Vote: Which musical artist would you choose?

[DennisN]

I saw a pretty fun question on Facebook regarding nine deceased musical artists.
This poll is simply about which artist of these you would by a ticket to a concert with, if you could.
You can only choose one!

The artists are (left to right, top to bottom):

Bob Marley, Prince, David Bowie, Notorious B.I.G., Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix,
Tupac, Freddie Mercury (Queen) and Whitney Houston.

If you like to, please also post some info about your decision below,
e.g. if it was an easy choice, why you chose that particular artist, favorite songs etc.

Enjoy!

 

[DennisN]

For me, I had a tough time deciding between Prince, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Freddie Mercury.
They were all fantastic artists and would like to have seen them all in concert.

If I could choose two, it would be David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix.
But my single choice would be David Bowie, partly because he's got so many great songs.

I like the other artists too (though I'm not familiar with Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac).

 

[Klystron]

Voted for Jimi Hendrix, the only artist on the list that I saw perform in person; at a Monterey Jazz Festival, at Fillmore West and at an after hours jazz venue in the basement of a restaurant (Pearl River?) in San Francisco, in the 1960's. The last place did not require buying tickets or even a door cover charge but my friends shared a bottle of local wine and snacks from upstairs. Musicians wandered in after gigs and jammed.

Jimi slouched in a chair* picking out tunes, singing softly. Yes, he played guitar upside down with the tenor strings on top if I remember correctly. Story goes he was left handed and reversed a 'right handed' guitar as a child learning to play. Other stories say he restrung the guitar and experimented with different tunings depending on the type of music. Good voice and great guitarist.

*obviously wasted; feeling no pain, as they say.

 

[fresh_42]

For me, I had a tough time deciding between Prince, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Freddie Mercury.
They were all fantastic artists and would like to have seen them all in concert.

If I could choose two, it would be David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix.
But my single choice would be David Bowie, partly because he's got so many great songs.

I like the other artists too (though I'm not familiar with Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac).

Well, Whitney was the only one in the collection who could actually sing.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

"None of the above" would have been a nice option.

 

[fresh_42]

"None of the above" would have been a nice option.

I missed Lemmy, too.

 

[DennisN]

Voted for Jimi Hendrix, the only artist on the list that I saw perform in person; at a Monterey Jazz Festival

Wow, very cool!
If I remember correctly the (or one of) the Monterey concert(s) were filmed and considered to be one of the best concerts. According to one of my friends who is a huge fan of Hendrix (and if I remember correctly).

And I would pay a nice amount of cash to see this live, as I would be rocking out in the audience :

Jimi Hendrix - Johnny B Goode (Live at 'The Berkeley Community Theater', 1970)

 

[sandy stone]

Note the tenor strings are on the bottom, while the guitar itself is upside down. I don't think it would be possible to play chords upside down. Well, Jimi Hendrix maybe.

 

[collinsmark]

Note the tenor strings are on the bottom, while the guitar itself is upside down. I don't think it would be possible to play chords upside down. Well, Jimi Hendrix maybe.

Yes, Jimi Hendrix was well known for primarily playing his right-handed, Fender Stratocaster upside down and left handed (he was naturally left handed). He did string it such that it played like a left-handed guitar, however (i.e., light strings on the bottom).

(And yes, Jimi Hendrix was also known to occasionally play that guitar quite unconventionally, such as behind his back, or with his teeth, etc.)

 

[Vanadium 50]

So, this musician dies and goes to hell. All the great musicians go to hell. The devil meets him there, and introduces him to his band - on guitars are Brian Jones and Duane Allman. Bass is John Entwistle, "but sometimes Jaco Pastorius sits in". Keyboards is Keith Emerson.

Our musician is wondering "Who's the drummer? John Bonham? Ginger Baker? Maybe Moon? Sure...got to be Keith Moon"

In comes a skinny girl, sits at the drums and she says, "All right everybody. Rainy Days and Mondays, in E-flat".

 

[JT Smith]

Would it be open casket?

 

[jack action]

Freddy Mercury (Queen) for the range of musical styles.

But Whitney Houston is a close second for her incredible voice.

 

[BillTre]

I choose Marley over Hendrix. I favor guitarists, but have never seen those two.
Chose Marley because I never saw a reggae band, but lots of blues and rock.

Duane Allman would have won if on list.
Lowell George was great, but often too wasted and carried by the band.
Seen a lot of the Dead and Jerry Garcia.
Saw Garcia once in a small high school auditorium, playing with only a bass player. Very nice, intimate.

 

[onatirec]

As an amateur guitar player, Hendrix.

Queen would probably be second, though stylistically, I'd rather listen to Bob Marley.
I think most of the others couldn't cut through the mix of a live show like Hendrix would - though Whitney has a great voice for sure.

Playing a right-handed guitar strung like a left is a really overblown factoid. Provides better access to the tremolo, so I think it's actually easier. I doubt he ever seriously played a right-handed guitar "upside down". Mostly standard tuning, a half-step flat.

 

[phinds]

"None of the above" would have been a nice option.

+1 on that

 

[George Jones]

But my single choice would be David Bowie, partly because he's got so many great songs.

In 1990, I did buy a ticket to see Bowie play at the Palace of Auburn hills (where the Detroit Pistons used to play basketball).

 

[Jarvis323]

I chose Whitney, because I think her performance would be maybe the most powerful/emotional. That kind of thing you can appreciate more live I think.



Jimmy Hendrix, at the time, was really different, and for that earns some points but I only like a few of his songs. His version of Along the Watchtower is one of my favorite songs, as is Little Wing. But his live performances weren't always that great.




2Pac is an interesting artist. I'm not a fan of gangster rap. 2Pac embraced the lifestyle and identity of a thug, while going on to write powerful songs with positive messages. He wasn't perfect. They say he was trying to lead people out of that lifestyle from the inside. The extent to which that is true, or worked, is debatable.




I enjoy Bob Marley's songs the most out of the group. He also had a good band.

 

[BillTre]

Hendrix made a lot of nice somgs.
Here is another (The wind cries Mary):

Related comic:

 

[DennisN]

Thanks for all posts and votes so far!
Hendrix is currently in the lead (which actually is a bit unexpected to me).

Let's see how it goes from here.

 

[collinsmark]

Playing a right-handed guitar strung like a left is a really overblown factoid. Provides better access to the tremolo, so I think it's actually easier. I doubt he ever seriously played a right-handed guitar "upside down".

Perhaps, easier access, but that's a matter of opinion I suppose. Another technical difference is the slant of the first pickup (the one that's most commonly used) on the Stratocaster. If you string the guitar up for a lefty, that pickup amplifies more lower harmonics for the high string and more brighter harmonics for the low string, comparatively speaking: this is the exact opposite of the intended design. Hendrix liked this effect though, so he went with it.

Although the Stratocaster was what he was most known for, he did play other guitars, but most were right-handed guitars, strung upside-down to be played left-handed. So this he did take very seriously.

(Oh, and @BillTre, Hendrix actually did play a ukulele. As a matter of fact, it was his first instrument at the age of around 15.)

 

[onatirec]

By an "upside down" guitar I meant strung upside down, with the high-E on top. By seriously play, I meant performing onstage; he was a professional after all...

I agree there would be (probably minor) tonal variations from the bridge pickup slant, and probably from the staggered pole heights. I'd bet his string gauges and pickup height had a larger effect on his overall tone than the slant of the pickup (he used lighter gauge strings for the G to low-E), not to mention 50' feet of cables, prototypical electronic effects...

I think it's mostly conjecture at this point. My money would be on it mostly being a mix between initial guitar availability and later a bit of unorthodox self-branding. I read somewhere that he might've felt QC was better on right handed guitars since they were so prevalent. Again, a lot of theories out there... And who knows what guitars he used in the studio - stairway to heaven was recorded with a telecaster after all...

Speaking of his other electric guitars, maybe only half of them were strats - which have that asymmetry in the bridge pickup you mentioned. All the others (which were also right-handed as far as I'm aware) would have had symmetrical pickups when flipped over. As you probably know, restringing a guitar backwards is a little more involved than changing the strings; you'd have to replace the nut. Strikes me as an unnecessary hassle. Then again, it puts the knobs on top so you won't hit them when playing...

 

[Mondayman]

Hendrix was the easy choice for me.

There are so many lost legends I would forcefully introduce. Just imagine a jam between Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, EVH, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Also, Randy Rhoads and Bon Scott.

 

[symbolipoint]

The listing of the various musical artist performers is extremely limited. Maybe that listing was chosen for some reason. My choice would be something very different, for who I would buy a ticket to see perform.

 

[Hornbein]

1963 John Coltrane Quartet
Niccolo Paganini
JH

 

[PeroK]

Fun fact: I've been to a gig in Jimi Hendrix's bedroom! It's on Brook Street, London, where there is a joint museum to Hendrix and Handel, who coincidentally both lived there. Not at the same time, of course.

https://handelhendrix.org/

 

[rsk]

For me, I had a tough time deciding between Prince, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Freddie Mercury.
They were all fantastic artists and would like to have seen them all in concert.

If I could choose two, it would be David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix.
But my single choice would be David Bowie, partly because he's got so many great songs.

I like the other artists too (though I'm not familiar with Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac).

Yes, that's my 4 too. Which one I'd choose probably depends on my mood at the time.

 

[Jarvis323]

The listing of the various musical artist performers is extremely limited. Maybe that listing was chosen for some reason. My choice would be something very different, for who I would buy a ticket to see perform.

They're all popular artists who died young. But honestly, the reason they were chosen is most likely part of a scheme to collect data that might be useful for advertising or other purposes.

 

[PeroK]

They're all popular artists who died young. But honestly, the reason they were chosen is most likely part of a scheme to collect data that might be useful for advertising or other purposes.

David Bowie was 69, which is not that young.

 

[Jarvis323]

David Bowie was 69, which is not that young.

Oh yeah. Well there goes my theory.

 

[PeroK]

Oh yeah. Well there goes my theory.

There is something of a morbid coincidence that Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jim Morrison were all 27 when they died. Poor Buddy Holly was only 22.

 

[fresh_42]

There is something of a morbid coincidence that Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jim Morrison were all 27 when they died. Poor Buddy Holly was only 22.

+ Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse.

 

[DennisN]

But honestly, the reason they were chosen is most likely part of a scheme to collect data that might be useful for advertising or other purposes.

Hmm, I did not think of that. And it wouldn't surprise me if it was true.

(Edit: Recently I noticed two suspicious ads for me on facebook. One time it was an ad for binoculars from a company called AstroSweden, just a day after I had talked about binoculars and telescopes in a mail (Gmail) with my friends. Next time it was an ad for the beer Staropramen a couple of days after I had sent a test photo with a Staropramen beer to my friends on Gmail.)

 

[Jarvis323]

Hmm, I did not think of that. And it wouldn't surprise me if it was true.

(Edit: Recently I noticed two suspicious ads for me on facebook. One time it was an ad for binoculars from a company called AstroSweden, just a day after I had talked about binoculars and telescopes in a mail (Gmail) with my friends. Next time it was an ad for the beer Staropramen a couple of days after I had sent a test photo with a Staropramen beer to my friends on Gmail.)

Yeah, I don't know for sure. Sometimes these types of posts might be mainly designed to go viral. Sometimes they are designed to gather information about people. You often see a bunch of those in facebook asking people fun/silly questions that give away peoples personal info. Basically everything you do on the internet is scraped by data collectors I think.

 

[symbolipoint]

They're all popular artists who died young. But honestly, the reason they were chosen is most likely part of a scheme to collect data that might be useful for advertising or other purposes.

I looked through the list of emoticons because I like your comment response, but I do not see one for "interesting!"

 

[symbolipoint]

There is something of a morbid coincidence that Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Jim Morrison were all 27 when they died. Poor Buddy Holly was only 22.

For most of those you just listed, that is why someone extracted the term, "The Twenty-Seven Club".