Fergie Hummer

[MacMagus]

> Which are OK?

Which can you hear an unadulterated voice on? Which are not merely prime exemplars of talented studio engineers and huge advertising budgets?

[Fritz]

I've done a few shows with Fergie. She can sing, though not consistently. The CD is poop, but so is most of what sells big. I hope the Hummer goes for big $ since it apparently will go to a green charity and will be one less gas guzzling pos of the road.
The other party mentioned cannot sing, again like so much of what sells big.

[davester]

What a ridiculous vehicle. Since she's selling for a green cause, I'd expect the buyer to take a sledgehammer to the thing after the sale is completed.

[OWC Jamie]

99% of the time "green" = fraud.

make that 99.99%

[vision63]

[quote MacMagus]> Which are OK?

Which can you hear an unadulterated voice on? Which are not merely prime exemplars of talented studio engineers and huge advertising budgets?
There isn't an artist today you can't say that about, so what's the point of that?

The key is, which songs have "you" listened to before today? "Pump it?" "Big Boys Don't Cry?" I think now you'll say you're very familiar with their work, but I don't think you are at all. I think it's fashionable to judge people without even listening to them.

[RAMd®d]

I think it's fashionable to judge people without even listening to them.

I agree.

And the corollary to that is that I (me, anyway) think it's fashionable to bash people, places, things, without even knowing much about them.

I'm not sure of the motivation, but it seems like a lot of people are far more willing, even eager to stereotype and make negative statements than postive ones. To me, a lot of this seems hate based, for want of a more articulate discreption. I.E, the Wilt: stud/Paris, Brit, Ferg, almost every other female in the public eye: skank-ho.

My apologies for a mini-hijack.

[MacMagus]

> There isn't an artist today you can't say that about, so what's the point of that?

Actually, there are a whole lot of modern performers who don't need timing, pitch correction and vibrato or phaser effects done to their voices in order to pretend that they can sing. I'm no fan, but if you need the name of a pop star, among them is (surprisingly) Kelly Clarkson who has repeatedly been in battles with her recording company and tour promoters to prevent them from altering her voice (with mixed success).

My work occasionally touches the music business and I have relatives who are studio engineers. Who gets what done to their voices is a popular subject.

You want the names of some modern performers with genuine musical talent? There's the Dixie Chicks (not a fan, but they can sing in the right key and play their own instruments), Lisa Loeb (ditto, and isn't she a cute little girl for all that she's pushing 40?), David Broza (does popular "world music" count?) the guys from Phish (just take it for granted that I'm not endorsing the acts from now on, but merely mentioning them because they don't need their voices re-made practically from scratch for an album), Paul Melançon, Soul Couging, Melissa Etheridge, Fiona Apple, Natalie Merchant, the late great Johnny Cash, Green Day, Aimee Mann, Belle & Sebastian... and that's just what I pulled off of today's random iTunes playlist.


> The key is, which songs have "you" listened to before today?

As for BEP's recent stuff, the good Lord has kindly let me find distractions when that cr@p comes on the radio or tv. I've heard it, but (thankfully) not so often that I know the names of their cr@p "songs." Tell me, how many of them DON'T consist of the same one or two short phrases repeated with little variation?

As for the pre-Fergie BEP stuff, have YOU heard any of it? I have. Those guys were being passed off as a novelty act whose music was so bad that it made Tiny Tim sound harmonious. Their music was most popular as an abject lesson in what NOT to do as musicians.

[vision63]

I love most of the artists that you've mentioned. I'm not familiar with Belle & Sebastian, David Broza or Paul Melancon. I'm aware of Soul Couging, but don't own any of their music. I have virtually everything that each of the other artists you mention have ever put out. While I love them, they're music is no more valid than Fergie's.

I loved the "Death Row" era Peas. I could see where they were trying to go.

Basically, I think you just don't understand what's valid about their music. What they're audience "gets" from it. Wouldn't it be better to just say, "I don't 'get" what people find in that music," instead of just dismissing something that you neither have the desire or inclination to listen to, much less qualify as reviewer for? Would the "good lord" approve of you talking about people this way?

[MacMagus]

> Wouldn't it be better to just say, "I don't 'get" what people find in that music," instead of just
> dismissing something that you neither have the desire or inclination to listen to, much less
> qualify as reviewer for?

Why do you think that I lack the qualification to judge what's lousy, doctored "music"...?

How "educated" does my ear have to be, exactly?

[Rain]

Hummer- is that considered cheating?