In a recent interview with Bill Maher, Billy Bob Thornton said something that really pissed me off. He stated that, with the exception of U2 and REM, there hasn't been a new band or musician since 1978 that we will still be listening to their music in a 100 yrs. In the way so many bands producing music before 1978 are still considered legendary. While I do agree that the 1960s and early 1970s did produce a Renaissance type era of musical geniuses, with substantial lasting power, I couldn't disagree more with his statement. But since he is an Academy Award winning actor, when he says shit like that, people agree with him and feel like they cannot argue an opposing point very successfully. Also, he was not making this statement as an actor but as a 4 time record releasing musician. "The shit you say, Billy Bob's a musician"? Yes, listen to how totally un-awesome his band is here.
Personally, I can't shake his comment, it has really makes me mad to think about it and how authoritative he sounded when he said it. I mean, U2 and REM is the best you got Billy Bob? I wish you knew how much that statement made you sound like you were saying, "those kids and their damn rock-n-roll music, they should all get a haircut". As much as I know my list of new performers since 1978 that will be listened to in 100yrs , I don't think this will change your mind, But here's ten at random, feel free to add to this at any time. Prince, Madonna, Conor Oberst, Kanye West, The Beastie Boys, Damien Marley, Jack White, Afrika Bambaataa, John Legend and Janes Addiction.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
my letter to billy bob, thornton that is
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11 comments:
Ummmm... I state and obvious one - Nirvana? How about Neutral Milk Hotel? Dinosaur Jr.? Built to Spill? All seem like lifers in my book... I should probably see another hundred years or so...
The best music has yet to be played.
Douche.
umm. yeah.
metallica. wilco. bjork. fishbone.
The Clash. Tom Waits. Nirvana. Public Enemy. Elvis Costello. Nick Cave. R.L. Burnside. Radiohead. Sonic Youth. Wilco.
Radiohead, The Mars Volta, any Omar Rodriguez-Lopez project,
Jesus and Mary Chain.
Shaquille O'neal, Spice Girls, and Justin Timberlake.
Gross. I JUST saw an internet commercial, you know the kind that cock block you from watching a 30 second video by making you watch 30 seconds of crap before it? for BLACKBERRY...featuring, guess who? U2!
BONO! SINGING ABOUT OUR GENERATION OR SOMETHING!
And I was just watching it, literally like 5 minutes ago, getting mad and feeling bad for all those people who think that U2 is The Best Band Ever because they are missing out on so much inovation and awesomeness happening right now and they obviously suck and don't know shit. Didn't know Billy Bob was among them! Bad Santa!
Slingblade is the best band ever!
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, The Strokes, Oasis, Pearl Jam, Muse, Metallica, Phish, Garth Brooks, Franz Ferdinand, The Smiths, Jeff Buckley, Alice in Chains...to name a few.
The issue hear is that Billy Bob and people his age lose the energy to stay on top of all the new music coming out, yet still want to maintain an air of "father knows best" superiority. So to do that, they discredit everything that came after their youth, so they're an expert on "all that matters." It's the same as retired baseball players who talk about how no one today is as good as Mickey Mantle or Hank Aaron.
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