Having Preferences vs. Denying Relevance

Music fans can be absolutely fanatical about their favorite artists, bands, styles, or genres. I think this is wonderful, and it's what keeps guys like me in business, the notion that sometimes, we play people's absolute favorite stuff. It means we'll get return business almost every time.

In my 22 years of playing music, for money and for fun, it seems like I've been listening to certain "arguments" almost the entire time. Who's the best blues or jazz player? Who's the best guitar player period? Who has the best tone? Which band's records are the best? Is this guy any good or not? I see people waste their time arguing about this stuff and it makes me roll my eyes and walk out of the room. So I'm gonna make a short list of some common arguments that never seem to get resolved, and on what side of the fence I reside.

VAN HALEN: I listen to Van Halen records because of Eddie, period. I don't care if Pat Boone is fronting the damn band, I lie in wait for the guitar solo every time. What no one seems to remember during this argument is how wholly underrated Ed's rhythm playing happens to be. I love Dave, I love Sam, and I own every single record Eddie made with his band, or guested on. Pointless argument.

METALLICA: This one always chaps my ass a little. The whole old vs. new thing, before the haircuts or after, etc. I remember back in 1996 as a high school senior how everyone loved to use the term "sell-out" when referring to the mighty Met. Then there was Lars witch-hunting Napster and becoming the most hated cat in rock music, then the movie, etc. Metal heads in particular are especially fanatical and devoted (I know... I used to be one). I've seen them 5 times, I've heard a million bands try to do what they do, and I've played in bands trying to do what they do. No one does it better, period, than they do today. I'm 31 years old, and I would say without reservation that these guys have made themselves the Led Zeppelin of my generation. Go ahead, prove me wrong. The comment form is just below.

THE "REAL BLUES PLAYER": I laugh at this one too. This very second, I'm listening to the Butterfield blues band with Mike Bloomfield on guitar, arguably one of the best blues players (and most underrated) of all time. No one talks about him, no one talks about genius Gary Moore either. Okay, so if we play the blues let's just admit the fact that whether we know it or not we're all pretty much trying to sound like B.B. King on some level, small or large. Apart from that, I've heard people recently badmouth a lot of really significant players as "not being the real deal" when it come to the blues. I'm a lifetime fan of both Robben Ford and Larry Carlton, and apparently (according to some), they aren't real blues players either. Oh, and I'm not a real blues player either. Unfortunately for me, it happens to be maybe my favorite style to play. But he minute you throw one #11 over the IV chord you shoot yourself in the foot.

Here's the slippery slope when it comes to the blues. The initial concepts on the guitar are easy to grasp, which is why so many of us start students out there. The penatonic box-shape, the I-IV-V 12-bar progression, bending a few strings, etc. Not hard to get an early handle on. I'v seen 12 year olds and 45 year olds get it inside of a one-hour lesson. So, why are there so many two-bit hacks who claim to be blues players out there? Why is every weekly blues jam packed with a sign-up sheet full of 30 guitar players who can barely play? Because it's the easiest thing in the world to just "do", but the hardest thing in the world to do WELL. I work at it every day, and still I sound like ass. If this line of hacks in polo shirts with expensive guitars and day gigs behind a desk spent half the time practicing as they do shopping for a relic strat, maybe the blues artform might not seem so trivialized. If Muddy or Albert were around I think they'd think the scene was pretty damn jive.

CARLOS SANTANA: This one's one of my favorites. The guy plays three licks on a pop tune with some flavor-of-the-hour dipshit and gets 40% writing credit and sweeps the Grammys. Must be nice Carlos. I see so many guys who have to plead their case for Carlos to me. First of all, you don't need to sell me on Carlos, I am well-aware of the guy's contributions and relevance. I just don't like him. I've actually met the man, which was a great honor for me, and I told him so, but I don't listen to anything he made past about 1975. I play "Europa" with my band, I'm playing "Soul Sacrifice" at another upcoming gig, those are spectacular tunes that are two tons of fun to play. I can't tell you how many times some bandleader has called "Black Magic", "Evil Ways", "Oye", or the all-time stinker of Santana turds, "Smooth", (the one tune that every guitar player in America is expected to know how to play and sing on any top 40 gig. It's impossible to avoid this pile, as much as I'd like to), and I've deliberately, with all my heart, tried to sound as LITTLE like Santana as possible. But every single time, I come off stage after playing one of these and some guy with a cheap beer in his hand comes to me and says, "Wow man, you sound EXACTLY like Carlos!!!" I politely say thanks and shake his hand. Gotta love the American public, they only like what they get fed. They her a guy who can play, and they hear Santana.

And, last but not least, my absolute least favorite:

ERIC CLAPTON: It seems as though many of my fellow pickers at different levels love to bash Clapton as overrated lately. I am not gonna sit here and defend my childhood hero, my first-ever musical influence, and one of the business's greatest artists in history. He doesn't need me to do that for him, his career speaks for itself quite well. He's the most commercially successful guitarist in the history of our instrument, and there is no more significant and important guitarist walking God's green earth today. Period. Leave the guy alone.

The point of this entire soapbox is this. The privelege (not the right) to have an opinion has to be earned, through thorough and active listening, historical investigation, and respect for all music. Once that privelege has been earned, it is our job as musicians, out of respect for the standard at which our art must be maintained, to NEVER DENY RELEVANCE. Have an opinion, sure, we all do, but please show some of these guys the respect they deserve for the work they've done.

And stop arguing about some of this shit, it drives me crazy.