John Mayer

[aeroplane]

He is NOTHING compared to Lennon, there is NO comparison here, so that example doesn't hold water. Lennon had every right to be arrogant, but not this little manufactured ***** Mayer...He can **** himself in the ass with the neck of his strat as far as I'm concerned.

He's good, but he's not that good, and he's certainly nothing outstanding. And he has NO right to be on stage with Clapton, or BB King...That's just sacrilege plain and simple.

Mayer could actually make playing guitar seem uncool. I think that's a first in the history of blues and rock. I mean how can a guitar be uncool? Yet in the hands of this poser, the guitar approches the same level of lameness as the accordion.

Both musically and personally, I don't like either John Lennon or John Mayer, not at all, so what I will say is completely unbiased.

If John Mayer had been making the same music he is making today in the exact same era that Lennon made his, same songs and everything, he would be recognized today as one of the greatest artists of our time. Just like John Lennon is now.

Lennon recorded a number of albums back in a time when kids and young adults idolized damn near any musician they could hear on the radio or see perform on tv. He also recorded them during a time when artists would spit out an album every 6 months.

Mayer currently records music during a time where the majority of music fans are downright cynical about recording artists and the idea of them actually being idolized. He also is recording during a time where quite frankly there are people who root for artists to fail or self-destruct, something that no decent person was doing back in the days the Beatles were recording.

Mayer also records in an era where quite frankly there are a hell of a lot more musicians out there working, signed to labels, getting on the radio, the whole nine yards. He's got a shitload of competition. What sort of competition did Lennon have? The Stones, The Beach Boys? Isn't that about it? Mayer has dozens, even hundreds, of artists to compete with for ticket sales and record sales.

Mayer is also recording in a climate where he can only really do an album every 2-3 years because whatever label he might be on wants him to spend a year or more working a single album. So automatically he will be recording music only about half as often (if that) compared to Lennon, who could go in and turn out a couple albums a year because record labels did business differently back when the Beatles existed.

Finally, Mayer is recording in an era where people download music illegally, no longer buy albums, buy one song to a time and no longer give a shit about cover art.

Meanwhile, Lennon didn't have those type of problems. People had to buy a Beatles lp and people had to wait weeks or months to see the Beatles doing anything on television, so it was more of an event than logging onto YouTube to see John Mayer any old time you want.

Again, I think both guys are dicks overall and I don't like Lennon's music, never was into the Beatles and I don't like Mayer much. But Lennon had a number of advantages working in his favor that Mayer didn't, one of which is the hero worship of teens in his heyday that no longer exists on the same level today.

 

[LG]

^^I see you leave no doubt where you stand on this one Aero.

I liked John Lennon, and I like the Beatles but I don't have any feelings one way or the other for Mayer except his tabloid crap doesn't inspire me to look at him in any more depth.(I have no lack of music to check out old and new and as I said earlier, blues guitarists are not my favorites anyway, I prefer jazz.)

 

[tomcat]

how can you say he is good but then call him a poser? Poser? really? There is no one that sounds like him vocally. When i was making this thread i never said he was some kind of guitar god. As the complete package of great songwriter, good guitarist, very good live performer. Yes he has let fame get to his head and so has countles other artists with less talent than Mayer.

I call him a poser because I don't think he has the heart of a true blues man, yet he's treated as such, and he definitely isn't a rocker. I might, and most probably would, enjoy his guitar playing, but his personality makes him unbearable for me to listen to or look at. Yes he has talent, but he turns me off, and apparently a lot of others too. I've seen threads elsewhere where people rip on him.


And btw, I don't mean my attack on Mayer to be an attack on you. What you say is valid, he does have talent, but I just hate the guy with a passion. I suppose I should have shut my trap, but my GOD! Mayer is irritating as hell.

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

I call him a poser because I don't think he has the heart of a true blues man, yet he's treated as such, and he definitely isn't a rocker. I might, and most probably would, enjoy his guitar playing, but his personality makes him unbearable for me to listen to or look at. Yes he has talent, but he turns me off, and apparently a lot of others too. I've seen threads elsewhere where people rip on him.


And btw, I don't mean my attack on Mayer to be an attack on you. What you say is valid, he does have talent, but I just hate the guy with a passion. I suppose I should have shut my trap, but my GOD! Mayer is irritating as hell.

Clapton isn't a true bluesman at all honestly. You can hear the difference in playing when you hear someone like Hendrix playing the blues even SRV.

 

[Soot and Stars]

Both musically and personally, I don't like either John Lennon or John Mayer, not at all, so what I will say is completely unbiased.

If John Mayer had been making the same music he is making today in the exact same era that Lennon made his, same songs and everything, he would be recognized today as one of the greatest artists of our time. Just like John Lennon is now.

Lennon recorded a number of albums back in a time when kids and young adults idolized damn near any musician they could hear on the radio or see perform on tv. He also recorded them during a time when artists would spit out an album every 6 months.

Mayer currently records music during a time where the majority of music fans are downright cynical about recording artists and the idea of them actually being idolized. He also is recording during a time where quite frankly there are people who root for artists to fail or self-destruct, something that no decent person was doing back in the days the Beatles were recording.

Mayer also records in an era where quite frankly there are a hell of a lot more musicians out there working, signed to labels, getting on the radio, the whole nine yards. He's got a shitload of competition. What sort of competition did Lennon have? The Stones, The Beach Boys? Isn't that about it? Mayer has dozens, even hundreds, of artists to compete with for ticket sales and record sales.

Mayer is also recording in a climate where he can only really do an album every 2-3 years because whatever label he might be on wants him to spend a year or more working a single album. So automatically he will be recording music only about half as often (if that) compared to Lennon, who could go in and turn out a couple albums a year because record labels did business differently back when the Beatles existed.

Finally, Mayer is recording in an era where people download music illegally, no longer buy albums, buy one song to a time and no longer give a shit about cover art.

Meanwhile, Lennon didn't have those type of problems. People had to buy a Beatles lp and people had to wait weeks or months to see the Beatles doing anything on television, so it was more of an event than logging onto YouTube to see John Mayer any old time you want.

Again, I think both guys are dicks overall and I don't like Lennon's music, never was into the Beatles and I don't like Mayer much. But Lennon had a number of advantages working in his favor that Mayer didn't, one of which is the hero worship of teens in his heyday that no longer exists on the same level today.

Let it be said that I actually like Lennon's music much better then Mayers aesthetically but this post spoke in spades to what I think of what makes legends legends and how we blindly have artist on pedestals and compare legacies while being blinded by many factors! Best post I've seen in a LONG time!

 

[aeroplane]

I call him a poser because I don't think he has the heart of a true blues man, yet he's treated as such, and he definitely isn't a rocker. I might, and most probably would, enjoy his guitar playing, but his personality makes him unbearable for me to listen to or look at. Yes he has talent, but he turns me off, and apparently a lot of others too. I've seen threads elsewhere where people rip on him.

And btw, I don't mean my attack on Mayer to be an attack on you. What you say is valid, he does have talent, but I just hate the guy with a passion. I suppose I should have shut my trap, but my GOD! Mayer is irritating as hell.

On both of these points, I agree. Mayer to me is a pop musician, first and foremost, at least pop as in popular music. Whether he does blues, rock and roll or reggae here and there, it doesn't ultimately make him an artist from any of those categories.

Goes back to an Alice Cooper example I used awhile back. From about 1985-1992, he jumped into the hair metal genre with both feet and recorded 3 full studio albums worth of it. All the years he was recording before that period and after that period, he never really "went there" again. However for several years, that is what he was. However, in no way, shape or form does it mean Alice Cooper should ever be considered a hair metal act. This doesn't even mention the new-wave style album Coop did right before the hair metal period.

In contrast, a band such as Motley Crue, for example, can record whatever the hell they want to record, whether it is messing around with grunge/alternative rock from 1994-1997 (which they did) or punk rock (which they have also dabbled in) but they are always gonna be hair metal. Ain't gonna change that.

Regarding John Mayer's personal life, I can't think of too many female celebrities who have been railroaded by men quite like Jennifer Aniston. First Angelina Jolie steals her husband then she eventually ends up with Mayer. They break up only for him to tell any tabloid who would listen about their sex life.

 

[METALPRIEST]

Cooper did a couple new wave-ish albums and songs.

The Crue is a good point too..however I would go more-so with just Metal or Shock Rock/Metal before hair metal...but that's just me. They were out there on the scene too early on, before MTV were churning out pop/hair type bands.

 

[aeroplane]

What is amusing about all of this is that I think Mayer is a douchebag and don't like the type of music he does. However, at least I respect the challenges he has to endure trying to have a career with the industry the way it is today.

Anyone who thinks the Beatles or John Lennon as a solo artist could have come out in the late 1990's/2000's and become just as beloved or achieve precisely the same amount of sucess as they did in their era is awfully naive. Even if everything about them was more or less the same.

The Beatles and/or John Lennon himself would have either been completely lost in the shuffle or they would have been booted off their record label after an album failed to meet sales expectations. How many of the American Idol contestants who eventually signed a deal and released an album after doing the show are still on their original record label today? Pretty much all of them but Carrie Underwood and one or two others have been dropped from a label or completely forgotten about.

So in a way, it is a moderate achievement that Mayer has had some measure of success, even though I still don't like him or his music.

 

[gregjohnson1229]

I call him a poser because I don't think he has the heart of a true blues man, yet he's treated as such, and he definitely isn't a rocker. I might, and most probably would, enjoy his guitar playing, but his personality makes him unbearable for me to listen to or look at. Yes he has talent, but he turns me off, and apparently a lot of others too. I've seen threads elsewhere where people rip on him.


And btw, I don't mean my attack on Mayer to be an attack on you. What you say is valid, he does have talent, but I just hate the guy with a passion. I suppose I should have shut my trap, but my GOD! Mayer is irritating as hell.

mayer befor all the comerical success was a real down to earth guy. like i've said fame has went to his head tremendously.

 

[gregjohnson1229]

What is amusing about all of this is that I think Mayer is a douchebag and don't like the type of music he does. However, at least I respect the challenges he has to endure trying to have a career with the industry the way it is today.

Anyone who thinks the Beatles or John Lennon as a solo artist could have come out in the late 1990's/2000's and become just as beloved or achieve precisely the same amount of sucess as they did in their era is awfully naive. Even if everything about them was more or less the same.

The Beatles and/or John Lennon himself would have either been completely lost in the shuffle or they would have been booted off their record label after an album failed to meet sales expectations. How many of the American Idol contestants who eventually signed a deal and released an album after doing the show are still on their original record label today? Pretty much all of them but Carrie Underwood and one or two others have been dropped from a label or completely forgotten about.

So in a way, it is a moderate achievement that Mayer has had some measure of success, even though I still don't like him or his music.

you make very thoughtful and insightful posts aeroplane. You can't talk about an artist's/band's success without mention timing and era. In this era it is extremely different to make it as a musician just to make a living. Trust me I am going through that right now. Downloading has totally changed the landscape of the entire music industry. It has created a culture where bands/artists are writing singles not albums. They are writing 5 singles to put on a myspace age. From experience and many musicians will tell you this when you try to right singles the quallity usually suffers. Tons of the artists that are featured a lot on this forum could not survive today. The artist was already getting ripped with cd royalty deals, but itunes/amazon will screw you over even more.