Biggest wastes of talent

[moreblack]

Desmond Child had a stranglehold on the rock charts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Child#For_and_with_other_artists

[classicguns4life]

I'm not going to count death as waste of talent. It sort of is, but it's worse when someone CAN create amazing things and just... doesn't.

Axl Rose (for all obvious reasons)

Exactly. Axl Rose is the obvious answer because he has had 20 years worth of opportunities and thrown them all away. Death doesn't count, because in most cases, like Jimi Hendrix or Randy Rhoads, those were tragedies and not wastes of a life. Waste means you have opportunities and you ruin them, and how Axl can be exempt from that is beyond me. No one else is really even close to him in this regard.

[username]

I'm not going to count death as waste of talent. It sort of is, but it's worse when someone CAN create amazing things and just... doesn't.

Axl Rose (for all obvious reasons)

Are we sure it's a waste of talent? Maybe we just overrated him. Probably we just overrated him. A lot.

Given the quality of AFD, Lies and UYI as well as the potential the CD songs show (had they not been a total productional mess) I'd say we didn't. Especially not if the classic band had been salvaged.

It's odd to think that even on a conservative basis of 1 album every 4 years starting in 1996 we would have 5 more albums by now. On a basis of 1 album every 3 years They'd be releasing their seventh album since TSI this year.

[Guest Len B'stard]

I think Axls overrated insofar as him unto himself...but in a band capacity, with the right people, he's a fuckin' monster of an vocalist. But thats sort of the same with most innit? I mean, take any big artist out of their big band, who among them is AS good in their band context as they are solo...very few really, despite being good. The difference with Axl is that the drop off in quality is huge from him in a band context to him with total creative control (which to me is the equivalent of going solo but apparently thats not the case cuz he still operates under the GnR name).

Also...one thing i think is that...talent has to be exercised and worked out and allowed to grow and strenghthen and although GnR had some serious periods of proper graft they were never consistent like the way say The Beatles were where it was just non-stop.

[Zint]

Who do you think are some of the biggest wastes of talent to grace the music industry?

I nominate Steven Tyler. The guy might just have the greatest voice of all time, but what has he done with it? A bunch of god-awful Aerosmith albums with one of the worst guitarists in the business. Why oh why didn't this guy hook up with decent musicians?

And before anyone says Axl, at least he put out three good-great albums. Tyler, at best, has a handful of good songs. Damn shame.

Another one I'd nominate is Robin Finck. He REALLY needs to get more studio material out.

Aerosmith is awful but Robin Finck is good? LooooooL!

And Joe Perry is a shit guitarist? yeah ok

[headshrinker]

Andrew Wood, Mother Love Bone could and should have been massive. Apple is pretty flawless

[Dan H.]

2001 GNR. They could have taken their weird lineup in a much more interesting direction, but they chose to waste Buckethead and Finck

[bacardimayne]

Joe Perry is fucking atrociously bad.

[DR DOOM]

lol Trent

[Use Your Delusion 1]

Rocks was a good album, but yeah the rest is pretty average

Axl is a massive waster

maybe the Smiths as a band, certainly U2 post Pop, Kate Bush didn't do much post 1993 and Red Shoes

[Guest Len B'stard]

Rocks was a good album, but yeah the rest is pretty average

Axl is a massive waster

maybe the Smiths as a band, certainly U2 post Pop, Kate Bush didn't do much post 1993 and Red Shoes

The Smiths? Christ, The Smiths are fuckin' pound for pound as good as any band I can name. I mean they ain't game changers on a Hendrix/Beatles level but I mean in terms of like, The Smithses output, all of their albums, not one single fuckin' note out of place, thats every last one. And i think about it and I can't say that about a lot of bands. The Beatles I could. I'm talking about like studio output. Who else? Bob Marley I could. The Sex Pistols I could, Jimi Hendrix I could. Not a helluva lot of people though. And signed to a fuckin' independent record company the whole time, how rated is that? I'm still trying to think of other people with flawless output, The Stooges too if you don't count the reunion. The Clash if you ignore Cut the Crap, see, you gotta ignore things so that ain't 100%

Point being it's kind of the best you can hope for in my eyes, as a band. Although I guess you could be saying waste as in like, they had further potential.

[DieselDaisy]

Guns N' Roses

Creatures era Kiss

[OmarBradley]

...one of the worst guitarists in the business.

And Joe Perry is a shit guitarist? yeah ok

Joe Perry is fucking atrociously bad.

I wouldn't call him "atrociously bad," nor would I proclaim him to be "one of the worst guitarists in the business." However, he is not that good - very overrated IMO. The fact that Aerosmith is so popular aids to Perry's prestige; if he hadn't been in Aerosmith, I could almost guarantee no know would know his name in the year 2014.

Perry's an okay guitarist, nothing more. His style is sort of weird, and not in a Hendrix/EVH/revolutionary way. I remember when I saw Aerosmith a few years ago he did this guitar duel against himself (well a Guitar Hero version of himself or something), and I remember thinking that the virtual Joe Perry with the pre-recorded solo actually beat the live Joe Perry's improv./rehearsed solo. I am a huge Slash fan, but I could never figure out what Slash saw in Perry's playing, he worships the guy like he's Jesus reincarnate.

Aerosmith's a pretty solid band, the 70's stuff of course is way better than the later stuff, and I enjoyed both shows I went to, but the notion that Perry is some guitar-god a la Page, Hendrix, Clapton, etc. is absurd.

if deaths are included my pick would be tommy bolin, died at just 25 of a heroin overdose.

Yes! Tommy Bolin was excellent, I couldn't really get into some of his early stuff, the band with the girl singer never clicked with me (Zephyr was it?). I like the Energy stuff, and the JG stuff, but of course his solo stuff is where he really shined. And that Billy Cobham album. Shame that today millions of people know the name Joe Perry, but not Tommy Bolin.

Guns N' Roses

That's a good point, had things happened differently and the original band stayed relatively intact, I could easily imagine another 3-5 very good/great albums being done. Maybe more.

[Broskirose]

Joe Perry is not a good musician.

[arnold layne]

2001 GNR. They could have taken their weird lineup in a much more interesting direction, but they chose to waste Buckethead and Finck

For the first time ever, I will say this - that lineup could have been great.

An actual completed 2001 Chinese Democracy album, raw and not overdone, could have been a massive hit. Axl knew what he was doing at the time. I think the music scene would have accepted it and I truly believe (if it were to be gritty and not overdone) people would have accepted it with open arms. Unfortunately his inner demons most likely got the best of him and we are where we are now.

With that said, I listened to AFD on the car-ride back to school and I couldn't finish it. I know I will be slaughtered for what I am about to write, but the music just seemed overly immature and lame.

I understand GN'R aren't the definition of class and they all had a tough life back in the day, but it just seemed overly obnoxious about how bad they were, which is why I loved the band back in middle school. As I grew older though it just doesn't sit with me now.

[Dan H.]

2001 GNR. They could have taken their weird lineup in a much more interesting direction, but they chose to waste Buckethead and Finck

For the first time ever, I will say this - that lineup could have been great.

An actual completed 2001 Chinese Democracy album, raw and not overdone, could have been a massive hit. Axl knew what he was doing at the time. I think the music scene would have accepted it and I truly believe (if it were to be gritty and not overdone) people would have accepted it with open arms. Unfortunately his inner demons most likely got the best of him and we are where we are now.

With that said, I listened to AFD on the car-ride back to school and I couldn't finish it. I know I will be slaughtered for what I am about to write, but the music just seemed overly immature and lame.

I understand GN'R aren't the definition of class and they all had a tough life back in the day, but it just seemed overly obnoxious about how bad they were, which is why I loved the band back in middle school. As I grew older though it just doesn't sit with me now.

Yeah, if he had properly utilized Finck and Bucketheads unique styles, he could have made a cool industrial rock or prog rock record.

[LightningBolt]

2001 Guns could have been very very good. Axl Rose fits the thread perfectly.

Ann Wilson is one for me. I think she had an amazing voice but she was in a band of forgettable musicians that wrote pretty boring music for the most part. Dreamboat Annie's pretty good, but outside of that? Meh.

[MEXzilla]

Janis Joplin for sure is a wasted talent outside of a few songs and great live performances.

Jim Morrison is another, only wish he had a guitar based band.

[ZoSoRose]

Another one for me is hide of X Japan. He is one of my favorite guitar players and although he did a lot with them, I feel like he didn't get to reach out and grow in the directions he wanted to. His death is one that really bums me out.

And I retract my prior statement about Bonzo. Fuck it, he should be alive!

2001 GNR. They could have taken their weird lineup in a much more interesting direction, but they chose to waste Buckethead and Finck

For the first time ever, I will say this - that lineup could have been great.

An actual completed 2001 Chinese Democracy album, raw and not overdone, could have been a massive hit. Axl knew what he was doing at the time. I think the music scene would have accepted it and I truly believe (if it were to be gritty and not overdone) people would have accepted it with open arms. Unfortunately his inner demons most likely got the best of him and we are where we are now.

With that said, I listened to AFD on the car-ride back to school and I couldn't finish it. I know I will be slaughtered for what I am about to write, but the music just seemed overly immature and lame.

I understand GN'R aren't the definition of class and they all had a tough life back in the day, but it just seemed overly obnoxious about how bad they were, which is why I loved the band back in middle school. As I grew older though it just doesn't sit with me now.

And good post, Nate! I totally agree with this. I love the final version we got and support the current lineup (even though shit is fuckin' sad right now) but Axl really missed the boat in 2001. No matter what he did, he would have always been living in the shadow of the real Guns N' Roses, but 2001 was the best chance he had at public acceptance at a new lineup.

Ah well

[HOLDEN CAULFIELD]

TOWERS OF LONDON

VAINS OF JENNA

BARRY LAVETY

Edited March 25, 2014 by HOLDEN CAULFIELD

[Broskirose]

2001 GNR. They could have taken their weird lineup in a much more interesting direction, but they chose to waste Buckethead and Finck

For the first time ever, I will say this - that lineup could have been great.

An actual completed 2001 Chinese Democracy album, raw and not overdone, could have been a massive hit. Axl knew what he was doing at the time. I think the music scene would have accepted it and I truly believe (if it were to be gritty and not overdone) people would have accepted it with open arms. Unfortunately his inner demons most likely got the best of him and we are where we are now.

With that said, I listened to AFD on the car-ride back to school and I couldn't finish it. I know I will be slaughtered for what I am about to write, but the music just seemed overly immature and lame.

I understand GN'R aren't the definition of class and they all had a tough life back in the day, but it just seemed overly obnoxious about how bad they were, which is why I loved the band back in middle school. As I grew older though it just doesn't sit with me now.

I agree 100% with every word.

I loved GNR in middle school, but I just can't connect with the juvenility of it anymore.

[Bono]

I actually believe Axl Rose is the biggest waste of musical talent of all time. T yes he had 3 (4) great albums but the guy has basically pissed away the last 20 years doing fuck all all based on ego. It's such a waste and for what? Chinese Democracy? What a joke.

[jmapelian]

Joe Perry is fucking atrociously bad.

then wouldn't he have maximized his lack of talent if he was atrociously bad? just saying dude's been around 40+ years

[MEXzilla]

I actually believe Axl Rose is the biggest waste of musical talent of all time. T yes he had 3 (4) great albums but the guy has basically pissed away the last 20 years doing fuck all all based on ego. It's such a waste and for what? Chinese Democracy? What a joke.

This essentially is true.

[Guest Len B'stard]

Joe Perrys a crackin' guitarist, what are you lot talkin' about?