Great artists that you were oblivious to at the time.

[Wade Hampton]

What great musicians and bands were you indifferent towards or unaware of when they were at the peak of their musical creativity?

I'll start: two incredibly talented artists and bands I was only vaguely aware of when they were active were Jimi Hendrix and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Their music has lasted and held up beautifully over the decades since, but at the time when they were recording their masterpieces I was much more focused on Brewer & Shipley (I'll admit it) and Gordon Lightfoot (that one I don't regret or apologize for.) I was also heavily into Irish folk music at the time, because I was and remain a die-hard folkie.

Brewer & Shipley's music hasn't held up very well since the 60's and early 70's, I'm afraid, but once you get past the instantly identifiable late 60's psychedelic-style intros Hendrix's guitar playing hits the sonic stratosphere and enters the realm of pure music, untrammeled by space or time. His compositional skills remind me of those of Gustav Holst's, but with the key difference that Hendrix wasn't sitting down with paper and pencil to write this stuff down, he was just making it up as he went along.

The songwriting genius of John Fogarty during his Creedence Clearwater Revival days is equally impressive, though the craft that went into those songs is a lot more obvious. But the scaffolding he and the rest of the band provided wouldn't have made much difference if the songs hadn't been as inspired as they were. That band's song catalog remains one of the most impressive bodies of work from that era or any other, possibly comparable to that of Lennon & McCartney and George Harrison (though the Beatles sustained their creativity for much longer, both before they broke up and afterwards in their solo careers.)

Yet when Hendrix and Creedence were at their peaks, I knew who they were but didn't notice how brilliant they were, not really.

20/20 hindsight. Yes, I feel a little sheepish about it now.

One great artist that I did wake up to while he was still alive and creatively active was Elvis Presley. I was quite literally a baby when he first burst upon the scene, and then when the Beatles came along anything or anyone that had proceeded them was instantly irrelevant so far as my classmates and I were concerned. For several years there my friends and I had zero interest in any rock or pop musician born in the United States: we were stalwart British Invasion fans, and American musicians need not apply.

But then when I was in the 8th Grade Presley released "Burning Love," and that song hit me like a ton of bricks. For a few months it became my favorite song. At that point I kind of pulled my head out of my hindquarters and realized what a towering talent Elvis Presley really was.

He didn't have all that much more time on the planet after that, not really, but he shaped the musical environment that came after him far more than most. Fortunately, this time I had the sense to recognize that while he was still alive and kicking.

Anyway, I'd be interested to read your own stories about great musicians and musical artists where it took you a while to realize their greatness.


Wade Hampton Miller

[ChrisE]

My list could go on and on...

I was born in 1968, so obviously I wasn't aware of all the great 60s and 70s music going on when I was little.

Led Zep was still active during my youth but I wasn't really aware of what they were doing until the late 80s. Same with Tom Petty. I knew all the radio hits but I wasn't what you would call a fan. Now I listen to TP and the Heartbreakers all the time.

In the 80s (high school/college years) I mainly listened to U2 (I still like them) and R.E.M. (I can barely stand to even hear them now).

[PiousDevil]

Jeff Buckley.

[ChalkLitIScream]

Recent one, Mark Knopfler. Plays the guitar exactly like me. Fingerstyles even on an electric, and isn't the most slick player, but makes every note count. In love with brothers in arms currently.

My uncle used to ask me if I knew him, and he'd even say that Knoplfer plays the electric with his fingers. Didn't bother checking him out for years til a few days back

[JeffreyAK]

Cocteau Twins. I almost completely missed them until they had been defunct for 12 years, then discovered them and fell in love with their music, and wondered how on Earth I had never been exposed to all that incredible music. I even made a special short-notice trip to England in 2012 to attend the first Elizabeth Fraser solo concert.

[Monsoon1]

I saw Stevie Ray Vaughn... at a jazz concert.

And I remember thinking what's this blues guy doing at a JAZZ concert, lol.

Well now of course I wish i'd known what's up so I could have paid attention better.

[N+1]

I first encountered Bob Dylan in early 1966, when a friend lent me all the early albums up to Bringing it all back home. I was impressed with some of the songs, but found the performances hard to take, and though I tried hard to listen with an open mind, it didn't really work for me. I handed the LPs back and never contemplated buying a Dylan album myself.

And so, when Electrified Dylan came to Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1966 (not far from where I lived) I missed the boat and lost the opportunity to be present at the famous 'Judas!' concert. I didn't even know he was there. For decades Dylan featured hardly at all in my musical development, beyond playing a few of the songs on guitar.

Fast forward to 1998. A CD fair. I walked in - and from the loudspeakers was pouring a performance of Masters of War the like of which I'd never heard, sung by a voice from the deep, loaded with wisdom, passion, venom, sandpaper and gravel. It was a bootleg of a 1998 Dylan show at San Jose. I gasped at the high price being charged, but I had to have it. I took it home and from that time forward my musical life was transformed in so many ways I could hardly begin to list them. I've enjoyed the fruits of that transformation ever since.

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by PiousDevil

Jeff Buckley.

And, for me, his Dad Tim. Not sure about this, but I suspect that Tim B was the reason I'm so enamored with 12 strings.
I certainly spent many hours in a nasty little London hovel with a record player and guitar trying to learn his songs.

My musical favourites tended to depend on what music we were playing in the bands I was in.

I was a drummer throughout the '60s so whether it was R&B (the real type) Jazz/blues, jazz/funk, then early heavy metal that was what I listened to. Then I picked up a guitar and it was West coast Psychedelia, then bluegrass (!)

But, in all those "categories" there were bands or individuals that I either enjoyed or disliked.

And although his lyrics were often outstanding - I still can't bear to listen to Dylan.
Brewer & Shipley (listening to them on YT now, never really hit me, and I always disliked CCR's sound. Nothing to do with ther abilities or genre, just didn't care for them.

When I was in the R&B bands, I was most impressed by the early Stones material, (I've told the story of my meeting them regularly). , Hendrix was a phenomenon but I never got to see them when they were playing locally because we were always seemingly gigging on the same nights - then he got big and it was too late.

Free were a big influence on one of my bands - Nemesis.

Acoustic stuff - Tom Rush linked me to Joni Mitchell, then to the Texas singer-songwriters.

Bluegrass linked me to "new country" and the Eagles and loads of other bands - but there was always one or two bands/performers that I disliked when others loved them - don't know why.

[N+1]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

One great artist that I did wake up to while he was still alive and creatively active was Elvis Presley.

I've long held that the greatest moment (I really mean a single moment) in the history of rock music can be found in the film of Elvis's 1968 Christmas Special. In the section where he's in the square 'boxing ring' he sings a version of 'Tryin' to get to you' which lifts the roof off, but let's keep focusing more closely on a moment in the middle of the song: he's sitting down; he's playing a guitar with no strap; his instinct is to stand, but he can't, without a strap; he's so completely given over to the performance of the song that his body doesn't know what to do; he lifts the guitar, he tries to stand, he can't, he sits down, the guitar goes up again, and down again. He's like a bomb trying to explode, but still he's in complete control of the song. The whole 'moment' lasts about 2 seconds but, for me, those two seconds encapsulate the entire musical explosion that he invented.

[HHP]

I don't think I missed much. When I was in my teens, our town had one of those counter-culture dawn to dusk AM radio stations so we kept up with all the new acts. As my tastes changed,I was able to keep up with most of the people who were working in that genre. It helped that I got into stereo equipment, so I bought a lot of LPs'. Also helped that living in Memphis, we had Pop Tunes where you could get any music that was on vinyl.

My current interest in Irish music dates to that time when I went to the Daisy Theater and saw Mick Moloney and The Battlefield Band.

I'm far more oblivious to current acts and performers

[Greg Rappleye]

I entirely missed country music.

Now I can't get enough of the real, old good stuff.

An example--not that "old" in terms of the music, but a great song:

"Streets of Bakersfield" by Buck Owens is fabulous.



Greg Rappleye

[meredith]

I heard *nothing* about Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys till I was an adult, nor any serious bluegrass, as in the Stanley Brothers. They had all passed away... which sounds like a high, lonesome song...

[BrunoBlack]

I don't feel like I missed many of the artists I like today with the exception of John Prine and Leonard Cohen. I guess there are others (you don't know what you don't know) but I can't think of any.

[mickthemiller]

Lots of my friends were fans of Roy Orbison in the early 60s. I thought he was a geek, sorry Roy. Wasn't until the Travelling Wilburys that I realised how talented he was.

[The Bard Rocks]

I had few " guitar heroes" when I was a young player. Doc Watson and John Fahey come to mind. Or the New Lost City Ramblers, if you call them guitarists. On the "other side", I liked Julian Bream, but it was hard for me to find classical guitar music then, no matter how much I wanted to. I liked Elvis, too, but not overly much. Everyone else that's famous today was not really in my radar.

Not much has changed. I love the kind of music I listened to then just as much as ever. But I have broadened my horizons to include older country, Hawaiian, gypsy jazz, bluegrass (that was always OK), blues, and many of the modern acoustic guitarists, ones who have so much ability. I generally do not go out of my way to see them but if one is playing at a guitar festival or a local coffeehouse, I will go to see if they live up to their hype.