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Musical Geniuses that made it

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derbski
Posts: 3173 - Karma: 62
Thread title is pretty self explanatory, post musicians that are exceptionally talented that did not go overlooked in today's society where many popular "artists" don't write any of their own stuff, everything is edited like crazy, and even with all of that help the music still sounds like shit.

I am going to have to start out with
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streetlight manifesto and

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this guy

Both are exceptional at writing lyrics, instrumentals, and ability to perform their work live
Dec 18 2009 6:20PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
Oh and the metal I am talking about that I think sucks..bands like this and Attack Attack.


and the NIN that I like..but that song you posted was not all screaming and you could understand what he saying.
Dec 28 2009 6:15PM
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blackwallstreetd
Posts: 152 - Karma: 10
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[IMG]1902encyclopedia.com/M/MOZ/mozart-01.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]theportobelloorchestra.co.uk/ProgrammeNotes/Dvorak01.jpg[/IMG]

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[IMG]jsbach.net/bass/elements/bach-hausmann.jpg[/IMG]

just a few..... with real, uncontradictary talent

Dec 28 2009 6:44PM
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Arabian.
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 54
Gifted, but not a genius. I love him to death, but he only played Texas style-blues reaaaaallly well.
Dec 29 2009 11:44AM
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neutralzombie
Posts: 8629 - Karma: 606
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Dec 29 2009 11:58AM
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BrewskiJr
Posts: 5738 - Karma: 1,478
John Mayer
Dec 29 2009 12:05PM
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noname..
Posts: 449 - Karma: 91
as to metal, you cant deny that some of the musicianship is off the charts insane, and they obviously enjoy doing it.  I have so much respect for the drummers especially in metal bands, getting to the level of jason bittner and chris adler takes years of practice.  but we dont really regard metal bands as having "musical prodigies" do we.
Dec 29 2009 12:21PM
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noname..
Posts: 449 - Karma: 91

oh, and as to mine:

Jeff Tweedy and Wilco, Isaac Brock and Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, The Avett Brothers, Bon Iver, At The Drive In and The Mars Volta, The Roots, Beck, Beirut, Built To Spill, The Gorillaz, John Butler, Matisyahu, The Postal Service but NOT Death Cab i dont think, Streetlight, and TV on the Radio.

Dec 29 2009 12:26PM
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BootySpunk.
Posts: 8148 - Karma: 84
Yah the drummers are nuts...they pretty much run the entire concert.
Dec 29 2009 12:55PM
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Kornn101
Posts: 3534 - Karma: 25
i love you

go back a page and check out the abbey road vid i posted, so sick
Dec 29 2009 1:24PM
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TheHamburglar
Posts: 3895 - Karma: 3,314
embedding wont work so heres clicky link


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Dec 29 2009 1:31PM
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neutralzombie
Posts: 8629 - Karma: 606
sick. i was a bit bummed when i saw them in october because they didn't play their usual 3 hr set but it was like 1.5 hrs of just them so it's all good. i was surprised at no encore. played a lot of oldies too. at least i've seen them like 4 tiimes or something, and i got to go for frees! :D.

i'd have to say one of the most energetic bands i've seen live is gogol bordello. they're fun as fuck. and i'm going to have to admit i'd knock queens of the stone age on my top list. i think there's way too many bands that kick ass. and i have to admit, i hate metallica too, but you can't deny them a spot on most important musicians ever list, that being said, they're no marker for this past decade.
Dec 29 2009 2:49PM
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*simba*
Posts: 9125 - Karma: 511
Mike Jones
Dec 29 2009 2:51PM
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Arabian.
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 54
Gee, you're so fucking indie it kills me. To list Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Beirut, Matisyahu, Postal Service and TV you have to have a VERY shallow understanding of music, though I love Bon Iver to death. These guys sound good, but they're doing nothing that could be considered genius at all. You're confusing songwriting with musical genius, and they aren't even the best songwriters as far as I'm concerned.

They have a sound. Don't confuse that with skill or genius. CCR weren't geniuses, but they had a great sound and songwriting skills, which set them apart.

If anything, you should be putting Rilo Kiley up there for starting the sound that Postal Service stole from them.
Dec 29 2009 2:56PM
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Arabian.
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 54
*anything.
Dec 29 2009 2:57PM
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neutralzombie
Posts: 8629 - Karma: 606
i do agree with you on 99% of those bands, but is it really fair to say that someone with a great voice and song writing abilities isn't a great musician/artist?
Dec 29 2009 3:03PM
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noname..
Posts: 449 - Karma: 91
uhhhh i dont listen to words normally, just the music. and to have it reach me as emotionally as it does, thats why i consider it genius.  again as to genius i agree i shouldnt have listed some of them, my main ones were jeff and isaac in that category.
Dec 29 2009 3:06PM
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neutralzombie
Posts: 8629 - Karma: 606
not very popular but godspeed! you black emperor is epic.
Dec 29 2009 3:15PM
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Aaaron.
Posts: 11817 - Karma: 903
you are
a) missing out
b) an idiot
Dec 29 2009 3:16PM
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noname..
Posts: 449 - Karma: 91
sorry, i just dont like being told what to do or what to think, i like making my own conclusions based on my own experiences in life. my music doesnt tell me what to do, thats all. of course, theres a voice that goes with every style andthe music wouldnt be right without it, you cant not listen to them.  they just dont have a meaning besides the musicality to me. if that makes sense.
Dec 29 2009 3:22PM
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Aaaron.
Posts: 11817 - Karma: 903
it doesn't.  but if you do understand that if you aren't listening to the words, you are missing out on a pretty heavy part of the song?
Dec 29 2009 3:24PM
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Arabian.
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 54
We're not debating musicianship here. All the bands listed in this thread are good or great musicians in their own way. We're talking about GENIUS here. None of those guys are geniuses (save maybe Tweedy or Mars)
Dec 29 2009 3:24PM
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drumbumocdp
Posts: 3228 - Karma: 1,082
10/10 for you my friend
Dec 29 2009 3:45PM
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drumbumocdp
Posts: 3228 - Karma: 1,082
and for you
Dec 29 2009 3:46PM
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noname..
Posts: 449 - Karma: 91
sorry, we obviously have different experiences with music.  I'm just saying the lyrics add a necessary something to the music, but dont affect my life other than that. music makes me do crazy shit, not because of the words, but because of the sounds those words make with the instruments. i get so emotionally charged beyond what anything else can do to me. not because of the lyrics meaning something literal to me.
Dec 29 2009 4:10PM
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noname..
Posts: 449 - Karma: 91
i ackowledge my mistake.
Dec 29 2009 4:10PM
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a_pla5tic_bag
Posts: 9210 - Karma: 5,357
Speaking of music, apparently the drummer of avenged sevenfold died.
Dec 29 2009 4:13PM
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Aaaron.
Posts: 11817 - Karma: 903
RIP, prayers to his friends and family
Dec 29 2009 4:18PM
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low_fidelity
Posts: 2673 - Karma: 118
gee no Arthur Lee? i thought for sure he'd be on your list. Deff on mine
Jan 3 2010 2:12PM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 170
can you be any more pretentious? i mean, lift your skinny fists was a great post-rock album, but im pretty sure youre just name dropping now to increase your hipster cred.



Musical genius =/= good musician... it has to be a sort of epic once in a generation type thing. i can name shitloads of really great bands that have an awesome sound and good songwriting, but that doesnt make them all music geniuses.
Jan 3 2010 3:04PM
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jeremy.g
Posts: 4931 - Karma: 459
the man behind Gorillaz, Damon Albarn. demon days was an incredibly successful album commercially, and one of my all time favorites, the man makes amazing music. no question about it. he is incredibly talented.
Jan 3 2010 4:32PM
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noname..
Posts: 449 - Karma: 91

i am in total agreement with you sir.

Jan 3 2010 7:19PM
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neutralzombie
Posts: 8629 - Karma: 606
clearly my ultimate goal was to join newschoolers and gain popularity throughout all internet time and space. pretentious? i'm sorry i named one of my favorite bands. i don't personally know anything else out there like it and if i did then i probably would be pretentious.
Jan 19 2010 11:46AM
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Arabian.
Posts: 9632 - Karma: 54
Actually, alot of the musicianship was left up to Brian McLean, Arthur's secondhand man. Arthur was the frontman and lyricist for about 70% of the lyrics and barely any of the music.
Jan 19 2010 11:57AM
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[~_~]
Posts: 20239 - Karma: 1,273
YES
Jan 19 2010 12:03PM
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Gorilla.Steeze
Posts: 2215 - Karma: 43
i don't get this thread. isn't this just the same thing as a "whose your favorite artist" thread? if you are a musical genius than you most likely "made it." a better thread would be "musical geniuses who didn't make it."
Jan 19 2010 12:03PM
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krystoff
Posts: 228 - Karma: 19
mars volta for sure, animal collective ( i don't know how anyone could dispute that one but i'm sure they'll try), Andrew Bird, and Spencer Krug. How do you fee about those? annnnd i really don't like arcade fire, am i missing out on something?
Jan 19 2010 12:11PM
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General_Shredgnar
Posts: 3024 - Karma: 34
RZA
Jan 19 2010 12:20PM
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skituner
Posts: 1162 - Karma: 127
Stevie Ray Vaughn
BB King

anyone listen to blues here?



Jan 19 2010 1:04PM
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-Dan
Posts: 7087 - Karma: 50,494
Ben Folds for sure.
Jan 19 2010 1:54PM
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B-Wald
Posts: 8113 - Karma: 96
I agree with what you're saying almost completely (although it looks like you've got a little bit of a post-indie chip on your shoulder), but not the part about Andrew Bird not having proven anything. Go see a show, and watch how he builds the music he (and crew) plays. I'd think he's one of the modern artists out there that would be a memorable addition.

Other than that, I don't know why people are even discussing popular bands pre-late 70's, maybe even into the 80's. The commercialization of what sells is what's destroyed popular music nowadays. I don't deny that it was a business before, but the barriers today are much different than they used to be. (preparing to eat my words on that statement...)
Jan 19 2010 2:58PM
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theabortionator
Posts: 51263 - Karma: 157,455
Some of these choices are god awful. People who aren't even very good musically. Even though some of them aren't bad to listen to. Jenkees and John Butler would def agree with. Haven't seen the second page yet.


I'm going to throw out trey. The complexity of the stuff he was writing at a young age is ridiculous. Also going to drop the mclovins who haven't completely made it yet. But there building momentum and there going to be pretty big within a few years.
Jan 19 2010 3:05PM
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derbski
Posts: 3173 - Karma: 62
Bumping my own thread after quite some time, but he came up on shuffle, and I think James Taylor is worthy of a bump
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Feb 19 2010 3:35AM
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r3dbullninja
Posts: 274 - Karma: 13
come on now... what about

Notorious B.I.G.
Outkast
Modest Mouse
Cloud Cult
Death Cab for Cutie
Bob Marley

definitely not Kanye West...his live performances are terrible
Feb 19 2010 4:28AM
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derbski
Posts: 3173 - Karma: 62
Biggie- hardly, he was a lyrical genius, but his beats, which are essentially the music part of it, would not require what I would call musical genius.
outkast- good, but not genius
modest mouse- sure I'll give you this one
cloud cult- don't know them well enough
death cab- no...
bob- absolutely
Feb 19 2010 4:34AM
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GANDALF
Posts: 6285 - Karma: 6,433
bump because this is the best possible answer to this thread:

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Jim Morrison
Jun 11 2010 2:41PM
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apcaipse
Posts: 2168 - Karma: 25
Jay Z. Don't know if you would consider him genius, but his beats are good and he's been a influence on rap for a very long time.
No one has said them yet, but I love them, Passion Pit.
Could definitely create a legit argument for the placement of Eminem in this thread.
Nas?
Jun 11 2010 3:14PM
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Yung_Gnarley
Posts: 9091 - Karma: 3,016
Dan Deacon is an actual musical genius.
Jun 11 2010 4:45PM
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Darth_Veeder
Posts: 1054 - Karma: -26
Rush
Pink Floyd
The Doors
Primus
The rolling stones
led zeppelin
Beck
Pinback
Radiohead
Simon and Garfunkel
The shins
The Who
Old Modest mouse (before we were dead before the ship even sank or whatever that shit is)
Clapton
David Bowie+Queen
Cake

for people who are geniuses but are not super big
wolf parade
Karate (shit is so good, one of my absolute favorite bands)
Boat
Cuff the duke
Jun 11 2010 5:17PM
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feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084
i didnt read the whole thread, but on the first page i noticed a lack of a certain name:

LED ZEPPELIN



i will admit that i never played an instrument, so i am not sure how qualified i am, but they were as diverse as you can be (while still selling tons of records).

"d'yer m'ker" is a reggae-like tune
"kashmir" incorporated oriental influences
"going to california"/"thats the way"/"thank you" (among others) are incredible ballads
"whole lotta love" has a famous opening riff and a revolutionary atonal mid-part


just a few examples (without stairway to heaven, needless to say how great this song is) of how much influences they incorporated in their music comined with great and sometimes overly intellectual songwriting and unbelievable live-performances.

i know a lot of good bands, but if i had to choose one band to listen until my death, i would choose led zep and if i had to choose one album it would also be a led zep one.
Jun 11 2010 5:48PM
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