Does a musicians ability to compose/write their own music affect your willingness to listen to them?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Aaron52101, Feb 14, 2013.

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  1. Aaron52101

    Aaron52101 Active Member Thread Starter

    I'm not going to throw any musicians or genres of music under the bus as examples, but I think culturally we are moving away from individuals who are very active in creating their own music vs. a lot of the work being done by other people (producers, song writers, session musicians, etc). Does knowing a certain artist really is not creating a large portion of certain aspects of their music affect your opinion of them or do you just want to hear good music, regardless of how it was made? Where do you draw the line?
     
  2. ElizabethH

    ElizabethH Forum Resident

    Location:
    SE Wisconsin,USA
    Well most singers who cannot write their own music are useless IMO.
    For bands it is the same. (aside from Classical musicians of course!)
     
    Jerryb likes this.
  3. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    I just want to hear good music, regardless of how it was made. Though the musical output of artists who write their own material is usually more consistent (for better or for worse).

    It's interesting to remember that for music up until the 60s, it was more the rule than the exception for singers to sing material not written by themselves.
     
  4. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    People who insist that performing artists write their own material aren't interested in music as much as a soundtrack to their hero worship. The idea that only self-contained performers are legitimate artists is a very recent conceit.

    If you were to find out tomorrow that your favorite artist's songs were written to order by a revolving team of professionals while the music was performed by jazz musicians on the clock -- exactly what they did at Motown, by the way -- how would this knowledge affect a single note coming out of the speakers?

    Last time I checked, I couldn't hear anything from the publishing notices printed in the liner notes. You might as well insist that a singer do their own booking and accounting.
     
  5. zonka

    zonka Forum Resident

    Location:
    Peoria, AZ USA
    Sinatra?
     
    zen likes this.
  6. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    "Well most singers who cannot write their own music are useless IMO." this is insane!! there are plenty of great Jazz Singers who don't write the songbooks they sing I take it you are talking about Rock
    Elvis comes to mind first,then Motown groups
     
    zen likes this.
  7. Kustom 250

    Kustom 250 Active Member

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    It's not the size, it's what you do with it. Or something like that.

    There's way too many great performers who don't write their own material.

    And there's plenty of writers who are the last people I want to hear play their own music.

    Just on the lady singer end of the scale who's not gonna listen to Ella, Billie, Peggy Lee or Julie London because they didn't write most of the songs they sing?
     
  8. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    Depends on the time, and the genre.
     
  9. ampmods

    ampmods Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    There are some great singers/performers who can perform anything and make it their own whether or not they have written it. That's a great talent.

    But there are more singers/performers who just sound generic and perform music created in music factories that is intended to be as formulaic as possible in order to be a hit. That stuff makes me crazy.

    I tend to prefer a point of view in musicians I really like. Something about their performance and their songs that is unique to themselves. And most often that means that the singer also wrote the song.
     
    zbir likes this.
  10. dhoffa85

    dhoffa85 Well-Known Member

    Yes to me that is the most impressive thing. there are great musicians that don't write their own stuff and that is fine. I will still listen to them but I have a real respect for those that can actually compose and write decent material.
     
    Vinyl_Blues and TCEckels like this.
  11. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    just played the original version of "I am into something good"(I guess if King did it it would really be Original ) Thanks God for Hermans Hermits
     
  12. tim_neely

    tim_neely Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    Central VA
    Of course not.

    Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin are Exhibits A1 and A2.
     
  13. throbbin tower

    throbbin tower Forum Resident

    No, it doesn't bother me if an artist doesn't write their own stuff, as long as their interpretation of the material is good. I.E. Presley, Sinatra, even Three Dog Night...but I understand the OPs point...these blockbuster albums that have about 10 producers, songs credited to 5 writers that aren't the artist,etc. Too many cooks in the kitchen, I think.
     
  14. keef00

    keef00 Senior Member

    While my absolute favorite artists tend to pen their own material (Westerberg, Strummer/Jones, Jagger/Richards, Hunter, etc), I would never slag off the Temptations or Frank Sinatra as lesser artists for not writing songs. Taking a song from a sheet of paper, then breathing life into it to so that it touches millions of people? That is great art as well.
     
    starduster, Dave, ShawnX and 3 others like this.
  15. RichieSnare

    RichieSnare Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Paterson
    Donna Lynn I don't think wrote her own songs, but they are all very fun and well composed. I love listening to them. She was a great singer!
     
  16. zen

    zen Senior Member

    No. If I can feel the pain or joy coming through the music, I'm willing to listen whether the musician wrote it or not.
     
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  17. MaggieMac

    MaggieMac Forum Resident

    Personally, I want to hear good music. I don't care if the singer or the band member or the singer's mother wrote the song, I just like to hear music that touches something in me or brings me joy or a makes me sad or makes me happy or reminds me of something in my life. So much good music is collaborative, one artist bringing out the best in those they work with. Some people are incredible interpreters of music written by others. Others write on their own or with writing partners, and perform what they write. Good musicians can bring something to any song, and make it their own. The national anthem is the exception, LOL.

    I grew up listening to music I enjoyed in all genres, and never gave a thought to who wrote it. If I liked it, I liked it. Taken to the extreme, now every young person who wants to sing or play in a band is pressured to think they need to write to be authentic or legitimate or respected. Many examples of aspiring musicians can be found in the internet who sound bad, but write their own music. It is a more rare gift than is thought. Many others are singing songs written by others, and sound bad too. All aspects of music reflect talent in different areas. Some write well, some sing well, some do both well.

    I find it interesting that there are many acclaimed songwriters and composers who have been creating wonderful music for years of my lifetime, and before then. But if the only respect an artist gets is if they "write their own", will anyone be covering these wonderful songs in the future? Or any songs currently being written? Maybe the music really will die!
     
    zen likes this.
  18. nbakid2000

    nbakid2000 On Indie's Cutting Edge

    Location:
    Springfield, MO
    Elvis?
     
  19. on7green

    on7green Senior Patron

    Location:
    NY & TN
    For the blues/rock/country genres, the singer/songwriters seem to be the most popular and longest lasting.
     
  20. lv70smusic

    lv70smusic Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Doesn't matter to me. As I've written on this forum before, I'd rather hear a good singer sing a good song than have a singer-songwriter "artist" who is only marginally talented at either craft.
     
    Jackson and MaggieMac like this.
  21. Danglerb

    Danglerb Forum Resident

    Location:
    Orange, CA, USA
    What I don't like are good singers, musicians, who can't write great songs, but don't like doing other peoples material. Good music performed well I could give a rats behind about who the writer is.
     
  22. PHILLYQ

    PHILLYQ Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn NY
    Jeff Beck has hardly written anything, but he's a brilliant guitarist and cetainly quite expressive in his playing.
    What about jazz players who might play a standard in a different way from previous versions?
     
  23. mschrist

    mschrist Forum Resident

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    It does matter to me, a little bit. I thought that I didn't care at all until I realized that there were cases where, at least to some small extent, I evidently did. For example, I noticed that I liked Christina Aguilera's music a little more after I found out that she frequently writes her own songs, even though the songs themselves weren't any different before or after I found that out. It's not to any degree that I would call "important", but it's there.

    I don't know if this is an unjustified bias or not; I don't think about it much because, like I stated, its effect on whether I actually enjoy music or not is pretty weak. But to the extent that I do think about it, I take a little comfort in knowing that it's a very human bias. Whether "authenticity" has any true, intrinsic value or not, people still care about it. People will go see Burt Bacharach perform and excuse his lack of singing skill because he wrote the songs that he's performing; they don't mind because they like the authenticity of hearing the composer sing. When people go see a show by a long-running band, they care if it's the band's original lineup even if the performance won't necessarily be technically better, because that lineup is the version of the band that is more "real" to them. (And they often care a little more if the lineup includes the principal songwriters!) So while "authenticity" may not be a value in some abstract, universal sense, it's at least a normal one to have.
     
    Style Counts and Aaron52101 like this.
  24. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Yup. I might admire those who write their own stuff, but I'll listen to whoever appeals to me...
     
  25. Thurenity

    Thurenity Listening to some tunes

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