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George Thorogood (-Rant-)

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:36 am
by ZXYZ
OK- What's this guy got that I (& some of we) dont have? (besides lots of money). I mean, he!!, he writes crappy tunes like "bad to the bone" (sounds like he stole it off of AC/DC's "Whole Lot O' Rosie" to me ) that get so much air-play it makes me nausious and then get bought up for tv commercials like sam adam's brew and he tours and people actually pay money to go see him and --uhhh :? I guess I'm gonna have to re-set my mindset to writing songs that appeal to the "common-man" (?) in order to make a buck in music. It's a no-brainer, I suppose, and it should be easy, right? Just play 3 chords and write stupid lyrics. Ahhgh! [end-rant]

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:26 am
by greatbig47
Ah...when publicly singing about a serious addiction was fashionable! Them were the days!

I agree....GT sucks

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:47 pm
by J-HALEY
I believe it is all about the marketing, and a whole lot of luck.

The music industry record co. have been dumbing down the average listening public for quite some time now. Now that Clear Channel has been buying up most of the local radio stations down here in H-town they can tell us what we are going to listen to. Thats why I listen to mostly talk, and jazz, classic rock and mostly college radio stations. Oh and I can't help it I gotta tell ya I like GT's "I drink Alone"

Damn I sound like an old Fart! :lol:

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:51 pm
by Andragon
But..but.. I like Bad To The Bone 8)
Okay, but when you play that shyt, the crowd loves it. So we go back to square 1: the crowd decides whether the song is good or not.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:03 pm
by jw123
If you are going to be original

Do what you do best.

George toured relentlessly for years between stints in minor league baseball. Hes worked a lot harder for what he has than you give him credit for.

For every George whos made it there are millions of others who havent. Make sure the music you do is what you want to do.

Just because you dont like a successful artist is no reason to slam him. George appeals to a lot of people, a lot more than I ever will so I have to respect that for what it is.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:13 pm
by Jessica M
jw123 wrote:If you are going to be original

Do what you do best.

George toured relentlessly for years between stints in minor league baseball. Hes worked a lot harder for what he has than you give him credit for.


No one is saying that he didn't work hard at getting where he is...just that they don't like what he produced.

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:47 pm
by HowlinJ
Ol'George can rock,but probably aint as refined as Frampton, or Joe Walsh,
Non the less , he could cover John Lee Hooker most excellently, that should account for something.

I always thought Steve Miller's million sellers pretty much sucked, but somebody must have liked them too. ( I do like to cover Steve's versions of "Mary Lou" and "Mercury Blues", however..) :wink:

To each his own,
Howlin'

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:51 pm
by philbymon
I never liked his work, but I can appreciate it. Ppl who've seen him tell me that he puts a helluva lot of energy into his shows, doing a duckwalk for an entire 10 minute bluesy jam. How many of us would, or even COULD, do that? Not me, I'll tell ya!

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:11 pm
by ZXYZ
Ok- he paid his dues, and made it. Good for him. I'm just expressing (or venting, if you like) my own opinion.
I gotta admit I forgot about ' I drink alone'; that one is pretty good- or amusing, as far as the actual quality of the music, well , I dunno.. The lyrics are funny tho.
"Clear Channel" radio I guess is quietly buying up everything, and trying to be a monopoly?
Yeh Steve Miller, take him or leave him. I liked a couple of his earler songs until they played em to death on the radio. After hearing any song 10,000 times it gets old. I used to like AC/DC 'Shook me all night long' until they played it so much that now I cant stand it anymore, and turn it off..

PostPosted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 11:24 pm
by Shapeshifter
I agree...with everyone!! (I'm just too easy to get along with). I can't stand GT. I think he's basically a Chuck Berry rip off, with chincy lyrical ploys-"When I drink alone, I prefer to be by myself" (or whatever)-wow...what a clever play on words (please note sarcasm).
At the same time, I'm sure he paid his dues. He earned his place.

For the love of God, I've mentioned Chuck Berry in @ 4 separate threads now. I don't even listen to the man!! Not since I was eight!

Anybody know a good Chuck Berry withdraw syndrome support group?

PostPosted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:56 am
by gbheil
All you need is a vest made of rattlesnake hide and your in baby! :lol:

PostPosted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:06 am
by philbymon
Joseph - try weaning offa him with a lil Bo Diddly

PostPosted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:17 am
by fisherman bob
George Thorogood is biker dive bar slide guitar driven hard rocking straightforward power trio with a little sax thrown in. There's nothing fancy about it. He's got that drunk sounding voice, raspy slide guitar. He's one dimensional for sure, and if you like what he's doing it's great, if not, he sucks. Pretty cut and dry. I happen to enjoy his material for about fifteen minutes, after that it's all the same.

PostPosted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:59 am
by ZXYZ
Yeah! Very well put Bob! I couldn't have said it better myself!

PostPosted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:15 am
by ElevateTheSky
I have never been a George Thorogood fan
and the only song he did that I think was decent
was Bad To The Bone. Unfortunately
one thing I have learned early on and I am sure
all of you already know...talent is not even important
in the music industry anymore.
It is more about looks, a gimmic, who you know, or attitude.
I am not a fan but I will give GT one thing, he had the attitude
going for him.
If someone was to ask me how to make it in music I would say this
Meet everyone and be best friends basically with them,
get some attitude, a gimmic, look, or something fresh, go
and gain a fanbase and forget about talent...be good but
don't worry about perfection...cause basically only 10
percent(if that) listen to your technique and chops.
The rest is about the songs and your aura.
Ok that was the longest run on sentence ever...that is
why I do music and not grammar hehehe.
I totally agree with ya though.