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Who are the pop stars, from any era, who have extraordinary skills?
I've seen a lot of complaints about stars who are the product of marketing, but who are the true virtuosos?
I've seen a lot of complaints about stars who are the product of marketing, but who are the true virtuosos?
Prince. His music doesn't really do it for me (unpopular opinion), but he was undeniably a brilliant musician. He was an amazing guitarist, but he was equally proficient on a number of different instruments (piano/keyboard, drums, bass). On his first album, he was credited with playing 27 instruments.
John Mayer. He is a legitimately amazing guitarist. His music is very accessible, but there's a lot going on with his guitar parts. I don't know how to quite explain it but his guitar-driven pop sounds easy but gets pretty damn complicated really quick. Good examples of this are his songs "No Such Thing" and "Neon".
Jimi Hendrix. His stuff sounds amazing today and we've have 60 years to digest it. I can't even imagine what it would have been like for people in the 1960s hearing it for the first time. It would have been like somebody coming from another planet. His guitar made sounds that people would have never heard before.
There are a few musicians I admire in spite of not liking their music. Prince is one of them. Also on that list is Andre 3000 and Trent Reznor.
I absolutely love Nine Inch Nails. My wife does not. But she came to a concert with me and was blown away by how well done it was.
"Not for me, but I get it."
We both feel more or less the same about Taylor Swift.
Thank you for John Mayor
Neon's guitar part doesn't sound terribly fancy if you're not paying attention, but the amount of technical skill that goes into that riff is just insane. I've seen videos of other guitarists talking about trying to replicate it and how insanely difficult it is. And John Mayer just makes it look easy. His music may not be for everyone, but there's no denying his extraordinary skills.
For some John Mayer that feels quite a bit less "John Mayer" try the John Mayer Trio, which is a blues trio with Steve Jordan and Pino Palladino (drummer and bassist, respectively, and both highly respected musicians).
Louis Armstrong was a huge star for over 40 years whose virtuosity changed the course of American music forever. As a trumpet player he is still renowned for his range and control on the instrument. His soloing style was so powerful and fresh that he almost single-handedly changed jazz from a collectively improvised music (the old traditional or "Dixieland" style) to one focused on a virtuoso soloist. And as a vocalist, his phrasing and scat singing abilities were hugely influential on the jazz and pop singers of the day (like Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, etc.). There's a strong case to be made that Armstrong was the most important musician of the 20th century. Pops is tops!
I agree with this, but I feel like picking anyone from that era is cheating a little bit because the music industry worked differently, it was less saturated and having extraordinary musical skills was much more common than now. I also find it a bit hard to define what was considered "pop" because of that.
But yeah, there were many other great artists. Cab Calloway, Mills Brothers... Could we call Django Reinhardt a pop musician? He certainly played with the best and made some songs known even in the mainstream to this day, and he created his own guitar style (in which he hasn't been bested to this day) despite only having 3 fingers on his fret hand.
Spike Jones is one of my favorites, apart from being funny as hell his arrangements were a significant influence even for slightly more serious big bands (and for the whole lounge genre). But there really are so many great musicians in this era.
I'm not a huge expert, but I've seen several references to Freddy Mercury's pitch accuracy being remarkable.
He was intimidatingly good. Apparently, most people performing at his tribute concert felt exactly the same way. The general consensus was that the only person who came close to Freddie in being able to sing like him was George Michael.
He could sing and play the audience like no other. Here's 38 seconds of talent:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbvyNnw8QjgOops thats a great song but this is the clip I meant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo-Ka4K-QZw&ab_channel=riverdusk3d
I don't think there's ever been a band quite like queen, and I'm not sure there ever will be again. Freddie's skills is are unmatched
Lady Gaga has the pipes to back up her pop (see the album with Tony Bennet).
Miley Cyrus has really grown into her voice.
As a normal person, I don't think I can sing most Michael Jackson songs properly.
In my experience, Michael Jackson is damm near universal. Even people who don't care for pop stars, like metalheads or all kinds of snobs everywhere in the world seem to enjoy his music, probably since the first time they hear it. There's something very primal about his beats that I genuinely believe gets to everyone, in every culture.
I would definitely say MJ is more universal than Beatles. Just my impression.
I'd disagree, although I also don't really listen to anything before they started doing drugs.
I'm not talking about quality, I'm way more of a Beatles fan myself. I just think MJ is more universal across ages, cultures, etc.
Caroline Polachek has probably the most impressive vocal ability of any of the current generation of pop artists I know of.
Squarepusher is mostly known for extremely hardcore electronica, but is an incredible bass player
God damn it, I've listened to and admired Tetra-sync for years, and occasionally I've had the thought that I should find out who that orgasmically amazing bass player on it is.
I'll see myself out.
Squarepusher is fucking incredible. I saw him play bass in a live 4 piece show in London 5 or 6 years ago. It was mind meltingly good.
One of my fav youtube comments of all time is on Caroline's So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings:
I think most stars deserve their accolades. What’s sad is that for every star, there are n number of equally talented folks who were born poor or in the wrong place, or, since 1970 or so, were not sufficiently telegenic.
That said, my list includes Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Easy E, Outkast, Steely Dan, Santana, Maurice Gibb, Debbie Harry, Lady Gaga.
In sports for example there are many excellent performers and some who stand out beyond that.
It takes skill , drive/ambition/commitment to become a star, but some stay in one lane as performers.
Buster Keaton
I love Keaton and Chaplin and great physical comedians
If you like them, you should check out the YouTube channel Hats Off Entertainment. He does short documentaries on a wide variety of comedy subjects, but he's done quite a few on classic comedians like Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, and Laurel and Hardy.
I guess I'd have to say my response to your question would be Dave Grohl, from the group Nirvana. After that, went on to create the Foo Fighters. All of that is common knowledge, but there's the fact he was the drummer in the first band and then took a more active guitar role for the second band. I guess what fits in with your question is that Kurt Cobain and Pat Smear we're not initially aware of his guitar chops while he was active in Nirvana. Also, maybe not maybe not a lot of people know that he played all the instruments on his first Foo Fighter album.
He's also, canonically, the Devil! No other star can rock harder than any mortal man.
(Carefully quoting a couple of the few family-friendly verses in Beelzeboss.)
I remember reading a article, a long time ago, about Grohl and how he learned how to play the guitar. He had a signed the different strings of the guitar the rough equivalent of the position on the drums. So, yeah the guy is a musical genius.
In addition to the others people have said (Lady Gaga, both members of Steely Dan, and more) I'd throw the entirety of Linkin Park and Flavor Flav into the mix. For Linkin Park, they made a genuinely compelling, raw new sound of the era and Bennington had some gifted talent to blend his emotion into legitimate musical talent that made his performances greater than the sum of their parts.
Flav is a genuine musical genius, despite being known as a hype man primarily. I've seen videos of him playing instruments ranging from the piano to bass guitar and he had a knack for just making music flow.
As far as multi-talented people go, Björk is right up there with her deep lyrical ability, composing, production, outstanding singing voice and expressive talent. What really sets her apart though is that the albums themselves form an ever-changing, evolving stylistic arc, rather than just being versions of the same expressive style as is usually the case for pop artists and bands. David Bowie and the Beatles are somewhat similarly evolving and I'm sure other examples exist, but they are quite rare indeed. Edit: oh, and Michael Jackson, of course.
I'm not acquainted with her latest three or so albums but the first seven are still fresh sounding, even Debut that was released in 1993.
Army of Me from the Post album, 1995
Hunter / Homogenic, 1997
Hidden Place / Vespertine, 2001
Who is it? / Medulla, 2004
Earth Intruders / Volta, 2007
I don't immediately have any suggestions, but are you looking for artists who have impressive range and control, likely related to professional training? Artists who write their own music with clever or technical lyrics and composition? And does the inclusion of the word "star" mean they must be popular? Or influential? I'm sure there's thousands of relatively unknown artists who meet the other criteria.
Mostly artists who impress with their musicianship or technical instrumental skills if you know their background or their work, but don't necessarily show it off in most or all their songs.
Anyone can tell that Jimi Hendrix has chops, but Karen Carpenter was a gifted drummer and not everyone knows about it. Dolly Parton can play many instruments well but she is known as a singer/song writer.
This might sound snobbish and maybe completely off base but I think a majority of the virtuosos who aren't playing in professional orchestras are probably found in fairly niche genres. A lot of my friends who are extremely talented, for instance, have all ended up in various avante garde noise bands.
This may be wildly away from what you're looking for, but Deafheaven's Sunbather is an album I point people to a lot for an example of extremely technical and talented musicians. But it's certainly not for everyone.
I guess one way to phrase it would be that I am looking for the introverts? The people who just get on with the work of getting good. The word woodshedding references the hard solitary work of skill development. I want to hear about people who have done a lot of that in ways that impress musicians and music afficionados
Specific to France : Johnny Hallyday. Even though he was heavily marketed, he had a powerful voice and really gave life to some of his texts. You can listen to "L'envie" or "Poème sur la 7eme", these are my two favorites.
I feel like Mozart is the obvious choice
I'd like to put in a pitch for the extraordinary, mostly unknown Motown studio musicians known collectively as The Funk Brothers. They provided the instrumental performances, scoring, and arrangements for multiple vocalists (Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Martha and The Vandellas, Diana Ross and The Supremes, etc.) with hit recordings between 1959 and 1972. They never achieved great fame during that period because they weren't individually credited on recordings, and were contractually locked into Motown Records.
The 2002 documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" is a fantastic exploration of how important these musicians were to to the soul, funk, and R&B genres, which continue to have formative influences on modern pop music.
While I'm mentioning Detroit local artists, I also haven't seen Jack White cited yet. He's a widely regarded guitar virtuoso, vocalist, songwriter, composer, music technologist, and collaborator, who's been involved with musically innovative popular work both as part of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs.
My bass teacher in middle school basically threw James Jamerson lines at me until I figured out the instrument and instilled a worship complex for him in me. Bernadette, For Once in My Life, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Darling Dear... The guy got dragged into the studio drunk for What's Going On, so he apocryphally played it on his back. Guy was a machine; he cranked these ridiculously complicated, super-syncopated bass lines and they never once crowd the song, never tripped up over the massive vocal talent that they drove. He used one finger. What the fuck?
I've really gotta watch Standing in the Shadows of Motown sometime.
So I know Dylan and Bowie but the others are new to me. Thank you! Subjective is fine if it's a sincere opinion
This is probably too obvious an answer, but Elvis Presley. Not only was he an all time great rock star, but also put out some of the best blues, country, and gospel music you will ever hear. And he could do it all during a live show. If the only Elvis you know is Hound Dog, you should check out Promised Land or From Elvis in Memphis.
You will see criticisms of him as being a product of marketing, whether it’s that he made African American music acceptable for white people, or his movie stardom. But if you dive deep into his discography (especially the 70s), his music speaks clearly to his abilities.
John Mayer can fucking wail
Ben Folds! I saw him live twice and he put on a hell of a show. He sang "Give Me My Money Back" in Japanese, and even had the audience sing along. All while being genuinely an awesome guy.
Also, see exhibit B:
Ben Folds Composes a Song LIVE for Orchestra In Only 10 Minutes
BTS gets runner up on my list for their excellent rendition of Fix You on MTV Unplugged
Brenden Urie (formerly from Panic! until they split). Also, Tim Henson and Scott LePage from Polyphia. Not necessarily pop on the last two, but certainly virtuosos.
Maybe not “pop stars” per se but somewhat mainstream and have been on pop radio:
Duran Duran (Roger Taylor & Nick Rhodes)
The Cure (Robert Smith)
The Smiths (Johnny Marr & Andy Rourke)
Depeche Mode (Martin Gore)
I don't normally listen to Kpop, but recently ran across a group called Mamamoo. They've been described as four soloists who happened to get together in a band. All of them can sing, but Solar truly has some power in her voice. Here they are in the Killing Voice, singing live with backing vocals, and it's amazing how good they sound.
If you go to the link, make sure to listen to the song "I Miss You." All the songs are just snippets, not the full length versions, so you'll get a good variety.