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Post subject: An Observation.....
Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:03 pm
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I was in Barnes & Noble today picking out some Christmas gifts for co-workers and naturally went over to the music section. I started reading a little about Jimi Hendrix's early life - I knew some already. It said Hendrix's father didn't really see him until about 3 or 4 years after he was born ( he was in the service during WWII ) and he hit poor Jimi when he saw him to let him know who was the boss. Hendrix's mother was living I believe with another man and his father had to take care of Jimi and his brother Leon on a gardeners/landscapers salary. His brother had to be taken care of at some point by a foster family cause there just wasn't enough money. This got me thnking....... there are quite a few musicians that didn't have the best family life growing up and it's because of this they turned to music in a BIG way to fill a BIG void.

Lennon & McCartney both lost their mothers in their teens. Lennon's father basically deserted him and his mother and lived with his Aunt Mimi.

Eric Clapton raised by his grandparents whom he believed were his parents.

Duane Allman's father was killed ( murdered I believe ) when he was a young boy and raised with Gregg by only their mother.

Rory Gallagher's father deserted his wife and 2 boys when they were very young.

I'm sure there's others - it seems music became a guide & stability factor and almost a substitute parent .


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Post subject: Re: An Observation.....
Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:36 pm
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baliman1 wrote:
I was in Barnes & Noble today picking out some Christmas gifts for co-workers and naturally went over to the music section. I started reading a little about Jimi Hendrix's early life - I knew some already. It said Hendrix's father didn't really see him until about 3 or 4 years after he was born ( he was in the service during WWII ) and he hit poor Jimi when he saw him to let him know who was the boss. Hendrix's mother was living I believe with another man and his father had to take care of Jimi and his brother Leon on a gardeners/landscapers salary. His brother had to be taken care of at some point by a foster family cause there just wasn't enough money. This got me thnking....... there are quite a few musicians that didn't have the best family life growing up and it's because of this they turned to music in a BIG way to fill a BIG void.

Lennon & McCartney both lost their mothers in their teens. Lennon's father basically deserted him and his mother and lived with his Aunt Mimi.

Eric Clapton raised by his grandparents whom he believed were his parents.

Duane Allman's father was killed ( murdered I believe ) when he was a young boy and raised with Gregg by only their mother.

Rory Gallagher's father deserted his wife and 2 boys when they were very young.

I'm sure there's others - it seems music became a guide & stability factor and almost a substitute parent .


It also helps with the Blues and most heart felt tunes content.


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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:15 pm
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It seems that you're drawing a conclusion--or at least a connection here, that many great musicians have a screwed up early life. Is that an important part of becoming a great musician (having a screwed up early life), or is it their own talent that drags them away from the existence of having a screwed up early life--in other words, in SPITE of it?


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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:41 am
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twangee wrote:
Is that an important part of becoming a great musician (having a screwed up early life)


Not at all - these musicians just have something in common - that's it. I do
believe it gave them determination & drive.


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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:02 am
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Part of the problem in any observation like this is that while it may be right, it's not universal. I know some people who's lives were pure h*ll growing up and who show equal drive in other fields. But I also know some who've never risen above their background. Thing is though, we only hear about the ones who became great musicians, a top CEO, world leader or whatever; we don't know about the possibly many more who never went anywhere.

Still, your point is valid in that our backgrounds no doubt shape how we play or even (to some extent) if we're interested. When I was a kid, the favored form of punishment at home was the "silent treatment" as I call it. No one in the family spoke to you and you were not allowed to speak to anyone except an adult asking a question. I was allowed no TV, etc. ... but my parents did allow reading and practicing my violin.

Needless to say, I latched onto both of those like a drowning man! Yet it's not universal ... one of my best friend's parents had a similar method of discipline, allowing only reading. Unlike me though, he grew to hate reading with a passion. I viewed it as a way out of the punishment; he firmly linked it as part of the punishment.

It was definitely an influence on my style as well. I'd get tired of the classical stuff I had to play, so I'd try to emulate the pop/rock songs I heard at school during the day. (No way would my dad have ever allowed any of that "rock garbage" to be on a radio in his house ... I only heard modern music at school or when at a friend's house.) So when I first got a guitar, I played it not surprisingly in a violin sort of style.

There again though, I know people who's background doesn't seem to have had any obvious effect on their playing. So no doubt Jimi and the others were influenced by their background. My only point is that this is hard to extrapolate into an "in general" type of concept.


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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:50 am
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'Have heard something in this area called "Artistic Discontent" or "Artistic Dissatisfaction."

For whatever reason, (daily, workaday, dealing with sadnesses or inequities or boredom or curiosity or loneliness or...?) "life" is not good enough for some people and they choose art as a way of making life "bigger."

Personally, 'have not had a terrible life, but was and continue to be drawn to music, writing, art, craft, education and travel to make life "bigger."


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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:01 pm
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You know, I tend to look at it this way. Some of us who have a musical talent tend to lean on that when times get tough. I know that having music in my life has definately helped me through difficult relational breakups. Immersing yourself into something like playing/writing music allows you to concentrate on something other than the difficulty and actually lets you vent your emotions in a positive way. I find music to be very theraputic. Some people find solace in drugs or out of a bottle, I find it in my music. I know there are exceptions to this such as: Charlie Parker, Jim Morrison, Curt Cobain, etc., but I always look upon those guys as the exception.


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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:41 pm
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To me when you read into things like this I can't fine any deep meaning to it that because someone had it tough growing up made them strong and able to rise above by doing somthing special. I can drive seven miles from Home to into the local City of 600,000 where stats show there are over 60,000 drug addicts, High School drop out rate is over 40%, ther will be about 350 murders a year and there are thousands of unmarrierd teen Mothers every year. Well I am sure that a few will become something special but a many more will not and there the ones you dont here about.

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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:45 pm
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Crappy early home lives are fodder for emotional issues later in life. Seems reasonable that music draws those people in and allows them to write about it.


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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:02 pm
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groovemongrel wrote:
Crappy early home lives are fodder for emotional issues later in life. Seems reasonable that music draws those people in and allows them to write about it.

I am sure when people in music come from that back ground they do draw upon it in there music. I dont believe thats the main reason why they are good in music. Even Rappers draw from the upbringing and enviroment and a lot of Fender players here will say thats not even music. We all draw from our past in lifes endevers but it does not always make us good at it.

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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:46 pm
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indeed I don't think it's because of the fact that they had difficulties growing up that they're such good musicians.
I do think that that has probably been a great motivation to "get away from it all", using music as a get-away-vehicle.
Also I can't recall any great musicians not having anything screwed up, but this might be because of:
-the fact that back then things were just less great than now ( most of the time)
- the motivation-thing
- need for publicity


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:45 pm
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Baliman1,
I think you make an interesting point. Some don't agree with you, obviously, but those that don't turn to music sometimes turn to other forms of art. There are a huge amount that turn to drugs, gangs, etc. But this could be used as a great argument for keeping kids in music and art. Especially music, it's so darned powerful that it can keep a kid focused on goals and not gangs.
Also, I saw a 2 hour thing on the Biography channel about Jimmi that outlined some of what you mentioned. Check it out, you might like it. There were times that you felt so sad for the guy.
There's this one story of how he was sleeping in an alley, and rats took his last meal from him (a candybar). But he kept focused on his music.
Powerful story. I just wish he could have survived the 60s and still be around.
Also, did you know he was a paratrooper in the Army until he broke his ankle?
Later.

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Post subject: Re: An Observation.....
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:25 pm
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baliman1 wrote:
....... there are quite a few musicians that didn't have the best family life growing up and it's because of this they turned to music in a BIG way to fill a BIG void.

I'm sure there's others - it seems music became a guide & stability factor and almost a substitute parent .



WOW ..... all I said was these musicians had something in common amongst themselves in their early days .... THAT'S ALL !!!! :)


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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:06 am
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I don't think it made them better muscians. Life is pain.

I think most of them also came from fairly "humble" backgrounds where money was not plentiful. Free music on the radio and a cheap acoustic guitar can fill a lot of spare time.

Different conclusion drawn from the same basic data.

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Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:07 pm
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A doctor doesn't have to be sick to heal people. In the same way, a blues musician doesn't need to have an early crappy life to write great songs. But to be honest, I'm not sure I could appreciate a song called "I'm happy", written by lets say, Mr Wonderfull Life. A phoney singer who wants to fill in the market. It seems to me that the blues comes more by awareness than pain. Awareness can be triggered by suffering or joy, if you combine that with a guy or a girl who can put more than two words together, with a talent for music, we're in business. Awareness is the key to the highway (sorry), when a singer reaches his audience and they bond together, magic operates in the form of Blues Power (sorry again). Though it is true that pain is not a good thing, it carrys an energy of urgency that cuts through the bulls*** and often produces more feeling in a song. I prefer the Blues.

Claude.


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