moon" is probably one of the best produced & written albums i've heard, a story basically.

4. Eddie Van halen- ok i know what you guys & gals are going to say and believe me i'm even getting sick & tired of talking about him but i had to include him, i tried to think of others that could've taken his spot but couldn't, i'll tell you why i chose him.

Not only is he probably the most influential guitarist of the past 50 years he possess other great talents including a remarkable voice which isn't really ever heard. You can hear his voice in VH's harmony which made it one of VH's greatest traits, i urge posters to listen to old style VH to see what i'm talking about.

He never wanted to sing though, but merely just focus on the guitar side of things, plus he's classically trained, a reasonable song writer & a competent drummer ( he actually started on drums before switching with Alex).

5. Sting- I've always loved his work, everything from The Police to his solo career, possess one of the greatest voices i've ever heard, powerful, distinctive all the attributes of a great singer.

He also is a more then competent guitarist, bass guitarist & song writing & piano abilities are also worth noteing.

Still love putting on the Police now when kinda down.

What would everyone elses choices be? try not to be biased, these are just the 5 best imo, don't discriminate.

 

[Alex28]

Dave Grohl would have to be up there - great drummer, fairly solid guitarist, good singer and songwriter. 'Foo Fighters' is a pretty amazing album and he literally did the lot on it.

Personally two musicians have made a few of the best albums over the last few years that I have heard and have performed alot of the music on the album - Sam Beam of Iron & Wine ('Our Endless Numbered Days' and 'Woman King' are outstanding albums) and Sufjan Stevens (I can not say enough how good 'Illinois' is - the more I listen to it the more I fall in love).

It really depends on what you call a "complete artist" - there are plenty of musicians who can play a few instruments, sing well and write good songs. To me, if you can write and perform an entire album and do it really well - thats pretty damn complete.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

I was seriously considering Grohl, it was a toss up between him, Sting & Eddie.

f**k how good is the guy & apparently a great person aswell.

 

[Balmain_Boy]

John Lennon, but no McCartney?

Shame Ron, shame.

Great albums Alex, but a big call to have those 2 there. Samuel Beam is my favourite musician in the world though, so I shouldn't say too much. Heard any more whispers about those 2 touring together?

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Yeah but i thought you either have one or the other, John Lennon just offered so much.

 

[carcharias]

3. Dave Gilmour- another genius when it comes to music, love most of his work, original & distinctive. Great guitarist & song writer together with a great voice, another complete package.

"Dark side of the moon" is probably one of the best produced & written albums i've heard, a story basically

Gilmour is "God's guitarist" as they say, however...

Roger Waters wrote all the lyrics on Dark Side of the moon and had ( at an educated guess) a pretty big hand in writing the music.
He wrote soley... Money , Eclipse , Brain Damage
and co-wrote Breathe ,On the run, Time and Us and Them.
Gilmour co-wrote Breathe, On The Run ,Time and Any colour you like.
Now Rick Wright actually had a bigger imput than Gilmour , he soley wrote
( the classic ) The great gig in the sky and co-wrote Breathe , Time , Us and Them and Any colour you like.
Even the drummer Nick Mason wrote a song for the album, he wrote the opening track "Speak to me" as well as co-writng Time and Any colour you like.
So as you can see Gilmour was the only one not to have written a song for the album.

Ron said it is like a story
...it's called a concept album. yes correctamundo "The dark of the moon" is an analogy for madness.
Kind of like "the wrong side of the fence" .
The whole album is about the pressure of modern society and going literally insane from it.

To think those guys were in their early 20's when they wrote it...
Great album.
I prefer "The Wall" though.

Prince is a great complete muso...not my style.
He wrote some huge songs for other people as well.
Off the top of my head.
"Nothing compares to you" for Sinead O'connor and "Manic Monday" for the Bangles.
Chris Martin ( the singer) from Coldplay is no slouch either.
The opening piano phrase in "Clocks" is a modern classic.
It gets flogged on every sports TV and radio show getting around.

I rate Dave Grohl as a guitarist , try singing and playing "Monkey Wrench". Bring on the Dec 1st Woo Hoo!


John Lennon was a legend and my favourite Beatle...but...
John Lennon never could handle the fact that McCartney written songs where bigger than Lennon written ones.

Yes it says written by Lennon amd McCartney but the truth is whoever sang the song usually wrote it....99% of it.
There is a great old clip of PM doing "Yesterday" by himself playing a classical guitar beautifully.

It came about when his girlfriend at the times father said his music was stupid teenager boy meets girl crap.

He went home and wrote "Yesterday".
Now the London Phillharmonic Orchestra do a version of.

PM also played the piano eg "Let It Be", and he even played the drums on the white album ...
Ringo was not in the studio and they were getting a lot done so PM said f**k it ! I'll do it.

 

[millersnose]

mc cartney was certainly better than lennon

in both musicianmanship and song writing

though my fave beatles tracks are harrison ones - something - here comes the sun etc

 

[millersnose]

on gilmour

he is the perfect example of a class muscician

relying on the beauty of melody and well chosen notes and bending technique rather than trying to cram as many notes into a phrase as possible

a good musician is good for what he doesnt play as what he does play

 

[carcharias]

mc cartney was certainly better than lennon

in both musicianmanship and song writing

though my fave beatles tracks are harrison ones - something - here comes the sun etc

George was the Beatles "Ace Frehely"
How good is "Here comes the sun"...great song.
I was in Broome in 91 and was ( one of only 3 white fella's) in this out door pub and this band called "Tin Dog" played.
They were an offshoot from the Warumpi's.
They played "Here comes the sun" and the joint went nuts.
It was such a great rendition.

 

[Alex28]

Great albums Alex, but a big call to have those 2 there. Samuel Beam is my favourite musician in the world though, so I shouldn't say too much. Heard any more whispers about those 2 touring together?

It was more my personal opinion, and an example of what actually makes a "complete" musician. To me, it takes a bit more than writing, singing and playing an instrument or two...

As for touring - haven't heard anything. Have heard that Arcade Fire are aiming to tour Jan/Feb 2006, but would LOVE to see Illinois live - can't happen soon enough

 

[Simo]

You know just recently a mate of mine gave me 2 opinions:

1 - That Dave Grohl is one off the most successful musicians of our time. Why, I asked? and he pointed out he was in Nirvana, arguably the biggest band of the early to mid nineties and then swapped from drums to everything on CD and singing and playing guitar live to bring to Foo Fighters to one of the most prominent rock bands of today.

Hardly a small feat. I had never though of it like that.

His second opinion was:

That Coldplay are the new U2. A band that constantly brings out good songs and he believes they will grow to the size and status of U2. (personally ive never been a 'listen from start to finish' of coldplay or U2 cd's but do love a lot of their songs).

I just thought of that when I noticed those two popped up in a few opinions above.

 

[CliffyIsGod]

Sorry, If Price doesn't win this, then you all have no idea.

One through to five with Prince.

 

[NZ Warrior]

Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) & Dave Grohl have to make this Top 5 list.

 

[CliffyIsGod]

Not the Grohl, he can't write a song to save himself any more.

Trent, yes.

 

[CliffyIsGod]

NZ Warrior, did you see NIN just then?

I got backstage for the second Sydney show.

 

[Balmain_Boy]

I love George's songs, it's like they have an ethereal quality. Brilliant, just brilliant. While My Guitar Gently Weeps is up there in my favourite songs of all time.

Remember Dave Grohl also played in Queens of the Stone Age. Three pretty massive bands for one bloke to be associated with.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

What about Bob Downe? lol

As for Prince even though i do actually like alot of his songs i don't think he'd be up there with the 5 i listed, i'm still doubting as to whether he was the actual guitar player in the Purple Rain CD

KD Lang is one i like, great voice, songwriter, guitarist.

 

[Godz Illa]

As for Prince even though i do actually like alot of his songs i don't think he'd be up there with the 5 i listed, i'm still doubting as to whether he was the actual guitar player in the Purple Rain CD

I've seen Prince live twice - his performances prove that your doubt is completely unfounded. An amazing guitarist with a gift for improvisation and innovation. Can play around 100 instruments. Genius songwriter. Remarkable vocal range. And one sexy motherf*cker.

 

[NZ Warrior]

NZ Warrior, did you see NIN just then?

I got backstage for the second Sydney show.

I truly envy you, mate. Unfortunately, NIN don't appear to be coming across the ditch, so I'll miss out once again.

What was the concert like??? f**k, I'm so envious right now. I'm going green.

 

[knights04]

Backstreet boys.