Discussion: Is Being a Musician Still Cool?

[Garritan]

Craig Anderton, Editor of EQ Magazine, recently wrote an editorial titled "IS BEING A MUSICIAN STILL COOL?" He writes:
"What got me thinking about this were some recent threads about music in the 60s. But they made me reflect not on the music, but the musicians. If you could play, and were playing even locally, you were cool. If you were a guy, women would zero in on you. Parents would be afraid of you. And walking around with a guitar was the equivalent of driving around in a status car today. Musicians were often paid well for gigs, because it was considered not just a job, but a relatively glamorous one, requiring a mixture of skill and charisma....

But now focus on the mainstream. Are the Red Hot Chili Peppers cool? Is Shakira, or Nelly Furtado? Or are they really just dancing bears for our entertainment?

Or take groups that once were cool…which the Police definitely were. But are they cool today? Respected, probably; but I don’t know about cool.

So who is cool? Paris Hilton? Brad Pitt? Barack Obama? Steve Jobs? Simon Cowell? Trent Reznor? But remember, I’m not asking about heroes or “Train Wrecks of Interest,” I’m asking about who’s cool. Like Miles Davis, James Dean, John Lennon, or even (yes, they were at one point) the Duran Duran school of cool."
Being a musician was certainly cool. The girls (or boys) would flock to musicians, there were plenty of gigs, musicians were trend-setters, on the cutting edge, rebels and concerned about social issues.

But, as Craig Anderton alludes to, has this changed? Are musicians being cool as "passé as tail fins on cars, Studio 54, and prog rock?" Are musicians as cool as they once were? If not, who and what is cool today?

:confused: :cool: *():|::confused:

[dewdman42]

Its an interesting question. I think the thing that made them cool back then was not their sheer musical talent, of which there is plenty of today. It was the fact that they were blazing a new trail, being rebels, bucking the trends, setting new trends, saying "stick it to the man", making records when nobody else had the accessability to do so.

That's all been done and we're past that now. No, I don't think they are as cool today as before. Its easy to make a record now. Nothing extra cool about that anymore.

what is silly is that if you want to be "cool" these days you gotta be a DJ. Or maybe we're almost past that too.

[LFO]

This is a great topic Gary!

To start with, I am *not* cool. sigh... :p

I think there is still a good bit of cool out there, though there are many more pretenders. The likes of Brittney Spears, Pussycat Dolls, NSync, etc. are not cool. Why? Because they were fabricated and cool is *not* fabricated. Jimi Hendrix was cool. Jim Morrison was cool. The entire Doobie Brothers band was cool. The list goes on and on. Why were they cool? Because they didn't try to be cool, they just were. Its a personality thing, not a hip outfit or strut. Keith Richards *never* wore any clothes that he thought would make him cool. He liked his fans but he didn't change who he was to cater to them. This attitude has evaporated a good bit, but there are still some cool musicians out there.

So who is cool today? Easy. John Mayer, Eminem, Fiona Apple, Kid Rock, Harry Conick (sp?) Jr, Danny Elfman and Lenny Kravitz are a few off the top of my head.

Cool is not developed or adopted. You either are or you are not. Given that, here's a list of who I think is not cool: Brittney Spears, Christina Agulara (although I like her music!), Mariah Carey, all of Maroon 5, Moby, Kelly Clarkson, J-Kwon, Gwen Stefani, Bare Naked Ladies (yes, all of them are anything but cool) Avril Lavigne, Steve Perry (sorry Steve, you never were and it isn't getting better with age) LL Cool J, (you try too hard man) and Nick Lachey just to name a few.

Cool will never go away, but it has diminished. Maybe this is because artists will do anything the corporate world tells them to do in order to make more money. The cool folks just give the suits the finger and do what their hearts tell them to do.

-Kevin

[Edit] Dewdman is cool because he looks like Paul White from Sound on Sound magazine. :D

P.S. Cool people would never use the emoticon :D . In fact, my guess is they would never use emoticons at all. :o

[Pingu]

P.S. Cool people would never use the emoticon :D . In fact, my guess is they would never use emoticons at all. :o

Finally I'm cool!! I don't even know how to use emoticons. I'm off to call everyone who ever called me a dweeb at school....

[Ed Sharpe]

Finally I'm cool!! I don't even know how to use emoticons. I'm off to call everyone who ever called me a dweeb at school....
But that will make you not kool again. :cool:

[Raymond62]

If not, who and what is cool today?

Ice cream, Coke, Pepsi, CoolBest [we keep it cool, you get the best].:p

Raymond - silly sentence: "I'm blue." If that is the case, then you are cool as well.

[nikolas]

I don't know about you guys, but I met my wife while playing a concert with my own music.

she came afterwards and told me (word by word, translated from Greek) "I want to be friends"

And we became friends, and then got married, and here we are!

don't know what else to say, but my music got me laid!

:D )(~

[germancomponist]

3 years ago my friend played in a band at the germans "popcom" in Cologne.

There came a group of young girls and suddenly one of them said:

"Heyyy, look! These musicians play still. How uncool!"

Now for them the DJ`s are more cool than the musicans....:wow: :wow: :wow:


Another interesting thing here in germany is, that more and more people buys black cars. Sometimes if you are at a parking place, you only see black cars.... .:wow: Is this in the USA the same?

[KeithW]

It certainly is around here! I play in a "fun band" here and people love it. We could make money at it if we had more free time. So I still think it's still "Cool" to be a musician!

Keith Walls

[DarwinKopp]

"Cool", is sort of like the US Supreme Court's famous definition of pornography, i.e., "I know it when I see it." Most pop musicians these days are a lot like they were in the late 50's: corporate inventions. One can see this easily in the fact that there seem to be fewer bands and lots and lots of "solo acts". (Corporations can't stand dealing with the uncertainty of a band). So, by definition, most present day pop musicians aren't cool.

If cool = hip (and I think it does), then I think the Tower of Power said it best ("Hipness is what it is"):

FAIR USE, for discussion purposes only
____

"What is Hip?" - Tower of Power

So ya wanna dump out yo' trick bag.
Ease on in a hip thang,
But you ain't exactly sure what is hip.

So you started to let your hair grow.
Spent big bucks on your wardrobe.
Somehow, ya know there's much more to the trip.

What is hip?
Tell me, tell me, if you think you know.
What is hip?
If you're really hip,
the question, "Will it show?"
You're into a hip trip.
Maybe hipper than hip.
What is hip?

You became a part of a new breed.
Been smokin' only the best weed.
Hangin' out with the so called "Hippie set."

Seen in all the right places.
Seen with just the right faces.
You should be satisfied, but it ain't quite right.

Come on!

Hipness is. What it is!
Hipness is. What it is!
Hipness is. What it is!
Sometimes hipness is, what it ain't.

You went an' found you a guru.
In an effort to find you a new you,
And maybe even raise your conscious level.

While you're striving to find the right road,
There's one thing you should know,
"What's hip today, might become passe'."

Think about it y'all.

What is hip?
Ahhhhhhhhh!
What is hip?
I'd like to know!
What is hip?
Is it in the style of your hair?
What is hip?
Is it in the clothes that you wear?
What is hip?
I'd like to know.
What is hip?
I'd like to know.
What is hip?
What is hip y'all? Hey!
What is hip?
Hey! Oh!
What is hip?
What is hip y'all?
What is hip?
I wanna know.
What is hip?
Ahhhhhhh!
What is hip?
I wanna know what hipness is.
_____

Who and what is cool today? That's the problem, not much. I think the term "cool" isn't even cool anymore (heck, the term comes from the beatnik era a good fifty years ago).

[Larry G. Alexander]

Unfortunately, I haven't been cool since I wore my Nehru jackets. :D Anyone old enough to remember those? That was during the time that The Beatles were on an India kick.

Larry

[truckermusic]

Larry
Yes...I am old enough to remember thoes stupid jackets....Because I had one my self!!!!!!:( However!!!! and this is a BIG HOWEVER
I have never been cool a day in my pathic life.....

I have only stood on the outside of the shop looking in the window.................drooling with desire......

Oh Well....I'll get over it someday

:o

[Leaf]

Unfortunately, I haven't been cool since I wore my Nehru jackets. :D Anyone old enough to remember those? That was during the time that The Beatles were on an India kick.

LarryWere they as cool as the polyester leisure suits that came after that? A friend came over and was warming himself by the fire, and his leisure suit burst into flames. Very uncool, but i knocked him to the floor and rolled him out, which was very cool as I recall.

[mixolydian]

Standing in front of some really nice ladies with a mic in hand to sing some notes and give them shivers is pretty cool. :p

...Why do I tinkle around with orchestra samples?! :D

[Aziraphal]

THIS is a cool musician!!

http://www.snowsculpture.com/gallery_lg/sounds.htm

[etLux]

http://davidsosnowski.com/images/David-WhiteTrash.jpg

Dang. All those tattoos for nothing?

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com
.

[Garritan]

http://davidsosnowski.com/images/David-WhiteTrash.jpg

Dang. All those tattoos for nothing?

David
www.DavidSosnowski.com (http://www.DavidSosnowski.com)
.I never knew such coolness existed :D:D:D:D

[Styxx]

I know one musician who is definitely cool ... Gary.

[keithjfuller]

the fact that we need a conference to decide whether or not we are still cool sadly shows that we no longer are.:(

[jsp2]

I think sampled instruments will bring back coolness again!.

What girl could resist the brash display of the musician, side armed with sample instrument cases audaciously strapped to their hip.

...and to here the women swoon......Wow, I love your samples!




~J

[germancomponist]

You will be cool if you come arround with this instrument:


http://www.clavia.se/bilder/ddrumbike.jpg

[Haydn]

That instrument looks like something from Dr. Seuss!